IMPORTANCE OF CONTACT CENTERS/ CALL CENTERS TO SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE BUSINESS

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsContact Center AutomationContact Center SolutionsCRMCustomer Flow ManagementEntrepreneurshipMarketing

 

Business development is the ultimate goal of every entrepreneur; increase in lead generation and conversion of the same to business are the joy of business owners. Since business doesn’t grow all by the operation alone, customer relationships take the undebatable position in business development.

A call centers also known as contact center is a centralized office used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries which could be via telephone, mail and other measurable platforms. It could literally be termed “information bank” of every organization.

Contact centers controls wealth of information to uncover trends that may influence the profitability of businesses, provide ideas for new products and services and mitigate problems before they start impacting business operations.

 Types of Call centers or contact centers

Inbound, outbound and automated are the three major types of call centers for any business; Businesses can adopt any of these three types of call centers for the business according to their capacity.

Inbound Call Centers: this type of contact center is used to carter for customers service enquiries, observation and transaction via chat support, email responses, technology support and loyalty programs. It could be stationed in the corporate office or outsourced.

Outbound Call Centers: This is the major center mainly use or sales, promotions and market research. It can provide election polling, warranty extensions, appointment scheduling for cable television, call backs for online price quotes, and following up on leads for products and services sales.

Automated Call Centers: It is an advance call center; this is involved the use of advance technology elements to automate the operations of the customer service representative on the computer devices. This provides a dramatical support to reduce the overall TAT and streamline your customers waiting on an IVR.

Is there any difference between call center and contact center?

Literarily, call center deals with voice calls while contact center controls the management of every contacts. Operationally, most call centers have the capacity to handle queries across various platforms like mail, live chat, messaging etc.

Now, it is rare to see an organization separating call center from contact centers, it is therefore positioned to be the same while the names can be used interchangeably.

IMPORTANCE OF CALL CENTRE TO BUSINESSES

In case you are wondering what, you start to gain with call center in your business or how it will transform your operations, here are few undeniable benefits of call center;

  1. It helps to boost your brand reputation and representation
  2. Call center enhance customers loyalty and confidence
  3. It helps to increase sales and avoid lost opportunities
  4. Call center provides competitive advantages
  5. It aids smooth communication flow between your organization and your customers
  6. Call center ensure smooth analytics of customers expectation and satisfactions. Etc.

WHY SCIMITAR GLOBAL SERVICE LIMITED

At Scimitar Global Service Limited, it is not just about the software, structural, or the setting but we believe in professionalism which is not limited to skills but spread across creative problem-solving, customer centric, empathy, transparency, accountability, integrity, ownership, reliability and other virtues that constituted our values in our area of operation.

You have much to gain when you partner with us to bring your closer to your operations. We are not far away just make a request for a demo and we are right at your corridor. Looking forward to receive your request.

How Your Call Center Agents Can Work from home with HoduCC

How To Effectively Setup, Launch And Manage A Remote Call Center Solution For Your Business

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsComplaints Management ModuleContact Center AutomationContact Center SolutionsCRMDigital MarketingMicrosoft 365Microsoft Dynamics 365Small BusinessSocial Media EngagementTraining , Development and EmpowermentVideo Engagements and Conferencing Solution

How to effectively setup, launch and manage your remote call center for your Business 

With the advent of corona virus pandemic newbie aka COVID-19, a lot of businesses were forced to shut down their operations as directed by World Health Organization (WHO) and Governments in order to flatten the curve of infection and reduce the spread of the virus.   While some businesses may not really be affected as they fall within the allowed number of staff and can still practice social distancing in their offices; Some businesses with large number of employee siting in one space like Call centers were forced to shut down.  So many jobs were lost and the lucky ones were asked to work from home. The Former could be seen as those businesses who do not already have remote work policy  in place and now cut unawares; unlike the latter, who already have in time past embraced work from home policy.

So we can say that many contact center employees lost their jobs as the allowed number of agents had to be reduced to maintain social distancing while some who have embraced remote work technology were able to ensure their business continued by making them work from home.  The reality right now is that perhaps even after this pandemic, remote work may become a standard for many of these businesses, having survived and stabilizing, given the circumstances.

