By Michael Tessler, Managing Partner

In Scott’s previous blog, he defined what it meant to become a cloud first managed service provider (MSP) and focused on choosing their own application suite, integrating customer applications, providing access and security, and concentrating on customer success. To provide an example, we will focus on the insurance vertical.

Insurance companies today struggle with improving their customer experience and providing better customer service. While companies have digitized some of their processes such as sign-ups and claims verification, it is not enough. A cloud first MSP can help solve these problems and accelerate digital transformation by offering these 5 capabilities;

Enterprise Voice and Phone Service

Let’s start with the basics, insurance companies need to set up a cloud voice service that would allow agents to place calls from any device (mobile, tablet or computer) and receive calls from their existing 1–800 phone numbers. It is critical to ensure that customers interact with employees on business phone numbers, not employee personal mobile numbers. Also, they need an effective IVR that allows customers to select exactly what they want to do and direct them to the right agent. I continue to be shocked how poor IVR implementation is, see my previous blog on this topic.

Call Recording and Analytics

Many companies have used call recording for meeting compliance requirements, but today these tools can be used to enhance the customer experience. Managers can review the analytics around these calls to ensure that agents are delivering a satisfactory experience and following the company’s guidance on messaging. Managers can then quickly determine which agents are delivering a good customer experience. This is even more important when agents are working from home.

Messaging Service

Many customers would prefer to communicate via messaging within their preferred platforms. That means that the end-user can use iMessage, RCS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc while the agent uses a secure and compliant messaging platform. This delivers a great customer experience making it easy for the customer.

These messaging platforms should also support A2P (application to people) messaging that enables automation of customer service and lead generation. The platform can then be extended to support queries about policies and other processes using the messaging paradigm. Bots could be deployed to support workflow automation as well as workflow automation and integration with payment solutions.

Video Chat and Co-browse

Engaging with customers over a video chat will provide much higher quality interaction. The challenge with existing video products is that they are designed for knowledge workers not end customers. This service allows a sales agent to text the customer a link and then the customer can join a video chat as well as co-browse between the two users. This will eliminate complicated features such as downloading and scheduling.

Knowledge Building and Intent Dashboards

Companies can build knowledge by ingesting company policies and other documents along with all customer interactions. Agents can then query the knowledge set enabling them to provide answers to very complex questions. Ultimately, some customer interactions could be handled automatically.

This knowledge can also provide an intent dashboard to allow the customer experience professionals to understand exactly what customers are trying to accomplish and how that changes month to month. Understanding customer intent will drive customer experience projects to focus on the highest priority intent and provide an overall higher quality experience.

This is just one example of how cloud first MSPs can equip enterprises with a richer and improved experience for their customers. Remember, the goal of a cloud first MSP is to help enterprises improve their customer experience and employee productivity with digital transformation.

Share your thoughts on the future of MSPs.