VIS Global Pty Ltd

Author: vis@dmin

  • How to make remote working more enjoyable for your employees

    How to make remote working more enjoyable for your employees

    How to make remote working more enjoyable for your employees

    Working from home has become a reality of life for employees all across the world. It hasn’t been easy, with a huge number of people admitting that they are constantly overwhelmed and stressed. Forbes quotes data from Mental Health America where 75% people working from home have reported alarming levels of burnout.
    Being a concerned and responsible employer, there are ways in which you can make remote working a little better for your employees. Here are some of them:
    Touchbase more often
    As a leader, you can always be accessible even when physically absent. The usual sit-downs with your employees may not be possible anymore, but it’s still important to listen to them. Make virtual meet-up sessions with your team mandatory to not just solve issues but to appreciate the efforts of your people in these tough times.

    Foster the team feeling

    As you connect with them more, make sure your employees connect with each other too. In isolated work environments, people need to feel they belong. Technology like UCaaS can help you bring together all your employees together on one platform so that they can interact seamlessly.

    Make it fun

    Commuting to office may have stopped but office parties don’t need to! Today’s communication solutions come packed with innovative features to create the perfect fun atmosphere. There are exciting suggestions galore on the internet that you can look up as well.

    Get creative with feedback

    Delivering feedback to their team is a sensitive area many managers struggle with, even under normal circumstances. One needs to be able to teach and correct without appearing critical or negative. It is even more complicated when working remotely. Mastering the art of virtual feedback has become more important than ever. As a business owner, explore the potential of tools and technology like real-time monitoring, to streamline feedback processes.

    Trust and let go

    Last but not least, curb the urge to micromanage your employees. When working remotely, it is but natural to keep checking on their productivity, but if you have clearly cut goals and deliverables assigned to them, trust that the job will be done. It is a tremendous boost to your team’s morale to know that you have confidence in them.

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  • UCaaS – The next big thing in enterprise communications

    UCaaS – The next big thing in enterprise communications

    UCaaS – The next big thing in enterprise communications

    If the current trend of business operations in the wake of the pandemic has made one thing evident,then it is the need for a unified business communications platform to ensure seamless connectivity across locations and departments. Many business owners therefore are fast-tracking their future intention of exploring a solution like UCaaS overnight, in a bid to keep up with the changing times.

    What exactly is UCaaS?

    • ‘Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is a cloud-delivered unified communications model that supports six communications functions:
    • Enterprise telephony
    • Meetings (audio/video/web conferencing)
    • Unified messaging
    • Instant messaging and presence (personal and team)
    • Mobility
    • Communications-enabled business processes’

                                                                                   – Gartner

    In other words, UCaaS combines voice, video and messaging solutions to provide one holistic centralized cloud-based communications platform.

    How does it work?

    UCaaS has shifted enterprise communications from on-premise traditional set-ups to the cloud, promoting the rise of vendors who specialize in providing the service. Good vendors rely on their own expertise, form partnerships where necessary- especially when deploying third party servers or APIs, and take into consideration your existing communication technology before designing the customized package of UCaaS features that is best for you.

    Benefits of UCaaS :

    Cost-effective: Being a cloud-based solution, you no longer have to spend on hardware and only have to pay a per user rate, reducing communication costs drastically.

    Unified Approach: With UCaaS, you are able to integrate all your multiple communication channels on to a single unified platform, thereby providing seamless connectivity between all stakeholders.

    Greater flexibility: As remote working becomes the norm for more and more companies across the world, UCaaS ensures that it is business as usual no matter where your employees and customers are based.

    Better Security: In an age where data and information security have become more crucial than ever, UCaaS provides peace of mind by placing security right at the centre of its communication strategies and technology.

    More Scalable: UCaaS does away with the hassles of adding and removing hardware, making it easier to adapt your communications system with the changing needs of your business.

     

    As a business owner trying to ensure productivity and revenue while delivering value to your customers in a world that is in an unprecedented flux right now, UCaaS may turn out to be more resourceful for your business than you had previously imagined.

     

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  • The rise of the new – normal CEO

    The rise of the new – normal CEO

    The rise of the new – normal CEO

    It’s not easy wearing a CEO’s hat, and it is definitely harder during troubled times. Naturally, most business owners weren’t prepared to face the tough challenges of operating in a pandemic, but to their credit have discovered the merit of using this time for reflection and adaptation.
    As a result, a new kind of leadership is slowly emerging, one based on an empathetic understanding of human issues and transformative action towards solving those issues. CEOs are bidding adieu to many old habits and practices and welcoming a host of others, some of which are as follows:

    EX and CX

    With millions of customers resorting to virtual business worldwide, one thing is clear. Employees, especially your customer care teams, need the right training and resources to handle the spike without compromising on quality and losing morale. CEOs are realising that an improved EX (employee experience) leads to a superior CX (customer experience), leading them to upgrade their contact centres with the latest technology that empowers agents.