So here is how you can effectively setup, launch and manage your remote call center

1) Getting the right Call center Technology.

You need to check if your existing call center or contact center technology supports Remote work.  Does it support Omnichannels remotely? If Yes, then you can set up the remote work service and launch. But if you do not have that, then you have to either consider buying a new Virtual Call center Solution  that support remote or Virtual call center Agents or renting or leasing a Contact Center as a Service  a cloud platform as a services from SGSL) You also need to embrace Vide conferencing for face-to-face meetings with your agents, this goes a long way on communication.

Once you have recognized the need for a Call Center as a service or a new Solution, you need to find a suitable vendor like SGSL who meets your requirements. We understand that there are so many Call center Solution Software and providers in Nigeria but here are some pointers that can help you to shortlist the right vendor for you.

You need a web browser-based Call center application with automatic inbound and outbound Call features as well as Automatic call distribution. This will get your agents up and running more quickly and help improve quality without having to install any software on their system. SGSL offers options based on your budget book a demo

 

2) Ensure Secure Network connectivity between agents systems and your Systems.

Your IT and Network team must ensure agents can work over a secured network.  They need to have work-approved personal firewalls on their computers to protect home-based internet connections so that no one else, including neighbors, can get on the network.   Except the business is providing them with laptops and computers to work from Home. Agents should authenticate to the network so that, even if log-in information is saved, they face an extra step that authenticates the agent is personally accessing the service and that someone else is not using their computer to gain access to confidential files.

3) Training the agents on remote work with the new technology.

If you are getting a new Cloud Call Center technology which supports remote work and maintains all channels your agents are used to.  Then Train each team member on all available channels on the new or existing solution that you’ll be using, so that they are fully aware of the functionality and tools available even remotely. No Assumptions!

4) Ensure that you Have a central Monitoring system for management of your Agents

Remote monitoring solutions come as part of features of Robust Call center solutions and this helps Businesses to monitor networks and endpoints from a remote location. By using a monitoring tools, Call center managers and IT teams can in real-time get notifications and remotely take action to solve problems. These solutions are invaluable for enterprises who need to keep on-premise systems functional while employees work from home. Cloud Contact centers on the other hand are always on 24/7.

5) Launch!

6) Set up a Collaborative channel of communication and ensure to communicate your expectations.

This is to create a sense of purpose which should be supported with putting systems in place to collect real-time data on individual and group performance. Embrace conferencing like Vidyo, Team, Skype and Zoom, have scheduled meetings with the team to ensure everyone is on page.

7) Set Up a Quality Assurance System to promote accountability from both supervisors and agents;

Working from home or remotely has its challenges, so it is very important that you ensure your quality of service does not drop  by setting up QA systems to ensure accountability, even with your employees working from there homes. This will enable remote managers to have a deep level of observation and metrics about the KPIs that matter most to the business. Because through this data that you can give good feedback and coaching, which opens up the door for autonomy and getting work done.

8) Ensure accountability by communicating your Key Performance Indicators to your teams

You must regularly communicate the organization’s KPIs and  also monitor performance with systems and processes to ensure that all responsibilities and commitments are clearly understood.

 

In conclusion, setting up, launching and effectively manage  a Virtual Contact center requires that you get it right first time in order to set your team members up for success.  From choosing the right technology, to providing clear expectations, training your agents on the tools and resources they can use, and then providing a framework for accomplishing their goals; including guidance and parameters for measuring performance. With this done, Launch and encourage your center agents get to work.  All you need do, is to regularly monitor remotely through your technology with scheduled check-ins and regular communications of their performance which you can see in real-time.

 

Scimitar Global Services Limited  (SGSL) Is Call Center Software Provider In Lagos Nigeria That Provides You With Technology Driven Solutions And Services For Your Business.  We Specialize In The Fusion Of Business Processes And Modern Technology As Our Strategy To Help Optimize Your Sales, Marketing And Customer Service Activities For Increase Sales Revenue And To Achieve Significant Cost Reduction For Your Business.

Here are details of our Contact Center as a Service offering.

 

Learn More about our Omnichannel Contact center Solutions here so that you can book a demo for free.

