Premise-based contact center solutions are going the way of the dinosaur — extinct. With that comes the rise of Contact Center as a Service. There are a variety of suppliers in this space with a range of features, functionality, user experience and cost. During my journeys of consulting with mid-market and enterprise organizations, I’m often asked to compare moder CCaaS solutions and Amazon Connect. As a disclaimer, I believe these solutions are simply tools in our belt. Like all purpose-built tools, there is a specific time, place and use case for each. It’s important that you understand your unique needs. Let’s dive into a quick comparison!

Intro to Amazon Connect

We all know the struggle of finding the perfect solution to suit our unique needs. While there are many fantastic options out there, it's crucial to choose wisely. Building and supporting a customized solution in-house can be a great choice if you have a team of talented developers ready to work their magic. However, be warned that implementing and expanding functionality later on might become a perplexing puzzle without experienced experts by your side. And let's not forget about those pesky regulations like HIPAA, adding an extra layer of complexity to the mix. But fear not! With the right mix of creativity, expertise, and deverlopers, you can overcome any obstacle and create a an excellent customer experience.

Amazon Connect is a good solution if you have access to developers who will build and maintain the customized solution. Think of Amazon Connect as a box of Legos without instructions. You will be given the tools, but you are responsible for building and supporting the solution for the lifetime of the experience. You can certainly pay for a third-party to build this on your behalf, but you’ll also need to account for implenting and expanding functionality later on, because technology and needs always evolve. In short, you better have a team of developers who know Amazon.

Consumption Pricing

CCaaS solutions are contracted for a set price per person, often referred to as a “seat.” For the sake of simple math, let’s say you have 100 agents and you sign a 36 month agreement with a CCaaS company at a rate of $100 per month per seat. That means your monthly bill will be $10,000 (taxes & fees not included). This creates a simple, predicatable billing model. It’s much easier for your team to create a long-term budget under this consumption pricing. The downside is you will be required to sign a multi-month agreement, with 36 months being the most popular.

Quick Tip - The longer the terms, the lower the rate you can negotiate with CCaaS providers.

Amazon Connect has a completely different consumption pricing model. While Gartner has raised a cautionary flag regarding Amazon's CCaaS offering and its consumption-based pricing, it's important to note the potential challenges of this "pay as you go" model. To truly grasp the total cost of ownership (TCO), organizations need a solid understanding of their contact volumes. This ensures that the consumption-based pricing aligns with their needs and budget. It's like diving into the deep end of the pool without knowing if you can swim! So, be mindful and consider your contact volumes carefully to avoid any budgetary surprises. Remember, knowledge is power when it comes to making informed decisions about your customer experience strategy.

Quick Tip - The average price per month for Amazon Connect is $150, which is on par or higher than the leading CCaaS offerings. The $150 a month rate per agent does not include development or support costs.

While this model may seem enticing for startups or small to mid-sized businesses, it's crucial to consider the unique needs of more established enterprises. One challenge that often arises is the difficulty of budgeting for variable costs. As businesses grow, predictability becomes a key factor in financial planning. Having fluctuating costs can create uncertainty and make it challenging to allocate resources effectively. That's where exploring alternative pricing models, such as fixed or subscription-based options, can provide the stability and predictability needed to align your customer experience goals with your budgetary needs. By understanding the specific requirements of your organization and exploring pricing models that suit your business's stage of growth, you can strike a balance between delivering exceptional customer experiences and maintaining a predictable budget.

Quick Tip - You can review customer reviews via Gartner Peer Insights here. These Peer Reviews offer a much more transparent view into a supplier, while Gartner has been accused of bias in the past.

Contact Center migrations are long and complex. It’s crucial that you understand the consumption and billing model before taking the leap. You’ll likely be stuck for a while if you transition only to realize the billing is out of control. This is where we can help; we can perform a Contact Center Readiness Assessment that helps your organization predict the billing of contact center solutions. As a value add, we’ll offer that service for free. If you’d like to take advantage, hit this link. 

Deployment Timelines

We’ve already discussed the costs associated with building out an Amazon Connect environment, which includes development, implementation and ongoing support/maintenance. We’ve sufficiently covered costs, so let’s move on the timelines.

