Discover how Topaz Services revolutionized its hotel contact center operations by leveraging Zoom Contact Center’s integrated and customizable solution to deliver unmatched, 24/7 white-glove service.
Industry:
Hospitality
Company Size:
45 employees
Challenge:
Lack of customizable features, poor reliability, cumbersome user experience
Solutions:
Zoom Contact Center, Zoom Phone, Zoom Team Chat, Zoom Meetings, Zoom AI Companion
Benefits:
Tailored experience, reliable call quality, improved employee morale, seamless transitions from phone to chat, faster resolutions, deeper insights and analytics, improved efficiencies
Products used
As a “Hotel Contact Center,” Topaz Services has a unique business model built on delivering an exceptional customer experience. Their client base consists of hotels that employ them to handle all of their reservations and inquiries. With the entire business depending on the ability to provide white-glove, branded service 24/7, 365 days a year, a reliable contact center solution they can trust is crucial.
On the quest to provide the best possible experience and keep up with the competition, Stephen Lewis, contact center systems administrator at Topaz, realized their current provider, Mitel, just wasn’t up to the task. When representing so many brands, Topaz needed to adapt their service according to each hotel they served while delivering the highest level of care.
Why Zoom?
After exploring various offerings in search of a partner who could fully understand and adjust to their business model, they landed on Zoom Contact Center. What ultimately sealed the deal was Zoom’s openness and ability to adapt to Topaz’s unique needs, as well as the unified benefit of combining Zoom Contact Center with other familiar products on the Zoom Workplace communications platform, such as Zoom Meetings, Zoom Team Chat, and Zoom Phone.
“Impressed by the Zoom team’s dedication to understanding our needs, the competitive pricing, the expanded omnichannel functionality, and the personalized service we could offer our clients, we decided to partner with Zoom. The onboarding process was swift and efficient, instilling confidence in our budding relationship.”
Stephen Lewis, Contact center systems administrator
With Zoom Contact Center, Topaz has the ability to tweak queue and flow settings to tailor each caller’s experience to the hotel brand they are calling about. Plus, offering additional channels to clients, such as live chat, has made its services more accessible, while agents can manage everything easily in one interface.
Happy agents create delightful customer experiences
Having started his career as an agent, Stephen understands that if everything is made easy and flows smoothly for the agents, the customers will reap the benefits. For Topaz, smooth onboarding and a reliable and easy-to-use solution were crucial.
“The training sessions were instrumental in preparing our team, and the feedback from our agents was nothing short of jubilation. The exceptional call quality, coupled with the user-friendly Zoom interface, made a significant impact on our day-to-day operations.”
Stephen estimates that with Mitel, approximately 5% of calls could drop on any given month. A stable solution that “just works” and doesn’t invoke that fear and embarrassment of a mid-call crash made all the difference for Topaz. Stephen is also impressed with Zoom Contact Center’s quality: “I’ve noticed how crystal clear it is compared to other phone systems. That clarity without the lag is huge for us.”
The ease of use the agents experienced was further bolstered by their familiarity with the Zoom platform: “Because so many of the agents have used Zoom, they already know where things are and how to change settings. It’s a big boost of confidence for them.”
The ease of one simple interface
Another factor that the Topaz team enjoys about Zoom Contact Center’s simplicity is having everything right there in one pane of glass, without the need for jumping between apps. Because every experience needs to be tailored based on the hotel the agent represents, having all the information available in one spot throughout the call makes the job significantly easier.
Speaking of the power of one interface, it doesn’t stop with Zoom Contact Center. Topaz has been using Zoom Phone in the contact center and throughout the business. The management team can also have one view of all office, toll-free, and shared lines while being one click away from their contact center data. It makes for some rich analytics. And because the whole business is connected, employees from different parts of the company can jump in to assist with client calls.
Voice is not the only way Topaz interacts with guests; its live web chat channel has also made a significant impact and can be tracked in the same view.
