Serhii Katkov: With the introduction of IP-telephony, business communications have undergone significant changes

A talented developer of an omnichannel communications platform explained how innovative solutions save time for customers and call center agents, and help solve problems faster.  

The current IP telephony market is valued at $85.2 billion, according to experts from international research company Research and Markets, and could reach $102.5 billion by 2026. Due to its high profitability and availability, IP-telephony is becoming one of the fastest growing industries in information technology. Ease of use, flexibility of settings, a wide range of functions and opportunities for savings make such communication increasingly popular among business representatives, says Serhii Katkov – founder and CEO of the innovative company Contactise – was one of the first entrepreneurs actively introducing and popularizing IP-telephony technologies in Ukraine. The omnichannel communication platform, developed by him, is used by large companies and state institutions, including the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine. We talked to an extraordinary specialist in the field of IP-telephony about the peculiarities of the market and innovative solutions that simplify communication between the client and the call center agent.

– Serhii, in your opinion, why has IP-telephony become popular? 

– The demand for IP telephony in the world is due to its affordability, reliability and wide opportunities for data protection. It has many advantages over traditional telephone systems. The ability to make calls comes with devices that provide access to the Internet, such as personal computers, laptops, tablets and others. Calls can be made from anywhere that has access to an IP network, allowing you to expand your corporate phone infrastructure. Even if a company moves to another city or country, numbers, structures and networks are preserved. IP telephony integrates with CRM systems and analytical metrics, allowing you to save data on calls and subscribers on both sides, records of negotiations.

– You co-founded the pioneering IT company Voxline, the first in Ukraine to actively promote IP-telephony technologies. Thanks to your efforts, many representatives of small and medium-sized businesses were able to switch to modern communication standards. How did it affect the efficiency of their work, do you track? 

– Yes, we are collecting feedback. With the introduction of IP telephony, business communications have undergone significant changes. They have become more efficient and comfortable. Thanks to the ability to make calls via the Internet, companies have significantly reduced telephone costs, especially for international calls. Companies note that with the help of IP-telephony they are able to control the quality of service, accept feedback, promptly respond to inquiries and resolve issues. Another of the things they note is that connecting to reliable operators provides stability and security: threats of hacking and data interception are minimized due to constantly updated encryption and identity management protocols. This is one of the reasons why government institutions and agencies also use the technology.

– As CEO and owner of Oktell-Ukraine and Contactise, you developed omnichannel communication platforms that revolutionized contact center software for small and medium-sized businesses. What is their specialty?  

– There is a significant difference between multichannel and omnichannel platforms. In the first case, I can write a chat, email or call – the company will respond. The difficulty is that these requests are usually handled by different people. If I both wrote and called, I would have to tell the whole situation from the beginning. Omnichannel approach is switching from channel to channel while preserving the context. It was first developed and applied precisely in Contactise. We made the omnichannel system so that both calls and text messages were handled by the same algorithm, allowing companies to interact with customers more effectively and improve service. That is why we have become the partner of choice for call centers.

– Such IP telephony software was innovative for Ukraine. What advantages did it bring to your partners and ordinary people? 

– In particular, when we implemented this approach in the Office of Reforms under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, people, residents of the country, began to solve their questions three times faster. If before it took an average of 3.5 calls, after the introduction of our call center – 1.2 calls. The total duration of conversations was reduced by two and a half times.

– The vast majority of companies in Ukraine have now adopted the omnichannel function. In which industries is it used more often? 

– It is used in businesses of any scale and any industry that need telephone communication to contact customers and partners: call centers, online stores, medical centers and pharmacies, real estate agencies, logistics companies, travel agencies, insurance companies, commercial banks, and so on. For example, the insurance company Dobrobut, the large security company Venbest and others have started using the function.

– Many people have learned about the possibilities of technology for communication and techniques from your speeches at conferences and your book dedicated to the organization of contact centers. Is this a way of promoting your own business? 

– More likely, it is my interest in global development. I presented the methods at the Kyiv and Kharkiv Entrepreneurs Clubs, spoke at conferences and gave lectures to students at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, so that as many interested people as possible could learn about the new possibilities of technologies that help improve processes. And the book “Unexpected income for your business. Revealing the secrets of telephone communication” was written for people who are interested in this topic or are planning to organize a call center to show that there are nuances and it is better to know them in advance so that there are no unpleasant surprises. By the way, the book was published in electronic form in 2011 and is still being actively downloaded. Considering that it is a niche product, about three thousand downloads is a good result.

– You are a member of large professional communities, such as the Kyiv Club of Entrepreneurs and the Ukrainian Contact Centers Association International. What kind of work do you do there? 

– Being the president of the Kyiv Entrepreneurs Club for two terms, I advised businessmen on the implementation of innovative IT solutions so that they could successfully adapt their companies to modern digital trends and strengthen their competitiveness. And as an expert of the Ukrainian Contact Center Association, I participate in project discussions, attend private events, and share my experience in solving problems. Such meetings are useful for all contact center specialists, hardware and software vendors.

– What do you think the future holds for IP telephony? 

– I think that phone calls will be relegated to the background, and their place will be taken by a mixed form of communication: text and voice. More and more people will start using self-service applications, through which they can independently turn on and off functions, receive services and solve arising questions, because no one wants to wait on the line for a long time and repeat the same thing several times. In addition, artificial intelligence is already being actively used for self-service, which will understand people’s needs even better and offer ready-made solutions that you only need to agree with. Thus, multichannel (voice-plus-text) and omnichannel communications will be served by artificial intelligence by 80%.

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