The time it takes for an organization to purchase and build an Amazon Connect environment can vary depending on several factors. These include the size and complexity of the organization, the availability of resources (product owners and internal developers), and the specific requirements for customization and integration.Ultimately, the timeline for purchasing and building an Amazon Connect environment is influenced by the organization's specific circumstances and requirements. By approaching the implementation with careful planning and leveraging available resources, organizations can optimize the timeframe and successfully deploy their Amazon Connect solution.

With that being said, on average it takes 6-18 months for an organization to begin utilizing Amazon Connect after the initial purchase is complete and you gain access to the environment. I should note that six (6) months is an aggresive timeline and assumes that you have resources on the bench who can immediately begin working. I would estimate 12-18 months for most organizations.

With CCaaS solutions, the timeline is much faster. This is because you’re buying a holistic solution that’s already built, which means you don’t need a team of developers. Deployments for CCaaS solutions can go as quickly as five (5) weeks from contract signature to go-live. On average, I see these deployments take three (3) months.

On average, the deployment process for a CCaaS solution can range from a few weeks to a few months. This timeframe typically includes activities such as solution configuration, agent and supervisor training, setting up routing and queueing, integrating with CRM or other systems, and conducting testing and quality assurance.

It's important to note that the actual deployment time can be influenced by the organization's preparedness, availability of resources, and the level of complexity involved in migrating from existing systems. Engaging with experienced implementation teams, conducting thorough planning and scoping, and having clear communication with the CCaaS provider can help streamline the deployment process. This is where we can help. As a value-add, we’ll help prepare you for this journey by providing requirements, a roadmap and an additional layer of project management to ensure suppliers stay on target.

Channels & Additional Products Required

Let's take a closer look at Amazon Connect and its channel offerings. While Amazon Connect boasts voice and web chat as their main channels, it's important to note that fully integrated channels may not be their strong suit. Unlike dedicated CCaaS suppliers, Amazon Connect's omnichannel capabilities may fall short.

When it comes to email and video channels, Amazon Connect requires additional components. To leverage video capabilities, you'll need to explore the Chime SDK product alongside Amazon Connect. While this integration can extend your communication options, it's important to consider the complexity and potential additional costs involved.

For organizations seeking a comprehensive omnichannel experience, it may be beneficial to explore dedicated CCaaS providers. These suppliers offer seamless integration across multiple channels, ensuring a unified and consistent customer experience. Whether it's voice, web chat, email, video, or even emerging channels like social media, CCaaS solutions have the edge in providing a holistic approach.

By choosing a CCaaS provider, you can leverage their expertise in delivering fully integrated omnichannel capabilities, allowing you to engage with customers across various touchpoints effortlessly. So, assess your organization's omnichannel requirements, weigh the pros and cons, and select the solution that aligns best with your customer experience goals. This is where we can help. We’ll help you document your unique requirements, such as integrations, and map that to the solution that’s right for you.

While Amazon Connect provides native support for voice, chat, and "tasks," it's essential to note that other digital channels require additional integration with a CRM or third-party tool. Think of Amazon Connect as a set of Legos, where you can build your desired contact center experience.

However, it's important to highlight that even seemingly basic features, such as Voicemail, may require additional AWS products, each with its own associated costs. This modular approach allows for flexibility but also necessitates a careful evaluation of the full solution's scalability and associated expenses.

Quick Tip - Document your required features in advance so you can predict your costs with Amazon Connect. You’ll likely need numerous additional AWS products.

For midmarket and enterprise accounts aiming for a comprehensive customer engagement suite, exploring alternative options may be beneficial. Dedicated CCaaS providers offer a wider array of built-in digital channels, reducing the need for extensive integrations and multiple tools. With these solutions, you can seamlessly incorporate channels like email, SMS, social media, and more, without the need for additional CRM or third-party integrations.

By choosing a CCaaS provider, you can streamline your contact center operations, simplify administration, and ensure a consistent customer experience across multiple channels. So, assess your organization's specific channel requirements, consider the trade-offs, and select a solution that aligns with your customer engagement goals. Let's build a contact center experience that exceeds expectations!

