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Briefing: Zendesk Talk
On December 1, Zendesk – a global customer service software company – briefed Info-Tech on its contact center as a service (CCaaS) solution, Zendesk Talk. Zendesk Talk is an omnichannel solution with market leading functionality. Zendesk Talk can be implemented out of the box, built with a CTI toolkit, or leveraged through integrations with “go to market” partners – these include CCaaS market leaders like Amazon Connect, Five9, and Nice inContact. Twilio is also a carrier aggregator with Zendesk.
Zendesk Talk is built into Zendesk’s Support Suite, giving agents full access to customer context across communication channels. Moreover, Zendesk’s analytics and reporting functionality provide supervisors with real-time dashboards, promoting proactive adaptation to call volume, call monitoring, and call quality notifications.
Features of Zendesk Talk include:
- Answer calls in browser, providing a single platform and flexible work for agents.
- Answer calls via phone, enabling remote calling for agents by forwarding calls to an external phone number.
- Supporting customers via SMS from same phone number used for support. Inbound texts automatically create tickets and agents can respond directly, causing an outbound text to reach the customer.
- IVR routing to agent groups, voicemail, numbers, other IVR menus, and text-back.
- Group routing also allows creation for secondary groups to handle call overflow.
- Secure recording and recording controls, allowing agents to pause and resume recordings while on a live call to protect customer information. Also allows callers to opt-out of call recordings.
- Call quality notifications if audio or network is unstable.
- Designate certain phone numbers as a priority in queue, for higher paying customers or emergency calls.
- Transfer or conference call.
- Callback from queue so customers do not have to wait on hold. Customers also have the option to request a callback from the web widget.
- An incoming call screen pop for the agent, which delivers caller ID, wait time, nickname of the number dialed, and group destination.
- Provides configurable agent wrap-up time, blocking the agent from receiving calls until wrap-up is completed.
Benefits organizations have seen from implementing Zendesk Talk include:
- Ease of implementation: 85% of teams got up and running on Zendesk Talk in two days or less.
- A 20% reduction in operating costs.
- A 27% increase in agent productivity.
Our Take
Zendesk Talk is not right at the forefront of the CCaaS market with best-of-breed features – sentiment analysis, for instance, is not readily available. However, what features Zendesk Talk does have, alongside its flexibility and ease of implementation, ensures this CCaaS solution is a solid contender. Indeed, if an organization already uses other Zendesk solutions, it is a straightforward pitch to leverage Zendesk Talk for improving its customer service. Maintaining a rationalized and unified platform improves agent productivity and, in turn, optimizes their ability to enhance customer service.
Zendesk Talk is best adopted by medium-sized or large enterprises. Indeed, given Zendesk Talk’s pricing is based on a per agent/per month model, organizations with infrequent contact center need may be best suited to choose a different vendor on a pay-per-use basis. Info-Tech’s Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution (and its forthcoming blueprint of the same name) covers various decision points to help choose a CCaaS solution that best fits your organization.
Source: Info-Tech, “Choose a Right-Sized Contact Center Solution” (forthcoming 2021 blueprint).