People who hate being on hold when dealing with a company’s customer service love LucyPhone. The Oristian brothers created the virtual queuing solution to address the frustration from consumers dealing with IVRs and ACDs. Armed with the LucyPhone app on their Androids or iPhones, consumers can have the ever-patient Lucy stay in queue while they continue about their business; when an agent comes on Lucy will call to connect the conversation.

Now LucyPhone gains a new feature: SMS. There’s no need to even dial the initial number anymore:

Here’s how it works: Users have the option to text the name of the company in which they’re trying to reach to 424-999-LUCY. They then will receive a text message with a list of numbers to choose from which will direct them to the correct company and/or department. After a number is chosen, the user will be called by LucyPhone to connect the call to the chosen number . While LucyPhone waits on hold, users have the option to text “S” for the status of the call, “J” for rejoining the call, or “H” for additional help.

How convenient. I gave it a try and Lucy performed beautifully without a hitch.

Text messaging is awesome. Just look at how many messaging apps there are in the Android Marketplace and iTunes App Store. Facebook even bought Beluga and Skype acquired GroupMe. Apple decided to implement its own iMessage in iOS 5. It seems that many people prefer messaging over talking these days. And why not? It is a less disruptive way to communicate (e.g. during class, at a meeting or dinner party), and when paired with a service like LucyPhone, it’s even more appealing and accessible.

(Google Voice users will be happy to know that since LucyPhone uses 424-999-LUCY and not a SMS short code, it will work just fine with GV’s free text messaging.)

What can $750,000 do for a young company that already boasts 50,000 users across its iPhone and Android apps? According to TechCrunch, FastCustomer (previously covered here)

will be using the new financing to expand its team, increase user acquisition and  expand to other platforms. [CEO Aaron Dragushan] hopes that one day customers will be able to use the service by text.

Being on hold waiting for service in no fun. FastCustomer is a no-brainer mobile app that saves you time with just one click.

Others in the virtual queuing space include Fonolo and LucyPhone. Recently Fonolo has seen success in attracting business customers, whereas LucyPhone continues to serve consumers.

Have you used these services? Please share your experience with other readers.

Nobody likes waiting in queue since the invention of the HOLD button. Then the smarties thought adding music would make the on-hold experience more pleasurable.

Well, we all know how that turned out.

Long ago I’d done a couple of projects implementing a virtual queuing feature. It required plenty of customization and worked only with the Nortel PBX. Cool solution, but quite limited. However, obviously a niche area for innovation and opportunity.

Virtual Hold Technology did exactly that and became the go-to solution for virtual queuing (VQ). Founded in 1995 it has dominated the market for VQ implementation. The solution requires on-premise hardware and software, and works with major contact center suites like Genesys, Avaya, and Cisco.

But as we all know, times are a-changing. It’s a world of cloud computing, Web 2.0, and smartphones. Savvy entrepreneurs are looking at VQ in a different light and making it sexy again.

The two disruptive companies to enter this niche are LucyPhone and Fonolo. Both have been covered on this blog previously as well as in other press. But “better” press would be from the blog of a competitor, because that’s when you know you’ve become a credible threat. From VHT’s blog titled “I applaud the concept, but LucyPhone could be hurting more than helping” in August:

When consumers use Lucyphone on the web or as a smartphone app, they select a customer service number from a huge directory of companies that has been provided to them. They may be calling the right company, but is it the right number? Not always. So, despite your company’s efforts to route consumers to the best skilled resource on the first call, they may become frustrated when they need to be transferred around the organization.

This happens with or without IVRs, with or without virtual queuing. This isn’t even a valid argument in this case. I doubt VHT or LucyPhone or Fonolo is able to determine whether a customer dialed the right number. It’s virtual queuing, not call routing.

Then came the FUD factor — security:

Next, after Lucy makes the call on the consumer’s behalf, he or she is directed through your company’s IVR menus where a PIN code, claim number or credit card number may be required to proceed. What happens to this information? With Lucy basically conferenced into the call, is it possible that she’s collecting and storing this private information? Is the consumer knowingly or unknowingly trading privacy for convenience? While I doubt the Oristian brothers have nefarious intentions, consider that the outsider who hacks into Lucy’s brain might. But if your company offered a virtual queuing solution that was fully integrated with the contact center, wouldn’t the consumer have the benefit of both privacy and convenience? In addition, when consumers are transferred to a holding queue, they tell Lucy to stay on the line for them and then hang up. She calls them back when it’s their turn to speak with a rep. Lucy detects when she’s reached a customer service agent and tells the agent to “hold on” while she calls back the customer and patches them through. But does Lucy drop off the call? Or is Lucy listening and recording everything being said? I don’t know for sure but the thought is frightening.

In which LucyPhone co-founder Tom Oristian aptly addressed in the blog comments. Fonolo’s Shai Berger also chimed in with his analysis and opinion:

OK, there are really two separate issues here. LucyPhone differs from VHT in that it is a) cloud-based rather than on-premise and b) unilateral vs bilateral.

To me, it seems that LucyPhone’s “unilateral approach” is what makes it disruptive. Power to the consumers via a no-nonsense smartphone app. Crowd-source the list of company phone numbers on its website. VHT may have a hard time understanding this, but this is the perception: If your technology isn’t accessible from the fingertips of the user, then you are part of the problem.