    Unified Communication

    In the absence of physical interactions, CEOs are pushing the boundaries of traditional communication means by investing in technology like UCaaS  and the cloud to maintain a steady flow of dialogue  across units and verticals. Not only within their companies, business leaders are also increasingly communicating, collaborating and sharing best practices with peers, necessistating teh use of latest technology  in unified communication communications.

    Reimagining

    Instead of doggedly pursuing goals with uncertain outcomes, CEOs are seizing the opportunity to reimagine the scope of their business. Problems are being identified as new sources of revenue, opening up new channels of growth and brands are venturing into territories they would have shunned or delayed otherwise. Decisions to automate specific functions and reskill the workforce to support the new vision are being undertaken at a rapid pace.

    Cybersecurity

    Aware that increased virtual communication is exposing their businesses to greater cybercrime risks, CEOs are pulling out all the stops to amp up cyber security. Experts are being called to design robust IT ecosystems equipped with advanced security solutions so that company data remains protected even as business continues as usual. Realtime monitoring tools along with instant updates ensure you always stay a step ahead of threats and breaches.

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  • Bringing your business up to speed

    Bringing your business up to speed

    Bringing your business up to speed

    In business it is all about speed. How fast you make decisions, how fast you deliver and how fast you scale up. There’s one factor though, that determines how fast you go- technology. If CEOs had embarked on a path of digital transformation of their businesses before, in the post-pandemic world they have begun taking giant strides towards fulfilling that vision to maintain business continuation in challenging times and hopefully aim for growth.
    However, there is a problem. As a business owner you are acutely aware of the value of investing in a solid technological strategy, but roadblocks in terms of people, planning and approach keep slowing down the deployment process.

    How do you overcome those roadblocks and speed up digitalization
    in your organisation? Here is a checklist:

    Get them on your side

    When it comes to change, people and their mindsets pose some of the biggest problems. Gather your function heads, stakeholders and thought-leadership and have open discussions. If automating certain processes requires restructuring your organisation, then it is better to have those conversations beforehand to avoid any dissent in later stages.

    Have a detailed plan

    Specifying the technological scope and drafting a blueprint is crucial. Re-engineering and digitalizing your business may be your holistic objective, but then it is time to look through the microscope to identify the exact business problems and requirements that you expect technology to solve. Then simply break down your project into achievable milestones.

    Training your team:

    Your service is as good as your training. While you do realise that, sometimes it becomes difficult to identify the training needs of such a diverse cross-section of people. Thankfully, technologically advanced dashboards provide just the real-time monitoring tools and resources to help your contact centre address concerns like the ones mentioned above.

    Time to go lean

    Over the years, integrating the lean concept of transforming businesses while eliminating waste of resources, time and budget has proven to be a successful approach towards digitalization. Developing a lean outlook entails a number of benefits like leveraging the right technology to address the right problem, enhancing customer experience when they engage with your brand and helping you design more sustainable practices for your company in the future.

    Rope in the experts

    Cloud, AI, robotics and third-party applications- modern technology is as effective in solving your business problems as it is baffling! While staying updated on the latest trends is a good idea, your key responsibilities might not leave you with time for that. With the right consultants and experts working with you, formulating and deploying the right technological infrastructure for your business is really easy.

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  • Real-time monitoring: The missing link in your contact centre

    Real-time monitoring: The missing link in your contact centre

    Real-time monitoring: The missing link in your contact centre

    As a business-owner, it is one thing to promise best-in-class customer service. Ensuring that you adhere to it is another, mostly because of the wide range of variables involved in the process, some of which are stated below:

    The human factor:

    It is true that modern contact centres are increasingly becoming more and more automated. However, at the end of the day, the onus of your customer service operations relies on your team of selected professionals. This means that you cannot overrule the possibility of human errors.

    Time is of the essence:

    As the saying goes, ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’ By the time escalations reach you, the damage is already done and chances of bringing back your frustrated customer are less. In today’s fast-paced business world, timely resolutions are of utmost importance to retain your loyal customers.