“Zoom’s omnichannel features have proven to be a game-changer. It’s allowed our agents to seamlessly transition from voice to chat while giving us the tools to customize the consumer-side chat experience to match our clients’ branding.”
Zoom Team Chat: a game-changer in the contact center and beyond
Before Zoom, email was Topaz’s primary communication tool when agents needed to connect with internal subject matter experts. The asynchronous nature of email made it very hard for agents to get a fast response from hotels while on calls with guests. To use their previous instant messaging tool, Spark, they had to ask the hotel front desk staff to install it and keep it open all the time, which felt like a big ask. With Zoom Team Chat, agents can reach hotels faster as the hotels either already have an account or setting one up is straightforward. Now, the Topaz team can get a fast response to a guest’s questions live on a call or instantly invite hotel employees to pop onto a guest presentation.
“Our agents conduct onboarding presentations to new clients via video meetings. With two clicks in Zoom Team Chat, we can invite the hotel employee to the meeting and get their buy-in. All they have to do is accept the invitation.”
A customizable view: Call queues and data
Data is the secret sauce for organizations striving to refine their contact center and customer experience. Topaz appreciates how Zoom Contact Center’s capabilities in this critical function have aligned with the team’s needs, allowing them to stay on top of call queue management and view data easily.
“One standout feature is the ability to organize and customize our call queues, which is crucial for our unique setup. Zoom’s admin site is unparalleled in terms of user management, making the management of over 80 individual queues, hundreds of call flows, and dozens of Team Chat channels a breeze.”
When we asked Stephen how these new insights are impacting the broader team, he had one word: wallboards. “I could go on and on about the wallboards. I’m a huge, huge fan of the customization capability. My quality control manager wants different metrics from the sales manager. We can create the reports and add them to the wallboard. They don’t have to ask me; they can just see them in real-time.”
A true collaborative team effort
Stephen attributes the success of Zoom Contact Center to the dedicated support he received from the Zoom team from the get-go. From the sales process to onboarding, to the service team, through to the product team’s openness to adapt and develop more features, it was a deal maker for Topaz when it came to choosing Zoom.
“What truly sets Zoom apart is their support team’s unwavering commitment and transparent communication. From support technicians working with us on issues large and small to contact center specialists explaining new features, Zoom ensures that our needs are not just met but exceeded.”
The future: AI and a trusted, growing partnership
The Topaz team has dipped its toes in with Zoom AI Companion for Contact Center, Zoom’s proprietary Generative AI (GenAI) assistant included with every license to help agents work smarter and faster. The feedback has been very promising. Trainers are now able to monitor sentiment analysis to quickly identify opportunities for spot rewards and agent development. As Susan Marie Shebalin, Director of quality assurance at Topaz, shared:
“I used to have to carve out chunks of time throughout the week to focus on call monitoring, but now those days are gone, thanks to Zoom Contact Center with AI Companion. I love the new transcript summaries and the sentiment faces at a quick glance. I can now work on reports, emails, and other projects while simultaneously monitoring real-time conversations. Zoom is a stellar product that is seamless to use.”
Susan Marie Shebalin, Director of quality assurance
Looking forward, Stephen is excited about implementing Zoom AI Expert Assist to deliver real-time AI guidance to both agents and supervisors and help his team go above and beyond the outstanding service they already pride themselves on.
From the executive team to the front-line agents, everyone at Topaz is enthusiastic about what they’ve achieved with Zoom and what’s to come. Its hotel clients and guests are feeling the Zoom effect, too. As the first point of contact with guests, Topaz sets the tone for their entire hotel experience. Stephen shares that moving to Zoom Contact Center has enabled the team to respond faster and provide more positive experiences, which guests can carry with them through check-in. Everyone benefits, and Stephen credits Zoom for not only Topaz Services’ transformation but also the transformation of his own role:
“Working with Zoom has transformed my role as a contact center administrator, making it more efficient than ever before. Our future looks brighter with Zoom as a valuable partner.”