Why choose a Microsoft Teams-Certified UC solution?
What does choosing Microsoft Teams-certified UC solutions for customer service really mean? Marco Cortese, Mida's President and Sales Manager, has been recently interviewed by UC Today, the leading online publication for Unified Communications and Collaboration news, to shed light on this topic by explaining the main advantages of this choice. Let’s summarize the key points of the video.
Firstly, Marco Cortese notes that these years Microsoft has completely changed how people communicate and collaborate by proposing a UC platform that supports a remote and hybrid work scenario. Already during the Covid-19 Pandemic, managers have understood that these new habits are here to stay and they have chosen Microsoft Teams to handle interactions. Microsoft Teams has been adopted as a new corporate communication system, bringing the need to integrate third-party solutions in the same environment.
Nowadays, it is increasingly apparent how this integrated approach helps to increase customer satisfaction: it helps increase agents’ productivity by decreasing the wasted time spent on moving from one application to another. That’s why many companies choose this complete ecosystem with its integrations like UC-certified solutions.
Secondly, Mida’s President states that enterprises prefer certified solutions, because the high standards of security and quality of Microsoft are guaranteed by this accreditation. This certification adds value to these applications which companies could count on for their services. It is evidence of how these applications work within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Then the interview goes through Mida’s certified contact center and compliance recorder to highlight the main reasons why decision-makers should adopt these certified solutions, instead of non-certified ones, and why Mida chose to invest in this certification.
Go deeper into this topic by watching the interview.
Mida C3 with a step ahead: what's new?
A new version of Mida C3 - Cloud Contact Center is now available to boost your communications. Your employees will love its updated aspects and its new key integrations: they can now rely on a new intuitive tab for chat and email management and a higher level of security. Thanks to the LDAPS protocol and the OAuth standard for Zoom, user authentication security has been implemented.
This release is characterized by the integration with WhatsApp and email applications to allow your customer service team to provide top-quality support through different channels. Agents can now smoothly solve requests coming from chats, emails, and calls by counting on an easy and professional user interface.
What to expect from this release?
Let’s discover the main points your team will enjoy about the new version of Mida C3:
- Messages are recorded to allow agents to have the whole conversation within this unique tab. Your employees become quickly familiar with this new release thanks to the similar user experience among Mida’s applications.
- Messages are routed through distribution algorithms to agents logged into the queues. They are advised of the new incoming conversation and they can easily accept or decline to handle it.
- A first automatic welcome message is foreseen in this release: it can be set up to streamline the chat handling process. The management of these conversations is intuitive to enhance the user experience. This approach allows agents to focus their attention just on the requests.
- All these activities can be done directly through the new professional tab that has been designed to make the handling process easier. It is well organized into three main areas on the screen:
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- on the left, the user can see the conversations list and can be immediately aware of the number of unread messages;
- in the middle, the agent reads the entire selected conversations and directly answers them;
- on the top right corner, a setting menu allows the user to customize options, select the preferred shortcuts, and log in and log out from the queue assigned and log out from the system.
Do you want to know more about this release?
Discover how it can help improve your customer service by getting in touch with us here. We will back to you in a flash with more information.
Why should you adopt a compliance recorder?
Before analyzing the main reasons why you should invest in a compliance recorder for your customer service department, let’s shed light on what it is. You may have already heard about this type of recording system but probably it is not so clear the relevance of adopting it instead of a recorder that is not compliant.
A recorder is compliant when it allows collecting conversations legally meeting the latest international and national laws about privacy and security (e.g. GDPR and MiFID II). It may be required to store conversations for a certain period of time in the same country where they are made and then deleted. This recorder makes it possible.
It also ensures secure archiving through file encryption, file marking proof against tampering threats, and customizable file access.
The process of capturing conversations should meet all the laws of the areas of the parties involved. Regulations change from country to country and state to state. In the US, for example, it is allowed to record calls as long as one party permits it, but in other countries, both parties' recording consensus is required before the recording starts. It's the responsibility of companies to keep up with these regulations and practices.
Certain markets have their specific recording requirements related to the nature of the data involved in the conversations. This regulatory compliance affects for example the finance and the healthcare environments.