    Training your team:

    Your service is as good as your training. While you do realise that, sometimes it becomes difficult to identify the training needs of such a diverse cross-section of people. Thankfully, technologically advanced dashboards provide just the real-time monitoring tools and resources to help your contact centre address concerns like the ones mentioned above.

    Here is how:

    Instant insights:

    Real-time monitoring provides an instant insight into your team’s performance, enabling you to track their metrics like adherence to the script, compliance guidelines and company protocol, drastically reducing the margin of human errors. Deep diving into the data helps you identify the star agents and those who need further training in specific areas.

    Enhances productivity:

    Dashboard widgets and tools give you an overview of statistics like call handling times, idle time and missed calls among others to help you understand where you stand in terms of your team’s productivity as well as that of your overall business goal.

    Happier customers:

    At the end of the day, your main objective is to service customers promptly and provide faster resolutions. With real-time monitoring options, you can adapt, change, step in or rectify on the go, depending on the scenario.

    In today’s challenging times when teams are scattered across locations, a contact centre equipped with real-time monitoring solutions helps you deliver smooth and seamless service, just as you promised your customers.

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  • Gamification in business – Not just fun and games

    Gamification in business – Not just fun and games

    Gamification in business – Not just fun and games

    If there is one thing Human Resources departments across the world continue to grapple with, it is the matter of enhancing employee engagement. A lot of it involves an understanding of human behaviour and psychology, and their impact on the overall productivity of a business. It may be difficult to quantify every single behavioural trigger that encourages or demotivates employees, but there is one key truth about human nature that business owners have found to be instrumental in boosting workforce morale- viz, the sense of gratification people derive from appreciation. Technology has proved to be of great benefit here, by providing innovative means and methods to demonstrate appreciation through gamification.

    What exactly is gamification?

    Gamification comprises a plethora of interactive tools and resources like quizzes, games and modules that track, showcase and recognise employee contribution in business. It highlights individual performances, incentivises top contributors and stokes the desire to excel.

    How does gamification work?

    Gamification works in a two-pronged manner in case of employers and employees.

    The employee angle:

    Instant gratification- Games and quizzes unleash the inner child in employees as they delight in the points, rewards and bonuses they receive on winning. Rekindles joy- Gamification makes work fun and brings back the lost sense of joy that people experienced when they began their jobs. Fosters healthy competition- Leaderboards displaying everyone’s scores and performances openly cultivate an environment of healthy competition that inspire people to give their best to their work.

    The employer angle:

    Instant feedback- Gamification allows team leads and supervisors to monitor their team’s performance vis-à- vis their long-terms goals, enabling them to offer faster feedback.
    Identifies training needs- It is easy to identify team- members who are consistently performing below their potential in the games and tasks, so that training programmes can be designed to bring them up the curve. Promotes transparency- By sharing performances and results of employees for all to see, business owners demonstrate a spirit of fairness and transparency that may not be visible in the usual annual review system. Used judiciously and effectively, gamification might turn out to be a real game-changer for businesses trying to drive employee engagement in these challenging post- pandemic times when people’s collective morale is at an all-time low.

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  • The ‘E’ word that is becoming the cornerstone of modern businesses

    The ‘E’ word that is becoming the cornerstone of modern businesses

    The ‘E’ word that is becoming the cornerstone of modern businesses

    ‘Empathy’ – sidelined for long as just a soft skill, is slowly transforming the course of business. In these challenging times, many forward-thinking CEOs have begun to truly realise the need for empathy as a core value, placing it right at the heart of their company’s culture.

     

    It is here that technology plays a key role. In a world where millions of people are relying on virtual services more than ever before, technology enables you to digitalise your business and empower your employees to understand customer problems better, so that you can provide the best solutions in a timely manner.

    Here are some ways in which technology helps you implement
    empathy as a value in your business, from your products and
    services to your daily communication and transactions:

    Boosting customer-centricity

    An intelligent and robust customer service model goes a long way in providing empathetic solutions to your customers’ problems. Be it advanced cloud-based contact centres designed with Conversational IVR and AI-based features, or a hybrid system comprising brick-and-mortar as well as contact centre services depending on the nature of your business, technology has revolutionised customer service in unprecedented ways.

    Empowering your employees:

    To build teams with empathy as their driving force, it is important to equip them with the tools and resources that help them do their jobs better. For instance, investing in or upgrading to automated, intuitive sales modules with predictive analytics and data-mining features enhances the effectiveness of your sales force leading to greater
    productivity, more sales and increased customer loyalty.

