Changes in Poly Contact Center

What Changes Has Poly Seen in the Contact Center?

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

We are heading into a year of living and working during a global pandemic. One industry that had to make significant changes is the Contact Center space. What changes has Poly seen in the Contact Center space over this past year?

Today we are joined by Richard Kenny, Sr Product Marketing Manager – Contact Center & Unified Communications for Poly (formerly Plantronics and Polycom) to learn about what they are seeing. Below are some excerpts from our discussion. Watch the video to hear the complete discussion.

Danny: What changes has Poly seen in the Contact Center space over the past year?

Richard: This is one of those significant years where a lot of the trends that we’ve been predicting for a while have suddenly accelerated. We’ve always talked about if you move to cloud and then we started talking a little bit about when you move to cloud. For contact centers that’s turned into two different ways of looking at that. There’s hybrid working from a technology point of view. So, you’re mixing your cloud solution and your on premises solution, and then you also you’re looking at hybrid working from a location view…”

Danny: Does Poly recommend different solutions if agents are working from home vs physical contact center?

Richard: So we think that the solutions that people have got in the office will work as well at home.

Danny: What about this one? (New Savi 7300 Series)

Richard: That would be an awesome one! 30% of call centers are in some sort of financial vertical, and they have a really big focus on security.

Danny: Has Poly seen a change in use of video in contact centers?

Richard: It’s huge, is the honest answer. You know, if you could have predicted a perfect timing for the merger of Plantronics and Polycom, that would have been it. The video is taken off extensively. And that video has been seen as a really big tool for helping keep teams engaged, helping keep teams together.

Danny: Has Poly seen an increase in the need for device management?

Richard: There’s twofold reasons for wanting device management. The first one is you sent everybody home so you can’t see what they’re using anymore. The call center has said they don’t want to be big brother but they do want to guarantee the audio quality…”

Danny: Why should contact centers chose Poly?

Richard: We used to ask about remote agents and you used to ask, “How far away is your furthest away agent?” and people would say, “like 50 miles 100 miles.” We’ve managed a headset that is over 200,000 miles away. So we put the headset on the moon with Neil Armstrong. If you think your agents are far away, we’ve done it further. And what that drives in Poly is this idea of durability, reliability, and audio quality. So if you want the best of those, we’ve proved it through the moon program…

To get all the great information Richard Kenny provided that is not in this blog, watch the entire video. If you would like to schedule a proof of concept or pilot of Poly solutions for your contact center, contact us!

8x8 Contact Center Difference Between UCaaS CCaaS

What’s the Difference Between UCaaS and CCaaS? | Discussion With 8×8

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Danny Hayasaka, Sr Director of Marketing and Emerging Technology for Call One, Inc. and Hello Direct interviews Tony Poer, Contact Center Practice Lead for the Channel for 8×8 and discusses CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service). It was much easier for organizations who had implemented a CCaaS platform to transition to remote work during the pandemic. Some organizations have been using a band-aid during this period and are looking for better solution. Cloud may be the answer. We discuss things customers need to know about CCaaS, differences between UCaaS and CCaaS and other topics. Stick around until the end fora link to the full interview.


Danny Hayasaka: What are some things customers need to know about CCaaS?

Tony Poer: One of the biggest things to understand about Contact Center as a service is that it’s a hosted platform. And so a lot of the limitations that we have with our legacy on premise platforms don’t really exist in the cloud.

Danny: What’s the difference between UCaaS and CCaaS?

Tony: UCaaS is unified communications as a service whereas CCaaS is contact center as a service. Unified communications generally includes telephony, obviously, but then it also includes all of the other communication options that you might utilize with your organization. Contact center is a little bit more robust than that right now.

Danny: When agents were physically in the same building, supervisors used hardware like training-y cables, how do they do that remotely? Or can they?

Tony: In a cloud environment or a hosted environment. All of that application hardware doesn’t exist on Prem. It’s all in the cloud. It’s all at a separate data center that is invisible to you guys as the end user.

Danny: What are some monitoring tools that are available for supervisors via 8×8?

Tony: I can live monitor calls. I can live monitor the desktop. I can listen in, I can barge in. I also have the ability to access all sorts of different data points and metrics. Right? I can see that information, but I don’t have to be looking at a wall board to do it. I could get that sent to my desktop.

Thanks for tuning in! If you would like to schedule an 8×8 Demo, contact us! Want to see the full interview? Check out the Youtube video below:

Manage headsets with Plantronics Manager Pro

/0 Comments/in , /by

Proactively manage headset related issues with Plantronics Manager Pro, software as a service.

When headsets are not working optimally, it can have a huge impact on productivity and overall UC adoption. Your IT Manager can tell you how fast helpdesk tickets can pile up and affect their group’s productivity and daily workflow. In fact, the average help desk ticket cost in North America is $15.56. How do you think your IT department would feel if they could proactively manage and maintain a portion of the hardware related help desk tickets, remotely before they interrupt the workflow of the day?

Read more

The 8 Most-Asked Questions About Cloud Communications – Answered

/0 Comments/in /by

81% of CIOs believe IT is entering a new era of customer-driven initiatives. Businesses are increasingly embracing cloud communications to craft better customer experiences. Some IT executives, failing to recognize the opportunities cloud solutions can bring to their businesses, are reluctant to adopt this new communications platform. Savvy CIOs view it as a key enabler of a more agile, connected employee and customer experience. They recognize that providing employees with a more aligned communications platform will empower them to deliver a superior experience for customers. As with any new technology, there are several misconceptions and questions to consider.

Read more

Why should you switch to the Cloud for your Communications Platform?

/0 Comments/in , /by

Is moving to the cloud worth it?
Well, let’s take a look at the features you would get for roughly the same price you pay right now for Voice/Voicemail. With the mid-range plan, you could get Unlimited Calling to 32 Countries, Unlimited Faxing, Call Analytics, Business Class SMS, Voicemail, and call recording! All these features (and more), all for around the same price you would pay per line from your local provider to just receive voice calls and voicemail! The great part about all of this is you can even keep your phone number. Being able to communicate is key in a growing business. It allows you to be more efficient, save money, and improve quality assurance. So why not use the best to communicate?

Read more