Creating a "UC Folksonomy"

If you recall, a couple of weeks ago we discussed that enterprises should be looking to incorporate Web 2.0 into their core IT strategy and we highlighted four key characteristics to ensure success. Unified Communications delivers in all four areas representing a unique, emerging opportunity. Let's explore a scenario of how to leverage UC and core Web 2.0 principles to drive value while keeping the four characteristics of success in mind.

Example - the typical customer service strategy is based on a legacy call center model. In Web 2.0 terms we can refer to this as a "taxonomy" in that the call center has a predefined set of rules, structure, reports, etc. It is treated as a separate entity from the rest of the organization. It's closed, inflexible in its ability to respond to customer interactions, very impersonal and often extremely frustrating for customers to deal with. Today, customers are demanding more personalized service - "Know who I am and why I'm calling" and that creates the opportunity for competitive differentiation.

By leveraging UC, companies can deliver a much more dynamic customer service experience. Here's how: a company that employs 5000 people may only have 500 (10%) of them designated as call center agents. That means that potentially 90% of the resources are not part of the customer service process. What if you could extend that number from 10% to even 50% of the employees that are actively engaged in serving customers? What value would that bring to both your customers and your organization?

UC does this by leveraging core Web 2.0 principles like: software above the level of single device, leveraging the network as a platform, rich user experience, mobility, video, collaboration, and The Long Tail. We can improve the above example, by leveraging a "UC Folksonomy" - the creation of dynamic, ad-hoc teams across the enterprise to aid in customer interactions. A call center agent could use a "UC Folksonomy" to incorporate "resident experts" (branch, mobile, sales, engineering, etc.) across the business to aid in delivering value to the customer.

The idea that any employee can reach out to the very edge of the enterprise to engage a "resident expert" with context is a very powerful value proposition (i.e. understand their "interruptibility", regardless of their environment, to collaborate and aid in a customer interaction). In a Web2.0 context, UC encourages the creation of these ad hoc teams that self organize with the common goal of servicing customers - without having to rely on the structure/rules of a formal contact center.

Value delivered:

• Reduced hold times and abandons
• Reduced call transfers (and associated frustration with having a customer restate their account number, last 4 digits of social, etc.)
• Improved service through collaboration
• Higher first contact resolution
• Measurable return

I posted a presentation deck to help illustrate the concept. Next week we'll peel the layers back to discuss how easy it is to create a UC Folksonomy, incorporate corporate tagging and where to get started.

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