Chat-Bots

Let's dive into the chatbot capabilities of Amazon Connect and CCaaS suppliers. While Amazon Connect offers chatbot features through LEX, brace yourself for some heavy customization work on your end. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, where your team becomes the hero navigating the intricacies of chatbot setup. Unlike some CCaaS options that offer a simpler setup out of the box for your initial chatbot release, Amazon Connect requires a bit more tinkering to unleash its full potential. So, if you're up for the challenge and have a team of customization rockstars ready to roll, Amazon Connect can be your creative playground. However, if you prefer a chatbot experience that's more plug-and-play, exploring CCaaS suppliers' offerings might be your cup of tea. They can provide a simpler setup process, allowing you to hit the ground running with your chatbot adventures. Remember, it's all about finding the right fit for your organization's chatbot aspirations.

Anaylitics & Reporting

CCaaS suppliers bring to the table out-of-the-box analytics and reporting that are as powerful as a superhero's punch. They offer a treasure trove of data-driven insights, neatly packaged and ready for your consumption. But wait, there's more! The real game-changer lies in the ability to customize these reports without needing a resident technical genius. Say goodbye to the days of waiting for an elusive expert to sprinkle their magical coding skills on your reports. With CCaaS, you can be the master of your reporting destiny!

Now, let's take a peek at Amazon Connect's reporting prowess. Picture this: creating excellent reporting akin to crafting a masterpiece. It's an art form that requires skill, precision, and a touch of specialization. Generating this content can be a labor-intensive endeavor, as it involves weaving through a web of complexities. But fear not, for Amazon Connect holds the key to unlocking insightful reporting, albeit with a dash of dedication and expertise.

So, dear data enthusiasts, when considering your reporting and analytics needs, weigh the convenience of out-of-the-box power and customizable freedom offered by CCaaS suppliers. Or, embark on the adventure of crafting your reporting masterpiece with Amazon Connect, knowing that it may require some extra effort.

Support

CCaaS suppliers truly know how to bundle in world-class support for their solution, like wrapping a gift in a bow of assistance. One aspect that deserves a standing ovation is their ability to provide a single vendor to support and troubleshoot the full stack. From Workforce Management to Quality Management, Analytics to ACD/IVR (and more), they've got your back like a loyal sidekick.

Now, let's turn our attention to Amazon Connect, a mosaic of solutions pieced together like a puzzle. Imagine a superhero team, where each member brings their unique powers to the table. Amazon Connect is built with a variety of solutions, often involving numerous third-party suppliers, each with their own support methodologies and channels. It's like navigating a bustling marketplace, trying to find the right stall for each specific need.

So, dear troubleshooters and support seekers, when considering the support landscape, reflect upon the convenience of having a single vendor overseeing the entire CCaaS stack, ensuring a seamless experience. Or, prepare for the dynamic adventure of engaging with various suppliers within the Amazon Connect universe, each with their own unique support approaches.

That’s All!

While Amazon Connect offers high levels of customization, it comes with the responsibility of heavy resource utilization on your end. In contrast, CCaaS solutions provide a unified experience on a single platform, eliminating the need to integrate disparate Amazon solutions. With Amazon Connect, anticipate the necessity of training your team on multiple Amazon offerings, including Connect, DynamoDB, Lambda, Contact Center, Node.js, and more. Consider the trade-offs and choose a solution that aligns with your customization needs and resource availability.

In short, you need to decide if your organization wants to build or buy. If you’d like assistance with determing the best path for your company, we’re here to help. At no additional cost to your business we can help you craft the perfect solution that meets your requirements and takes your customer experience to the next level. Just hit this link and let’s get cookin’!

Y’all be good,

DB

I have the honor of observing, assessing and even co-managing contact centers on a weekly basis. During my travels I’ve found that agents manage far too many applications, and it lowers overall customer satisfaction. For example, the last financial services institution I audited had a total of 37 applications that the agent could utilize and a total of 28 used on a daily basis. Might I submit to you that our agents are too busy managing applications to prioritize the customer experience.

Right about now you’re saying to yourself, “We can’t reduce the number of applications. Those are critical to the business.” I would suggest an assessment of applications to find redundancy would be fruitful, but there’s no way to reduce the scope of applications to a single pane of glass without a custom-built solution designed to improve agent efficiency. Let’s talk about Unified Agent Desktop.

Unified Agent Desktop Defined

UAD is a single application that you customize to create a unified point of service for your agents. Effectively, the UAD consolidates all of your applications into a single pane of glass. All of the tools an agents need to perform their duties can be found in the Unified Agent Desktop, without the need to leave this single application. This includes customer data, communication channels, knowledge bases and various support tools.

