Analyst Perspectives

A few weeks back I wrote about how NICE Systems was venturing into the back office and my surprise that the core smart desktop product it had acquired with eglue, while a key part of this initiative, seemed to have disappeared as a stand-alone offering. Since then NICE has corrected my impression, pointing out that the product is still available in pretty much the same form as always. The problem is that you have to look hard to find it because it has been renamed Real-Time Process Optimization. If you follow this link, you won’t see confirmation that this really is the eglue product, but I assure you it is.

By whatever name, the software is now part of the overall NICE SmartCenter suite and does what it always did. Bringing all the systems and data that an agent needs to handle customer interactions together in a single window, it allows agents to drill down into this information by clicks of a mouse, and it pops information onto the desktop to guide agents on what they should do next. It is highly configurable and can be set up to work for different users and to meet a company’s business rules, such as for dealing with regulatory issues or driving up-sell opportunities. Real-Time Process Optimization also has taken over as the main system to collect and analyze desktop usage. The result is a smart desktop that can reduce average call-handling time, increase first-call-resolution rates and customer satisfaction, reduce training times for agents and their frustration in having to use a cumbersome desktop, and ensure that agents follow defined best practices for interaction-handling.

As those of you that follow me regularly will know, I am a great advocate of the smart desktop. It responds to one of the greatest challenges companies face today – improving customer satisfaction with the way their calls are handled in a contact center. My research into customer experience management shows that the majority of companies recognize they are not very good at this and are losing money and business because of it. The smart desktop, plus more focused agent training, is essential for companies to address this issue. The majority of agent desktops now in use can only be described as a mess, and they force agents to use multiple desktops to access different systems, typically having to log in to multiple systems to get the information they need. Agents sometimes have to navigate across systems and jump through multiple screens within an application just to complete the simplest of tasks. This effort keeps callers waiting, often produces conflicting information and fails to resolve their issues – an unpleasant experience that costs the company more than it ought to. Companies looking to invest in systems to address these issues should consider NICE Systems and its Real-Time Process Optimization product, which retains the features of the old eglue product and is certainly up to the task.

Has your company recognized the benefits a smart desktop can bring?

Let me know your thoughts or come and collaborate with me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Regards,

Richard Snow – VP & Research Director