    Improving and evolving

    Let’s face it. Mastering empathy is a continuous process and needs your constant attention. Modern sophisticated technology comes with built in feedback mechanisms, real-time monitoring options, data and insights so that you are aware of what is working and what is not when it comes to providing customer service based on empathy, helping in instant course-correction.

    While you may have focused on empathy as a business trait all along, its far-reaching impact on various aspects of your business are only becoming more evident in today’s post-pandemic world.

    With the right technological solutions and upgrades as briefly discussed here, you can turn empathy into a key differentiating factor in terms of how your customers perceive your brand vis-à-vis your competition.

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  • Digital transformation – Let’s talk about the evolution along with the revolution

    Digital transformation – Let’s talk about the evolution along with the revolution

    Digital transformation – Let’s talk about the evolution along with the revolution

    The digital revolution is in full swing, but is technology your friend or foe? As a business owner, are you maximizing its full potential or are you unable to use it to your advantage yet?


    Technology, no matter how advanced, is powerless without you driving it in the right direction of your goals and objectives. In that sense therefore, a digital revolution is only as good as your own evolution.

    What does that mean?
    • It means how well you are able to keep pace with the changes around you.
    • It implies an evolution of your vision to spot just the innovations and adaptations that will solve your problems and take your business to new heights.
    • It also refers to your strategic prowess in formulating successful rollouts and plans that execute your vision in the way you want.

    How does one go about it?

    You have to want it badly. It may sound obvious, but you have to be absolutely convinced of the transformative role of digitalisation. You have to make technology the lens through which you view every aspect of your business. Would machine learning in your organisation’s data analysis perhaps add more value? Could an AI-based customer service approach deliver a more empathetic customer experience? How can you use technology to yield better outcomes?
    But not just for the sake of it. Finding the right balance between taking risks and proceeding with caution is of paramount importance. The world is on the brink of entering a digital era where each innovation is more phenomenal than the last. Itis tempting to latch on to the bandwagon and invest in emerging trends. However, in your bid to change, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Sometimes, reimagining existing legacy infrastructure that has served you well, and then scaling up by including new technology is the way to go.

    Know where you are at.

    Be honest with yourself through your journey of digital transformation. Identify what stage you are at. Are you just testing the waters and first putting together a robust IT infrastructure in place? Have you taken the plunge and now want to dive into advanced innovations like Internet of Things, Blockchain and 5G? Awareness and introspection help you take the right decisions every step of the way towards fulfilling your digitalisation goals.

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  • Deliver on your customer service commitments with Conversational IVR

    Deliver on your customer service commitments with Conversational IVR

    Deliver on your customer service commitments with Conversational IVR

    Here is a familiar scenario. Your customers want to connect with you for solutions to their problems. You want to jump to it right away and help them too. But your outdated IVR system comes in between and disrupts the connection. Too many inputs and actions required from them, combined with endless waiting on the line often make it a frustrating experience for your customers, which if not addressed in time may even cost you their business.

     

    In addition, the pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the customer service industry, with understaffed call centres trying to keep up with unprecedented spikes in call volumes. Luckily, Conversational IVR technology has developed over the years to evolve into just the customer service solution your business can benefit from.

    Let’s take a look at some of its advantages:

    Simple to navigate: With automated voice commands, the number of steps customers need to follow to reach their solution is drastically reduced, making the process simple and customer-friendly.
    Saves time: Conversational IVR systems are designed to understand customer problems right at the outset. In case the solution is more complex and requires additional support, the system redirects customers to your service team without delay.
    Cost-effective: The longer your customers are on the line waiting for a resolution, the more money it costs you. Intelligent Conversational IVR’s interactive self- service technology leads to faster resolution cycles and therefore substantial savings.
    The personal touch: Advanced Conversational IVR uses a combination of AI and NLP (Natural Language Processing), which enables technology to respond to your customers’ speech and voice. Not only that, insights and data from such interactions are then constantly utilised to further improve future experiences.
    Dynamic and smart: A contact centre running on Conversational IVR is easier to manage and monitor with real-time analytics, tools and updates. Timely reports and overviews enable you to make informed decisions without breaking a sweat, helping you to continuously finetune your customer service system.
    Conversational IVR is also a great way to rewrite your brand’s story by building your image as an organisation that cares for its customers. If that is part of your business vision, then an upgrade to Conversational IVR could be a powerful way to achieve your goal.

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  • SDWAN – Future of Branch Network and Voice Infrastructure After Effects of COVID19

    SDWAN – Future of Branch Network and Voice Infrastructure After Effects of COVID19

    SDWAN – Future of Branch Network and Voice Infrastructure After Effects of COVID19

    SD-WAN, or software-defined WAN, is exploding at the rate of knots and is the hottest topic within the networking space right now. The Internet has fuelled countless technological advancements and presented organisations with incredible opportunities to expand geographically reaching more customers and enabling greater employee productivity and collaboration.