UAD is the Future

If your agents struggle to manage the growing number of applications under their care, consider UAD. This tool simplifies the agent workflow and increases productivity. UAD accomplishes this by reducing the need to switch between multiple applications and systems, often toggling back and forth to complete simple tasks. This improves your company’s culture in the following ways:

• Agents are happy because they can quickly and efficiently resolve issues

• Customers are happy because their issues are resolved quickly and efficiently

• Your business is happy because you retain agents and customers because their needs being met

UAD can also provide supervisors and leadership with helpful insights regarding an agents performance and customer interactions. Agents who are under-performing can be coached in real-time. Customer engagements can be flagged and supervisors alerted when assistance is needed.

UAD Over the Top

My personal favorite use case for UAD is bridging the gap between your aging premise-based contact center solution, which lacks the advanced features of a modern customer experience tool that’s born in the cloud. You can layer a UAD solution on top of your existing premise-based contact center. This allows you to transition slowly to the cloud, without the pain of a forklift upgrade. Agents can access modern tools while you plan for your eventual migration.

UAD can also be layered in over-the-top of your CCaaS tools, such as Nice, Five9, Talkdesk and Dialpad.

Key Benefits

• Ramp Time | Unified Agent Desktop simplifies the on-boarding process by reducing the amount of applications your agents must master. This reduces training cost, gets agents in the queue sooner and improves retention.

• Agent Productivity | Workflows are more efficient under a single pane of glass that unifies all necessary applications. This leads to faster handling times and improved resolution rates.

• Customer Experience | UAD provides quick and efficient resolutions, because tools are easily accessible for all agents.

• Real-time Analytics | If you’re on a premise-based solution, your analytics could use a boost. This tool allows you the data needed to make critical business decisions and improve performance.

Use Cases for UAD

1. Multichannel support | Your customers expect to interact with your business through a variety of channels, including email, chat, voice, social media and more. This tool allows agents to seamlessly switch between channels.

2. Service desk operations | Helpdesk hinges on being able to quickly find information and playbooks. This tool grants agents access to relevant information and tools, so they can quickly resolve technical issues, leading to faster resolution times and improved user satisfaction.

3. Healthcare | In the healthcare industry, a unified agent desktop can provide care teams with access to patient records, medical history, and other critical information, helping them make informed decisions and provide quality care.

4. Financial services | In banking and financial services, a unified agent desktop can enable agents to quickly access customer account information, history, and transaction details, leading to faster issue resolution and improved customer satisfaction.

5. Retail and e-commerce | In the retail and e-commerce industry, a unified agent desktop can help agents access customer order information, shipping details, and return policies, enabling them to quickly resolve issues and improve the customer experience.

The End

In conclusion, a unified agent desktop is a powerful solution that can bring significant benefits to contact centers and customer service operations. By providing a consolidated interface for agents to access all necessary information and tools, this tool can improve agent productivity, enhance the customer experience, and increase operational efficiency. Additionally, a unified agent desktop can provide real-time monitoring and analytics, enabling supervisors and managers to identify and address issues quickly, leading to better decision-making and overall contact center performance. Overall, a unified agent desktop can be a valuable investment for any organization looking to streamline their customer service operations, reduce costs, and improve the customer experience.

The Obstacles

• improving training (both in terms of speed and quality)

• ramp time

• attrition (which is historically high)

If you talk with a supplier, the answer is always, “Buy a new product! We can solve all your problems!” Maybe they can, but budgets are real and leadership doesn’t always approve cool solutions that automate workflows and improve customer experience. So, let’s talk about free steps you can take to improve training, ramp time and attrition.

The (Free) Answers

1. Develop a comprehensive onboarding program | Most companies don’t do this. New agents are often thrown directly into the fire and they have to sink or swim. That’s not a real onboarding program. Your agents should receive training on company policies, systems, products and services. You’ll also want to ensure that agents understand their roles, expecations and responsibilities from day one, rather than hoping they glean this information in the trenches.

2. Use simulations and role-playing exercises | I know this one sounds lame, but it’s extremely helpful if you give agents the ability to get repetition with fielding customer interactions. This better equips the agent with the skills needed to handle difficult situations confidently. In customer experience, our resources often learn best by doing.

