3 Ways Your Voice Channel Can Transform Customer Engagement
Exceed both customer and employee expectations with your voice service channel.
August 2021 | Time to read: 7 minutes
The next big digital customer service revolution is voice. That’s right: voice. The phone is still overwhelmingly the most-used service channel, especially for complex issues.
However, contact centers have historically separated voice from other service channels, like email and SMS, as well as routing processes. While advancements in computer telephony integrations (CTIs) have helped, limitations left agents without critical customer insights across channels or the ability to engage with other departments.
Luckily, telephony has rapidly evolved to bring voice into a unified digital channel experience. Phone calls come through the cloud. A centralized, automated routing system manages inbound and outbound calls. Agents answer from anywhere — at home from their laptop or in the contact center. And all service data is available from a single platform to keep agents focused on the customer.
We recently launched “Voice Built for the Modern Age of Customer Service” to explain how digital telephony works and the ways it improves customer service engagement. Here’s what every service leader needs to know.
What you need to know about digital telephony:

Modernize Your Voice Channel with the Telephony Partner of Your Choice

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The Biggest Service Trend in 2020? Phone Support
Get an in-depth look at digital telephony.
Read "Voice Built for the Modern Age of Customer Service" to learn how to:
- Increase loyalty with better customer service engagement
- Exceed expectations without sacrificing speed
- Improve call center management in today’s hybrid workplace


1. Improve customer service engagement with voice as a digital channel.
76%
of service professionals say the phone is the preferred channel for complex issues
66%
of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs
52%
of customers describe most service interactions as fragmented
However, companies can only track a limited amount of details on previous interactions with CTI technology — such as who the call was routed to, the interactive voice response (IVR) path, and how long the phone call lasted. Agents don't see how the customer engages with the entire company — from marketing and sales to service — and supervisors are unable to manage capacity and workload across all service channels. That makes it hard for agents to do their job, especially when 79% say it’s impossible to provide great service without full customer context. As a result, 52% of customers describe most service interactions as fragmented — and end up feeling like a number, not an individual.
Cloud-based digital telephony expands upon baseline data to track, measure, and influence all aspects of a call – from pickup to wrap-up. It dynamically integrates with your customer relationship management (CRM) platform so agents get a complete view of the customer without clicking through multiple screens.
“Cloud-based digital telephony expands upon baseline data to track, measure, and influence all aspects of a call from pickup to wrap-up.”

VP, Product Management, Service Cloud, Salesforce
Digital telephony automatically records and transcribes the call in real time. The call data is accessible and immediately searchable. In comparison, CTI keeps telephony completely separate from your other service channels and has limited functionality to transcribe calls.
The integration helps agents become active listeners. As call transcripts automatically record, real-time discussion prompts help agents empathize with the customer and reach a resolution faster.
“Moving to cloud telephony has really enabled us to continue to pave our path to an omni-channel experience, helping us consolidate all the channels into a single platform. But most importantly, it has enabled us to provide contextual data to the associates regardless of the channel. This ensures that they get everything they need to know in order to resolve the customer's problem effectively.”

Senior Program Manager, Remitly

2. Meet customer service expectations for fast, quality support.
Sixty-three percent of agents say it’s difficult to balance speed and quality service. Digital telephony solves this challenge. With a complete view of the customer and the ability to anticipate needs and streamline routine, typically time-consuming tasks, agents stay focused on the customer interaction at hand.
Here’s how it works:
Assign the best agent for the case.
Automate manual tasks.
Follow up with customers.
Detect trends and customer sentiment.
Improve agent performance.

3. Empower supervisors to level up call center management.
Stop problems before they start.
Bring in an expert to help.
Understand agent performance.
Effectively manage agent workloads.
Find opportunities for call center coaching.
“The customer doesn't think about just needing service. They think about their entire experience with Sonos. So why wouldn't we?”

CIO, Sonos

Turn voice into a digital channel for your organization.
With digital telephony, voice is no longer a separate service channel. Data is available across all channels from a single screen so that voice becomes a digital channel in its own right that drives customer service engagement.
To discover how you can solve phone cases faster and smarter for your organization, discover Service Cloud Voice and keep learning with our guide.
About the Author

VP, Product Management, Service Cloud, Salesforce
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