Despite all the predictions of its imminent decline by companies selling digital-only Customer Experience (and in spite of proof to the contrary by industry experts), voice interactions still play a mission-critical role within contact centers. Many contact centers use SIP trunks to deliver their voice interactions, which compared to traditional digital circuits offers tangible benefits but also more complexity. Voice is still the preferred channel for any escalations or inherently complex activities, and is also preferred due to the one-to-one connectivity of speaking to a live agent1,2. To be successful with SIP trunking, it is essential for organizations to use a telecom services provider with the right service design and service delivery. Without these services, contact centers can experience significant challenges with their performance and customer experiences.
Examples of challenges with SIP trunks include less than optimal voice quality (e.g., jitter, latency), unexpected service outages or interruptions, or inadequate troubleshooting service levels. These issues in turn lead to broken or delayed customer conversations, which degrade customer and agent experiences and can increase average handle times.
What is the right SIP trunking service design?
At a minimum, it should include all the tools to enable SIP engineers to efficiently and effectively troubleshoot issues. For example, 100% SIP Logging, QoS tagging for each call (MoS, Latency, Jitter, Packet Loss), the ability to record calls at a network level, and monitoring and alerting of network KPIs (Latency, Jitter, Packet Loss). It should also provide multi-carrier Toll Free failover in the event of a carrier failure.
What is the right SIP trunking service delivery?
First and foremost, it should be based on a 100% Service Level target. In addition, the service should include 24x7x365 support with Tier 1 personnel who are trained in SIP and provide rapid access to senior SIP expertise (e..g., SIP, CNAM, Toll-Free, STIR/SHAKEN, SMS). Also essential are proven processes to efficiently and effectively manage telecom activities and mitigate risks (e.g., porting, testing), and a true collaborative and transparent troubleshooting partnership with the customer and 3rd party vendors in order to avoid finger-pointing.
By selecting a telecom services provider with the right service design and service delivery, contact centers can reliably deliver exceptional voice quality.
About the Author
Ivan Kovacevic has worked in senior technical executive roles in the contact center and telecom industry since 2002. He is currently the Chief Revenue Officer and Co-CEO of Star Telecom.
References
1https://www.statista.com/statistics/254440/methods-used-to-communicate-with-businesses-in-the-us/#statisticContainer
2https://www.cxtoday.com/contact-centre/why-is-voice-still-a-critical-component-of-a-contact-centre/