82 VIEWPOINT CallTower is helping organisations to deliver more seamless, intelligent and secure communications PAUL HOLDEN: CALLTOWER Turning Microsoft Teams into a customer experience powerhouse The end of 2024 saw Microsoft Teams surpass 320 million global users, with more than one million organisations actively using the platform. This reinforces its role as a central hub for workplace communication, where meetings, chats and calls are seamlessly connected in one place. But when it comes to creating exceptional customer experiences (CX), simply implementing Teams isn’t enough. The question enterprise leaders need to ask is not if Teams is the right platform (it is), but how can we transform it from a communications tool into a CX powerhouse. According to research by Emplifi, 86 per cent of customers are willing to abandon a brand after just two poor experiences – and with Forrester reporting that customer experience is also expected to become a baseline requirement rather than a differentiator by the end of 2025 in its B2C Marketing & Consumer study, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Organisations must look beyond the basics and consider the full spectrum of tools that bring Teams to life in a customer-centric way – from real-time analytics and customer relationship management integration, to compliance recording and global scalability. Without the right CX-enhancing capabilities layered on top of Teams, businesses risk falling short of expectations and missing opportunities to differentiate. Enhancing CX isn’t just about adding bells and whistles – it’s about avoiding failure, ensuring calls are answered promptly, issues are resolved efficiently and performance is continuously optimised. At CallTower, we help enterprises take Teams further. Our integrated voice solutions empower organisations to make every interaction meaningful through high-quality voice services, secure infrastructure and tools that enable smart, responsive customer engagement. Take CRM integration, for example. By pulling customer data directly into the agent’s Teams interface, you give your team immediate access to customer history, allowing for more personalised and relevant conversations. Call recording – particularly when combined with transcription, keyword tracking and AI-driven coaching tools – helps teams comply with industry regulations and unlock insights to improve service quality. And with real-time analytics, supervisors can monitor calls live, reallocate resources as needed and provide immediate support when it matters most. Consider the case of a mid-sized healthcare organisation that recently partnered with CallTower. Facing an increase in price from Microsoft, which raised its direct calling plans from $12 to $15 per user, the organisation sought a cost-effective alternative without compromising on the quality of Microsoft technology. Through our collaboration with
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