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Remote Expert, Cisco, 2009



Cisco Remote Expert: Customer & Agent View

Cisco’s Remote Expert was invented to connect experts with customers regardless of their respective locations. Customers can reach out to experts when they need them (via in-store TelePresence, website, or by phone). The solution software brings together Cisco’s Telepresence, Collaboration and Contact Center technologies.

Remote Expert was developed with Cisco retail customers. The challenge retailers were facing was how to improve the effectiveness and efficency of their highly skilled store staff, especially as more customers were shopping online. An investigation of the customer’s buying journey revealed points in the process where advice was needed but wasn’t available, causing them to head to the competition. At the same time experts in physical store locations had lots of downtime. 

Digitized process flows of the customer journey capture where a customer leaves and the sale is lost due to lack of expertise (lengthy wait, poor quality of advice). Simulations using different staffing levels show conversion improvements with higher availability of expertise. 

The Solution? Take the expertise out of the store and put them in a contact center, enable them to meet with the in store shopper via high-definition video. They could then serve multiple stores as well as interact with customers online and over the phone. The Result? An increase in the availability of experts without needing to hire additional staff. Centrally located resources serve all touch points, enabling maximum use of experts time, thus increasing productivity.



Initial sketch for store end point; Rendering of instore Telepresence; Initial working prototype. 


Additional Implementations of Remote Expert


Remote Expert was subsequently extended to mobile which Cisco offers as part of its Collaboration portfolio. 





Cisco has deployed Remote Expert in Retail Banking to enable timely access to experts who can assist with complex product sales such a Mortgages and Small Business Loans.


Services Presence includes periferials such as a display, credit card reader, signature pad and printer to enable complex finance transactions such as loans or insurance plans. 


Related Information


White Paper: Manning the Unmanned Aisles
Article: Lessons from retail analytics
NRF2013 - Cisco Big Ideas Session Recap
Blog Post: Have A Problem? Ask An Expert 
Cargo Collective 2017 — Frogtown, Los Angeles