For 20 years, Channel Fusion has proudly delivered channel programs for Fortune 500 companies, serving as an extension of those brands in supporting their channel partners. Over that time, the company has leveraged the latest tools to ensure service levels are met or exceeded in terms of responsiveness, effectiveness and issue resolution.
Today, the Channel Fusion operations team is leveraging the latest tools and technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to take its channel partner support to the next level.
One Solution
Before implementing next-generation support tools and systems, the Channel Fusion operations team utilized disparate systems to provide live chat, email and phone support for its clients’ channel partners. Emails were in Outlook in client-designated support boxes. In some cases, there were multiple boxes for one client. A regular phone system was used to handle incoming calls, requiring every call to be logged manually. Similarly, online chat utilized a separate solution that also required manual logging of inquiries.
Today, channel partner support is provided through a comprehensive, integrated solution. Email, phone and chat, as well as text and digital phone, inquiries are captured and processed through a single platform. In addition to making channel partner assistance more efficient, the support platform creates a single, consolidated ticket regardless of the type of inquiry received. That allows team members to access both types of call recordings, chat and text transcripts, as well as email communications in one location. All the content is searchable as well, providing another way for support team members to find relevant information about a channel partner inquiry.
From a program oversight and management perspective, this improved visibility allows supervisors and managers to see which team members are engaged in partner interactions and provides the ability to give additional support and near real-time coaching.
One of the biggest benefits of the new support system is improved reporting. Instead of disparate reports from each support channel, the Channel Fusion operations team can access a singular report for each client’s program. All interactions are now in one report and, with the integration of AI and ML capabilities, the sentiment of each channel partner interaction is measured and reported.
Improving Channel Program Sentiment
Having consolidated reporting that includes sentiment provides benefits for Channel Fusion’s clients and the company’s support team alike. Clients now receive reporting that includes not only basic information, such as the number of inquiries for a particular timeframe, what channel generated an inquiry (email, chat or phone) and issue resolution, for example, it now surfaces different clusters of information or phrases that can be used to determine channel partners’ sentiment regarding the brand’s channel program.
For Channel Fusion, the reporting supplies the ability to provide prescriptive coaching. For example, if particular words or phrases are being used by support agents regularly and they are leading to less than satisfactory outcomes for channel partner interactions, the words or phrases can be eliminated from the support agents’ responses.
Real-time Improvement
Another key feature of the new support system is the ability to get instantaneous feedback from channel partners regarding their support experience. Similar to what users experience when utilizing Software as a Service support features, the Channel Fusion system provides the ability to gather feedback after a support interaction. Instead of waiting for the end of the month or quarter to send out a survey, for example, when a support ticket is closed today, the channel partner will receive a satisfaction survey that allows them to rate their experience and provide other feedback.
In addition, the AI and ML capabilities in the support system create feedback clusters and provide specific, actionable improvement areas that can be implemented in near real time. The AI and ML functionality also allows Channel Fusion to compare its support metrics to companies in different industries, providing yet another dimension of analysis and insights.
With its new support system in place, Channel Fusion now has a single, integrated platform that leverages AI and ML to support brands’ channel partners, delivers consolidated reporting and provides and delivers insights to improve channel outcomes and program support. These industry-leading tools will help position Channel Fusion to deliver outcomes for its clients and their partners for the next 20 years.
About Channel Fusion
For 20 years, Channel Fusion has been delivering strategy, customer experience and return on investment outcomes for brands and their channel partners with a wide variety of solutions and industry expertise. We continue to invest in the overall ecosystem of our channel marketing offering to ensure our clients can provide their channel partners with an optimal customer experience to drive results. Our core technologies and connected platform are supported by a team of customer-centric “Fusers.” Let us know if you’d like to learn more about how we deliver desired outcomes for brands and their channel partners.