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Are you frustrated by the lack of collaboration between the big tech companies and their workplace technology? 

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By Rob Quickenden, CTO, Cisilion

Well, all that is about to change when it comes to workplace collaboration. Microsoft might dominate with Microsoft 365 and Teams, but there are still many companies that have huge investments in other meeting platform technology like Cisco Webex and Zoom.

For years Cisco dominated enterprise video, but since the pandemic, organisations have shifted to Teams in the millions and feel trapped with hardware which won’t work natively with Microsoft Teams, thereby limiting their collaboration strategy decisions.  

Many organisations use Cisco collaboration for their contact centres – technology which works seamlessly with Cisco Webex but again – not with Teams. This again hinders transformation since call centre users are unable to collaborate effectively with their customers on Teams and, worse, with other departments that have shifted to Teams. But all that is changing as Cisco and Microsoft are collaborating to offer complementary solutions across their customer base in two ways: 

  • Cisco Meeting Room technology is now certified for use with Teams 
  • Cisco Webex Contact centre is now certified for Teams 

Why does this matter? Because customers have been asking for a more straightforward way to achieve interoperability between Cisco meeting room technology and Microsoft Teams for years.  

Previously, to shift from Cisco Webex to Microsoft Teams, meant a complete hardware replacement of meeting room technology (or complex, clunky interoperability software). The latter is not a great experience for the user, and the former is not good for budget or from a sustainability perspective.  

Now businesses can keep their Cisco kit and either repurpose these to run Microsoft Teams natively OR, run both Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams seamlessly together on the same hardware without interoperability apps and services. This means business can have the best of both, or the best of one. Rather than having to dump their hardware or invest in different hardware vendors, refurbish rooms, and incur expensive refit costs, they can continue to use what they have.   

What’s more – regardless of whether they desire to fully move to Teams, retain Cisco Webex or use a blend of both – the fact that Cisco Webex Contact centre is now fully certified for Teams means businesses that run, or want to run, Cisco Webex Contact Centre can now achieve seamless connectivity between both platforms.  

For many businesses, this gives them freedom over their choice of collaboration, voice and meeting technology without worry about integration with their Cisco Contact Centre. Teams now boasts more than 280 million users and is the fastest growing collaboration tool in the world with 20-25% growth year on year. So not being able to service customers who use Teams has been a huge headache for some businesses who had invested in Webex.  

This is also important for customers that have felt unable to move to Teams due to their sunk investment in Cisco meeting room technology. By partnering with Microsoft, businesses, Cisco and Microsoft all win. Cisco retains its loyal customer base (who love the premium Cisco hardware), Microsoft gets more businesses on Teams (as the blockers are down) and businesses can choose the best experience for their users that align to their collaboration strategy.  

Finally, Cisco Webex is a true enterprise class contract centre. Their certification with Microsoft Teams brings more choice to business, removes some of the blockers for Microsoft and allows Cisco to target businesses that use Microsoft Teams, and who are in the market for a new contact centre solution that is certified for Teams. With the big technology companies now collaborating on their workplace technology it’s a win, win for everyone.  

NICE CXone now available natively on Azure

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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NICE has expanded its partnership with Microsoft, delivering CXone on Azure to create what it says will be frictionless, personalised digital customer experiences.

NICE has received Top Tier status, Microsoft’s highest level partner designation, for Azure IP Co-sell driving deeper collaboration and a strong go-to-market momentum.

The partnership leverages the power of CXone to help organizations globally to transform their customers’ experiences and build a digital first customer service operation.

With a joint global go-to-market co-selling strategy working together with key strategic accounts enabling rapid time to value, extreme agility and a faster path to the cloud, NICE and Microsoft will accelerate organizations’ adoption of CXone.

CXone’s advanced AI and full portfolio of voice and digital solutions and with its integrations with Teams, Dynamics, Nuance, ACS (Azure Communication Services), and Customer Insights, allows organizations of all sizes to create proactive, brand-differentiating interactions that exceed the expectations of the digital-first customer and goes beyond the boundaries of the contact center.

