Here’s how to use the Reading Pane and Spacebar in Outlook to sort through your daily emails more quickly:

– In Outlook, select “View” and “Reading Pane.”

– Select the Reading Pane to sit on the right-hand side.

– Select the top email in your inbox.

– Press the Spacebar so that Reading Pane will scroll down to reveal the lower section of your email and email chain.

– When you have reached the bottom of the email, the Spacebar will then take you to the next email in your inbox.

– Use the “Delete” key as you go through to remove emails that don’t need to be actioned.

– Use the Spacebar rather than the mouse to go through your remaining emails.

In this featured-article, we look at the traditional frustrations that occur when customers encounter (some) phone systems and how technology is helping to bring better experiences.

Spending Time On Hold

Being put on hold and spending time waiting has long been known to frustrate customers, cause stress, and lead to them hanging up. Even though it costs money and can lead to lost business, many companies continue to do it even though, from a customer’s perspective, it may feel like the company really doesn’t care about them. Despite messages that their call is ‘important,’ many customers feel that these experiences on hold are more for the company’s convenience, rather than that of the customer.

There is also an argument that from the company’s perspective, losing customers (from putting them on hold) means that the business loses opportunities to gain insights from the calls that could feed into creating a better service and a better experience for customers moving forward. It can also lose opportunities to gain information about competitor activity which is often mentioned in customer calls.

60 Seconds … to Lose 60% of Customers

There is large body of research to show that customers h-a-t-e being put on hold, but really like human engagement. Research from Volaro (2012), for example, showed that waiting on hold for 60 seconds results in almost 60 per cent of customers hanging up, and 63 per cent would prefer a call-back option.

A Sense of Progress Is Valued

A 2007 study (Munichor, Nira, Rafaeli, Anat, Journal of Applied Psychology), where one-third of callers were given music, one-third were given music interrupted by messages apologising for the wait, and one-third were given punctuated by status updates (i.e., “You are the fourth caller in line… You are the third caller in line,”) showed that those who received the status updates were the most satisfied. Even though they waited the same amount of time, it was the sense of progress that they valued and found comforting.

Human Engagement Is Important

Even in this virtual age, human engagement is still very much valued by customers. A CGS survey (2019), showed that 86 per cent of consumers prefer interaction with a human agent rather than a bot or a recording.

Also, research by Shell and Buell (Harvard Business Review – 2019) made the point that when people feel anxious, it is human nature to turn to others for help. Many companies, however, funnel nervous customers to self-service technologies. The research, based in the financial service industry, found that when people had the ability to connect with another person (an expert or a peer) the deleterious effects of their anxiety were offset. The researchers concluded that anxious customers left to fend for themselves may be less satisfied with their choices, and less trusting of the company with which they are interacting. The researchers found that simply offering access to talk to a person is enough to restore customer confidence, improve trust in the company, and even strengthen long-term relationships.

Not In Supermarkets?

Interestingly, despite lessons learned in past (e.g., adding human interaction points to please consumers at deli counters, fish counters, meat counters), UK supermarkets now appear to be moving towards favouring shop-floor technology and reducing human interaction (self-service, or even zero checkouts). Although this may bring them in line with some overseas supermarkets, cut overheads, and deliver operational efficiencies, it remains to be seen whether customers will begin to miss human interaction.

Dos and Don’ts

Developing hold systems for the phone that stop customers from hanging up has become a science in itself where there is much research and where technology is now playing a major part.

For example, findings published in “The Psychology of Telephone ‘On Hold’ Programming” by Dr. Jim Will (2005) highlighted certain points to remember when creating an on-hold experience for callers. These include:

– A primary cause of caller discontent involves the concept of “perceived time” on hold and adding music is effective in the lowering of perceived time. The music, however, should be upbeat, should be created differently in type and instrumentation, and should not include songs that don’t evoke negative associations in the mind.

– The length of the overall message-on-a-hold program is also an important factor in reducing potential anxiety. Longer, less repetitive on-hold message program formats are more effective at reducing caller anxiety.

Also, an optimal “message on hold” program consisting of music on hold and verbal presentations should:

– Incorporate a variety of information genres to maximise interest and cognitive functions, placed in a structured manner.

– Have longer message formats to minimize “wearout”.

