Genesys Xperience – Some Big Announcements and Some New Messaging

On June 23-24, I attended Genesys Xperience, a two-day virtual event with 28 different sessions, 80 speakers, 6 user groups, 17 demos, and 54+ meet-ups. The overall theme this year was “The Power of Us.”

It was an exciting event, and a little different than other virtual events that I have attended; a bit more personable and even intimate while attending. I got the feeling that I was with a smaller group, or even a single person attending a particular session as a sole attendee. It felt like I was VIP in an audience of one. The quality of the presentations and the quality of the speakers were very strong.

I had the great opportunity to moderate the session on Best Practices with Interviews/Interactions with three Genesys customers: Jackie Gonzalez, PATLive, Luis Chavez Tuesta, BancoEstado, and Pat Smolak, First Canadian Title (FCT). It was an excellent way of showing how customers have adapted extremely quickly to a cloud model, sometimes in as little as 48 hours with Genesys Cloud in the midst of COVID. I was particularly amazed at the stories Jackie, Luis, and Pat shared during the discussion. Their testimonies alone showed the flexibility of the cloud from a ramp-up POV, training POV, and the ability to increase or decrease licensing based on a dip in call volume or time of the season. These were some pretty amazing testimonies, as we all heard were “super human.” I was both honored and pleased to be a part of it and share some of my own thoughts during the 45 minutes that we had together.

I was also able to personally attend a session given by Tara Mahoney, who is the new managing director of the health care practice. Tara started with Genesys just a few short months ago, further expanding the company’s focus on this specific vertical. I also attended a session featuring customers from AT&T, Vodafone, and Whirlpool. It was quite interesting to hear how all three companies were able to use the digital experience, or DX, as the "new normal" for customers entering into the contact center. The appeal for individuals not having to wait for long whole times, and getting quick answers is a very key part of the DX strategy.

Genesys provided sessions on multiple topics at Xperience, and, in particular, I found these takeaways:

Genesys DX

Genesys DX is Genesys’ digital-first solution. It brings together Bold360 and Genesys Digital & AI innovations and predictive engagement. The aim is fluid, context-based, personalized experiences that customers can place in their business or channel. The Genesys DX approach includes:

• DX will engage customers 24/7 via always-on availability on the channels customers prefer, including chatbots, web messaging, live chat, email, SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and more through one integrated system.
• DX will bring the “human intuition” to all digital interactions, with a 360-degree view of all customer touchpoints and AI-powered insights.
• DX will provide a robust centralized knowledge platform that will help find answers faster and resolve issues more quickly.
• DX will extend AI to support agents in real time with consolidated data across systems presents a unified view of all customer interactions.
• DX will provide proactive, predictive outreach, engaging website visitors with personalized messages. DX will also deliver on AI outcome scoring which will facilitate results throughout the entire customer journey.
• DX will engage customers with web messaging, engaging customers 24/7 at their own pace without waiting for a live agent. Genesys will provide asynchronous messaging, creating meaningful conversations across multiple devices.
• DX will deliver on digital self service and chatbots providing faster support. 
• DX will deliver on rich media across an omnichannel experience, increasing engagement with images, embedded videos and other dynamic media and interactive content.

Updated Branding

Genesys also announced updated branding of their product line. Existing products with a CX designation will get updated naming conventions:

• Genesys Cloud CX - The Genesys CCaaS solution and platform will now be named “Genesys Cloud CX,” as the overall customer experience includes digital, voice, AI and the Workforce Engagement Management (WEM).
• Genesys Multicloud CX - Genesys dropped the name “Engage/” This is being replaced as “Genesys Multicloud CX,” which gives customers many choices to evolve their multicloud architecture, including containers (ability to run on a public cloud service such as Azure or AWS) and deployments on major public cloud infrastructure platforms, or even in a data center.
• Genesys Choice - With Genesys Choice, customers can buy and flexibly use any Genesys technology. Choice will offer access to all Genesys capabilities, AI innovations and future functionalities. Services can be turned on or off as needed, scaled up or down, and burstable “on the fly.” Genesys Choice will allow customers to keep pace with rapidly evolving demands.

My Impressions

It was clear that Genesys is now all-in to the cloud and the company has steered in that direction with a vision for the future. Customers who have a need to manage contact centers with multiple tools and the complexities will be pleased with Genesys’ approach. Because the Genesys contact center infrastructure is already built, Genesys has the ability to build an omni-channel contact center in the cloud, which includes agents working from home and can be built in a fraction of the time of a premises solution. The other major advantage is that you can add licensing and delete licensing quickly with no penalty for any changes, which is unique to the cloud market in particular.

I think the entire premise for DX is very timely. As I listened to the responses from Whirlpool, AT&T, and Vodafone speaking as customers during one of the sessions, it was amazing to hear the increase by as much as 60% of DX channels such as email web chat and SMS texting. It shows that the general population has gotten used to texting as a form of completing a “call” or transaction and is comfortable in doing so. I see it personally on an almost daily basis when I'm making an appointment for my car or making an appointment for the dentist or my doctor. The actual reminders that show up and COVID-19 questions are critical for communicating with customers and patients prior to being there.

The entire notion of being proactive with a self service DX model blends very well to how humans are now behaving in an age of COVID and now post-COVID.

Rebranding with names like Genesys Cloud CX and Multicloud CX indicates to me that Genesys messaging and focus going forward is “cloud-first” for all new client opportunities.

Conclusion

All in all, I found the Genesys Xperience impressive and timely at the same time. The contact center market is moving very quickly based upon customer experience, patient experience, and member experience at the forefront of every customer. Genesys has now added DX, digital experience, into the mix as a prime way of enhancing that customer experience through the use of AI, bots and other self-service technologies.