To use VHT’s solution the caller still has to go through the evil IVR and get to a point to be transferred. But with LucyPhone and Fonolo, the user is in control. The user dictates the interaction on his or her terms.

VHT, LucyPhone, and Fonolo all aim to improve the customer service experience, but there is clearly a distinction. I believe it is this: Is the solution right in front of the user? If not then I’m afraid it’s part of the problem, especially in a today’s world where user experience is being transformed.

Syndicated radio show host and renowned consumer advocate Clark Howard not only loves to save you money, but evidently he wants to save you time as well (time is money after all) — from those annoying “on hold” situations in the call center.

That’s why he’s giving LucyPhone a thumbs up. For loyal readers of this blog, LucyPhone should sound a little familiar.

Once again, hate-to-be-on-hold enters the mainstream. Contact centers take note.

There are many famous Lucys we’re all quite familiar with. There’s Lucy Ricardo, the main character from I Love Lucy, known for her penchant for getting into trouble. Actresses Lucy Liu (Ally McBeal, Charlie’s Angels) and Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess). The bossy and cynical Lucy van Pelt of the classic comic strip Peanuts, Charlie Brown’s worst enemy on the football field.

It’s not common to find a Lucy in the names of contact center technologies. I know that IVR and voice prompt vendors would personify system voices — referring to “the Sally greeting” or “the Albert on-hold prompt.” A speech-enabled IVR may even introduce itself (himself? herself?) upon answering, “Hello, I am Alfred. How may I assist you?” but not many systems do.

The personification of technology seems a natural way to reach the widest spectrum of users from a branding as well as usability perspective. Score one for LucyPhone.

I’d stumbled upon this service several days ago, complete with a website and iPhone app (Android and Blackberry versions to come soon) to save you time by staying in queue for you. Yes, no more annoying ads, jittery prompts, and music aimed at hypnotizing on-hold callers! Thank God for Lucy and her tremendous patience…

When you first use the service, you’ll hear a greeting from Lucy, then it’s just pressing a button and waiting for her to call you back once an agent is reached. It’s not a new technology by any means as virtual queuing and callback features have existed for years in the contact center. However, how many contact centers have implemented this? Sadly, not a lot.

And if the number of tweets and Facebook fans is an indication of how much people love Lucy, then contact centers ought to take note. This is a feature that your customers want because nobody likes waiting in line — even if it’s a virtual line, complete with soothing music and calming voices. In essence, customers want contact centers to respect their time.

Surprisingly, founders Mike and Tom Oristian do not come from a contact center technology background. (I shouldn’t be shocked, which contact center developer uses Rails?!) They saw a big opportunity to empower the customer to drive increased customer satisfaction, instead of leaving it to the companies to decide whether to offer a callback feature. So far it’s working well as loyal users have entered hundreds of company toll-free numbers into LucyPhone’s website. (In fact, just the other day I found the unpublished toll-free number of a major online company through LucyPhone’s site. Crowdsourcing is a beautiful thing.)

Score two for LucyPhone.

According to the Oristians, the company has less than 10 people and the service is run on redundant cloud servers. The business model is to offer LucyPhone as SaaS (hmmm, “Sassy Lucy”? I like it already) in order to lower cost and simplify integration. The company is actively looking into partnering with Big Telecom to tackle the integration challenges of bringing this directly into the contact centers.

Perhaps with the popularity of SIP this won’t pose as much of a challenge as pre-SIP days. LucyPhone’s enterprise and consumer offerings will work with SIP for the most cost effective integration path. I remember a long time ago having to implement a similar feature but only using proprietary Nortel technology. The solution (or hack) consisted of generating “fake” calls using phantom PBX ports once the customer chooses the callback option, thereby tricking the CTI software into thinking these are real calls in queue, then once such a call hits the agent desktop with a screen-pop, use the softphone to initiate a call to the customer callback number. Not very pretty at all…

I won’t be surprised to see similar hacks in place today to demonstrate virtual queuing and callback. As somebody who knows a thing or two about this technology, I’m glad that LucyPhone offers another option for a contact center to implement this highly desired feature.

Smartphone developers continue to come up with creative apps to make our lives easier, especially when dealing with IVRs and contact centers in general.

Once you get past the IVR menus and finally get transferred to an agent… well, usually you sit in a queue first listening to calming music. If the music isn’t to your liking, then be thankful that LucyPhone will sit in queue for you and ring you when an agent is available. You can use LucyPhone on its website or download the iPhone app for free.

This type of contact center application isn’t new — companies like Virtual Hold Technology have “virtual queuing” and “callback” solutions for some time now. What’s different is that LucyPhone gives the consumer this capability irregardless of whether virtual queuing is offered by the contact center itself. And better yet, available at the tip of your finger (literally).

LucyPhone from Decogram Corporation on Vimeo.

As simple as this sounds, implementing a virtual queue or callback feature creates a very effective pro-customer message: We value your time very much. However, many contact centers continue to neglect this type of technology and focus on managing queue times and what type of on-hold messages/music to play. That’s still fairly important, but today’s smart and tech-savvy customers expect a lot more, and they are ready to abandon ship for a competitor if their customer service experience is less than favorable.

I can see contact centers wanting to partner with LucyPhone as a way to help their frustrated customers without having to go through the product and implementation pains of virtual queuing. LucyPhone is accepting business inquiries, although not prominently featured on the website (see the Contact page). This is definitely one company I’d like to follow up with…