Contact Center Enhancements and A.I. are the focus of Pridis for 2023

The Dutch software developer Pridis has greatly expanded the capabilities of Microsoft Teams with its Connecsy SaaS solution. The digital attendant has now become an established product, and Pridis is further enhancing this solution by providing complete support for call centers. In a conversation with Johan van Oostveen, the director of Pridis, we learn that he is a man with a mission in a rapidly changing industry.

The Pridis enhancement tool Connecsy provides automated communication for companies with all their customers. The inclusion of a call center in our offerings further enhances the usability of the Pridis product. "At Pridis, we take pride in our ability to support a company's complete communication needs. Our focus on messaging as an information channel has been driven by the growing demand, and we are excited to strengthen our portfolio with call center support. This addition highlights our leadership position and showcases our commitment to leveraging AI technology."

Partly due to hybrid working, corporate communication has undergone a significant transformation. Employees can now operate from multiple locations, utilizing various tools and operating around the clock. WhatsApp Business, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, SMS, email, and traditional voice telephony have become essential components of today's flexible workplace. This shift in behavior, both from customers and employees, has accelerated the demand for cloud-based communication services. With a reliable and secure internet connection, anyone can access these services.

Van Oostveen explains, "We offer our service, Pridis Connecsy, as a SaaS solution. Instead of selling hardware, we provide software solutions through platforms like Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure. Our customers subscribe to our services on a subscription basis, eliminating the need for upfront investments."

The development of the native attendant console for Microsoft Teams was a logical step for Pridis. Previously, the cloud-based attendant console was launched as a web service, allowing customer service agents to use the service via a standard web browser. This makes them even less dependent on where they work and the support of IT, because the software service is automatically maintained. The limitation that remained is that there is always a browser window open. Now that Microsoft Teams is playing an increasingly central role, integration is an important step forward. Combined with the growing use of bots for messaging and voice, the entire corporate communication is now in transition.

In the meantime, Pridis has expanded its range of services with a second cloud proposition. Van Oostveen: "In addition to the attendant, we now also have a range of services for the call center agents. Incoming calls forwarded from the attendant normally end up on an agent's systems, now we offer a complete call center solution that automatically forwards the incoming calls to the right agents." All the functionality to make the call center work is therefore in this cloud service. "With this new cloud service, we have added a new branch to our services and are entering the market of complete call center solutions.

But more importantly, thanks to AI, we go a step further. A chatbot or IVR is almost always the start of customer contact. This is where the customer comes into contact with the call center for the first time with his initial question. The AI we combine with our platform now enables routing of demand to the right agents or the right department." Numerous conditions such as the type of question, the desired specialty, an existing customer/agent relationship, the language and availability are used to connect the customer with the right agent. Basic questions remain in the chatbot for automatic answering. "With this selection technology, we dramatically increase efficiency. The customer is helped better faster and costs are reduced."