 

How Insurance Companies Can Process Claims Efficiently After A Protest Like #ENDSARS

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsComplaints Management ModuleContact Center AutomationContact Center SolutionsCRMMicrosoft Modern Business SolutionsVideo Engagements and Conferencing Solution

With reports of widespread destruction, looting, injuries and even death after the #ENDSARS protest in Nigeria, where Youths for the first time took the bull by the horns by mobilizing against #PoliceBrutality by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad; Insurance companies must be gearing up for what we project to be the mother of claims in view of the aftermath of the wanton destruction recorded.

The rampage by the so-called hoodlums who were said to have hijacked the protest, left in its trail a lot of burnt and destroyed buildings from police stations, to Government and private offices as well as banks, shopping malls, media houses and the toll plaza where it all began as a peaceful protest. The unarmed protesters were alleged to have been shot at by some armed men in military uniforms in their bid to disperse them, having occupied the toll gate for days costing the government uncollected funds in millions and this snowballed into a violent mob actions with several vehicles, buildings, and properties across the country vandalized, looted and burnt.  The number of lives lost is still being compiled from various areas with the military denying that they shot at the unarmed and peaceful protesting youths.

As a Business Owner, my heart bled watching the carnage and destruction to private businesses who also were in the same quagmire that birthed the protest and the honest questions on my mind are  “How will small and medium businesses come out of this in our kind of country” , “Who will help you bear the cost of these huge losses?”  “Do those who have these damaged properties even have insurance on their properties?” My fear is that most of them may fall into the negative category.

On the other Hand, Are our Insurance companies ready and buoyant enough to stand in the gap for all the businesses cut in this carnage or crossfire as it were? that’s considering the vast area of coverage, that claims assessors must visit in order to process claims. That will definitely require a robust technology by the insurance company to gather the claims from all points of incidence and process them to evaluate and separate the coverable claims from the ones which will not be considered, more like a Force majeure. Why?   Because most insurance contracts exclude losses and damages due to a riot, mob action and war.

In all, there will be lots of data collation, site visitation, claims verification and evaluation process and it its expedient that Insurance companies have the right technology to do this effectively and efficiently.

Customer relationship management in the insurance industry is sensitive as they always deal with a very emotional situations and transactions which requires a sense of duty and commitment because most customers reach out to them during or after a time of distress. It is expedient that a human face backed by a sophisticated customer interaction technology which stores, processes and analyzes the data to enable personalized customer support.

Here are some InsurTech Business Use cases for Insurance Companies and how they can improve the claims process even in a pandemic or crisis.

SN TECHNOLOGY  BUSINESSS USE CASES
1 An Omnichannel Contact Center Solution

 
  • Offering Superior Customer Experience – Improving the customer experience across customer life cycle
  • Claims Processing – Handling customer claims request for reimbursement
2 Video Insurance Solution
  • Offering Superior Customer Experience – Improving the customer experience across customer life cycle
  • Claims Processing – Handling customer claims request for reimbursement
  • Premium Reminders & Collections – Managing premium reminders and collections
3 A Core Insurance application Premium Reminders & Collections – Managing premium reminders and collections
4 Sales Force Automation
  • Improving Digital Sales – New customer acquisition/ cross-sell or up-sell opportunities
  • Premium Reminders & Collections – Managing premium reminders and collections
5 Customer Relationship management Software for Complaints and Support
  • Offering Superior Customer Experience – Improving the customer experience across customer life cycle
  • Premium Reminders & Collections – Managing premium reminders and collections

Risks are inherent for any Business, from a suit to a mob action like #ENDSARS or even natural disaster and acts of God can ruin happen bring huge losses and also someone can get injured within your environment. So, it is very important that as an insurance company you should consider leveraging Technology for improve your claims processes and reducing fraud in serving your customers.

Scimitar Global Services Limited (SGSL) is an information, communications and Technology Company in Nigeria that provides you with Modern Business  and Fintech solutions like Call Centers, Video Banking, Video Insurance, Sales Automation, Complaints and Queue Management Solutions  for your Businesses.

Contact us today for a discovery session with your team and demonstration of our solutions of choice at not cost.