    So, what’s the role of SD-WAN in current COVID 19 pandemic?

    Over the past few weeks, it’s an understatement to say that the
    COVID-19 pandemic has changed every facet of our lives.
    Organisations everywhere, including businesses, educational
    institutions, and public venues such as airports and stadiums, are
    all adapting to these times. The COVID-19 pandemic has now
    forced nearly every country worldwide to rethink their strategies,
    business continuity plans and their readiness for such pandemics
    in future.

    Many organisations have either recommended or mandated
    employees to work from home. The work from home users need
    to access their corporate applications with the same high-quality
    experience as they would have from their office. It is a must now
    for an organisation to empower its employees to carry out
    business activities and to ensure business continuity. Going
    forward, this will permanently change the way we work, learn to
    connect, worship and simply how we live & connect in community
    with each other.

    What will change and why SD-WAN?
    Organisations would increasingly adopt SD-WAN for the home
    networks to support their remote workforce, given the SD-WAN
    software-defined approach and benefits. As the network usage
    increases, the WAN struggles to keep up with demands from
    users and bandwidth-hungry applications. Inevitably, applications
    become slow and unreliable, causing frustration and agitation to
    both the business and their customers. Pursuing and gaining the
    maximum advantage out of wide-area networks (WANs) has
    become a business imperative.

     

    Also, cloud-hosted applications would raise the stakes for edge
    network performance; enterprises would require even greater
    WAN reliability, agility and performance to leverage the cloud’s
    economies of scale. They must turn to SD-WANs to achieve CapEx
    and OpEx savings, reduce complexity and be secure.

    Author – Yougender Kumar

    Vice President
    VIS Global

     
    Yougender is a visionary leader having strong business acumen with proven record of delivering high growth, turning underperforming businesses, streamlining operations, improving systems & procedures and building high performing teams. He has spent more than 25 years in diverse leadership positions in companies like Cisco Systems, Airtel, Avaya Global, Tata Telecom leading large-scale technical and transformational global programs that focus on delivering business outcomes. Yougender joined VIS Global in 2019, a technology services company, to drive Customer Success and Digital Engagement. If you are interested in discussing these challenges and the way forward, you can get in touch with Yougender at
    yougender.kumar@visglobal.com.au

    This trend would spur networking technologies like SD-WAN that are making transformational changes in the way enterprises deploy next-generation WAN architecture. So, SD-WAN is going to be on a roll.

    What are the benefits of SD-WAN?

    Speed to market

     

    The technology has been built on the premise that as organisations undergo digital transformation, they need a networking solution that can adapt quickly. SD- WAN allows for changes to be made  immediately and centrally to an entire system or network at one time all through a single interface with great ease.

    Cost savings

     

    Connecting geographically dispersed offices or branches can hit IT budgets hard and be inordinately expensive to maintain. SD-WAN allows a business to expand its network more efficiently, circumventing its reliance on traditional providers.

    A Higher Quality Experience
     

    A particularly appealing characteristic of SD-WAN is its policy-controlled environment, which enables businesses to manage multiple types of connections. For example, it could ensure that an MPLS virtual
    private network (VPN) always has priority for network connectivity, while giving secondary priority to high-bandwidth traffic such as video. An SD-WAN solution also allows for dynamic path selection, early detection
    of congestion points resulting in optimised load balancing so that high-quality data transfer is maintained.

    Zero-Touch Provisioning and Deployment


    SDWAN technology enables Provisioning and deployment of SDWAN in the branch very fast with zero-touch, which makes it simple. Physical appliances are configured before shipping and virtual appliance images are burned before posting so that in many cases, organisations do not even need technical personnel physically in the branch to do the SD-WAN install. All administration and reporting take place centrally managed SDWAN controller.

    Performance Blind Spots


    Gain unprecedented visibility into network and application performance for proactive management and ongoing innovation.

    Reduced MPLS Dependency


    Augment MPLS links with less expensive links by transforming abundant, affordable broadband bandwidth to high-quality enterprise class links with the four nines reliability expected from MPLS.

    While employees would be back working in the offices, social distancing would still be practised at work and large congregations of people would still be avoided, meetings would still be conducted virtually. SD-WAN as technology going to be must for an organisation to empower its employees to carry out business activities and to ensure business continuity…

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