In addition to these external regulations, companies should also internally want conversations to be reliably recorded and securely stored in their preferred storage. Both company representatives and sales departments can benefit from archiving conversations because it allows them to collect valuable information which helps to ensure a high-quality service (find out why it is so important here). This implies adopting a recorder that is flexible enough to adhere also to these specific internal policies, which are called “corporate compliance”.
Related to this topic, it is also important to highlight that most communication and collaboration native recorder does not comply with the necessary regulations for some industries. To securely archive them fulfilling these requirements, companies need to adopt a third-party compliance recording system integrated with these platforms. This increases the spread of requests for this UC solution.
Being sure to respect the recording requirements is an essential aspect to keep in mind because steep fines are provided for those who violate these laws. In case of litigation and external investigations, companies should provide evidence of having recorded just the conversations they are entitled to store. For this reason, a periodical verification of the recordings, through dedicated analytics solutions, should be considered by managers. It helps companies prepare for compliance audits by:
- being on alert for any potential risks and preventing them,
- improving breach risk management processes to promptly rectify them in case of violation.
Would you like to adopt this recorder? Contact our experts, they will explain to you the main features that best address your needs and they show you how it works.
Why move your UC to Zoom with Mida
https://youtu.be/Lf9CpJkH_0U
Are you considering moving your Unified Communications from a legacy system to Zoom? Mida has recently unveiled that its portfolio was expanded with two solutions for the Zoom environment: a professional attendant console and a compliance recorder.
In December, Mida CTO & Founder, Mauro Franchin, presented these new UC solutions during an interview by UC Today, the leading online publication for Unified Communications and Collaboration news. Our Manager focused the attention on how this new value proposition can help companies leverage their conversations within Zoom to provide the best quality customer service ever.
Which are the main topics of the interview?
Let’s summarize the three key reasons, highlighted by Mauro Franchin, why you should adopt Mida Attendant Console and Mida Compliance Recorder for Zoom:
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Working-from-anywhere scenario
Due to the Pandemic restrictions, in the last years, companies were forced to adopt widespread communication and collaboration tools (e.g. Zoom and Microsoft Teams) that bring together multiple services to continue to interact. This particular historic moment suddenly led to reinventing the working environment and shifting all the conversations to the Cloud. Managers have to be aware that this new scenario is here to stay carrying with it an increasing demand for professional UC solutions. To meet this market request, Mida has started designing and proposing a new web-based UC suite to support efficient interaction handling within platforms.
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Legacy and Zoom technologies can coexist
For many reasons, a lot of companies prefer to gradually implement the migration from the legacy system to cloud platforms such as Zoom. They ask for a hybrid architecture to easily handle conversations in the Cloud. This means adopting an advanced Cloud-based customer service system without leaving in the immediate the whole current legacy environment. Being aware of this relevant need, Mida has designed a flexible UC suite that allows these two technologies to coexist in the same environment.
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Advanced call management features for Zoom
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Mida has grabbed an even-higher request for an Attendant Console for Zoom by proposing a dedicated professional UC solution with all the traditional advanced call management features. This console empowers agents to easily handle their day-to-day activities to smoothly solve customers’ issues. The intuitive UI helps them to efficiently focus their attention on the requests and improve their performance. Indeed, they can rely on a complete call history scenario integrated with the corporate directory.
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Designed to be in compliance with the specific national laws
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The emerging demand for conversation handling within Zoom has also increased the request for a professional compliance recorder to store communications. Companies ask for a recording system flexible enough to be compliant with the latest privacy and security laws and their internal regulations too. Taking account of these requirements, Mida has designed a recorder that ensures file storage in compliance with specific country laws. To increase security, three levels of user access permissions can be configured and files can be compressed, encrypted, and marked against tampering threats.
Go deeper into our new UC offerings for Zoom by watching the interview here.
For any reason do not hesitate to contact us at marketing@midasolutions.com. Our experts will be back to you in a flash.
3 Customer Service trends to look out for in 2023
What to expect from the year ahead? It’s time to think about which new customer service trends companies should consider in the upcoming year to offer cutting-edge support and be widely competitive.