Book a free Demo today for your Insurance company. You can request for a live demo here  for free, so that we can show you in an online demonstration, how it works and the values it offers.    Book a live demo here now

Affordable Contact Center Solution for Small and Medium Businesses

Affordable Call Center Solution for Small Businesses

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsComplaints Management ModuleContact Center AutomationContact Center SolutionsCRMDigital MarketingEntrepreneurshipSmall Business

Call Center or Contact Centers like we prefer to call them these days are customer service unit of an organization where they receive all inbound communications from and also make outbound communications to both new and existing customers. This communication is mostly through telephone calls and the customer service team also know as Agents, that receive the inbound calls are expected to act as advisory and support Staff to the callers.

It is a Call center when all that happens is calls and seen as an Omnichannel contact center when communications now includes Email, SMS and Chat.

Big companies like those in the Banking and Manufacturing sectors that have large customer base usually have call centres for the purpose of managing complaints, handling inquiries and offering customers support. Some of them outsource to BPOs to handle these activities and share daily reports so that they can focus on their main business.

Call centers can be as simple as a PBX Telephony to a complex application with all the Key Call Center Software Features of a robust Contact center Solution and theses come in various cost milestones that Small businesses like ours cannot carry due to cash flow

So to ensure and support your business and also provided you with the right technology that sets your business apart like a customer centric organization we have our Call Assist Cloud-based IVR (Interactive Voice Response) service designed for Small and Medium businesses to manage inbound calls more professionally.

This is solution is affordable and offers various benefits to your business which includes:

  • Professional image of the business as you will
  • Improved productivity of your team as the calls will be routed to the right staff or teams or department concerned.
  • Cost savings on hardware or software installation as you do not need to buy any software
  • You will only need any mobile phone that your teams carry normally or you get a phone box to make it stationary.
  • Online phone directory to give you report of your daily calls and activities
  • Manage incoming calls based on predefined hours of operation

Your Calls are not recorded so your team needs to ensure to take proper records of the calls or maybe record the calls directly on their mobile and archive them for future references.

How does it work

  1. Contact us by Filling the form here
  2. Give us your proposed number of users or departments ( This is for us to confirm your number of Agents or departments where the calls will be routed Also we need to confirm if you want to use your own MTN line of get MTN lines from us as an MTN SIM registration partner)
  3. You will be given the commercials for set up and the service, this is an annual service and renewable every year.
  4. You will also provide us with your welcome message
  5. You will advise on how you want your calls to ring either  “First to Pick up” or “Sequential calling”.
  6. We will set your business pilot number up and share it you to publish on your websites and all channels.
  7. Whenever a call hits your Contact number displayed on your website , they will first be greeted with the IVR message

“Welcome to Your Company Limited, your partner in ABC products or services, for Enquiry and Sales, Please press 1, For Complaints and Support, Please Press 2.”

All these can happen in one or two days and you are live.

Here are some Testimonials

So, make your Business sound more professional by signing up to MTN Call Asist which is our affordable Contact Center Solution for Small Businesses and you can set it up yourself but following the link we provide you.

But should you require us setting it for you, please drop your details here. One of our Solutions consultants will reach out to you immediately.

Just a thought, do you want a website for your Business ? You need an online platform where customers can reach your business- where you publish your Contact Center Pilot number. Check out why you need a website for your small and medium business.

Thank you once again for visiting SGSL.

Video Healthcare

Home Care with Video Healthcare

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsHealthcareVideo Engagements and Conferencing SolutionVideo Healthcare

Telemedicine for Home Care

Telehealth according to Wikipedia is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring, and remote admissions.  Telemedicine is sometimes used as a synonym, or is used in a more limited sense to describe remote clinical services, such as diagnosis and monitoring.

When rural settings, lack of transport, a lack of mobility, decreased funding, or a lack of staff restrict access to care, telehealth may bridge the gap as well as provide distance-learning; meetings, supervision, and presentations between practitioners; online information and health data management and healthcare system integration.

Telehealth could include two clinicians discussing a case over video conference; a robotic surgery occurring through remote access; physical therapy done via digital monitoring instruments, live feed and application combinations; tests being forwarded between facilities for interpretation by a higher specialist; home monitoring through continuous sending of patient health data; client to practitioner online conference; or even videophone interpretation during a consult.

