How to use telephony to drive digital transformation

Digital transformation. It’s the strategic priority that every business should be focusing on. It’s what will help drive future revenue growth, boost employee morale and win over customers. The ability to transform with technology will be what keeps your business competitive and provide the positive disruption every IT leader needs.

It’s likely you’ve heard this all before. But what does digital transformation mean in practice?

Put simply, it’s about accelerating your business with digital tools. It’s an ongoing process that requires both long-term and short-term plans. This means while it’s important to focus on what technologies can drive your business tomorrow, it’s equally important to know what systems and tools you can begin to replace today.

Telephony should be a key consideration here. With BT’s plan to phase out traditional ISDN within the next decade, smart businesses are looking at how their telecoms systems can transition now.

The call of change

Today’s digital revolution is customer-led. Businesses are trying to mirror the speed, convenience and flexibility that people are experiencing in their personal lives to transform the workplace for the better. With consumer mobile usage on the up, and connectivity a common feature for all new technologies, businesses should be looking at how their infrastructure and processes can adapt with these major trends.

According to Gartner, there’s set to be nearly 6.4 billion devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) by 2020. And while consumers will account for the greater number of them, businesses will account for the largest share of device spend. Because of that, it’s imperative to ensure your telecoms infrastructure is up to the task.

Today, there are solutions that bridge current needs and future demands. For example, SIP trunking replaces the traditional telephone line with an IP-based alternative, delivered over the internet so that data and voice networks can be streamlined. While converged telecoms solutions are allowing workers at home, in the office and on-the-go the same mobile and fixed-line functionality, regardless of their device. These innovations are here now, and are ready to be incorporated into the connected future.

Think customer first

The best way to approach digital transformation is to think about the customer experience. What will benefit your customers will in turn help your employees, and the overall goals of the business. Consider your successes and struggles today: are customers forced to run through a list of voice prompts for every single call? Or does endless muzak, poor voice recognition systems and intrusive texting mar their experiences? Knowing what can be improved in one area of the business can help steer digital transformation as a whole.

Here you can use current technology to your advantage. Text alerts can free up both your customer’s time and your employees’ call handing duties. Call monitoring statistics can help improve your customer service strategy, and improve the work of marketing and sales departments with greater insight. Not to mention shorter call durations and reduced transfers can lead to greater customer satisfaction.

Put your customer’s experiences first, and the rest will follow. With the right telecoms technology, you can future proof your company while also improving processes, performance and satisfaction.

At Gamma, we’re true believers in prioritising the customer. So much so, 50% of our customer service calls are proactive, outbound calls. That means half the time, we’re getting in touch with you to keep you informed and to make sure everything is running smoothly.