Omnichannel technologies continue to evolve significantly and customers’ expectations are increasing constantly. After the Covid-19 Pandemic, some relevant changes emerged:
people are more impatient during their interactions with the company, they would like their requests to be immediately solved, they consider it more convenient and they are returning to brick-and-mortar stores. This means companies should not stay away from optimizing multichannel customer service and more customer-centered strategies should be implemented.
Let’s go through the three main ongoing trends:
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Even-increasing relevance of customer experience (CX)
Nowadays keeping a customer loyal over time is not an easy task because people are looking for an even more engaging experience and they quickly go away from business that does not efficiently fulfill their needs. Most customers think companies are not always meeting their expectations, especially after the return of the in-store purchase. They feel more neglected by the digital customer service department. A bad customer experience makes them choose another brand.
The first challenge in 2023 is to balance the offline and online experience by always ensuring a satisfactory service through different channels. Companies should invest more than ever in a professional contact center system to efficiently handle other conversation methods. They should focus their forces on promptly solving requests in an omnichannel scenario, and be more emphatic with the customers.
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Rising demand for advanced self-service tools
This second aspect is also related to the demand for an even-better CX: It is increasingly clear the need for customers to have alternative support to customer service. They first prefer to solve questions on their own.
Companies have faced this new behavior by implementing new technologies in their support departments, such as chatbots, FAQs, video tutorials, and troubleshooting sections. Building an optimized system of answers to the most common questions is a good strategic choice to invest in in 2023. Both customers and agents can benefit from this scenario: it decreases the number of calls in the queue and consequently, it reduces the waiting time because people only call for more complex issues that they can’t solve on their own.
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AI technologies and UC data analysis to improve the service
These years it is expected to see higher adoption of AI technologies and UC data analysis systems to improve the customer service department. This is an inevitable consequence of the greater customers’ expectations of five-star support. In the upcoming year, companies should implement these methods to improve their service. This doesn’t mean customer service will have a less human approach but implies better organization.
- AI-based technologies help to automate some processes (e.g. IVR messages and call routing system) and consequently streamline the daily activities of the agents so they can focus their forces on straightaway solving customers' issues at their best.
- Analyzing UC data helps to understand the service weaknesses and customers’ common requests and aids to give valuable suggestions on how to enhance the service performance. Leveraging brings great results in providing support and cuts off service costs by decreasing inefficiencies.
Let’s always have to heed that an improved customer service experience goes hand-in-hand with the employee experience. A well-organized and intuitive UC system makes a difference in the relationship between customers and the company because it helps to make agents feel more confident in supporting customers at their best.
Are you among 65% of the companies willing to increase their investments in improving customer experience in 2023? (source: Metrigy research)
Contact our experts to discuss your following plans. They will help you to enhance it and get valuable suggestions on which best UC solutions you should adopt in support of this upcoming goal.
Microsoft-Ribbon Workshop: a precious day to learn and networking
In the Microsoft Italia offices in Milan, last week Mida took part as a speaker at Ribbon Communications’s training day on the news of Microsoft Teams Direct Routing. This in-person technical event was a great opportunity to learn and discuss all the essential information related to corporate communication processes and to network with Ribbon’s partners.
During the morning, the Sales Manager and President of Mida Solutions, Marco Cortese, showcased Mida’s UCaaS applications for Teams. If you could not attend the event, download the slide he presented at this link.
This particular moment of synergies allows Mida to shed light on the new advanced UC solutions and the new licensing methods. Companies should keep in mind what changes occurred during the Covid-19 Pandemic corporate communications. In the last two years, Microsoft faced this topic by proposing in a new way a cutting-edge ecosystem, Microsoft Teams. With 270 million active users per month, this platform has been the most adopted hub to handle interactions.
In this one-day workshop, it was essential to keep in mind how Microsoft redesigned an entire ecosystem, thought about how to connect devices and met all the security parameters required by call handling and UC data management.