– Have upbeat and personable verbal information delivery.

– Have information with no background music or interference (which could divert attention).

– Offer lower perceived time and provide structure to the holding period.

Outsourcing To Call Centres Offshore

The outsourcing of call centres offshore by companies may make sense financially and in terms of increasing capacity, but it has been a contentious issue. For example, back in 2018, BT pledged to bring all its call-centres from offshore locations such as India and the Philippines back to the UK and Ireland after the use of foreign customer service staff was identified as a major complaint by BT’s UK customers.

Some of the reasons some customers dislike speaking to call-centres that have been outsourced include:

– A feeling that their problem isn’t important enough to be dealt with by the company directly, and a perception that the only reason for offshore customer service is to save money.

– Feeling uncomfortable about language difficulties and communication problems, and how this can complicate solving their problem.

– A reliance on scripted conversations by some offshore call-centres can frustrate customers.

– Customers want to talk directly to the company, particularly for services that are personal and involving finances (for example), rather than what they perceive to be ‘go-betweens.’

– Customers are looking for quality service more than fast service and consequently, customers are more likely to recommend a brand based on good service experience.

– From the company’s point of view, poor customer call experiences and negative perceptions can damage the marketing efforts that the company has spent time and effort on and could lead to customers switching.

New Technology

Despite the faults from the point of view of some customers, on-hold messaging services are likely to remain an important part of customer service for some time yet. Examples of how technology is being used to improve these services include:

– Tailor-made music to suit specific customer demographics.

– Systems that can update recordings with the latest promotions.

– Auto-attendant and IVR for automatically routing calls.

– AI-powered voice recognition technology (IVR receptionists) that lets callers state the purpose of their call and their expectations in their own words.

– Google’s AI secretary (‘Hold for Me’) that waits on hold for phone users and notifies users when the call is picked up, thereby leaving them free to put the phone down.

– AI call transcription that can transform call recordings into text documents.

– Using AI-driven analytics in VoIP business phone services to gain better insights into call metrics, caller-behaviour, and the performance of individual company agents.

Chatbots

In the wider sphere of customer service and information provision, bots have become a favoured tool. Bots provide a way for businesses and organisations to reduce costs, make better use of resources and communicate with customers and enquirers 24/7. Examples of how bots can make a positive difference include:

– Lancaster University’s ‘Ask L.U.’ chatbot. Built on Amazon Web Services (voice), it delivers a voice interface that interacts with users, and can be accessed via the iLancaster App on mobile phones and tablets, or by asking “Alexa, Ask L.U.” on any Amazon Echo device. The service, based on the most popular 300 student queries gives students a way to get information in a fast, easy, and convenient way, 24/7.

– Marriott International’s chatbot, ChatBotlr, available to users through Facebook Messenger and Slack, enables Marriott Rewards members to research and book travel to more than 4,700 hotels.

– During the pandemic, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) bot on WhatsApp became a trusted information source and alert delivery tool for the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The phone is still an important way for customers to make contact with businesses and organisations. How those calls are handled, and the customer’s experience of the interaction is vital to retaining customer trust, and the positive perceptions that have been built-up, with considerable investment, over time. Using a system and a supplier that enables customers to get what they want quickly (without hanging up) and allows the business to get the insights and information it needs to feed into improving its marketing are important considerations. Websites, social media, and technologies such as AI and the use of bots may have reduced the reliance on the phone system, but where customers have to use it, the most important part of a good customer experience is actually having the problem solved effectively in a reasonable amount of time.

In this tech insight, we take a brief look at the WEP and WAP security protocols, and what happened to them.

What Is WAP?

Developed by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet, and introduced back in 1999, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was a security standard for devices with a wireless Internet connection on a mobile network. It was designed to create interoperability between WAP equipment e.g., mobile phones that used the protocol, and WAP software e.g., WAP-enabled web browsers and network technologies.

Used A Gateway Intermediary

WAP worked in a similar way to the traditional client-server model but had a WAP gateway that sat between the client and server. The WAP gateway:

– Translated the WAP device requests from a mobile browser (micro browser) into an HTTP URL request and sent it to the server over the internet.

– Processed the response by sending the webpage to the WAP mobile device as a WML file that was compatible with micro browsers.

