SA’s first full-stack contact centre solution launched

A South African tech company, Innovo Networks, has launched the country’s first full-stack omnichannel contact centre solution, a single platform solution that enables contact centre agents to speak to their customers using multiple channels.

The solution, which integrates voice, video, email, chat, and social media on one platform, has already been recognised by Cape BPO, earning Innovo Networks the 2022 Cape Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Technology Innovation award.

“Omnichannel innovation is not only an enabler for BPO, but can also close the virtual gap between SMEs and larger organisations,” says tech entrepreneur and chief executive of Innovo Networks, Damian Michael.

Streamlined, cost-cutting IT solutions are vital to keeping momentum, competition, and growth in the BPO sector alive, according to Michael.

The solution helps companies harness data from customers, which in turn increases turnover, ensures better customer retention rates, is more efficient, and increases client satisfaction. It also connects offline and online experience and allows for seamless purchasing across all channels.

In addition, the solution’s integration with social media allows for all touchpoints to be in a single pane of glass, enabling companies to talk to clients through a number of different mediums.

The use of social media channels by customers has been on the rise, with almost 50% of customers expecting a response from a social media complaint within an hour, according to a recent ICMI survey. Instagram, in particular, experienced a 75% increase in the use of messaging businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With Innovo Networks’ full-stack omnichannel contact centre solution, a centralised solution can solve the problem of customers being directed to separate or outsourced departments.

“If they don’t get immediate answers, they then send a follow-up email, as well as make a phone call to further log their query. By the time they have gone through this entire process, they have been sent from one department to another and forced to repeat themselves,” says Michael.

The solution has also earned praise from Frost & Sullivan, which suggests that by investing in a collaboration of platforms, productivity could increase by 400%. Statistics further show that by migrating services to a cloud solution, call answer rates increase by 5%, and 90% of contact centres find increased financial flexibility by engaging with this type of omnichannel hosting.

According to Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA), the BPO sector is one of the fastest growing and meaningful contributors to the country’s gross domestic product, providing more than 50 000 cumulative jobs over the last few years. The sector is also on track to expand formidably in the near future, with big tech companies such as Amazon already investing in Africa.

“This is a critical win for many businesses struggling in South Africa’s current, tough economic climate. Any company invested in efficient customer experience will do well to adopt streamlined, scalable, and affordable technologies in an effort to remain competitive,” says Michael.

Innovo Networks is a high-touch business focused on communication, cloud-hosting, cybersecurity, and connectivity solutions. As the chief executive, Michael holds a wealth of versatile experience in both the public and private sectors.

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