A leading expert in the market of customer communications, Enghouse Interactive focus on giving their clients the resources they need to differentiate services and transform customer loyalty. As customer experience becomes a bigger driver for businesses, Enghouse is building ever-stronger value within their marketplace, with a unique multichannel contact centre solution.
We speak to Jeremy Payne, the Group VP Marketing & Alliances in the EMEA region for Enghouse Interactive, to ask for his insights on this year, and the year ahead. Jeremy has been working with Enghouse for almost 6 years now and has plenty of expertise to offer when it comes to addressing the state of communications in the enterprise.
How Have You Been Serving your Customers and Partners?
Enghouse Interactive is an acquisitive company, which means that it achieved some significant growth over the last 5 years, because of some particularly strategic acquisitions within the marketplace. According to Jeremy, that framework has been a positive thing for Enghouse when it comes to serving their customers and channel base:
"Our acquisitions have given us a well-rounded and comprehensive portfolio of solutions and platforms for people in the customer interaction management space. We're finding that the more people shift into the digital world, the more organisations have begun to wrestle with converging channels in everything from voice to IM, email, and social media."
"I think when I look at Enghouse's position, the expertise and portfolio we offer through our network partners means that we're well positioned to address customer needs regardless of technology or vertical market."
Simply put, Enghouse has pinpointed the strategy they need to offer the right skills and the right solutions to end-customers through a powerful buyer journey.What Has Been Significant for Enghouse in 2017?
Enghouse Interactive exist primarily in the Contact Centre space, but they also have a foot in business communications too. I asked Jeremy what he considered to be some of the most important trends to emerge in his space during 2017: "I think every year there's a kind of drum that everyone comes together to beat on. A few years ago, that drum was cloud, and now that conversation has begun to quieten down."
"Now, we're all looking at AI, automation, robots, and that whole blend of approaches. I think organisations are trying to find out where the right balance is between customer intervention, self-service, and machine intervention."
Jeremy noted that there seems to be constant momentum and movement in the UC space, but a lot of businesses seem to make things more difficult than they are:
"When we talk to people about AI and robots, we ask them to think about automation and making things easier for the customer. Almost every customer is looking for effortless, and convenient customer service. The good news is that there are lots of things companies can do to automate and improve their processes for their customers."
"That doesn't necessarily mean going out and buying a complicated AI solution. Most organisations already have most of the technology they need to transform their strategies. All they need to do is implement some extra things, and make sure you have the right culture in place."
What Challenges and Opportunities Do You Predict for 2018?
With so much disruption happening in the marketplace, I was keen to get Enghouse's perspective on the opportunities and challenges that await us in 2018. Jeremy said: "I think the biggest risk is that a lot of companies get excited about the financial savings they can get from self-service and automation. However, instead of using those savings to invest in their customer experience (CX), they pocket the saving and forget about it. Instead, you need to think about how you can give your customer access to the solution they need."