Companies worldwide have started to move, more or less gradually, their communications from legacy technologies to Microsoft Teams. This scenario has highlighted a step-by-step migration request which results in the demand for flexible UC solutions. Managers have begun to look for architectures that allow these two technologies to coexist in the same environment. This is one of the main topics highlighted by Marco Cortese during his presentation: Mida has understood this relevant aspect and has designed an advanced UC suite for Microsoft Teams that let companies implement a hybrid model.
In this scenario, being consistent with the high quality and security standards people expect from Microsoft solutions is an essential aspect. Taking care of always ensuring this added value, Mida has chosen to enter the Microsoft Teams certification program. Mida has recently achieved this relevant milestone: Mida Contact Center and Mida Compliance Recorded have recently been certified for Microsoft Teams. Mida is the first Italian company to obtain this valuable acknowledgment.
The workshop attendees highlighted their appreciation for these Cloud UC solutions, which can be activated with a new licensing approach: SaaS. This innovative turnkey model proposed by Mida allows SMB companies to adopt Mida’s solutions to professionally manage their whole business conversations within Microsoft Teams. This approach offloads to Mida all the deployment and management thoughts.
Are you interested in deepening the topic?
Fill out this form to discuss it with our experts. They will get back to you in a flash to help you adopt these solutions or add them to your portfolio.
Contact Center vs Call Center: what you should know
Does your company need a contact center or a call center to handle conversations? This is a critical question to project an efficient customer service strategy.
Customer support features have changed over the years. This is the result of technological evolution and change in people’s behavior. There's been an evolution indeed: customers' interaction with companies and collaboration between employees are increasingly within an omnichannel scenario. Despite this element, not every company has the same requirements and the same customer behaviors. Your decision-makers should choose the right specific UC system to support your customer service activities. They should know the main differences between a contact center and a call center.
The line between these two UC solutions is often fuzzy and we want to shed light on this topic because choosing the wrong center negatively impacts your business growth and your customer satisfaction. It is the first key aspect to be considered when you think about offering a 5-star customer experience!
Let’s analyze them to understand which best suits your business needs.
What is a call center?
The call center is the traditional customer service system that handles inbound and outbound conversations between customers and company representatives through telephones, despite of whether it is a legacy or VoIP call.
An automated call answering system (IVR), with sophisticated distributed algorithms, and a queue manager help this department efficiently answer a huge volume of requests. It decreases the waiting time so callers receive personalized support in the shortest possible time and the most skilled agent can quickly resolve customers’ issues. In this case, a well-trained team makes a difference in this customer support service.
What is a contact center?
The contact center is a more complex customer service system that, unlike the call center, handles inbound and outbound interactions through different channels, such as calls, instant messaging applications, social media, emails, live chats, forums, and SMS. Customers can get in touch with the company in more convenient ways for them. CRM integration is essential: all customers’ information must be well combined in a unique hub.
to promptly handle conversations coming from many channels at the best, agents should have all the information at their fingertips.
So is a contact center just a call center with a step ahead?
It would seem so, but there are other aspects to be considered. The difference between these two systems is not only related to the supported channels but also concerns more complex elements:
- skills: contact center agents are required to have verbal and written skills, social media management skills, and multitasking in addition to empathy and patience, typical in the call center department. They should be familiar with other communication channels and be well-trained for each one.
- customer self-service: with a contact center approach customers have more possibilities to solve their problems by themselves quicker than within a call center. In this last scenario, they can only rely on customizable audio messages (IVR), while in more complex customer service they can count on FAQ webpages, forums, and chatbots. This complete self-service approach reduces costs and employees’ workload because only complex inquiries can be posed to agents.
- technologies: the contact center puts together different channels of communication and this means it needs additional technical elements to efficiently handle a huge number of requests, such as an email response management system to automatically answer emails, and advanced analytics to track KPIs to always improve performances and ensure top-quality service.
The decision of which solutions should be adopted could be tricky if you don’t consider your priority business needs, your products and services, and your customers’ behaviors. Contact one of our experts to discuss your priorities and get the most adapted UC solution.
