A beginner's guide to finding the right voice analytics platform

Before making an investment on voice analytics (a worthwhile investment nonetheless), it’s a good idea to brush up on what kinds of things a reputable voice analytics platform should offer.

In the call center domain, driving operational excellence is critical, after all, today’s customers are more discerning and knowledgeable than ever before. Seventy-eight percent of consumers permanently change how they feel about a company based on a single interaction with a contact center. Customers are four times more likely to leave a service interaction disloyal than loyal. Yikes. 

So how can organizations gain powerful market and voice of the customer insights, leading to upgraded agent performances and smoother customer interactions? Two words: voice analytics. 

The 411 on the new voice analytics platform

Voice analytics take advantage of voice recognition software to analyze and record a spoken conversation. The software translates speech to text, and can recognize speaker emotion and intent by dissecting audio patterns. Once organizations have the capability to listen at scale, they can better evaluate the performance of their contact center reps, insights into the customer experience, sales effectiveness and compliance risks. 

Users typically enjoy a speech engine that converts speech to data, an indexing layer that makes phrases and keywords searchable and a search user interface so users can define requirements and reporting analytics. Having immediate access to these customer conversations represents invaluable data for companies to tap, allowing them to break free from tedious surveys.

Questions to ponder before talking to vendors

The sheer number of voice analytics solutions can be entirely overwhelming. Not all softwares are created equal, though. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to voice analytics, asking the following questions before vetting vendors can help businesses choose wisely.

• What is my organization’s overall goal for voice analytics? (Agent coaching, improved CX, compliance monitoring, etc.) 
• Is it important for the platform to offer speech analytics in real time?
• How long does it take for the data to be mined into actionable insights?
• Does the software need the ability to integrate with existing recording technology?
• What do we want the reporting dashboards to look like? 
• Do we have time for a platform with a drawn-out implementation, or do we need something we can deploy instantly? 

Once you know the answers to these questions, you can do enough research to eliminate some of the vendors. Our Buyer’s Guide to Voice Analytics lists important questions to ask vendors while going through the vetting process.

Getting started with your new voice analytics platform

After selecting the desired software, what’s next?

Purchasing a voice analytics platform is one thing, getting it to the live operation stage is another. Ideally, it’s best to work with those who offer standard implementation services for the software. Invest in a solution that offers first-class technical capabilities, as well as extensive support and training on how best to put the technology to work. 

Tethr’s industry starter kits and playbooks accelerate the realization of improvements and provide a framework for continued improvement. Tethr comes standard with hundreds of pre-built insight categories based on more than a decade of service, sales and CX research.

Final considerations

Whether you have never used voice analytics technology before, or you’re reconsidering your current solution, be sure to evaluate which software meets your business needs, your business goals and is best tailored to supporting a winning customer experience. Check out our Buyer’s Guide to Voice Analytics to learn how to avoid the pitfalls of voice analytics investments.