PROBLEM STATEMENT

To automate the call center industry by using Microsoft Azure to service requests and collect analytics about customer satisfaction.

PROBLEM OVERVIEW

Many businesses around the world employ customer call centers as an integral part of their operation. Call centers are facilities that receive, process information, and make calls to existing or potential customers. These call centers are the vital link between the company and its current and future customers. For example, a tech company might employ a call center to help with any issues that customers of their products might have. Call center employees might also reach out to potential future customers through ‘cold calls’. In spite of this important role, the call center industry today still remains highly manual, employing many people to service requests. This is disadvantageous to companies that employ call centers because they need to spend a significant part of their budget paying, training and retaining call center employees. Furthermore, the cost of maintaining and operating a call center itself poses a significant financial strain. The cumulative capital spent on call centers could be better used elsewhere, like in improving the quality of products or investing in new business propositions.

SOLUTION

IMPLEMENTATION

The Call Center problem can be divided into the following possible parts. Other parts can also be added based on the requirement of a specific call center.

Basic customer interaction reporting: Microsoft Azure can be used to analyze and report surface analysis data (such as, average call duration, success rate, etc.). Using Azure’s Notification API and Durable Functions, generation of such report can be automated. Reports can be sent using Email Template API.
In-depth Analysis: More in-depth analysis of customer data to find out why certain trends are prevailing (why customers are calling in larger number on Sundays from Israel, why a certain products are selling more in larger number in recent months, etc.). We can use Azure's Data Analysis API and Notification Functions to do this.
Analysis of social media comments on the company and its products: An implementation of this would require social media API (such as, Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn APIs) to analyze, and then report to the manager of the call center. A second aspect of this will be to automate the interaction on social media for routine tasks using Data Analysis and Notification APIs. This can be further enhanced over time to post solutions to most commonly occurring problems. One of the main purposes of call centers is to improve a corporation’s public image.

FLOWCHART

The following sprint summarizes to-do tasks for the project and estimated due dates based on my current knowledge of Azure. These due dates are based on the assumption that I would get timely help when I need it.