Evolution of Voice Support

THE EVOLUTION OFK Voice Support Since the dawn of the telephone, customers have been able to resolve their issues without being at the physical business. We take a look back at how voice support has evolved and where it's headed next. 1876 Telephone Is Invented The first telephones are sold or leased in pairs and only work between each other. For multiple locations, users would have to set up three or four units. C34 334 Telephone Switchboard Invented As telephone use expands, switchboards are set up across the country. Wealthy customers who own a phone can communicate directly with businesses. 1960 Call Centers Emerge To increase efficiency, companies begin investing in departments strictly dedicated to handling customer inquiries. Σ 1967 1800 DIAL NOW 1-800 Numbers Invented Toll-free numbers gain popularity as a business tool for customer support. Vanity numbers (800-FOR-SALE) also are used for branding. LATE 1970 IVR Technology Evolves Interactive voice responses are incorporated into customer support. New technology in the '80s spawns complex phone trees. ED eee ד TT 1989 Outsourcing Grows Popular In the late '80s and early '90s, when companies begin focusing on cost-cutting, many customer service and support services are sent abroad. 1990 Phone Trees Grow in Complexity and Annoyance As call volume for support grows, so does the complexity of business phone trees. Customers become annoyed with endless IVR systems. 2011 Phone Support Gets a Makeover Zendesk introduces Voice and with it an entirely new and innovative experience for call centers and phone support. Call Center in Minutes: Instead of being insanely expensive and complicated to set up, companies now have the ability to have a call center up and running, on site, as soon as they simply select a phone number for it. No More Lost Calls: With Voice, a recording of every call is embedded into the support ticket, meaning every conversation is tracked and neither customers nor agents have to try to track down the info they received from their original or any follow-up calls. Sucky Phone Support Spotted/Fixed Immediately: A real-time dashboard analyzes all Voice activity so support managers can immediately spot any red flags and take corrective actions necessary. Phone Support Gets Human Again: For the first time in decades, both agents and customers actually don't dread the phone for support and find it to be an overall enjoyable, productive, and satisfying experience. SOURCES: BBC NEWS, FORUMINFOTECH.NET, TNW.COM, WIKIPEDIA.ORG, w3c.ORG, NCSU.EDU, EHOW.COM, ATT.COM, GOOGLEPATENTS.COM, SOFTWARECOMMENTARY.COM zendesk LOVE YOUR HELP DESK leeee