By Jaco Voigt
CEO: TeleMasters, Director: Catalytic
I wonder if any SA Business Matters readers will remember those instant business card printers that made a brief appearance around SA malls so many years ago? I remember marveling at the time how those little machines with their snazzy cards for just a few rands could make anyone appear like a heavy hitter.
Time marched on and further innovations appeared to help level the business playing fields. A key one for me was the telephone system with its recorded message and multiple extensions that could make a small business feel like a large corporation to callers.
Today, the descendants of that phone system that so impressed two to three decades back are Cloud-based voice and data CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions that really take narrowing of the enterprise / SME gap to a whole new horizon.
There’s nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. This truism of life and business immediately springs to mind when we think how the right technology has collided with the right business circumstances. High-speed internet, the Cloud and remote working have combined as a ‘terrific trio’ to forever change the fortunes of small business.
Suddenly, the glitzy steel and glass headquarters of the corporate competition are no longer such a threat. A good address to impress is now less important than a great internet connection. Rows of in-house servers with their expensive in-house IT staff can be swopped-out for the no-fuss, no hassle Cloud. Pricey desktop telecoms hardware can now all be done away with in favour of screens.
Nobody has it in for big business. But South Africa with its dismal economic growth desperately needs a more competitive business environment to spur us all on to do better. Super-fast internet, the always-available Cloud and the phenomenon of remote working are enabling the tools local SMEs need to compete more effectively and everyone will be the winner.
Traditional barriers to entry, such as high capital expenditure and geographical constraints, are being done away with by the trio above. SMEs that embrace these tools – within the overarching remote working environment – can achieve better operational agility, faster time-to-market and much more effective customer engagement.
At a big picture level, Cloud computing specifically offers SMEs the ability to go state-of-the-art virtually overnight. In addition, the subscription-based models favoured by Cloud applications mean small firms can move away from high-capex, on-premise IT infrastructure.
If these benefits weren’t enough, AI has now firmly entered the realm of contact centre solutions, enabling SMEs to punch above their weight through real-time sentiment analysis, personalisation and productivity tools.
Catalytic provides SA SMEs with access to one of the world’s leading Cloud-based CRM platforms, Cisco’s ‘Webex Contact Center’. This solution perfectly illustrates how call centres have evolved from voice-based, physical rooms to Cloud-based, virtual spaces that integrate email, chat, social and voice.
In South Africa and worldwide, SMEs are leaders when it comes to flexible working with most either adopting remote work (employees working from home) or distributed work (a 100% virtual office). One overseas study found that that 73% of small businesses with fewer than 500 employees are now fully flexible. All of this lends itself to the deployment of Cloud-native CRM.
Possibly one of the biggest, lesser-considered benefits of new powerful AI-based, CRM technology is that it can prioritise the strong human element that runs through smaller firms.
AI can do this by acting as a produtivity booster that automates routine and even cognitive clutter. This allows employees to focus on relationship building and empathy-driven customer service.
With Cloud-based contact centres, companies of any size can now enjoy an office that never sleeps with a 24/7 virtual receptionist, automatic omnichannel routing of calls, emails and social media interactions, and AI-driven analytics that enable smaller teams to deliver faster, more personalised service.
Specifically, our SME clients that have already rolled-out the Webex Contact Centre offering have all rated the AI-powered transcription functionality as one of the best features of the technology.
Real-time transcription within the software’s Agent Desktop is possible. This provides live, actionable insights to enhance customer interactions, reduce misunderstandings and facilitate agent focus.
In the final analysis, SA’s SMEs and corporations alike need to reinvent themselves to meet the demands of the distributed landscape. Customers want to be better understood and employees, too, want a better experience regardless of where they’re connecting from. ‘Zero distance’ must the goal of all business interaction and Cloud-based contact centres are taking us ever closer.
