LiveOps Integrates with Microsoft Dynamics' New Unified Service Desk

LiveOps will be available within Microsoft Dynamics CRM's newly launched Unified Service Desk. The integration will allow the cloud contact center provider's voice and chat interactions to take place within the Unified Service Desk. Microsoft's Unified Service Desk allows customers to run multiple apps, including LiveOps, within a single, fully embedded interface. An agent can look at the customer record, social history, or field a call all on the same screen.

"This becomes the engagement hub for whoever has to engage with customers, anyone who has to take calls," says Ann Ruckstuhl, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of LiveOps. The company has also embedded computer telephony integration capabilities, which involves using computers to intelligently route calls to the agents best able to handle them. "Right now we're the only cloud vendor that has embedded that capability into the unified service desk," Ruckstuhl says.

While LiveOps can handle Facebook, Twitter, texting, and email, its integration with the Unified Service Desk will be limited to voice and chat for now. Accroding to Ruckstuhl, that's partly because of where the company wanted to start with the integration, with "the two channels customers are requesting most." However, with Microsoft's acquisition of Parature, social capabilities are already part of the Unified Service Desk, which may make social integration redundant. "[Customers] can frankly tap into Parature," Ruckstuhl says.

The integration is also designed to serve managers with a cloud dashboard that allows them to listen to ongoing or past conversations and monitor metrics such as conversion rate or abandonment. "The agents' bosses can have a graphical view of agent performance, which is all embedded in the cloud. They can see anything in real time right away," Ruckshuhl explains.

Customers haven't started using LiveOps within the Unified Service Desk yet, but Ruckstuhl is seeing heightened demand in the travel and hospitality industry. "These are competitive spaces with lots of sources of information that can make or break business. They need a high level of customer service, fast trouble resolution, and agents who are really well-informed in order to take care of customers. They also have to deliver great customer service at reduced cost," Ruckstuhl sums up. She's also seeing demand from the financial services industry for the integrated product. Since LiveOps is cloud-based, its target customers are the 65 percent of Microsoft Dynamics customers who are using the public cloud version.

For Microsoft Dynamics, integration allows "agents to deliver efficient and effective interactions across all channels" using their "powerful platform for leading vendors and partners to showcase their customer service solutions," Jujhar Singh, general manager of program management for Microsoft Dynamics, said in a statement.

"The nirvana is 'know me, serve me, don't waste my time,'" Ruckstuhl says. The integration between LiveOps and Microsoft Dynamics is designed to move the company forward on this industrywide goal.

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