Success

Increasingly, what distinguishes you from your competitors is the potent force of service excellence. Savvy service organizations today are looking beyond isolated technology to guarantee maximum uptime and peak operating performance.

Yet, along with an intensifying demand for support, new support needs are emerging that are placing even greater challenges on contact centers to find ways to respond effectively.  Customers now want to access support in the exact channel they prefer and have instant resolution to their issues, wherever they may be. The service agent must be always available and more efficient than ever before.

This new era of support technology relies on three keys for success: accommodation of multiple channels – chat as well as phone; creation of efficiencies through integration; and delivering services on demand in the cloud.

Those are exactly the kinds of issues faced by Avigilon.

Named the fastest-growing software company in North America in 2011 and 2012, Avigilon designs and manufactures high-definition surveillance solutions, which include complimentary 24/7 technical support. Its systems monitor and protect retail stores, schools, hospitals, casinos, stadiums and transportation stations across the globe.

Avigilon uses cloud-based Citrix GoToAssist remote support technology, enabling technicians to securely view and assist with clients' computers to deliver fast resolution regardless of technician location. GoToAssist also enables Avigilon to deliver multi-channel options via chat, which can include screen sharing when needed, so clients receive support in the way they prefer.

Clients of Avigilon appreciate the efficiency and speed of accessing remote screensharing from a chat session, especially because many other vendors rely on just the phone. According to Avigilon, its integrators were used to struggling through the process of phone support, where a supplier says, “click on this” or “do that.” When clients are in need, they can initiate contact by phone, e-mail or simply click a website button to request a chat session. If support reps need to directly control and view the customer's computer, they can seamlessly escalate the chat session to full screensharing support.

Avigilon estimates that without the Citrix service, issue resolution would take twice as long. Customer satisfaction surveys consistently document that respondents are very happy with Avigilon’s support services.

Catering to the channel preferences of customers, however, needs to be matched with back-end integrations and seamless connections to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

For this, Avigilon uses the GoToAssist Corporate app for Salesforce, which enables a smooth and very valuable integration with the GoToAssist remote support service and Avigilon’s Salesforce.com (News - Alert) account. Team members do not have to leave Salesforce. They can easily launch a remote support session right from the interface whenever needed. All support session information, including survey results, is automatically captured as activity history in Salesforce.com, decreasing duplicate data entry and contributing to a comprehensive view.  Screen captures can also be recorded and forwarded to other team members for escalation.  

Avigilon is a great example of how putting the right technology processes into contact center operations is critical in serving today’s support expectations and changing support preferences.

Contact centers must rethink how they deliver support and look for solutions that simplify, integrate and automate. Technology tools delivered via the cloud will also help reduce large hardware and on-going maintenance costs and allow support reps to deliver service from anywhere. No matter what channel, the support rep should be operating via one easy-to-use interface with the tools and information he or she needs readily at hand. Effective cloud-based, multi-channel, integrated solutions will streamline work, elevate support and drive customer satisfaction.

Elizabeth Cholawsky is vice president and general manager at Citrix (www.gotoassist.com).