Microsoft Teams updates - fall 2022
Every month Microsoft shares a long list of new Microsoft Teams updates to improve its user experience. This fall the changes involved meetings, chat, and calling features and now we would like to roll out here a summary with the most relevant ones:
MEETINGS
- Payment system - This new feature will let people pay directly through a payment app in Microsoft Teams for classes, appointments, or events hosted on this platform. This app will be available firstly for businesses in the USA and Canada to be paid in just a few clicks during the meetings, after having connected to this app a third–party payment service such as PayPal or Stripe.
- Speaker Coach - To improve how meetings are presented, the coach speaker service will share in real time on Microsoft Teams private suggestions and feedback on speaking skills, such as “talk slower” or “pay more attention to overlaps”. Valuable insights from the last meeting are also available in Microsoft Teams to let the speaker better perform in the next one.
- Assign virtual seats - An even more cutting-edge user experience will be available during meetings: organizers and presenters can assign virtual seats on Together Mode to make this virtual event more like an in-person one. From the settings options, it will be possible to drag and drop users’ icons to the desired seat.
- Captions transcription - Microsoft Teams premium subscribers can soon let all meeting attendees rely on a real-time captions translation during virtual events in 40 spoken languages. This will help people better to follow presentations by having a more accessible experience.
- Magnify Slide - From December 2022, attendees will privately zoom presentations during Microsoft Teams meetings to greater elements in the slides.
CHAT
- Video Clip - In Microsoft Teams chat, users can soon capture short video clips (up to a minute) to easily reply to a message. The video message can be edited, sent, and playback on desktop, mobile, and browser chat due by late November 2022.
- Unmanaged users invitation - The users external from the company can invite other people to join a group on Microsoft Teams and soon there will be available the possibility to accept this invitation or decide to decline it by leaving the group. A notification of this invitation will appear on Microsoft Teams and it advises the employee to be careful of unknown user messages because they could be spam or phishing attempts.
CALLING
- New call history - More information about calls will be shown on the Microsoft Teams call tab to get a more complete picture of the calling scenario. Users soon will be aware of how all the incoming calls were controlled once received and be informed if they have been transferred or forwarded to them.
- Contact Groups - On the Call Apps, it will be possible to create groups of contacts and, of course, manage the already existing ones and their memberships. This contact organization will help users quickly search for people on the contacts repository.
Stay always tuned on what’s new in Microsoft Teams by reading our monthly newsletter and do not hesitate to contact our experts to know how to leverage your Unified Communications within Microsoft Teams.
Mida Compliance Recorder is now on Zoom Marketplace
Mida Solutions is proud to announce its latest milestone: Mida Compliance Recorder has just been published on Zoom Marketplace. Recently Mida has expanded its portfolio with advanced UC solutions for Zoom to lets companies who daily use this communication and collaboration platform provide five-star customer service by relying on additional professional features. This recording system imports from Zoom the lists of users and the Zoom recordings and show these files to the Zoom users.
Tracking the calls within Zoom has never been so easy: Zoom users can now take advantage of this all-in-one recording system that securely collects and archive any conversation (Zoom-Zoom calls, PSTN-Zoom calls, and calls from PSTN) in the company’s preferred local repository. This kind of centralized storage makes sure that no copy of communications is kept inside Zoom unless the managers want it to.
This cloud-based solution ensures compliance recording by professionally meeting with the latest privacy regulations (GDPR, MiFID II) or internal security protocols. The conversation files are encrypted, compressed, and marked with an anti-tamper signature to guarantee a reliable solution for each industry. These requirements and precautions are typically required in critical environments and financial institutions to avoid unwanted privacy and security issues.
Companies can also get full control of user permissions: administrators can set up the user access level to authorize who can listen and manage the recordings and who can have access, typically the supervisor, to teams’ conversations to understand how the customer service is performing.
The user can access the list of the conversations through this new Zoom App and can manage them through the Playback Station, the intuitive web UI for Mida recording systems. This web page allows users to easily search the archived calls with the call tags and metadata (e.g. telephone extensions and date) fields associated with these conversations. This user-friendly interface also allows the user to add notes and tags to specific calls and download them with a click.
Would you like to get this Compliance Recorder? Your agents will love this reliable and easy-to-use recording solution, also available with an aaS approach.
Sign in now to add it directly from Zoom Marketplace.