Why WAP?

Some of the benefits of WAP were:

– It gave wireless network and mobile phone operators an opportunity to improve their services while enabling the introduction of new apps that didn’t require phone or infrastructure modifications.

– It created the potential for third-party developers to write apps (in WML).

– End-users had better security when accessing online services like online banking.

What Happened To WAP?

WAP was not widely adopted around the world and by 2013, due to HTML compatibility in mobile phones, it had largely disappeared.

What Is WEP?

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), which was developed in the late 1990s, was a security protocol for wireless networks that encrypted data transmitted over the WLAN using a static key with the RC4 stream encryption algorithm. The idea was to use WEP to give wireless networks the same level of protection as LANs which also benefitted from physical protection.

Protection From Unauthorised Network Access

Whereas wired networks can only be accessed by users with physical access network access points, wireless networks needed protection from threats such as people gaining access to the WLANs via the radio waves that connect to the network.

What WEP Provided

WEP provided privacy by using a data encryption key (128 or 256-bit), an initialisation vector (an arbitrary number used alongside the secret key), data integrity due to the use of a CRC-32 checksum algorithm (a string of letters and numbers acting as a fingerprint file), and authentication. This authentication could be either Open System Authentication (OSA) or Shared Key Authentication (using a multi-step challenge-response algorithm).

WEP Weaknesses

Unfortunately, WEP was found to have had several critical weaknesses such as:

– Weaknesses in the encryption and RC4 algorithms.

– The inability to authenticate individual users because all users shared the same key.

– The use of the protocol was optional and, therefore, it wasn’t always activated when new devices were installed.

What Happened To WEP?

WEP’s weaknesses and the introduction of the better Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) protocol meant that WEP was replaced by WPA2 in 2004. WPA2 offered stronger encryption and integrity protection. The current version is WPA3 (introduced in 2018).

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

With most of us now using mobile devices for our work and home life, particularly with the shift to remote and hybrid working over the last year, it is clear to see why security protocols for mobile networks are so important. WAP and WEP represented important steps in the evolution of network security and encryption, and lessons learned over time have led to the much more secure protocols that we use today.

An FBI announcement has warned that scammers are now directing victims to use physical cryptocurrency ATMs and digital QR codes to complete payment transactions.

What Are Cryptocurrency ATMs?

A cryptocurrency ATM is a physical kiosk/terminal/device that connects to a cryptocurrency network (e.g. bitcoin) and allows customers to purchase crypto tokens with deposited cash. Cryptocurrency ATMs are connected to the Internet and can use QR codes to send and receive tokens to users’ digital wallets. The UK, for example, already has bitcoin ATMs in many cities, for instance there are 50 in London and 10 in Manchester.

What Scams?

The FBI’s warning relates to scams that are using impersonation schemes, where the scammer falsely identifies as a familiar entity, for example the government, law enforcement, a legal office, or a utility company. Scammers are also using romance schemes (establishing a fake online relationship with a victim), and lottery schemes where scammers falsely convince victims that they have won a prize and need to pay lottery fees.

How Do The Scams Work?

According to the FBI, regardless of the scheme, the methods using cryptocurrency ATMs and QR codes appear similar. The scammer requests payment from the victim and directs the victim to withdraw money from their financial-accounts (e.g. bank or investments). The scammer then provides a QR code associated with the scammer’s cryptocurrency wallet for the victim to use. The scammer directs the victim to a physical cryptocurrency ATM to insert their money, purchase cryptocurrency, and use the provided QR code to auto-send the money. Reports indicate that the scammer is in constant contact online with the victim, providing step-by-step instructions until the payment is completed.

Why Cryptocurrency?

The reasons why the scammers are using cryptocurrency are:

– The decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies makes them very difficult to recover.

– The transfer is immediate. As soon as the victim makes the payment, the recipient instantly owns the cryptocurrency and can immediately transfer the funds to an account overseas (making it even more difficult to trace).

– It creates extra hurdles for the police/law enforcement agencies in trying to recover the funds.

Protection

Ways to protect yourself from falling victim to this type of scam include:

– Never send payments to a person you have only spoken with online.

