Today’s customers expect instant gratification, fast resolution, and exceptional service as par for the course. Studies have shown that in the United States, even when people love a company or product, 59% will walk away after multiple bad experiences, and 17% after a single unpleasant experience. Each interaction with the customer is an opportunity to further their loyalty. Because the contact center is the channel that is on the frontlines of a customer’s service experience, companies should begin thinking of contact centers as 'experience centers'.

Automation is the necessary life-blood of a modern contact center. However, more complex customer needs require an empathetic human-in-the-loop. Service experience is unique to every customer. Some might prefer the swiftness of automation in solving problems. Others prefer a personal touch. Striking the right balance between automation and human-led interactions is key to successfully engaging customers in the channel of their choice.

PwC’s Digital Contact Solution (DCS) is a set of tools and accelerators that delivers this balance right out of the gate to empower the Experience Centers of the Future. DCS uses predictive analytics and AI to deliver value via a more comprehensive understanding of the customer’s needs. The inevitable results of effectively deploying DCS are improved service experience, increased customer satisfaction, reduced agent attrition, and optimized operational costs.

DCS combines the power of the Microsoft Azure data platform with PwC’s expertise in advanced analytics, AI, and industry know-how to create a 360-degree view of the customer and develop unassisted self-service channels and technologies. Smart agent tools empower customer service agents to efficiently handle complex queries when needed and enable a smooth transition between automated versus human-assisted support.

DCS leverages the following capabilities:

1. Azure Cognitive Services for language understanding to analyze frequently inquired about topics, and Nuance to develop self-service conversational AI tools that deliver a superior customer service experience.

2. Azure Machine Learning to segment customers based on key indicators for inbound interactions and develop strategies for proactive engagement with the customer upon occurrence of the trigger to deflect calls.

3. Dynamics 365 for historical customer data to identify triggers and preferences (channel, contact frequency) and Azure Communication Services to optimize outbound campaigns and reduce inbound customer contact volume.

4. Azure Cognitive Search to guide customer and agent interactions through knowledge articles, ‘next best actions’, and customer 360 view (comms preference, interaction history, and customer loyalty index). This improves agent experience, reduces agent ramp-up time, and improves first contact resolution (FCR) rates.

5. Various Microsoft technologies (e.g., Azure Data Lake Gen2, Synapse, Purview) to enable the decentralization and distribution of data ownership, create a ‘data-as-a-product’ for contact centers and other domains to utilize, and allow for universal interoperability.

Our perspective is to focus on value, business outcomes, and customer experience. PwC has developed DCS accelerators (pre-built assets and reference architectures on Azure) which help reduce implementation times by more than half. With a single cloud-service platform, an organization can drive next-generation, cloud-based innovation. This allows organizations to start solving critical business problems much faster, unlocking insights previously unattainable to drive organizational strategy and growth. To learn more, go to https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/alliances/microsoft/data-analytics.html.