Technology Archives - Beyond Key Microsoft SharePoint, BI, Web and Software Development News and Updates Thu, 09 Jul 2026 16:32:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.3 7 Ways Tableau Can Benefit Your NPO https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/tableau-for-nonprofits/ Mon, 12 Dec 2022 08:09:28 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=48156 If you’re reading this blog, you probably need to decide if you should spend your own money on Tableau or your business’s money. For data visualization, several tools make the pictures look very simple. Tableau...

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If you’re reading this blog, you probably need to decide if you should spend your own money on Tableau or your business’s money.

For data visualization, several tools make the pictures look very simple. Tableau is one of the tools for visualizing data that has grown the fastest, and it is now quite popular in the business intelligence (BI) sector. Using this program is the best way to change or convert raw data into a format that is easy to understand.

About Tableau

Tableau is a powerful data visualization program that data analysts can use, scientists, statisticians, and other professionals to show the data and conclusions based on the data analysis. Tableau is well-known because it can quickly process the data you put in and show you what you need to see. In short tableau benefits  may turn your data into insights you can use to guide your next action. Tableau can do all this while ensuring the highest level of security and promising to fix security flaws as soon as users find them or as they become known.

Tableau for Nonprofits

Using data more intelligently can positively impact any organization, whether a large nonprofit relies on significant donations or a small one where no donation is too small. Your entire organization can succeed with Tableau’s assistance if you want to uncover insights into your donor data.

Nonprofit organizations may utilize Tableau Analytics software to analyze their data better and increase their bottom line.

With its aid, they may raise more money, plan events and campaigns that are more successful, and discover ways to make a bigger influence on the world.

Tableau Benefits for Nonprofits

Tableau Benefits

Large and small non-profit organizations can use Tableau to understand the data behind contributions better.

It may assist you in discovering insights into your donor data that will enable you to improve your fundraising efforts.

There are many Tableau Benefits for NPO that can help your NPO organization, and these are as follows: –

  1. Maximize your year-end Fundraising
    The end of the year is the most critical time for every nonprofit organization. This is often when their annual income rises by 20–50%. So, nonprofits can use information about past years, specific donations, historical events, etc., to make their fundraising efforts more effective. They may have a better idea of how to persuade donors, which could help them make more money. The graphic data lets nonprofits figure out which donors are most likely to give based on factors like zip code, gender, income, etc. At the end of the year, nonprofits are stressed, so this data benefits them.
  2. Improved comprehension of public research and advocacy
    You can use Tableau data to make a compelling story that helps non-profits persuade policymakers and ensures the general public remembers what they are trying to say. This is very important when trying to get people to take responsibility, teach them about complex topics, or make them aware of public issues.
  3. Impact Reporting
    So, to keep funders interested, nonprofits must show their work and what happens. The problem with this is that making reports could cost your company a lot of money and take a lot of time. This is where Tableau comes in handy because it makes it easy to use your data to tell a story and show the world how important your work is. It cuts down on time it takes to make the report you want.
  4. Understand and visualize your Excel data.
    Excel is a program often used by non-profits to store, analyze, and calculate data. It takes this to a new level by letting Tableau use visual analytics and new ways to interact with and analyze data.
  5. Analytical Modeling
    Nonprofits can use Tableau’s robust out-of-the-box statistics and prediction tools to code hypotheses and find hidden variables. For example, organizations can use their modeling capabilities to get data on trends and predictions. They can now add a trend line or data about the future to any chart. Then, you can look at click information with a simple right-click. Using drag-and-drop, you can model different ways to group and compare data. The good news is that these predictive metrics are easy to separate and are fully built into the front end. Not only that, but by combining this front-end data with strong input capabilities, you can quickly change computations and test other situations.
  6. Extensive Calculations
    With Tableau’s powerful calculation language, you can handle complex data with simple expressions and add any calculation to your analysis. You can use calculated fields to show logic based on conditions, run special operations, and do the math on specific data types. Expressions for the Level of Detail (LOD) and table calculations are two important tools that make complex analysis possible. Tableau has a lot of time-series analysis built-in because a lot of the data in the world can be shown as time series. You can take samples of your data, look into seasonality, and do other common time-series tasks with the help of a powerful user interface.
  7. Human Resource Analytics
    Every non-profit requires employees to run its operations and carry out its initiatives. All of these individuals must be effectively handled for your efforts to succeed. The greatest personnel can be hired, retained, and invested in with HR analytics, allowing you to use your human resources efficiently. To find out more about your team’s effectiveness, you may view your statistics. To improve their performance, you can examine their hours and how they handled specific tasks.

How Beyond Key can assist you to reach your NPO goals with Tableau Benefits.

Nonprofits and charities hire people who are very passionate about their missions and committed to their success and loyalty. To interact with technology, you must pay attention to and take advantage of certain things. Beyond Key is a good partner because we know what nonprofits need and how to help them.

Getting information about how your nonprofit organization is doing can take much less time and work if you use the Tableau dashboards from Beyond Key.

With the help of Tableau Benefits you can use informative reports and visualizations, the people who work for or volunteer for your NPO can focus more on the mission and less on tedious administrative tasks like updating weekly reports or managing complicated and large spreadsheets.

Tableau may also help you improve your brand and message by giving you quick insights into how your audience sees your organization. It’s essential to get this feedback and use it since your company’s social media accounts give you a unique chance to talk directly with your audience.

It shows you what is working and what isn’t, so you can change your NPO plan immediately to get the most out of your time and money.

You can use Beyond Key’s Tableau Analytics to learn more about the data behind past and present events so you can make better events in the future.

Conclusion

Tableau Analytics could be beneficial to any nonprofit organization. With its help, you might learn more about how your donors act and how to improve your fundraising.

The data will also help you figure out how to make the most of your end-of-year marketing so you can improve your activities that bring in money and reach your goals. With the help of Tableau, you can also understand the facts behind events and how each one helps your organization reach its goals. Tableau benefits can also help you make impact reports to show your stakeholders that your work is important and making a difference.

You will also be able to combine data from Tableau and other sources and see and understand your Excel data better. Using Tableau, you can learn how to manage your human resources better and do complex calculations. If you want to use Tableau analytics for your organization, whether a nonprofit or a for-profit business, Beyond Key has become very good at making custom visualizations that fit the needs of your business.

We can help you to chalk out your journey to successful Tableau implementation with our Tableau consulting services. Simply write back to us to learn more.

 

 

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Elevate Your BI with Data Warehouse Architecture https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/data-warehouse-architecture/ Thu, 28 Jul 2022 13:22:50 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=17070 In today’s data-driven world, It should not come as a surprise that each of us will produce 1.7 MB of data per second sooner rather than later. And having a Data warehouse becomes super important.  ...

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In today’s data-driven world, It should not come as a surprise that each of us will produce 1.7 MB of data per second sooner rather than later. And having a Data warehouse becomes super important.  