With video-enabled remote patient monitoring solutions, healthcare providers can extend their reach beyond the hospital walls and engage their patient population in their homes, giving them the ability to identify opportunities for early intervention, manage chronic conditions, and increase patient access.

Benefits of Video Healthcare in Home care

  • Reduce Preventable Re-admissions : Engage with patients post-discharge to educate, coordinate care, and improve medication adherence.
  • Optimize Resource Utilization : Increase clinical efficiencies through virtual triage and expanded patient access
  • Expand Patient Access and Retention : Increase health system reach and access through virtual consults, eliminating distance barriers.
  • Improve Clinical and Value-Based Outcomes : Easily stay engaged with patient populations for disease management and care coordination.
  • Providers can also benefit from increased revenue: By utilizing telemedicine, physicians can see more patients without the need to hire more staff or increase office space.

With the battle against covid-19 in Nigeria and the world still ragging, Healthcare providers, physicians, doctors and skilled nursing homes have a reliable platform now to provide care more efficiently if they embrace the Video Healthcare/Telemedicine Technology which gives them the ability to access patient’s electronic medical records, with diagnosis and prescriptions for better healthcare delivery to patients from the comfort of their homes or offices.

It allows providers to monitor patients in real-time and adjust treatment plans when necessary. Ultimately, this leads to better patient outcomes and less emergencies and Death!

Are you a Medical Director of a Hospital or Managing Director of  HMO or Health Insurance Organization as well as other health Services  like the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC), learn more about SGSL’s Video Healthcare Solution branded Heka  here  and Book a FREE DEMO session here

#SGSL #SmartMessage #Chatbot #DigitalMarketing #ODC

How To Improve Customer Satisfaction In Your Business.

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsComplaints Management ModuleContact Center AutomationContact Center SolutionsCRM

 

Customer Satisfaction really depends on how fast you can handle a Customer’s Complaints without him or her repeating himself or herself at various stages of your resolution process. That is what we call First Call Resolution. A Customer who connects with your organization on any channel must be given the same satisfying experience whether it is for an Inquiry or a Complaint. He or she must leave you with a smile.

So to achieve this requires that you adopt the right technology and process which will automate your customer engagement touch points from the process of ticket receipt, assignment and Escalation to a specified Back office or Support team and even to a particular agent is Imperative as well as the idea is to resolve the ticket fast and to the satisfaction of the customer.

One Technology You need is an affordable Omni-channel Contact Center Solution that Supports :

  1. First Call Resolution : Ability to resolve customer problems, questions or needs the first time they call, with no follow-up required . This means the agent is armed with all the information about the customer and services on one User Interface. Screen pops with customer history and other details. This saves the agent’s additional time in closing the ticket and updating it status.
  2. Ticket Assignment :  Distribution of tickets in a manner to assign them to agents who are available at that time and are also skilled to handle that query.
  3. Ticket routing rules: Control the way tickets raised are routed to the back office. A well defined filtering and routing algorithms like routing them based on the interaction channel through which the ticket has been created.
  4. Automation:   Ability to Create workflows by setting business rules to automate support ticket assignment.
  5. Context Conversations :  Ability to associate interactions about an issue from any channel with a ticket.
  6. SLA Management : Set Service Level Agreements, View and automatically notify your agents when an SLA is about to be breached and alert the manager in case of an escalation.

Our Omni-channel Contact Center Solutions with Complaints Management and Ticketing offer your business  features that helps your teams to properly address the customer’s need the first time they call, thereby eliminating the need for the customer to follow up with a second or third call for the same issue. This is because your agents will be provided with complete information that empowers them to make smart decisions and provide great service.

It also Reveals customers’ case histories, preferences, and feedback. Provides guidance on entitlements, alerts on benefits and service-level agreements and Displays it all in a single interface tailored to their job and skill set.

We can show you a demonstration of our application. You can request for a live demo here for free, so that we can show you in an online demonstration how it works and the values it offers. Book a live demo here now.

Scimitar Global Services Limited (SGSL) is an information, communications and Technology Company in Nigeria that provides you with Modern Business and Fintech Solutions like Call Centers, Video Banking, Video Insurance, Video Healhcare/Telemedicine, Sales Automation, Complaints and Queue Management Solutions for your Businesses.

