In a heavily disrupted economy, AT&T is letting businesses wield the power of the digital workplace via its remote contact center capabilities with expedited implementation.

In a major Cloud Automation update, technology behemoth AT&T unveiled a new AT&T Cloud Contact Center platform. AT&T Cloud Contact Center is a highly scalable cost-effective and efficient Customer Experience Management platform for Omnichannel commerce.

In order to promote maximum adoption amid COVID-19 lockdown, AT&T is giving new AT&T Cloud Contact Center customers 90-day licenses at no charge for up to 500 seats. As work-from-home orders continue around the globe, AT&T expects businesses can stay connected with their customers.

AT&T Cloud Contact Center digitally transforms the way we have experienced any contact center. This is a totally new architecture created on an open platform, based on the Five9 service. Together, AT&T and Five9 combine robust contact center functionality with a comprehensive suite of voice and collaboration tools. The Contact Center is created to deliver highly reliable, agile, scalable, and highly secure capabilities and increase customer loyalty in a rapidly evolving Omnichannel marketplace.

At the time of this announcement, Roman Pacewicz, AT&T Business’ CPO explained the science and philosophy behind AT&T Cloud Contact Center. Roman said that the contact center is created to empower every business to sustain and to champion their CX objectives even as “uncertainty has blanketed nearly every inch of the business world in a matter of months.”

According to Roman, most businesses are having a hard time in quickly adapting to new standards of “optimized customer experiences in light of community lockdowns.”

According to Gartner, “to survive this (COVID-19) crisis and emerge stronger than ever, organizations must look for innovative opportunities to make long-term improvements. For example, during the last global recession, some organizations opted to invest aggressively in their capabilities, enabling them to emerge from the recession stronger as a result. After the crisis, continuing a solid digital-first customer service strategy will deliver long-term benefits, such as business continuity, improved cost and margin realization, and improved customer experience…  By 2023, more than 60% of all customer service engagements will be delivered via digital and web self-serve channels, up from 23% in 2019.”

Roman Pacewicz added –

 “AT&T Cloud Contact Center provides a swift way to migrate these capabilities to the cloud, regardless of legacy platforms. This means gaining the abilities to deploy and manage remote agents, easily adjust to higher call volumes and respond seamlessly through various channels, in a matter of days.”

AI and Advanced Analytics Optimize Customer Experience

AI capabilities built into AT&T Cloud Contact Center can help make each agent more effective. Advanced analytics can maximize the ability of agents to use empathy and emotion to create more positive customer engagement. Coupled with automated processes, it can also help train agents faster and enable real-time coaching and assist in determining optimal next steps for the customer.

Best features in the new-age AI-powered Cloud Contact Center include,

• Enhanced out-of-box CRM integrations with leading vendors, including Salesforce, Oracle, Zendesk, ServiceNow, Microsoft, and so on.
• Collaboration platforms to seamlessly connect with workforce optimization and virtual contact centers, such as AT&T Office@Hand
• Seamless calling experience with Omnichannel routing, UC applications, and AI-based agent interaction
• Fast-track deployment of remote agents to address critical situations and shifts in demand
• Easy-to-manage and deploy a future-ready Hybrid Cloud environment
• Migration recommendations and support to businesses switching from On-prem contact center platforms and legacy systems
• Low-code/No-code Digital platform to ensure a single person is able to handle one entire Cloud Contact Center agency, removing the complexity out of using disparate systems.

“I was just grateful that when the messages were coming in during the test phase, the AT&T Cloud Contact Center set up only took two hours, it was simple and speedy,” said Ellen Willmott, President, and COO of the Work Connect Project, a non-profit dedicated to helping workers displaced by COVID-19.

Ellen added, “I was impressed with how easy it was going to be to deal with our launch and the ease our staff would have in responding to inquiries.”

Currently, AT&T is also building FirstNet just for first responders and creating next-generation mobile 5G.