Making more intelligent business decisions is a distinctive aspect that determines your organization’s long-term performance in today’s hyper-competitive, data-driven business climate. Data warehouses are essential to an organization’s ability to remain competitive and use data to inform decisions on creating new goods, market to customers, and promote cross-functional business. 

A modern data warehouse’s structure and constituent parts are known as data warehouse architecture. As technology advances and the needs of the data-driven economy increase, the multi-cloud architecture enables mobility to move workloads and data as the business grows. 

In this blog article, we’ll define, link, and compare data warehousing and consulting. We’ll also show you how we have excelled in data warehouse services and data warehouse consulting. But let’s start with some basic explanations. 

What is BI Architecture?

When using computer-based techniques and technology to construct business intelligence systems for online data visualization, reporting, and analysis, the phrase “Business Intelligence Architecture” is used to specify standards and regulations for data organization. 

Data Warehousing is a component of the BI architecture. A Data Warehouse, which is regarded as the core element of business intelligence, is used to organize, store, clean, and extract the data from its central repository, which is considered the fundamental component of business intelligence.

What is Data Warehouse Architecture?

An approach to defining the total architecture of data exchange, processing, and presentation that exists for end-client computing within the organization is the Data Warehouse Architecture. Although every data warehouse is unique, they all share certain essential standards. 

A central concept in Data Warehouses is the ETL process: 

Extract: Collecting information from a variety of disparate sources. 

Transform: Making imperfect data into usable, clean, structured, and verifiable data. 

Load: Loading the information onto a new location. 

the data and what sources they will require. 

Components of Data Warehouse Architecture

The following are the several layers of DWH architecture’s components:

data warehouse architecture components

I.  Data Warehouse Database

A database that stores all organizational data and makes it accessible for reporting is the crucial feature of a DW architecture. This implies that you must decide on the type of database you’ll use to keep information in your warehouse.

There are following four types of Databases:

  • Typical Relational Databases: The row-centered databases you regularly use, such as SAP, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM, Oracle, and DB2.
  • Analytics databases: Greenplum and Teradata are two examples of analytics databases specifically designed for data storage to support and manage analytics.
  • Data warehouse applications: Although data warehouse applications aren’t strictly storage databases, many dealers now provide programs that include both hardware for storing data and software for data management. A few examples include SAP Hana, IBM Netezza, and Oracle Exadata.
  • Cloud-based databases: You aren’t required to buy any hardware to set up your data warehouse because cloud-based databases, like Microsoft Azure SQL, Amazon Redshift, and Google Big Query, can be stored and accessed on the cloud.

II. Extraction, Transformation, and Loading Tools (ETL)                                                                           

Central to the structure of a corporate data warehouse are ETL tools. These tools help collect data from many different places, organize it correctly, and load it into a data warehouse.

Your choice of ETL tool will determine:

  • The duration of data extraction
  • Methods for data extraction
  • The kind of modifications used and how easily they were carried out
  • Definition of business rules for data cleansing and validation to enhance end-product analytics
  • Completing lost data
  • Describe the flow of information from the primary depository to your business intelligence apps.

III. Metadata

Metadata provides a foundation for data and explains the data warehouse database in a DW architecture. It aids in creating, maintaining, processing, and utilizing the data warehouse.

Data warehousing uses two types of metadata:

Technical Metadata consists of data that managers and developers can use to carry out warehouse development and management duties.

Business Metadata consists of details that provide an understandable perspective on the data kept in the warehouse.

Meta Data

 IV.   Data Warehouse Access Tools

A database or database collection serves as a data warehouse’s basis. Companies that employ data warehouses can’t deal with databases without the aid of tools unless they also have access to database administrators. However, not all company units are like that. For this reason, they work with several no-code data warehousing systems, including:

  • Users can create corporate reports for analysis using Query and Reporting Tools, which might take the form of spreadsheets, formulas, or interactive visualizations.
  • With the aid of Application Development Tools, customized reports may be produced and presented in interpretations for reporting needs.
  • Utilizing cutting-edge statistical modeling techniques, Data Mining Tools for Data Warehousing systematizes the process of finding arrays and linkages in massive amounts of data.
  • OLAP Tools make it possible to build a multi-dimensional data warehouse & analyze corporate data from various angles.

V. Data Warehouse Bus

It includes a data mart and specifies the data flow within a data warehousing bus architecture. A data mart is a data access level that permits users to exchange data. Data produced for a specific user group is likewise divided using this method.

VI. Data Warehouse Reporting Layer

End users can access the BI database architecture or BI interface through the reporting layer in the data warehouse. The reporting layer of the data warehouse acts as a dashboard for visualizing data, making reports, and pulling out any needed data.

IV. This is why you need Data Warehouse Architecture Service in your Organization.

Running a data-driven organization in a rapidly evolving changing business landscape, data warehouses are appropriate and the best and most effective way to win.

The most accurate and dependable method for companies to store and access structured data is through data warehouses, which enhances cross-organizational data access through reports, dashboards, and analytics tools. These enable organizations to make better decisions and better performance monitoring because they are confident in the reliability of their data. This starts a positive cycle:

Consider this hypothetical situation (sadly common in the real world): Company A owns a lot of data, but it isn’t easy to access. Report generation takes a while, and users can’t always rely on the outcomes; perhaps quarter-end reports don’t line up, or some of the company’s more giant data puzzle is missing. Such reporting deficiencies only aggravate friction in the organization’s data, social, collaborative, and workflow systems, to name a few.

Now consider the opposite situation: Company B has set up a data warehouse so they can access data accurately, conveniently, and whenever needed. Users will read predefined reports at businesses like this, and as their interest is stimulated, they will ultimately ask for more. They will begin to conduct experiments to enhance operations, improve the overall customer insight, or save money, to name a few potential outcomes, once they realize how easy it is to receive pertinent departmental and/or company data. This would promote risk-taking and ultimately transform the company.

In every area—from product development, marketing, pricing, production processes, historical analysis, forecasting, employee organization, and customer satisfaction—organizations with dedicated data warehousing teams can plan and advance far ahead of their less data-savvy competitors. In other words, they can succeed where others will struggle.

When looking for insights, it’s critical to decide which type of database your organization requires and how you intend to use it. When considering your data warehouse architecture, it is also crucial to consider who will review it.

V. What are various Data Warehouse Services Offered by Beyond Key?

 Data Warehouse Services

      In this Beyond Key team takes on: 

  • Development and configuration of a data warehouse. 
  • Integration of the data warehouse with the current infrastructure (data sources, BI, and data analytics infrastructure). 
  • Data cleansing and migration. 
  • Ongoing administration and support of the data warehouse. 
  • Configuring a data warehouse on demand.

