An introduction to Service Cloud Voice

Introduction

Companies are continually looking for methods to improve their customer service in today’s intensely competitive business environment to be able to leave a lasting impression. In order to provide seamless client experiences, organizations feel obliged to incorporate technology-driven solutions. Salesforce Service Cloud Voice is one such product that is transforming how businesses communicate with their clients. 

In today’s article, we will go through what Service Cloud Voice is, its advantages, practical implementation tips, and best practices before offering some salient conclusions.

 

What is Service Cloud Voice?

Service Cloud Voice (SCV) is a comprehensive telephony solution offered by Salesforce that seamlessly integrates voice communications into the well-known Service Cloud platform. 

It enables customer service teams to deliver personalized and efficient support across various channels, including phone calls, by unifying voice, digital channels, and CRM data within the same workspace. Moreover, SCV offers AI capabilities that will give your customer support representatives access to current insights and suggestions, enhancing the overall client experience.

 

Why is it relevant?

Salesforce’s research on customer service reveals that 95% of companies utilize the telephone as a means of communication with their clients, being the second most preferred channel by customers. 

In today’s market, the customer experience is a crucial aspect that has surpassed product quality and pricing as the primary distinguishing factor for brands. To achieve this goal, companies require technology, processes, and skilled individuals, and Artificial Intelligence plays a pivotal role in creating value in customer interactions. 

Digital transformation involves placing the customer at the forefront of the company. As always, human interactions have always been fundamental to creating a memorable experience and establishing a strong relationship between the customer and the company. 

Service Cloud Voice allows companies to analyze and act on voice data in a comprehensive manner, which strengthens the role of agents and voice in the omnichannel environment. Thanks to this approach, a robust connection is generated between the voice channel and the business processes located in the CRM.

 

Features and benefits of Service Cloud Voice

As we have seen so far, Service Cloud Voice stands out as a highly capable telephony solution. But, what sets it apart from other CTI offerings and why would it be the preferred choice for businesses?

• Seamless integration and routing within the omni-channel console: the telephony feature is directly integrated into the omni-channel console. To achieve this feature, SCV leverages pre-integrated cloud telephony through Amazon Connect. That way, agents can receive customer phone calls within the same dynamic workspace they employ for managing other digital channels, while also accessing the comprehensive 360-degree view of customer data utilized in other contexts.
• Efficiency-enhancing features: Real-time transcription is among the things that are most astounding. It enables the agent to give the customer and their demands their undivided attention while the note-taking procedure is automated and the call is transcribed for future use as well as for AI-powered support in further call stages.
• Customized, AI-driven services: Einstein Next Best Action enables real-time recommendations. These Einstein Recommendations include a wide range of topics, from educational materials to share with consumers for additional knowledge to detailed instructions to direct the customer’s next steps. These suggestions are based on the information the IA learned from the calls that were real-time transcribed.
• Quicker call wrap-up and improved efficiency: by anticipating case fields and pre-filling them after a call, Salesforce Einstein helps decrease wrap-up time. The call transcript is kept in the records that are related to the associated case. Agents would then simply have to add more notes if necessary or wanted.
• Effortless monitoring for supervisors: Supervisors have a separate panel where they can watch the agent’s calls as they happen. Additionally, they have the option to whisper agents, or use keywords to flag which calls to monitor.

 

How to carry out a successful implementation of Service Cloud Voice

By following these steps, you will be able to carry out a successful implementation – according to Salesforce’s best practices.

• Evaluate business needs: To fully comprehend the potential of Service Cloud Voice in assisting your organization and delivering value, it is recommended to evaluate your business needs and pinpoint the primary obstacles faced by your customer service team prior to implementing the solution. 
• Engage stakeholders: involve key stakeholders, such as customer service agents, managers, and IT teams, in the decision-making process. Knowing their input will be invaluable in identifying the necessary features to ensure a successful implementation.
• Develop a comprehensive implementation plan: outline a clear roadmap for the implementation. For instance, it is key to note timelines, milestones, and resource allocation. 
• Train your team: make sure that at the end of the implementation your service agents are well-trained on SCV features and functionalities. That way, you will ensure a quick adoption of the solution.
• Monitor and optimize: continuously track the performance of SCV and, as a good practice, gather feedback from your team. With their assessment, you will be able to identify areas for improvement and optimize the system for maximum efficiency.

 

Best Practices for Maximizing Service Cloud Voice Benefits

From the Salesforce official documentation we can extract the following interesting and recommended Best Practices.

• Get your team familiar with Service Cloud Voice: it is a good idea to get in touch with SCV through the Service Cloud Voice Module on Trailhead, or review key concepts through Salesforce Official SCV documentation.
• Train your agents on the Omni-Channel phone widget: for a lot of agents and contact centers, the change from softphones or hardware to the Omni-Channel widget is a big change. It’s a good idea to train your agents on how to use all the features on the Omni-Channel phone widget required with Service Cloud Voice, including all the call controls they would need to get familiar with.
• Get familiar with contact flows in Amazon Connect: contact flows determine the customer’s interaction experience with your call center. To ensure a satisfactory customer experience, it’s recommended to invest time in planning various scenarios based on common requests and use cases. You should create and test multiple flows before implementing them.
• Expand capabilities with Digital Engagement and Einstein for Service: To improve your SCV capabilities, you may want to consider exploring additional features such as Digital Engagement and Einstein for Service. We suggest referring to the ces section for further information on these two features.
• Find a certified implementation partner to support you: it is true that SCV requires a lot of detailed configuration from both sides (Salesforce and Amazon Connect). Unless you already have the resources to move the project forward, it is recommended to find an implementation partner to ensure a smooth implementation.
• Keep the momentum going: Salesforce provides many communication channels and resources to explore more ways to improve customer experience and keep the momentum going.

 

Future of Service Cloud Voice

Leveraging AI-driven conversational assistants and sophisticated analytics, Service Cloud Voice possesses the ability to revolutionize customer service as we understand it, offering tremendous potential for enhancement. The future of SCV is set to be brimming with thrilling innovations and progressions, by continuously adapting to emerging technologies and maintaining a commitment to ongoing improvement.

 

Conclusions

In today’s intensely competitive business environment, customer experience has become a crucial factor that surpasses product quality and pricing as the primary distinguishing factor for brands. Service Cloud Voice provides a seamless client experience that leaves a lasting impression, and allows your service teams to deliver personalized and efficient support across various channels. By unifying voice, digital channels, CRM data, and AI capabilities, it is starting to become a powerful and preferred telephony choice for businesses who are looking to excel their customer service.

 

References

• https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=000388870&type=1
• https://blog.bluez.io/salesforce-service-cloud-voice-key-features-and-benefits-e426b4803d5e
• https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.voice_developer_guide.meta/voice_developer_guide/voice_intro.htm
• https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.voice_about.htm&type=5