3. Offer ongoing training and coaching | Agents must continue to develop their skills, because processes, products and services always evolve. Also, we want to prioritize the constant improvement of customer experience. These coaching sessions also create time for agents to receive feedback and support. Ongoing training allows agents to continously improve their performance and scale into new roles within the business.

4. Provide opportunities for career advancement | Agents do not want to remain agents forever. I know what you’re thinking. There’s one agent who loves it and they’ve been in the contact center for twenty years. Might I submit that this is an outlier. Granting agents a clear path to building their career will only reduce attrition. In order to do this, you must outline the skills and experience that your organization requires in order to scale. Remember - clear paths for advancement results in motivated agents.

5. Create a positive work environment | Can we be real? Contact Centers are hard places to create positive work environments. It’s a hard job. It can be stressful. A positive work environment takes work by leadership; it will not magically appear. You can create this type of environment by rewarding good performance, provide opportunities for social interaction, and create a healthy work/life balance. Happy agents increase your retention rates.

The (Not-Free) Answers

1. Learning Management Systems (LMS) | You can manage and deliver training from one source. This allows you to generate and assign campaigns, while tracking the progress of agents. This training can also be delivered on-deman. Associating this training with a rewards-based system can also be helpful.

2. Instructor-Lead Training | This component can also be virtual, video-based or in-person. A mixture of these services allows agents to answer questions, provide feedback and create engaging learning experiences.

3. Knowledge Management Systems | Organizations often store helpful data that agents need to do their job in multiple locations that lack structure and organization. This leaves your agents scrambling to find content while your customer grows more frustrated by the second. If this sounds like you, KMS could be the answer. Knowledge management systems can help agents to access relevant information quickly and easily. These systems can include searchable databases, FAQs, and other resources that provide agents with the information they need to serve customers effectively.

4. Unified Agent Desktop | Application sprawl is real. We often ask agents to manage so many apps that it reduces their productivity and harms the customer experience. A unified agent desktop is a software application that provides contact center agents with a single interface to access all the tools and resources they need to serve customers effectively. It integrates various systems and applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, knowledge bases, call scripting tools, and communication channels, into a single interface.

5. Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) | For a complete summary, you can check this article I wrote on CCaaS. It’s possible that your current tool, whether it’s a premise-based contact center solution or a stack of products you’ve cobbled together, is harming your business. I said what I said. It’s possible to fear change so much that you harm your customer experience and agent retention suffers. The most imporant data that your company owns is your customer data. CCaaS allows you to maximize this data and improve efficiencies.

Conclusion

Overall, contact centers can improve training, ramp time, and attrition with agents by investing in their agents' development, providing ongoing training and coaching, and creating a positive work environment. By doing so, they can reduce turnover rates, improve agent performance, and provide a better customer experience.

If you’d like to discuss how your can build contact centers of the future, please give me a shout!

Adios,

DB

UCaaS shifts ownership of infrastructure, software and support to the vendor. As a customer, you will be consuming a true SaaS (software as a service) model. This shifts care and feeding to the vendor, while granting web portal access to your team for management, reporting and provisioning new users. This is a true co-managed solution with support baked into each license.

Gartner

Gartner defines UCaaS as,

Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is a cloud-delivered unified communications model

Gartner further defines that UCaaS includes six communication functions:

• Enterprise telephony

• Meetings (audio/video/web conferencing)

• Unified messaging

• Instant messaging and presence (personal and team)

• Mobility

• Communications-enabled business processes

• You can find Gartner's definition here.

Benefits of UCaaS

• Redundancy - UCaaS vendors provide multi-tenancy, meaning your application lives in multiple datacenters. Should your primary datacenter fail, you will automatically failover to your backup site. There will be a brief operational impact, but service will be retained. This model is far superior to most premise-based solutions.

• No FTE's - You don't need a full time employee to managed UCaaS. The vendor is responsible for the infrastructure, software, support and all care and feeding of these elements. Repurpose your resources to focus on tasks that bring greater value to your organization.

• Agility - Users can utilize this application from any location, from the office, their home or on the road. UCaaS truly extends full enterprise functionality to all users regardless of their location. UCaaS also allows your organization to scale at speed. Simply provision a new user with a few clicks in the admin portal and you're off the races!

• Bundle services - UCaaS allows you to bundle services, such as PBX, SMS, chat, call recording, fax, meetings and more. There are natural economic effieciencies that your organization can take advantage of as a result.