Contact us here today for a discovery session with your team and demonstration of our solutions of choice at no cost.

microsoft-dynamics-365-customer-service-3

A CRM is the first step towards becoming a customer-centric company.

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsContact Center SolutionsMicrosoft Modern Business SolutionsVideo Engagements and Conferencing Solution

What is a customer-centric company? Have you tried to speak with any of our Telco’s or Banks  either by telephone or walk in into their branches for a complaint or inquiry and the line drops or you finish the call or visit and on calling back to follow up later when your issue has not been resolved. You had to repeat your story all over again to the same person or another?  That Service provider does not have a robust CRM and not a customer-centric company!

Office business

Basic Tools And Services An Entrepreneur Needs for His/Her Business!

by with No Comment Call Center SolutionsComplaints Management ModuleCRMDigital MarketingEntrepreneurshipMicrosoft Modern Business Solutionssales force automationSmall BusinessSocial Media EngagementTraining , Development and Empowerment

Office business

As an Entrepreneur, it is expedient that you set your business on the path that guarantees productivity by leveraging technology that ensues trust, supports collaboration with continuous improvement; As you must have to stay connected with both your employees and clients whether you’re working remotely or onsite.

So are you:

  • a Start up business in Nigeria with no online presence and registered business name?
  • An existing Small & Medium and Enterprise Business (Professional services etc.) still using free email service and cracked office applications?
  • a Mid-market Business (Micro-finance Banks, Insurance, Pensions, retail, Securities, travels, fashion, big shops, etc.)?

You need a budget friendly bundled business  strategy and applications that includes some or all the following :

  1. A business name registration with CAC (sole proprietorship, Limited liability company) within 4 weeks
  2. Your Website ( domain registration and email hosting: www.yourcompany.com )
  3. Business class email : yourname@yourcompany.com
  4. Original Microsoft office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One note, etc)Smart business on devices.jpg
  5. Collaboration and file sharing from anywhere, any device anytime
  6. One Terabyte of 99.9% money backed secure Cloud Storage for all your documents, pictures etc.
  7. Social Media Engagement
  8. Calendar Management
  9. Contact center For Small Business (Optional)
  10. Customer Relationship Management (optional)
  11. IT Management (Required but also optional)

 

We understand that small, medium and even mid-market businesses don’t always have the luxury of a massive budget focused solely on technology like  the  bigger Enterprises. They are  focused on the perceived more important technologies for their core business and processes and manually trying to run the business profitably and meeting all the numerous tidbits that require attention.

The truth is that manually managing businesses is actually more expensive and cumbersome because your business is lacking in some key areas somehow, if you don’t have any of the above listed tools. That is why we are encouraging you to sign up for our affordable modern business solution for small business.

These are smart business tools that are tailored to meet the demands of small and medium businesses, giving them the leverage to use same technology big enterprises are using with same results but at very low cost compared to the latter.

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Using modern business applications from Scimitar Global Services Limited (SGSL) tells potential customers that you’re serious about business. For example, you can impress your prospects by inviting them to a collaborative online meeting where you can review your latest proposal with them instead of incurring cost of going to their office. With our state-of-the-art but easy-to-use collaboration, mail, and messaging services, you can set yourself apart from organizations that use free or ad-supported services. A custom domain name further enhances your branding, and includes design tools to easily create a professional, public-facing website in minutes.

With Office 365, you get pay-as-you-go pricing options that give you predictability and flexibility for your business. Office 365 also offers great flexibility by allowing you to easily provide users with only the services they need, cost-effectively adding value to your business.

How about improving the way your business runs with Microsoft 365 . You will have access to reliable Office apps with advanced security option with the ability to communicate with both your employees and your customers through Chat, call; You can host online meetings, and collaborate in real time, whether you’re working remotely or onsite. You will be able to secure your documents in your OneDrive cloud storage, all at a price that’s right for your business.

Click here and authorize us to set up your  Microsoft 365 Free 30 Days Trial

Connect with us immediately for your affordable technology for small businesses so that we can provide you with information and options of comfortable technology solutions within you budget that meets your business needs.

 

Scimitar Global Services Limited (SGSL) is a Microsoft Partner for Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 in Nigeria.