How companies interact with their customers has changed rapidly over the past two years. Customers have upgraded their expectations and are increasingly turning to new, digital alternatives to traditional calls to service centers; they want meaningful relationships and are less tolerant of high-effort engagements.
Digital channels, as well as technologies within the contact center, are pushing the boundaries of innovative customer service. In recent years, we have seen tremendous innovation with technologies such as co-browsing, authentication, automation, routing, multi-channel communications, conversational analytics, and more.
That brings us to the Innovation Showcase. Each year, the Innovation Showcase at Enterprise Connect seeks to introduce conference attendees to emerging, innovative firms. This year, the Innovation Showcase intends to highlight innovative solutions for customer engagement. We are seeking vendors that leverage technology to deliver innovative, differentiated customer experiences.
Enterprise Connect regularly features the movers and shakers of the contact center industry. These providers can be found both in the expo hall and throughout the conference in various sessions. A key eligibility requirement of the Innovation Showcase is that the vendor has not previously exhibited at Enterprise Connect. The vendor can provide a standalone solution, such as a CCaaS offer or complement existing contact center solutions. The Showcase is also an excellent opportunity for partners in larger contact center ecosystems.
I’ve put together a rock-solid group of judges for the CX edition of the Innovation Showcase, including
Beth English, Art Schoeller, and
Sheila McGee-Smith. Each of these experts brings with them extensive contact center experience.
The judges will evaluate each application on three dimensions. The first criteria is the potential the innovation offers toward improving the customer experience. We expect diverse approaches that could include: ways to meet customers where they are, ways to improve the experience — such as shorter wait times or better routing — new channels and formats for engagements, better self-service tools, systems, or processes that assist callers or empower agents, and systems that monitor quality, sentiment, and/or outcomes.
In addition to innovative approaches, we will also evaluate the potential for business impact. Providers that apply for consideration should be able to convey effective benefits, be it cost reductions, improved NPS, better retention, or other benefits. The third and final evaluation category is how suitable the solution is for general enterprise use cases.
We intend to select six unranked companies for the showcase this year. Each company will then present their solution in a dedicated session at Enterprise Connect. There is no charge to apply or to present. Even better, selected companies will receive two full-conference passes.
Click here for additional details on the Innovation Showcase, including eligibility requirements and how to apply (or
apply here directly). The showcase companies are announced prior to the start of the conference. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2022.