– Don’t respond to callers claiming to be representatives of a company where you are an account holder, and who request personal information or demand cryptocurrency, or to callers from an unknown telephone number who request cryptocurrency.

– Don’t respond to anyone who says they can only accept cryptocurrency and (for example) identifies as the government, law enforcement, a legal office, or a utility company.

– Avoid anonymous cryptocurrency ATMs as they may be used for money laundering.

– Report any such calls to ‘Action Fraud.’

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Cryptocurrency ATMs are still uncommon in the UK, but crimes such as romance fraud are quite widespread and for victims in large UK cities it’s only a short step before this type of scam is operated on a bigger scale. The story also illustrates how manipulative and ruthless scammers can be if the return is rewarding enough. Since the big increase in remote working during the pandemic, the UK has seen a huge rise in various scams. In June, for example, Citizens Advice reported that more than two-thirds of UK adults (36 million) have been targeted by a scammer since January, and that 12 per cent were offered a fake investment or ‘get rich quick’ scheme. There was also a very sad report from Citizens Advice Consumer Service of an elderly man who contacted the charity after he sent £240,000 to an account he thought belonged to his bank. Fraudsters prefer vulnerable targets but anyone, if caught off-guard, is a potential victim. It is vitally important, therefore, that experiences of scam calls/texts/emails are shared, and suspected scams are reported to Citizens Advice and Action Fraud so that the nature of the scams can be identified which can lead to the fraudsters being stopped.

Microsoft has unveiled the new ‘Loop’ collaborative app which it describes as “a flexible canvas with portable components” designed for assisting with new hybrid working patterns.

Background

Microsoft says that the new app is part of a “reimagining” of Office, and a response to the new opportunities created by new (hybrid) working patterns that can make Office more of a universal, interactive canvas for creators of all kinds. Loop (which incorporates AI) is, therefore, positioned as an enhanced, collaborative, flexible canvas that can be customised to suit any project with portable components that move freely and stay in sync across apps, thereby, Microsoft hopes, enabling teams to improve how they think, plan, and create.

Three Elements

Loop consists of three elements, which are:

1. Loop pages. These are the scalable, “flexible canvases” which are the shared collaborative spaces into which the components and other relevant elements are dropped for each project.

2. Loop components. These are the “units of productivity” which could be anything from lists, tables, notes, and tasks, to a customer sales opportunity from Microsoft Dynamics 365. These components can be used in the Loop page, a chat, email, meeting, or a document. They are synchronised and the idea of being able to arrange and work with different components is to help the team keep a flow to the work, thereby improving productivity and efficiency. As part of its Loop announcement, Microsoft also announced two new Loop components. These are a voting table to make it easier for teams to ideate, drive consensus, and finalise decisions together, and a status tracker to help track the progress of projects.

3. Loop workspaces. These are the shared spaces where teams can see and group together everything that’s important to a project.

Start Rolling Out This Month

Microsoft says that Loop components across Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, Outlook, and OneNote will start rolling out this month, and more details about the availability of the Microsoft Loop app will be made available in the upcoming months.

Like Google’s ‘Smart Canvas’

Loop is a similar idea to Google’s collaborative working ‘Smart Canvas’ tool, announced in May this year, which uses ‘building blocks’ and ‘smart chips’ to connect and share information between apps such as Docs and Sheets.

All-In-One Document Concept

The idea of an all-in-one document concept is not new (other examples include the Airtable platform, the Notion collaborative app, or the Coda doc) but it now represents a logical, competitive move for Microsoft.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The shift to hybrid working, whereby employees work part of their time at home and part in the office, is now a pattern that is (after the pandemic) embedded in the working culture of many organisations. Collaborative working platforms are, therefore, very much in demand and although a little late to the party (two years in the making) Microsoft hopes that Loop’s flexible format and, coupled with familiar apps, will prove popular with businesses. Microsoft has seriously turned up the competitive heat (for Apple) over the last year with features and services designed to be compatible with new ways of working (e.g., Teams Connect, the 365 cloud PC, and Windows 11 including Android apps). For businesses, Loop may prove to be a useful, compatible, collaborative tool that could help improve productivity in uncertain times. For Microsoft, Loop is a way of re-imagining how Office programs can be used more flexibly for business customers as part of a system where projects can be customised to maximise workflow.