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[av_heading heading=’FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY IKE SEÑERES
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Multi-modal communications
NO MATTER how you would look at it, the so-called digital divide is really just an outcome of the more real economic divide.
Just like food that is available everywhere but not everyone could afford what they want to eat, connectivity in one form or another is available everywhere, but not everyone could connect to the means that they want.
Again just like food that is beyond the means of those who are financially challenged, many means of connectivity are beyond the means of those who could not afford it. In that sense, it could be said that there is always a bridge that could be crossed in order to get to the other side of a river, there is always a way to cross the so-called digital divide, but many could not afford to pay the toll fees that are needed to get to the other end of a connection.
According to telecom industry statistics, about half of the mobile units in the market are already smartphones. That may sound like good news, but what that means is that the other half are still legacy phones that still do not have access to the internet and to mobile apps.
Of course, it could be said that even if the owners of legacy phones may still have some limitations, they have already crossed the digital divide. On the other hand, mobile access is not the real issue here, because internet access is the bottom line. In a manner of speaking, the owners of the legacy units may already be happy with what they have, but we know that they would be happier if they would also have internet access.
As I understand it, mobile phone users in many other countries would tend to make voice calls more than they would send text messages. The reason for that perhaps is that voice calls in those other countries do not cost as much as it would cost over here and chances are, the voice quality over there could be better.
Perhaps out of habit and practicality, mobile phone users over here would tend to send text messages more over here because it is cheaper than voice calls, but that does not mean that they are happy about it. I am sure that if the conditions are otherwise, they would prefer to make voice calls. Although it is only in a manner of speaking, it could still be said that the mobile phone users over here are in effect, partial victims of the digital divide.
In just a few years, what originally started as Customer Relations Management (CRM) is still basically the same genre as we know it, but its focus has significantly changed from simply handling “customer complaints” and satisfying their demands. As it is now, the new buzzword is “user experience” (UX), a concept that is closely related to “customer engagement.”
Even before the earlier form of CRM, the infrastructure used was Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Just the same, BPO is still being used now, but it has also significantly changed from simply taking voice calls. As it is now, multimodal communications is already being used, and that now includes voice, non-voice and video.
Ideally, the voice infrastructure should receive calls not only from Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS) and the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), but also from soft phone calls from Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems such as Skype, Viber, Face Time and even Magic Jack.
Although it is no longer popularly used, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems could be added as another voice option. Even the older CRM systems could receive non-voice messages from Short Messaging Service (SMS), but the newer systems now are already interfaced with Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as from Android and IOS mobile apps. Aside from these, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) could also be added as another non-voice option.
Strictly speaking, the video infrastructure is also using VoIP, but it has practically become a separate category, because of more reliable video streaming technologies that are now being used by You Tube, U-Stream and Facebook Live. Because of these technologies, it is now possible to conduct live video conferences between customers and CRM or BPO agents either on a one-to-one, one-to-many or one-to-all basis.
If there were 24 video frames for example, 24 customers could now interface with one CRM or BPO agent or conversely, 24 agents or company contacts could now interface with one customer. As the bandwidth becomes broader and cheaper in the near future, it is possible that video will be used more than voice and non-voice.
In much the same way that paper has not really disappeared when automation came along, it looks like walk-in or in-person transactions with customers are not likely to disappear yet. Most likely, it will still be live tellers that will be transacting directly with customers.
However, it is also possible that live tellers will still be supplemented by Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the same walk-in locations. Depending on their design and purposes, these ATMs could take the form of kiosks, and much later, some of these ATMs could take the form of robots.
Along the same prediction that paper will not yet disappear, it is advisable that the CRM or BPO agents should also be able to receive traditionally analog means of sending messages such as snail mail, fax machines and telegraphy./PN
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