Data Warehouse Consulting

  • Engineering DWH requirements. 
  • We offer the following data warehouse consulting services with the help of our Experts Data Warehouse Consultants. Solution design for DWH 
  • Making a business case.
  • The architecture of the DWH solution. 
  • The best cloud data warehouse platform, an outline of it, and its configuration. 
  • Designing data governance for data security, availability, and quality.
  • Designing ETL/ELT, data modeling, etc.
  • Plan for DWH migration, implementation, and optimization.
  • Support from consultants or complete project management.

Data Warehouse Migration 

We assist you in migrating your current on-premises data warehouse to the cloud without affecting business operations, which helps you improve DWH performance and reduce the total cost of ownership.

We assist you in creating a hybrid data warehouse or moving your existing DWH solution to the cloud by: 

  • Sketching out a migration strategy and plan.
  • Creating a cloud data warehouse design.
  • Helping you choose the best cloud provider.
  • Optimizing costs by configuring the cloud cluster.
  • Updating an existing data warehouse on a new system.
  • Combining the cloud and on-site environments.
  • Adding metadata and master data to the new data warehouse.
  • Testing the data’s completeness to make sure the migration is successful.

Data Warehouse Testing

A complete DWH testing package, which may also include security testing, ETL/ELT testing, BI testing, and performance testing.

Beyond Key’s testing services have the following stages: 

  • Studying the demands of the project. 
  • Planning and designing tests. 
  • Implementation of tests. 
  • Analysis of the results and responsibility. 

Data Warehouse Support

We offer DWH support to assist you in locating and resolving DWH performance issues, achieving DWH stability for reliable and timely data delivery to business users, and reducing DWH processing and storage costs. 

Steps covered by support include: 

  • Architecture optimization for DWH solutions. 
  • The improvement of specific DWH tools (keeping more data in memory, adding indexes to tune query performance) 
  • DWH design improvement (changing database schemas, data loading, etc.).  

Conclusion

Data Warehousing is not a new phenomenon. All big organizations already have it, but they are just not incorporated correctly. The reason is improper Data Warehousing architecture. With a high-quality data warehousing architecture, you understand and outline strategies for successful and efficient data warehousing.

The catch is the architecture’s heavy influence by variables like the data’s worth, the technologies’ efficiency, and the deployed hardware’s physical constraints. Knowing these dependencies, along with their properties and characteristics while constructing the data warehouse’s architecture, is crucial. Because once you do that, it yields a Data warehouse that ensures data consistency and helps you make excellent business decisions.

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Why hybrid app development is popular? https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/hybrid-app-development/ Mon, 20 Sep 2021 10:16:53 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=4914 Today, hybrid app development has grown in popularity as professional mobile developers and large mobile app development companies have adopted it widely. According to some analysts, the popularity of hybrid apps may soon surpass the...

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Today, hybrid app development has grown in popularity as professional mobile developers and large mobile app development companies have adopted it widely.

According to some analysts, the popularity of hybrid apps may soon surpass the popularity of native apps. Since HTML5 applications can be easily developed and released on various native platforms such as iOS and Android – it is faster and more efficient.

First, let’s look at the 3 types of mobile applications:

Native App

Developed exclusively for a single platform using a native-to-the-operating-system language.
Android app developers can use Java or Kotlin to develop a native mobile app for the Android platform.
Similarly, for iOS App development, developers use Objective-C or Swift as the native language.

Cross-platform development

Allows developers to write code once and reuse it for different platforms. Some people mistakenly believe that cross-platform and hybrid are the same. Both types of apps have only one thing in common: code sharing.
When creating cross-platform mobile apps, developers use programming languages and technical options such as JavaScript, Typescript, React, Dart, CSS, and HTML that aren’t specific to a single platform. The apps are packaged into virtual containers to allow them to work with each platform.

Hybrid app development

Hybrid app development is the process of building a single, shared code base that can run on multiple operating systems including Windows, Android, and iOS.

This means the developers need to write the code once and they can run it on any platform.

A developer might create some pieces of code for an app natively, but they can also use JavaScript, CSS, HTML to create a hybrid mobile app rfp

Hybrid app development has become increasingly popular among professional mobile developers and large-scale mobile application development companies.

The reason why so many businesses are going after hybrid mobile app development is that hybrid mobile apps cost less, takes less time to develop them and are easier to manage.

So, there is no need to learn different native programming languages, such as swift, objective c, Java, or Kotlin.

Hybrid app development  allows web developers to quickly develop an HTML5 mobile application and release it across various native platforms like iOS and Android.

Most popular hybrid apps development tools –

Pros of hybrid app

Faster app development
With the help of a hybrid app, mobile developers need not write unique code for each platform. Hybrid apps allows developers to work with single codebase to handle both iOS and Android development. It is easy to fix bugs or enhance features for both platforms with a single codebase.

Lower development cost
As compared to the Native development app, hybrid app development is almost 30% cheaper. Hybrid app developers need to create only one project for both Android and iOS.

Customizable
When compared to a native app, it is easier to customize a hybrid app for all platform as single code based shared with all development platform

Lower maintenance
It’s generally easier to maintain and update web technology of a hybrid app than native app technology.
The development and maintenance (which includes updating and making changes) of hybrid applications is faster since developers need to create only one codebase.

 Cons of hybrid app

Slow performance
As compared to a native app, hybrid app performance is slightly slow and OS features are restricted.
If your mobile app involves complex features and functionalities, then a hybrid app doesn’t support every native feature. This restriction might also affect the stability of mobile app.

No interaction with other native apps
As hybrid app runs on WebView so its core API is not available to communicate with other native apps. Due to its architecture, hybrid mobile apps rely on plugins to access the built-in features of the mobile device.

Delay in the new feature release
Whenever Apple and Google release any new features, it takes quite a while for the hybrid app developers to add support because native apps are provided with new SDK which performs faster than the hybrid framework.

Hybrid App is for you if you are looking for an app that

Conclusion

Hybrid app development isn’t right for everyone. The most significant disadvantage of hybrid app development is its lower capacity to deliver high performance.

In spite of that, hybrid apps have a lot of advantages. Hybrid apps can help you save money and time.

The best of cross-platform technology Hybrid app development also gets some brownie points for being responsible for some of the most popular apps today.

Have questions about hybrid app development or any other mobile application development service for your business?

Beyond Key has over 15 years of experience of working with global enterprises despite industry and company size. We have built smarter and scalable hybrid mobile apps that are cost effective and delivered on time.

Talk to our expert, if you have a specific hybrid app development need for your enterprise

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Speech Analytics: Optimal way to improve your call center and customer experience https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/speech-analytics/ Fri, 06 Aug 2021 08:17:43 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=4794 As for companies, you know that happy customers are your foundation and the key to your continued success if you listen to their concerns, needs, and ideas. Customer feedback gives you the ability to better...