Paul Jarman, CEO, NICE CXone, said: “Consumers today expect fast, convenient digital and self-service options. Through the expanded partnership with Microsoft and with CXone now available on Azure, and with our co-sell partnership, we are taking another step in the frictionless revolution allowing organizations to meet their customers wherever they choose to start their journey and create a cohesive digital experience. This better-together offering will foster customer experience interaction (CXi) modernization and provide a standard-setting choice for customers.”

Microsoft unveils Digital Contact Center Platform

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Microsoft says its new Digital Contact Center Platform will give users modern digital tools to engage customers across voice, video, and other digital engagement channels — powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Power Platform and Nuance.

The platform brings together a comprehensive yet flexible solution for contact centers, delivering best-in-class AI that powers self-service experiences, live customer engagements, collaborative agent experiences, business process automation, advanced telephony, and fraud prevention capabilities.

Microsoft says the recent addition of Nuance brings a new level of conversational AI, security, and automation to the contact center. This gives both customers and agents tools to resolve issues faster and with more personalized service, thus reducing resolution times while improving customer satisfaction. It also enables contact centers to offer targeted incentives to build brand loyalty and upsell opportunities to boost revenue.

It’s also partnering with peers in contact center infrastructure, including Accenture–Avanade, Avaya, Genesys, HCL, NICE, and TTEC, to ensure interoperability and compatibility with contact center systems and components companies use or plan to implement now and in the future.

Accenture–Avanade will deliver its Customer Engagement solutions starting with the Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform to help customers reimagine their entire customer experience and deliver business results.

Additional launch partners include systems integrators EY, HCL, Hitachi, KPMG, PwC, TCS, and TTEC, and ISVs such as Avaya, Genesys, and NICE.

Dynamics 365 AI

Microsoft launches Dynamics 365 AI Solutions for customer care

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Microsoft has used its Ignite conference to unveil several products aimed at making Artificial Intelligence (AI) more accessible to organisations, developers and individuals.

The company has been using its chatbot solution for its own customer care in the US since earlier this year, with the virtual agent handling 650,000 sessions per week.

Now Microsoft is making the service available to 3rd parties via its Dynamics 365 AI platform, with HP and Macy’s confirmed as adopters via its Early Access Program.

The company says the Dynamics 365 AI solutions are designed to tackle high-value, complex enterprise scenarios and are tailored to existing processes, systems and data.

The first solution includes an intelligent virtual agent for customer care, an intelligent assistant for customer service staff and conversation management tools, all powered by Microsoft AI.

Microsoft claims the Australian Government Department of Human Services, HP, Macy’s and its own teams are already using the technology to improve overall customer satisfaction and handle more requests, in a shorter amount of time.

Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President of Developer Platform & Evangelism and Chief Evangelist at Microsoft, said:The promise of AI has always been to make lives better and to enhance the things we are doing today in a much more efficient and more powerful way. [Dynamics 365 AI] is focused on applying AI to transform the customer service function. We have seen that today’s customer care can be costly, painful and inefficient.

“Customers generally do not enjoy needing to engage with support, agents can have low job satisfaction working with frustrated customers, and support leaders are always under CFO scrutiny leaving few dollars for innovation. We envision an AI powered future where customers get immediate, accurate and 24/7 support. Customer interactions become a source of insight for innovation and drive upsell and loyalty. A future where support agents focus on richer, more valuable interactions. That’s the future we demonstrated at Ignite.”

New App to ‘Aggressively’ Change Workforce

 1024 683 Jack Wynn
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A mobile call centre app is aiming to remove the need of computer terminals for employees without risking data security.

The Verint Mobile Work View looks to allow employees constant access to workplace information regardless of time or location.

With a main goal of removing the reliance on computers and web browsers, the app will also allow employees to access work schedules and request time off through their mobile devices.

The app allows for enhanced security capabilities to ensure information isn’t stored on devices, and “enables companies to confidently extend mobile capabilities to employees without compromising data security,” says Verint SVP and general manager in strategic operations, Nancy Treaster, adding “we are aggressively and proactively adding apps and other solutions that help address the evolving requirements of today’s changing workforce.”

The changes integrate Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, which can have large financial benefits and increase workforce optimisation in employees.

The convenience of instantly using your own devices, according to Ms Treaster, will allow workers to “experience the benefits of further engagement and empowerment that comes with delivering on-demand, actionable information.”