Long considered a ‘nice to have’, integrated ticketing is now the latest ‘must have’ for successful contact centres. In his first blog on the subject Thomas Rødseth of Puzzel sums up the benefits of integrated ticketing.
In an ideal world, every time a customer contacts an organisation, their issue or request is assigned a ticket. This ticket is usually a simple reference number that all agents, at any time in the response process, can use to provide fast and efficient customer service. Behind the scenes, clever technology automatically creates these tickets that document, store and catalogue customer interactions over time, making it possible for different agents to resolve simple and complicated issues from start to finish.
The whole process may seem like a fairly basic yet crucial part of any customer service operation but the truth is, until recently, ticketing was relatively low in the pecking order of contact centre technologies. Commonly thought of as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must have’, tools for ticketing or case management were often additional modules, purchased after everything else. This is changing. Forward-thinking senior executives now view the contact centre as the driver of customer satisfaction and retention as opposed to the resource-draining parasite of the past.
As a result, the hierarchy of contact centre technologies is shifting. CCaaS, CRM and WFM are merging to create a strategic foundation that tangibly boosts employee and customer engagement, which are top priorities facing businesses today. This trend provides contact centres with the perfect opportunity to extend their cloud contact centre with an integrated ticketing and case management framework for customer service.
One solution, 5 benefits
Let’s take a closer look. Combining automated ticketing with a cloud contact centre delivers a series of benefits:
- Release the power of omni-channel – today’s customers communicate with companies over a range of channels including email, chat, self-service, SMS and social media channels. Customers also expect a seamless service whatever the channel and for agents to know who they are, why they are calling and that they were in contact about the same issue a day before. The beauty of automated ticketing solutions is they are able to track any number and type of customer interactions using a single case or ticket number and then use that number to identify the right customer and engage with them in multiple ways.
Combining the real-time capabilities of the cloud with an integrated ticketing system puts agents in complete control of their omni-channel environment. They have a clear, single view of every customer interaction with the ability to handle all requests in a unified manner, whatever the channel.
- Maximise agent efficiencies and customer satisfaction in one go – integrating essential ticketing capabilities into the contact centre creates a unified experience for agents and customers. The latest integrated solutions mean that organisations can handle large volumes of tickets while developing time-saving automatic responses, for example when the business is open or closed. They are also transforming the power of templates by offering unlimited opportunities to provide customised, efficient responses to the most common tickets while accelerating agent wrap-up and follow-up times.
- Promote the humble email – utilising one tool, all emails are received, distributed and managed without having to leave the central agent application. What is more, any number of email addresses can be added and because they are all viewed within the same agent interface, they can be prioritised for a swifter, smoother agent and customer experience. Take the lead from dynamic brands like Ryanair, Spark Energy and Hollywood Bowl – they are applying an integrated ticketing approach to drive business value.
- Create an intelligent contact centre – using an integrated ticketing and contact centre solution provides the vital intelligence necessary to ensure all tickets are prioritised and routed to the best agent to deliver exceptional customer service. At a management level, automated intelligence powered by an integrated solution provides contact centre leaders with productivity triggers. These alerts help supervisors to keep track of SLAs and nip performance issues in the bud. At the same time, valuable operational and customer intelligence supports the production of detailed reports and improves proactive decision-making.
- Business your way – by leveraging the amazing power of Rules & Filters within today’s integrated ticketing systems, organisations can make the solution their own, tailoring it to their individual business needs. This means specific SLAs can be set up and priorities adjusted depending on traffic and defined user and team access.
Embedding ticketing into core contact centre solutions boosts the relevance and importance of the operation to the whole organisation. This integrated approach helps to position contact centres at the heart of customer experience (CX) and eradicates the concept of resource-draining operations of the past.
In the second part of my blog I will outline the five most important features for an integrated ticketing solution, the latest “must have” for a successful contact centre.
Get in touch to learn more about how you can benefit from an integrated ticketing solution >
Thomas Rødseth is Chief Technical Officer at Puzzel
