organizations are starting to take social customer care more seriously," says Donna Fluss, president of DMG Consulting. "A lot of organizations have one or two tools, but need more to empower their service."
Oracle also believes that companies can achieve a better understanding of the customer experience with features such as improved skills-based or experience routing. While Oracle has had this feature for a while, it has been enhanced in the latest release.
"It's the idea of matching the right agent to the customer based upon factors such as language skills or product knowledge," Fioretti explains. "We have skill-based browsing, but this [release] has administration and management features that give our customers more proactive services at the point of need based upon different rules."
Another feature, visitor browser history, can be used when customers want to transition from self-service to assisted service. By seeing a user's browser history, chat agents can see where that user has been online, leading to benefits such as decreased average handling time and lower customer frustration. "Agents can see browser history so by the time that a customer gets to a live agent they won't have to repeat information," Fioretti says.
Oracle Service Cloud also highlights collaboration and "rapid response" with the release, by enabling agents to confer with each other, or an expert in the organization. "Usually when you have a one-and-done case, you may not need this," Fioretti explains. "But when you get into more complex products, such as [in] high-tech, you can share documents and have threaded conversations with others."
Finally, the revamped Oracle Service Cloud offers an updated policy automation solution that handles routine questions, taking the burden off of agents. The automation feature is also helpful when an organization frequently changes rules or procedures. Fioretti points to a use case of a healthcare organization that used the policy automation feature to pinpoint health issues. A user answers a series of questions about her symptoms, and the system can determine if it matches a particular condition and then make recommendations, such as advising a physician visit. The patient can still talk to a nurse on the phone, but the solution frees up agents for more complex matters. The automation technology is beneficial to sectors that routinely need to determine eligibility, such as insurance, government social services, and financial aid for education.
"Oracle remains one of the largest providers of CRM functionality in the marketplace and it makes sense for them to have a strong cloud-based contact center infrastructure offering," Fluss says. "This announcement reflects a number of innovations for Oracle that will be highly beneficial for their customers and prospects."
"The theme of this release is about driving better service, collaboration, and rapid response that make agents and customers smarter," adds Fioretti. "These solutions can drive a better satisfying customer experience."