In the past, organisations tended to run contact centres and unified communications as separate platforms. Customers were less demanding. Interactions were usually straightforward, and phone based. So, there was no real pressure to change. And not much appetite from vendors to admit platform integrations.

Today, that’s no longer the case. Customers expect five-star service. Contact centres have become digital experience hubs and can no longer afford to operate as standalone units with next-to-no engagement with other parts of the company. Vendors have also climbed onboard with agile cloud solutions, open interfaces, and off-the-shelf integrations.

The phenomenal rise of Microsoft Teams

Described by Microsoft as the fastest growing business app in its history, Teams is one of the most elegant collaboration platforms around. Since the pandemic, many Orange Business Services customers have adopted Teams to stay close to home workers, in the process retiring expensive phone systems and moving their telephony to the cloud over MS Teams Direct Routing.

But why stop there? Microsoft Teams is perfect for facilitating high-performing remote agents. Aside from chat, video, and calling capabilities, they can benefit from other Microsoft cloud-based productivity tools like OneDrive, Office365, Active Directory, SharePoint and Automate.

Also, it’s great to see our partners like Microsoft or Zoom and Genesys working more closely together on strategy and product development. As a result, we can now help our clients benefit from native integration between MS Teams and Genesys Cloud – turning their contact centres into transformation engines in their own right.

Customer service becomes a team game

Contact centre transformation has moved up the priority list for many reasons. Lockdowns and store closures have replaced face-to-face sales and support with direct-to-consumer online models, adding to contact centre traffic. However, digital customers don’t forgive or forget. And in times of adversity those emotions amplify.

Customer stresses and demands have reached the point where sterile interactions, with agents forced to read from one-size-fits-all scripts, no longer cut it. Remote working and the blurring of work and home boundaries have piled further pressure on agents. They must be empowered; freed to provide fast answers and resolve customer issues often in intensely personal situations ― first time, every time.

To do that effectively, contact centre agents increasingly need to reach out to subject matter experts and lines of business. And when they do, they don’t want to put customers on lengthy holds or have to schedule callbacks.

That’s where MS Teams with Genesys Cloud scores highly. Giving agents a single interface with instant access to chat, voice, video, and screen sharing eliminates lost time jumping between contact centre and UC apps and directories while handling calls and follow-ups.

Moreover, agents can seamlessly transfer calls and bring in experts working anywhere in the world. They are empowered solve customer inquiries on the spot, so they feel more motivated and less isolated. Transforming service and sales, while lowering handling time and cost to serve.

Powerful IT gamechanger

The new Microsoft and Genesys integrations signals good news for our customers’ IT teams too. As well as escaping the shackles of maintaining hardware and on-prem legacy technology, they save time and money through simpler management. For example, eliminating complex workarounds and configuration changes. Or by providing more through more integration possibilities, reducing lead times for AI and DevOps projects.

Most importantly, IT teams can pivot more easily to address changing business needs by adding capacity, channels, agents, and sites at will. And do all this faster with less cost than ever before.

The collaborative contact centre is on its way. So, if you haven’t yet considered integrating MS Teams and Genesys Cloud, then you really should take a look.

To learn more around these subjects watch the on-demand webinar Next-Gen Collaborative Contact Center with Microsoft, Orange Business Services and Genesys.

Orange Business Services and Genesys can provide advice, solutions and co-innovation projects for all your digital contact centre requirements and more.