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The Cisco® TelePresence Virtual Agent application enables organizations to create a live, "face-to-face" interaction with their customers-over the network. This solution combines a Cisco TelePresence 1000 with Cisco Unified Contact Center Express, a fully integrated contact center application supporting skills-based routing, built-in interactive voice response (IVR), queuing, and screen pops of customer data to agent desktops. The life-size, high-definition video, CD-quality audio, and interactive elements of the TelePresence solution give customers the feeling of being "in person" with a specialist agent, while the agent maintains all of the contact center functions they would expect (Figure 1).
This application enables organizations to scale the expertise of particular employees and provide better "on-the-spot" customer service, particularly when a personal touch or customer relationships are important to the interaction. The following are examples of how an organization might deploy the Cisco TelePresence Virtual Agent solution.
Figure 1. Cisco TelePresence Meeting
Banking
Problem: A national bank has a limited number of property insurance specialists on staff, so they are sent to a different branch office each day of the week. When customers arrive at their local branch with insurance questions, it is likely that no one on site can help them. Those customers leave dissatisfied-and may even go to a competing bank-whether another branch or even online, because making an appointment to come back the following week might be inconvenient. The travel from branch to branch is also exhausting for the bank's employees, and contributes to job dissatisfaction.
Solution: The bank provides insurance and mortgage experts at branch offices through TelePresence, so they are always available to customers.
Scenario: A customer enters a local bank branch with an insurance question, but the insurance expert is not at the branch that day. Instead the customer is ushered into a quiet room with a TelePresence system. The customer presses the "Insurance" option on the IP phone on the desk (Figure 2), and is connected to an insurance expert. The expert appears on the TelePresence display and is able to answer questions, help fill out forms, and guide the customer just as if the two were sitting at the same table. The life-size image, video clarity, and crystal clear audio make the interaction very natural, helping to build trust and relationships even though the expert and the customer never actually "meet". At the same time, the bank no longer misses the opportunity to earn the customer's business simply because its expert is somewhere else that day.
Figure 2. A Customer Just Touches the Screen to Place a Call
Retail Store
Problem: A small set of clerks at a retail store are knowledgeable about home theater systems and can guide customers when selecting equipment. Customers often arrive ready to spend thousands of dollars on a TV, speakers, and other gear, but there is no one present who can help them compare the features between systems and make a selection. The store cannot train each employee with this knowledge because it is highly specialized, and there is high turnover on staff.
Solution: The retail store provides home theater experts through TelePresence. If each store is staffed with experts, they will often be idle. Instead, with Cisco TelePresence Virtual Agent, any available expert can help any customer at any store.
Healthcare
Problem: A medical clinic occasionally needs to consult a specialist on a complicated case. Often, making a return trip to the clinic when the specialist is available is a hardship to the patient, and depending upon the condition, the patient may need the consultation urgently.
Solution: The clinic makes specialists available through TelePresence. Physicians can be reached at the primary work center, equipped with Cisco TelePresence Virtual Agent, and can consult whenever they are available. This setup improves and speeds patient care, important particularly if treatment is time-critical. In addition, the clinic can use the application to provide other valuable services, including translation or interpretive services to patients and their families.
Administration and Reception
Problem: An enterprise wants visitors to each building to be welcomed by a live lobby attendant. However, lobby attendants are often idle, waiting in between visitors, yet they cannot leave to perform other work because someone needs to stay in the lobby at all times.
Solution: The enterprise staffs lobby attendants through TelePresence (Figure 3). Three attendants can monitor ten lobbies, providing face-to-face service to visitors and limiting downtime.
Figure 3. Virtual Lobby Attendant
Summary
The examples presented here are just a few of the ways in which a Cisco TelePresence Virtual Agent can help organizations scale resources while maintaining a very high level of customer service. The Virtual Agent application is particularly valuable when the success of the interaction depends on the personal touch, the relationship and trust in the person assisting the customer, and the quality of the audio and visuals in making the interaction as natural as possible. Because Cisco TelePresence provides true high-definition, life-size images, CD-quality audio, and no perceivable latency, customers often forget they are not present with the person they are speaking to, and they get the help they need when they need it, and have a great experience at the same time.