This week I sat down with Damon Covey, Senior Vice President, Head of Product, GoTo (formerly LogMeIn). He spent time working for Symantec, now known as Gen Digital Inc., which is owned by Broadcom Inc., following a 2019 acquisition. They design Norton Antivirus software.
There, he worked his way into product management, once dabbling in sales and sales engineering. Over a decade later, Covey now has a long history of operating in (the world of) product management.
And he is the fellow who today leads all product efforts at GoTo, which has a suite of all-in-one tools spanning business communications to IT support. GoTo's portfolio is robust enough to fuel an enterprise, but its primary focus is on SMBs.
The firm's solutions include its flagship offering: GoTo Connect (a cloud meeting and virtual meeting platform built for collaboration, and it owns LastPass - now established as a separate entity. To date, (I am) told that GoTo's technology assists nearly 800,000 customers.
But this week, the firm that's already doing a lot: announced it had launched a new customer engagement platform, one which extends what GoTo calls a: "Straightforward customer communication experience." I will unpack what that experience looks like for users of the platform in the below sections.
Uncomplicated UCaaS Built for Engagement
During the pandemic, the UCaaS market has changed drastically, and so have customer needs.
This is, according to data that show that customers will go elsewhere if they don't get the kind of service they now expect. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends report, “more than 60% of customers will defect after a bad experience, 22% more than in 2021.”
But the problem is, arming SMBs with the tools to help them with their business, at a fraction of the price. It isn't affordable for SMBs to leverage some of the tools enterprises use to pull off many of their customer service feats.
For this reason, GoTo's new customer engagement tool, according to Covey, is something special to him. The UCaaS solution comes equipped with; support for two-way digital channels like SMS campaigns, webchat, and social media like Meta and Twitter - all in a unified interface.
Covey told GetVoIP News:
"We don't always get to see products seen through from ideation to delivery; sometimes we see them from the middle, but this is one I was involved with from the beginning, and that is why this one is special to me."
GoTo Customer Engagement, as GoTo is calling it, enables users to leverage GoTo's phone system and various other customer communication tools. That means access to analytics tools, patron surveys, personalized hyperlinks, and scheduled campaigns: managed from a single pane of glass.
For a long time, Covey noted, SMBs have had various UCsaS and meeting solutions but nothing that let them collaborate internally and externally. "How does that tool help them with their actual business?" He asked me.
"We believe that we can be special for smaller businesses that have all the needs of a big business by providing solutions that will maximize their business outcomes with their external customers."
This sounds like a job for automation if you ask me.
Automation Could Mean No More Missed Business
Even with the most basic of automation capabilities, customer queries can be fulfilled much faster, in contrast to not having automation functionality at all. As long as those functionalities, well - function and do the job - they more than likely suffice.
Things like the ability to check one's flight status, cancel a booking, or even schedule a callback, all go a long way when customers only need to perform basic tasks but don't want to wait for hours (on the line). In this and in many instances, chatbots can get the job done.
On the flip side - some agents suffer from being overworked. For that reason, Covey told me that chatbots and various other helpful bots are built into GoTo's new CX platform, looking to reduce the stress felt on all sides of the experience: user and consumer.
GoTo Customer Engagement
Plus, the reality is, a lot of the customers GoTo works with do not have a dedicated agent, likely only someone who answers the phone. That comes with the risk of missing out on a great deal of business in many cases. This could be due to missed calls because a plumber is on another job, and they didn't hear their phone ring.
Go Story Agent Dashboard
In this instance, if there's an automated SMS that follows that missed call - back to the number that called - offering options for a return call or the ability to schedule an appointment - that could mean - potentially no more missed business.
"To maximize business, you want to connect with customers the way they want to connect with you," Covey concluded.
Let's Talk About Integrations and APIs
When (it comes to) integrations, GoTo's latest extends connection to plenty of third-party tools. Via the GoTo MarketPlace, users can access CRM tools and apps like Hubspot, Salesforce, and Zoho.
There is also access to whiteboarding tools like Miro.
Miro for GotTo
And for those who want to connect with other collaboration tools, there's an integration with Microsoft Teams for GoTo Meeting and Slack. There's everything from collaboration; to customer support, education and learning, sales and marketing, and even security apps like Zscaler and Okta.
Microsoft Teams for GoTo
For those with more development skills, there is a list of pre-written codes and templates to enhance various aspects of business like voicemail, billing groups, transcription, phone numbers, caller activity, and even call history.
Looking Toward the Future of UCaaS
Whew, that was a lot. But; it goes to show that the UCaaS industry is vast and full of portfolios with something to offer for most folks in nearly every business segment, and for that matter - of any size.
There is much more to explore as we continue the year and UCaaS continues to develop. All this, especially as the concept of TrueCaSS continues to grow.
What is this? Perhaps you're asking yourself. But it is something that many firms are starting to sport - similar to a new handbag. Dialpad has undeniably been at the forefront of this trend, hoping to (further blend together) all of its offerings and place AI at its core.
Covey told me: this is similar to what GoTo wants to achieve but in the SMB sector, while not explicitly stating it wanted to be like Dialpad, of course. Accomplishing that/providing customer value will be no small undertaking - but certainly not an impossible one.