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As for companies, you know that happy customers are your foundation and the key to your continued success if you listen to their concerns, needs, and ideas. Customer feedback gives you the ability to better understand your customers so that you can provide an exceptional customer experience, every time. Speech analytics software initially became available in about 2002. Since then its popularity has grown exponentially. Today, the level of accuracy of these systems as well as the speed to customer intelligence they offer have made speech analytics a must-have versus a nice-to-have for companies that want to improve efficiency, agent performance, compliance adherence, revenue, and the customer experience.

Benefits of Using Speech Analytics Software

Speech analytics is a powerful tool that helps to unlock insights as it allows managers to understand the behavior of top performers. You can improve your business process with a robust, scalable, and flexible speech recognition solution to analyze customer sentiments. Speech analytics software helps mine and analyze audio data, detecting things like emotion, tone, and stress in a customer’s voice, the reason for the call, satisfaction, the products mentioned, and more.

Speech Analytics For Call Center

Lower Expenses by Automation
Reduce your manpower cost by automating the conversation analysis process which offers instant insights into phone conversations, or audio/video files.

Improve Strategic Business Decisions
Improve strategic decisions basis sentiment and conversation insights to understand your customers better to refine your future serviceability and product offerings. With Speech Analytics, contact centers can get insights quickly. Since it monitors and reports on all conversations, it automatically takes the raw data, organizes, and analyses it, and generates insights based on what companies want to track, which will help to make strategies for improving the business process, which will lead to the revenue generation process.

Save Time in Extracting Analytical reports
With new technologies, such as speech analytics, contact centers can create better customer experiences, where they can easily save time by extracting the analytical reports holistically. The insights received from analytics also help improve the performance of agents and find out their shortcomings. If utilized correctly, the analytics can help in improving the effectiveness of campaigns and improving conversation rates.

Manage Operations Efficiency
Basis the conversation analytics reports analyze your team’s performance in handling the conversations and design future training courses for your staff. The outcome will be smooth client handling benefits while offering improved CX.

Accuracy

Make more sense of your transcription with domain-specific targeted words/phrases. For accuracy, the analysis helps to uncover an issue, which can help the agents to get the information and as a result, it will help to decrease the number of call-backs by establishing the proper expectations with customers, this will lead to accurate outputs.

Increases cross-sell and up-sell opportunities
Leveraging the contact center to drive revenue through cross-selling and up-selling pitches in interactions is a smart strategy. The information can then be used to enhance sales conversion rates which help to produce more effective marketing campaigns.

Features of Speech Analytics Platform

Speech Adaptation
Customize your speech analytics application by inserting industry-specific or unique terms/phrases for auto-detection of words.

Multi-channel
Recognize and transcribe multiple participants in a conversation. Transcribe and analyze millions of calls to discover customer insights and improve contact center performance.

Content Filtering
Redact your transcription of specific content like inappropriate words, confidential and personal information. When you have access to this vital information, you can take proactive measures to make changes and improvements.

KPIs That Can Be Improved Using Speech Analytics Data

There are several KPIs you can track with speech analytics software. First call resolution rate, service response times, customer satisfaction, Script Compliance or Improvement, Reduced Repeat calls, and wait time are some examples. Once you pick your KPIs, benchmark your current performance levels.

One good exercise to see if you can derive meaning from your KPIs is to have a look at the compiled list of the most important call center metrics:

Quality Scores: Providing an overall score for the caller experience. Call Center Quality scores can be monitored at the agent and group levels. When you track 100% of customer interactions, supervisors and agents can get an accurate and unbiased view of how well they are doing.

Reduced Repeat Calls: For the improvement in efficiency and reduction in repeat calls, speech analytics is a powerful software. Reducing repeat calls not only reduces overall call volume but at the same time leads to greater customer satisfaction, which can help to revenue enhancement.

First Call Resolution (FCR): Measures the percentage of conversations that get resolved on the first contact. Simply divide the number of calls that are resolved on the first contact by the total number of first contacts. You can get even more sophisticated by segmenting data by call reason, call type, etc.

Customer Satisfaction:
Looks at the agent behaviors and processes that most affect the customer experience. Beyond looking for words and phrases that indicate dissatisfaction, speech analytics also looks at sentiment by monitoring, silence, and loudness in the voice.

Customer Satisfaction

Script Compliance or Improvement: Script compliance is often a top priority, contact centers often employ scripts to ensure a consistent approach to customer interactions and to deliver an excellent customer experience. Especially in highly reputed industries, call center agents must be very careful and adhere to the approved script when dealing with sensitive information. With the help of the software, managers can easily mine calls to ensure that agents are properly following the script and performing at a high level.

Average Handling Time (AHT): The total amount of time it takes to handle a call, measuring different areas such as talk time, on-hold time, and wrap-up time. To get an accurate assessment of agent performance it is important to average handle times over several calls.

Use Case of Speech Analytics Platform

Keyword Spotting
Focus and identify specific keywords and phrases to filter only the relevant conversations that drive domains specific insights and performance. Speech analytics software identifies words and phrases, based on a library defined by the user. This type of call analytics can be used to detect trends in customer interactions and analyses audio patterns to detect emotions and stress in a speaker’s voice.

Theme Discovery
Identify the intent and purpose of a conversation to take proactive actions and make them better.

Transcription
Create transcripts from a variety of calls like customer service calls, sales calls, meeting recordings, etc. The audio undergoes the transcription process that turns the sounds into text. At the same time, acoustic signals such as agitation in the voice, tempo, loudness, and silence are extracted.

Customer Segment Identification
Create and identify new customer segments based on their conversations to enhance personalized experiences.

Final Thoughts!

Creating a positive customer experience is the key to building a successful business. Knowing what customers want before they change their minds, or move on to your competitors, will help create a positive customer experience. Since you can’t read their minds, the next best thing is using speech analytics to capture 100% of your customer conversations.

Speech analytics saves businesses time and delivers value through loyal customers, increased revenue, and decreased expenses. But, launching new speech analytics software doesn’t perform miracles overnight. It takes time. Begin with a plan before pitching it to management, know your facts, pick the right solution, and show the value to your employees. When you do, you’ll reap the benefits. Use these best practices as a guide to get it right from the start and avoid any surprises

Connect with us today to get a personalized demo of our custom NLP-powered Speech Intelligence platform called Tawq. 

Further Insights

Speech To Text Technology

Book a demo

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Six Common Cybersecurity mistake you can fix now https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/security-common-mistakes/ Fri, 06 Aug 2021 07:48:09 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=4790 This graphic identifies common security weaknesses that make small businesses easy targets for cybercriminals and provides insight on how best to address them. View: Security – common mistakes

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This graphic identifies common security weaknesses that make small businesses easy targets for cybercriminals and provides insight on how best to address them.

View: Security – common mistakes

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5 Steps to Leverage AI in Manufacturing https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/ai-in-manufacturing/ Tue, 16 Jun 2020 11:12:22 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=2475 The world’s economic engine relies on manufacturing to work effectively. For manufacturers to stay competitive they need a way to continue to produce cheaper goods at the highest quality possible without taking optimal use of...

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The world’s economic engine relies on manufacturing to work effectively. For manufacturers to stay competitive they need a way to continue to produce cheaper goods at the highest quality possible without taking optimal use of human resources. It is a tall order and one reason, why artificial intelligence (AI) in manufacturing will be a foundation for achieving these goals.

The relationship between AI and manufacturing is still early. That is why it important for manufacturers to start integrating this technology today. By understanding the competition as well as having a plan, it is possible to successfully leverage AI for your enterprise.

AI in Manufacturing Trends

According to Zion Market Research, the AI in the manufacturing market will rise to $18.5 billion by the year 2025 from $1.1 Billion in 2018. That is an annual growth rate of 49.7%. over the next 5 years to reach this market size.

The question now becomes why the industry would adopt AI so quickly. A recent Microsoft report shared how AI helped manufacturing firms increase their performance by 11.5% compared to their peers.

What has the C-suite excited is the potential savings. McKinsey discovered how manufacturing companies who invest in AI could potentially double their cash flow over the next 5-7 years.

However, AI will not do this alone. Instead, it will work with other emerging technologies to create even better results.

For example, Consultancy.org discovered how embedded robots (robots that combine AI and IoT technology) have seen a 20% increase in productivity. The embedded robots supply ongoing maintenance, which ensures machines on the factory floor last longer and break less.

Brian Matthews, the Vice President of Platform Engineering at Autodesk, put it another way when he said, “it could achieve 50,000 days of engineering in one day.” These robots would not be possible a few years ago because they did not have the level of AI required to perform complex procedures.

5 Steps to Leverage AI in Manufacturing

1. Have a plan

Like most great technological advances, it is not enough to just want the trendy, innovative technology solution. The companies that benefit the most from AI have a plan.

The biggest challenge for manufacturing companies implementing AI technology in their facilities is that only 30% currently have a plan in place.

Therefore, start by researching what you want for your organization, so you can plan out your AI development in a rational way. This will help later when you need to integrate your AI technology with the rest of your software and hardware.

If you are not sure how to create a solid AI plan, then have your consulting firm help. Many Beyond Key clients come to us for AI services. Before we help them with the implementation, we work with them to create a plan that helps them realize the full potential of the applications they want to use.

2. Set a budget

Part of any good plan must include a budget. In this case, the budget is separated to address specific AI projects that relate to the plan itself. This step would happen at the same time as the plan.

However, the budget has been the end of many great AI projects. According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), 40% of executives feel this is the biggest obstacle to using AI adoption.

Set up multiple budget options that would range from bare-bones to everything on your wish list. Most organizations usually choose a budget somewhere in between.

Additionally, one of the biggest AI expenses is finding a skilled team. If you want to test the waters with AI, you might want to consider outsourcing this task to a third-party provider. Often, they can do this with fewer expenses and

If you have questions about how to begin this process, contact an AI specialist today for a free 1-hour consultation.

3. Integrate with your current technologies

After the budget and planning, your organization needs to evaluate how AI will integrate with the rest of your technology stack. Most manufacturing companies have spent decades building out their technical capabilities without considering how to implement AI.

HBR also reported that 47% of executives feel the biggest obstacle they face is integrating AI with existing systems. To get the most out of your AI initiatives, make sure that your technical team evaluates the pros and cons of different tools and systems with your current setup.

4. Communicate with employees

Employees are nervous about whether AI will replace them. According to PwC, automation and AI could replace 38% of US jobs in the next 10-15 years. Your employees read the news and hear stories about how computers will replace their jobs.

If you want to use AI in your manufacturing enterprise, you need to be transparent. Let employees know the downside and benefits of AI.

For example, embedded technology keeps systems running longer. That way, workers have fewer disruptions in their schedules. There are fewer concerns about outages and more time to work. Explaining this to employees can help you get buy-in for these projects.

5. Improve data collection efforts

AI runs on data. The revolution in data collection over the past few years has laid the framework for better AI tools in the future. However, data is only as good as those who create the framework for this data.

For example, Gartner predicts that 85% of AI projects through 2022 will have “erroneous outcomes”. The reasons range from data bias to faulty algorithms to incorrect data input.

These mistakes will slow down AI adoption. To reduce the number of errors it is necessary to start improving data collection efforts now.

Before starting on AI projects, complete a review of all data collection procedures. Make sure they help your organization make the best decisions possible now. It often helps to make the data easy to understand for all employees. Therefore, you might want to consider having Power BI dashboards where you can visualize your data in one location.

Then start using that crystal-clear data to begin creating AI tools.

AI in Manufacturing Final Thoughts

The next decade will be an interesting explosion in artificial intelligence. Enterprises in the manufacturing industry need to take advantage of it for them before their competitors do.

If your organization wants to take the first steps, let us know how Beyond Key can help. Contact us today to connect with an AI expert who can help you determine the best strategy moving forward.

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How Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Benefits Not for Profit Organization https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/how-microsoft-dynamics-365-crm-can-benefit-not-for-profit-organizations/ Tue, 02 Jun 2020 08:48:16 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=2456 Non-Profits or Not for profit organizations work for the betterment of people and often operate on tight budgets. The staff is motivated by a cause rather than profits and growth. Resources are limited. That’s why...

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Non-Profits or Not for profit organizations work for the betterment of people and often operate on tight budgets. The staff is motivated by a cause rather than profits and growth. Resources are limited. That’s why they need to find the best value for their budget. Microsoft is aware of that reality and that’s why Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM solution fits in the budget of the typical non-profit organization. Microsoft Dynamics 365 nonprofit can help and improve the fundraising time for them and can provide best practices to track and analyze campaigns.

A Non-Profit can achieve its goals by building relations with people who are going to put money in their pockets, whether those are customers, clients, or donors. Dynamics 365 CRM for non-profit helps engage donors on an ongoing basis.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM for Non-Profits

1. Dynamics 365 Nonprofit Accelerator

 Microsoft provides an out-of-the-box solution for Non-Profit organizations. The application is called “Dynamics 365 Nonprofit Accelerator”. The application contains below prebuilt features which will help a Non-Profit to have a better and more robust application:

  • Pre-built dashboards
  • Workflows
  • Sample apps
  • Templates
  • Customer engagement
  • Content management
  • Data connectors
  • Donor Profile

Microsoft offers a significant discount on its CRM app package for nonprofits.

2. Custom-built Dynamics 365 CRM

A Non-Profit organization can also have a custom-built Dynamics 365 Non-Profit CRM and we at Beyond Key can help to build it which includes all features of the Non-Profit accelerator.

Every Non-Profit organization has its own needs and workflows. Furthermore, no organization wants to change its process just to fit in the contains of the software. So, a good customizable CRM is an ideal solution for a Non-Profit organization that can improve donor relationships and streamline workflow, track event planning, fundraising, and Volunteer management. Dynamics 365 CRM experts at Beyond Key can be partners for you in this journey of customization.

How a custom-built Dynamics 365 CRM for Non-Profit Organization looks like.

a. You can Integrate many Microsoft tools to Dynamics CRM so you can access them all at same Dynamics Instance.

Office 365 Apps

b. You can have access to all your custom entities and categories anytime.

Custom Dashboards

c. You can create different views for entity and fields to access them directly in a single view.

Active Donors

d. You can create multiple dashboards, charts, views based on custom entities and fields to view how your organization is performing.

Multiple Dashboards

 

9 reasons that will help your not for profit organization to switch to Dynamics 365 CRM

1. Unified View for all departments

With Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM 360-degree view, you will gain a full view of what the organization offers and how it is performing.

Dynamics 365 CRM can help to manage every aspect of its operations like contacts, donations, volunteers, and memberships. Microsoft provides integration with many other applications like Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Excel, etc., which users can access in the same Dynamics instance.

We can also help by integrating other third-party services that you need to connect with your Dynamics 365 CRM.

2. Manage grants seamlessly

Through Dynamics 365 CRM you can easily manage and track the complete grants process.  You can automate reminders and renewals to make sure no opportunity is missed.

3. Cultivate Donor relationships

Nonprofit Organizations need to have a good understanding of where their contributions are coming from so that they can channel their fundraising efforts effectively.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM for Non-Profit can actively help organizations cultivate a donor relationship. It will keep track of event attendees, Phone conversations, Email communications, and other points of contact. This will help to develop a long-term relationship.

You can run multiple campaigns at the same time and target donors with future events, follow-up emails which will help donors to remember your organization.

4. Better Volunteer allocation

Building relations with Volunteers is also a key objective of every Non-Profit Organization.

Volunteers give their time and effort to support an organization’s cause. It becomes important that anyone who contributes to a nonprofit must be carefully managed and supported.

With the help of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you can easily manage and track how your volunteers are performing and allow nonprofits to assign the right volunteers to the right project.

5. Making email communications effective

Non-Profit Organizations rely upon email communications and campaigns for sending out the message of new events to their donors.  Dynamics 365 CRM helps them to manage their email campaigns effectively. Users can create custom segments of contacts for individual campaigns, enabling nonprofits to directly target former donors who may be interested in similar upcoming campaigns, or keep supporters of previous campaigns in the loop and let them know how their contribution is being utilized.

It also gives you statistics related to the campaign performance like delivered, opened, and clicked emails. This will help the organization to generate reports and have a better understanding of effectivity of the campaign pitch.

6. Improving Fundraising initiatives

With the help of Dynamics 365, CRM organizations can have a clear understanding of their donor’s behavior and source of donations. It helps to observe whether they donate frequently, occasionally, etc. Organizations can have a complete view of donor commitments and transactions. Users can track them easily and can generate reports to have a better view and understanding of fundraising initiatives.

7. Social Media Management

Social media outreach is equally important for any Non-Profit organization. They need to make a strong strategy if they want to reach more and more potential donors. Dynamics 365 CRM can easily get integrate with social channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn which enables users to plan, deliver, and analyze social media campaigns. Users can schedule posts in Dynamics CRM for social media channels for any future events.

8. Microsoft Power Platform

Microsoft offers many different Power Applications which easily connect to Dynamics 365 CRM Few applications are:

Power BI – Integration with Power BI allows organizations to view insightful reports and dashboards.

Power Apps – Power Apps allows organizations to build many different applications as per their need without much technical and code knowledge.

Power Automate – With the help of Power Automate organizations can create automated workflows between your favorite apps and services to synchronize files, get notifications, collect data, and save time.

9. Pricing

The best part of Dynamics 365 CRM is its cost-effectivity. Microsoft offers discounted rates for non-profit organizations if they are good with their eligibility criteria:

Some of the popular plans for NPOs are:

Customer Engagement Enterprise Apps Price: $23.80 user/month

Includes online and on-premises dual-use for Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, and Project Service Automation. Further discounts are available when purchasing multiple apps.

Dynamics 365 Team Members Price: $1.80 user/month

Includes light use of Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation, and PowerApps business applications plus online and on-premise dual rights use.

Final Thoughts

Experts at Beyond Key are aware of the significant difference Dynamics 365 can make to a Non-Profit organization, streamlining their workflow, and improving donor relationships. With expenses reduced, more funding can be directed towards actively making a change in the world. To learn more about what Beyond Key can do for your Non-Profit organization, please contact us at contact@beyondkey.com.

Grow your nonprofit's impact with Dynamics 365 CRM

Contact us

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Latest Trends in Smart Home Automation System and Smart Home Devices https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/latest-trends-in-smart-home-automation-system-and-smat-home-devices/ Tue, 03 Mar 2020 15:06:24 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=1614 The dream of owning a smart home is now a reality for most homeowners. Thanks to advancements in smart home automation technology over the decade. Home automation modifies your home to automatically perform different sets...

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Smart Home

The dream of owning a smart home is now a reality for most homeowners. Thanks to advancements in smart home automation technology over the decade.

Home automation modifies your home to automatically perform different sets of tasks. Many of the home automation systems rely on “Internet of Things (IoT)” devices, which make it possible to control different functions in your home through mobile and voice technology.

What is a Smart home automation system?

A smart home automation system allows you to monitor, track and control various appliances that are connected to the internet and can be controlled either on an app on your mobile phone or computer.

Lights

Lights

Appliances

Appliances like dishwasher, coffee maker

Electrical outlets

Electrical outlets

Heating and cooling systems

Heating and cooling systems

Security systems

Security systems (alarm system, doors, windows, cameras, locks)

Smoke detectors

Smoke detectors

Global Smart home automation market trends 2020

The smart home automation market is growing and has already impacted our lives. As the prices of IoT devices prices continue to decrease, the general public has found more and more benefits to these products.

USA Flag

The United States is one of the countries that are fast adopting smart home systems in their households.

The global smart home market size is expected to reach 53.45 billion U.S. dollars Source

By 2022, the total consumer spending on smart home automation devices will reach up to80 billion U.S. dollars Source

Global Revenue From Smart Home Devices

There is a significant increase in global revenue from smart home devices between the years 2016 and 2018 jumping from 9.8 billion to over 18 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. Of that amount, the majority was generated from the Americas region, with a total of 8.4 billion U.S. dollars. Source

Trending Smart Home Devices

When asked about the top 3 devices, people wanted to control different devices via their smartphones.

CCTV 62%

wanted a video security camera

Thermostat and Lightning54%

looked for both- thermostat and lighting

  • In 2015, the global smart thermostat unit sales grew by 123%
  • By 2023, the smart lighting market is expected to reach 105.28 billion U.S. dollars
  • By 2024, global smart TV unit sales is expected to climb to as high as 250 million units per year.
Some of the trendiest smart home devices are:

1. Smart Garage doors

The smart sensors are integrated with a companion mobile app to open, close, and monitor your garage door from anywhere in the World.

Features

  • Open, close, and monitor your garage anytime, anywhere.
  • Integrate with Alexa and Google Home
  • Schedule time when you want to open or close the door
Smart Garage Doors

2. Smart Plug

TA Smart Plug turns any regular outlet into a SMART outlet.

Features

  • Operate remotely anytime, anywhere
  • Schedule time for all kinds of electronics
  • Simply drive in and activate lights.
  • Save energy and money
Smart Plug

3. Smart Camera

TSmart Camera is an security camera that allows users to lookafter their home and family – remotely.

Features

  • Closely monitor your home when away
  • Pull up real-time video feeds
  • Receive text messages or emails when the security system encounters a problem.
Smart Camera

Benefits of Smart Home Automation devices

Industry trends – Future-ready devices

There are three rising tech trends influencing the home automation market.

1. Voice-controlled home automation systems

Sometimes talking to voice-controlled systems almost makes you feel like you are in Star Trek. You can even name your Amazon Alexa “computer” if you want. From a practical side, smart home automation benefits greatly from the rise in voice systems like Alexa, Google Home, and Siri.

72%

72% of Americans now use voice commands to control smart home devices.

58%

58% Millennials have smart home devices with voice control

50%

50% Gen X have smart home devices with voice control

26%

26% of Baby boomers have smart home devices with voice control

2. Home Security

The global smart home security market was valued at about $2.14 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to $4.37 billion at an annual growth rate of 19.6% through 2022. Source

Smart home devices such as alarms, cameras, and lockers are the preferred choice of many households because they are more safe and secure.

40%

40% of people prefer automatic lock/unlock ability.

64%

64% of people prefer to monitor or receive notifications on their mobile app.

3. Remote Monitoring and Control

One of the new trends in smart home devices is geo fence-controlled devices. Because users want to control who can access the device, they only make it accessible to a few people in the surrounding area.

This prevents many remote hacks by third parties

Popular Smart home devices

Real-world use case of Smart Home Automation

Recently, we helped a Texas-based company by developing a mobile-based application to control selected Smart home devices by Voice command from anywhere and anytime.

With the help of the application, the user can open, close, and monitor their appliances as well as schedule a time for any activity. Voice and text notifications are also shared to update the user on the status of smart home devices.

Know more about our IoT-based offering and services here.

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Why migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2? https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/why-migrate-from-magento-1-to-magento-2/ https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/why-migrate-from-magento-1-to-magento-2/#respond Mon, 06 Jan 2020 05:51:43 +0000 https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/?p=589 Magento has become one of the most popular E-Commerce platforms in the world. 12% of eCommerce sites now rely on the platform (Source: Cloudways). This is second only to WooCommerce. These numbers keep increasing, especially...

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Magento has become one of the most popular E-Commerce platforms in the world. 12% of eCommerce sites now rely on the platform (Source: Cloudways). This is second only to WooCommerce. These numbers keep increasing, especially with the release of Magento 2. Many Magento users switched to other open source platforms for easier functionality, however, Magento offers customization which adds up to the advantages of using it. This open-source platform comes with several tools for analytics, monitoring and conversion optimization.

Additionally, Magento supports both Object-oriented programming (OOP) which helps to reduce the complexity and improves the maintainability of the system and Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture which supports rapid and parallel development. Both these functions help web developers effectively create a better user interface for the eCommerce shop. The software is little complex for those who do not have the technical skills required to modify Magento in order to scale their eCommerce stores effectively. But if you do have the technical expertise, Magento can prove to be an amazing online store platform for your business.

The migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2 had a mixed response in the Magento community. Some are excited about the change, while others are not happy about the discontinued support for Magento 1 after June 2020. For a seamless transition and to leverage the advanced features of Magento 2, businesses can rely on the expertise of Magento 2 consultants at Elogic.

Why Migrate to Magento 2?

After June 2020, Magento has announced that they will no longer be providing support on Magento 1.x version and with services like Security patches, Quality fixes, and documentation updates. So, it is advisable that before the 1.x version becomes completely obsolete, online stores should move to fast and improved Magento 2.x version.

Magento 2.x was released in 2015. There were certain performance and other limitations with Magento 1.x so the owners took care of a lot of things on this latest build. Let’s look at the advantages of upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

1. Performance

Magento 1 was a slow tool that made it cumbersome for customers to use. That is why developers made sure that Magento 2 can run 20% faster than its predecessor. The platform is also able to handle a large catalog without affecting the site speed, which makes it suitable for both small or large online stores.

These enhancements allow it to handle 39% more orders per hour compared to the previous version. The benefit of this extra performance in Magento 2 means you can interact with more customers.

Performance
Add to cart function

2. User-friendly checkout

In Magento 2, the checkout process is much more streamlined with faster automatic guest check out. A simplified checkout is vital for any online store to improve conversion rates.

  • Customers can create an account after ordering their products
  • The order summary is shown at checkout with Product images
  • Improved PayPal Integration for an easier checkout process

3. Better search functionality

Magento 2 improved search functionality helps customers quickly and efficiently find their products. By customizing the Elasticsearch software, developers can create a better search experience while reducing development costs.

Performance
Add to cart function

4. Mobile Browsing Enhancements

We live in a mobile world. Therefore, online browsing needs to work on mobile devices. By improving Magento’s search capabilities, it is possible to help mobile users as well. Combining a streamlined mobile-friendly checkout and faster performance leads to a higher conversion rate with mobile shoppers.

5. Upgraded add-to-cart

In Magento 1, every time customers added a product to their cart, the page would reload. Slow-loading pages or repeated loading lead to a higher bounce rate. Magento 2 solves this problem with the ‘Ajax add-to-cart’ JavaScript, so shoppers’ can now add products to their cart without reloading the entire page.

add to cart function
Add to cart function

6. Better admin navigation and experience

Magento 2 overcomes many of the limitations and drawbacks of Magento 1. The user experience is not just better for customers. Magento 2 now gives admins improved product creation, data viewing, and filtering possibilities. Furthermore, the overall admin interface is much cleaner. Menus are more organized so that finding the page and functionality you want is easier.

Conclusion 

If your store still uses Magento 1, then it is worth your time and attention to switch to Magento 2. With the later version, you can have all the benefits of Magento 1 plus the faster speed and better performance. Being one of the best Software Development Company, we have helped several of our clients with our scalable, intuitive and reasonable app development at your preference. 

If that was not enough, Magento 1 support ends June 2020. It is worth your time, money and performance to migrate before this happens. If you are not sure how to migrate to Magento 2, let us help you! We have a team of experienced Magento developers who will be happy to help you. Connect with us to Hire Magento Developer.

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Creating a Great Customer Experience Using a Chatbot in 7 Steps https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/creating-a-great-customer-experience-using-a-chatbot-in-7-steps/ https://www.beyondkey.com/blog/creating-a-great-customer-experience-using-a-chatbot-in-7-steps/#respond Tue, 20 Aug 2019 18:53:25 +0000 http://beyondintranet.azurewebsites.net/?p=362 While chatbots are a relatively new technology, they are gaining immense popularity in the digital world and among consumers as of late. With virtual assistants in more and more homes every day and with a...

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While chatbots are a relatively new technology, they are gaining immense popularity in the digital world and among consumers as of late. With virtual assistants in more and more homes every day and with a wealth of information just a few taps away on our smartphones, we’ve grown accustomed to having instantaneous access to all the answers we’re looking for. That’s why it’s crucial for businesses to adapt. Chatbot can provide that instantaneous response users are looking for and still provide a memorable customer experience.

Even if you’re already aware of the growing presence and importance to know that your business would benefit from one, you may still be wondering how exactly it would fit into your marketing or support strategy or how to build one. Luckily, we’ve created this simple guide on creating a great customer experience using a chatbot in seven steps.

1. Identify Your Chatbot Goals

Having an ultimately successful chatbot depends on having a real issue it can solve. Don’t develop a chatbot simply because you see other sites doing it or read about them in a marketing blog. You should have realistic goals you want to meet with your chatbot.

So, what are these goals? When determining your chatbot goals, you should be thinking about the customer. Why would your customer engage with a bot? What would they be looking for? How do you anticipate they will interact with your chatbot and what steps do you want them to take afterward?

Your chatbot goals should largely reflect company goals that are short-term. What types of tasks would be best suited for a chatbot? Perhaps you want your chatbot to answer FAQs for your customers. Or maybe you want your chatbot to be proactive and focus on informing users of new services or products you offer. Whatever items you decide on, the ultimate mission is to create an easier, quicker, and more satisfying experience for your customers.

Once you’ve clearly identified the goals you want your chatbot to achieve, it’s time to start the design process.

2. Choose Custom-Made or Ready-to-Use?

There are two avenues you can take when deciding to create a chatbot. You can choose a ready-to-use bot-building platform or you can choose to custom-make your chatbot from scratch. Both have pros and cons that you should be aware of before making a decision.

Custom Chatbot: Pros and Cons

A custom bot is a great choice if you are looking for specific features and want plenty of flexibility to make adjustments along the way. Custom bots also give you the opportunity to create an in-depth conversation flow.

It’s also important to consider the cons of choosing a custom chatbot. If you don’t have the technical know-how, you’ll probably have to hire a developer to build your bot. Depending on the features you want and how complicated your bot is, the process may take more time and money to complete than you want to spend.

Ready-to-Use Chatbot: Pros and Cons

An out-of-the-box chatbot saves you from having to hire a developer or have the substantial technical know-how. There’s no coding required, the process is much faster, and the cost is much lower. If you don’t have a ton of resources at your disposal or you’re in a time crunch, a ready-to-use bot is a way to go.

On the other hand, a ready-to-use chatbot has its limitations. It’s already been built, so the types of features you can add or changes you can make will probably be severely limited. Depending on the bot building platform, you may find restrictions on which channels you can use your bot on.

3. Designing Your Chatbot

Now it’s time to decide on your chatbot design. There are several things you’ll need to consider. Do you want a text-based chatbot or a voice-based chatbot? A text-based messenger chatbot, works on one or more messaging platforms. Users will likely interact with this kind of chatbot on a screen, like their mobile device or computer. A voice-based chatbot works differently. Users interact with a voice-based chatbot by speaking to it in their natural language, usually screen-free.

Once you’ve decided which kind of chatbot you need, it’s time to design your conversation flow. There should be a balance of functionality and engagement. Here are a few things to consider:

Keep the conversation flow naturally.

Think about your customers and about the different things they might talk about with your bot. Think about how those conversations could start. For example, people usually begin a conversation with a greeting such as “hello” or “hi there”. Your bot will need to be able to recognize these phrases and respond with a “greeting message”. Also, keep in mind that your bot will more than likely receive unexpected responses, so ensure that they are accounted for when designing your conversation.

Offer quick reply options.

‘Yes’ or ‘No’ buttons or suggested topic or question buttons can create an easy and timely experience for your users. Quick reply options are also great for users that aren’t quite sure what they need or what topic their question falls into.

Don’t be afraid to give hints.

A great way to make sure your conversations stay focused is to give responses that are suggestive and not too open-ended. For example: “What type of vehicle are you interested in? Right now, we have sedans and full-size SUVs on sale.”

Make your answers vary.

One key to a successful chatbot is making sure it doesn’t sound like a, well, bot. Give your chatbot a variety of answers and change up how it begins and ends its sentences.

Make your chatbot likable.

Don’t be afraid to give your bot some personality. You don’t want to make it rude or over the top, but also don’t be afraid to throw in a few jokes here and there to keep the conversation light and the user engaged.

4. Be Available if Necessary

Chatbots are, well, bots. There are certain limitations to what they can do. Offering users the option to speak with a human if they want can be the difference between keeping them on your site and obtaining a lead and having them bounce. Not only should this be a frequently available option to users, it should also be obvious.

5. Choose the Appropriate Channels

Your chatbot doesn’t have to live exclusively on your website. In fact, chatbots can be used across multiple channels and can connect conversations. Think about where your target audience spends the most time. With a multitude of platforms available today, you can utilize their interfaces to link your bot to multiple channels, thereby reaching more of those target users.

Whichever platforms you decide on, make sure you give your chatbot a presence. Don’t let it simply hide in a corner. Get creative and look for opportunities to use your chatbot to convert.

6. Don’t Hesitate to Test Your Ideas

Even with the best designs, it’s incredibly important to test things out. This is especially important before making your chatbot live. Make sure it accurately answers questions, helps customers find solutions, is easy to use, and that there are no kinks to work out.

What you should be checking for:

  1. Onboarding process

This is the first item you’ll want to check when testing your bot. Verifying the onboarding process means ensuring that your chatbot initiates engagement with a user a soon as they open the bot window.

  1. Accurate, working links

Make that any link your bot provides a user works and goes to where it’s supposed to. Broken links or links that lead nowhere will hurt your user experience.

  1. When your chatbot is confused

As previously mentioned, your bot will likely encounter some unusual or challenging responses from users. Make sure there’s an input in place for when your chatbot doesn’t understand a user’s response or what they want. It can be something as simple as, “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean. Can you try rephrasing your question?”

7. Continue to Learn

The best companies are constantly evolving. Even once you’ve designed, tested, and resolved initial issues with your chatbot, that doesn’t mean the job is done. It’s critically important to continue to collect and analyze data regularly to determine what’s working and what’s not and to improve where you can. This will ensure that your customer experience is always in-touch with what users are looking for and meets their expectations.

Check out our voice chatbot page to see what we have to offer. Not sure what features are right for your business? Our experts can help! Reach out to the Beyond Voice team using our contact form to learn more.

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