• Resiliency - What happens if your primary connection is severed? Your UCaaS application will likely be defined as a critical workload and you can simply prioritize this traffic over your backup connection, which can be as simple as broadband or LTE. Select vendors also offer a gateway solution for survivability that allows internal communications and external access should your primary/secondary connections fail.

• Advanced Analytics and Reporting - UCaaS vendors have prioritized reporting as a crucial component of their solution. These analytics will give you granular insight regarding utilization and and performance.

Softphone vs Desk-phone

This is a common question. UCaaS can be consumed with a desk-phone, soft-client or both! UCaaS is truly a SaaS solution, so it's an application first. By utilizing soft-clients, your organization can avoid pricey hardware purchases.

Terms

You can consume UCaaS with monthly, quarterly, annual or upfront payment terms. You will likely be able to take advantage of price breaks for annual or upfront payment terms.

Conclusion

Due to shifts in the market by legacy traditional PBX vendors and business needs, you should consider a migration to UCaaS. If you're still on-prem, you can expect fewer feature-updates and diminished support as legacy vendors struggle to adopt to the new market.

I'd be happy to assist by providing a TCO/ROI tool that helps your organization realize the economic benefits of UCaaS while aligning your requirements to the vendor that meets your needs.

Y'all be good,

DB

Contact Center software has undergone its own digital transformation. These solutions were traditionally hosted in your datacenter on a virtual machine (VM). Under this scenario, your organization is responsible for all infrastructure, including power and cooling, as well as management of the full stack (such as compute, network switches, hypervisors and OS). In turn, this means you're also responsible for staffing to support this stack.

Much like PBX, Contact Center solutions have migrated to the cloud at a rapid pace. This has resulted in a number of "born in the cloud" solutions. This presents a stark difference from legacy vendors who struggle to make the difficult, but not impossible task, of moving from a hardware and premise-based focus, to a fully-baked cloud service.

THE FUTURE OF PREMISE-BASED CONTACT CENTERS 

I’m sure you’re exhausted by the expansive as-a-service market. At this stage, you can consume everything in Information Technology as a service. You’re likely aware that manufacturers and providers are quickly migrating to offer all services on demand in an easy to consume format. Contact Center solutions are no different. The real question is -- why should you care? 

Premise-based contact center solutions are going the way of the dinosaur. Don’t believe me? Gartner stopped tracking premise-based contact center solutions at the end of 2019. Legacy vendors who dominated the premise-based contact center space, such as Avaya, Cisco, Mitel and Genesys are announcing end of support/end of life for premise-based solutions at a rapid pace. If you’re utilizing one of these solutions, let’s talk about a migration strategy. You need to ensure you have adequate time to review solutions and plan for a smooth transition.

WHY CCaaS IS BENEFICIAL FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION 

The cloud is rapidly improving the quality of customer experience solutions at your disposal. I’ve spent a fair amount of my career working in cybersecurity. One of my favorite experiences is providing a next-gen firewall (PAN, Fortinet and CheckPoint) demo for an end user who utilizes a legacy firewall (you know the ones I’m talking about). During one of these demos an end user uttered one of my favorite phrases while reviewing the power of next-generation tools. They said, “It feels like we turned on a light in a dark room.” So it is when you migrate from legacy contact center tools to the cloud. Your world changes, and your agents and customers will thank you.  

Let's get down to the nitty gritty. Here's why you need to consider CCaaS.

Scalability  

• Long gone are the days of capacity planning. Buy the exact number of seats you need for the exact number of agents/supervisors you have.  

• You can scale this number up or down depending on your needs.  

• For example, insurance claims companies ramp up dramatically during their peak season, and ramp back down during their slow months.  

Analytics  

• This is the crown jewel of CCaaS. The rich data and analytics that you generate far exceed that of premise-based solutions.  

• Data from your contact center represents some of the richest content that your organization owns while making critical business decisions. If your customer’s feedback doesn’t matter, then why are you in business? 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

• Sentiment is one of the best examples of the power of AI. Let's paint a picture of this powerful tool by sharing an example of a disgruntled support call. I know it’s difficult for you to imagine that people can be rude when they call in, but let’s pretend! For example, if a customer places an inbound call with your contact center and begins to elevate their tone, speak negatively about your company and use harsh language the solution can flag the call for review, as well as alert supervisors of an issue. In real time! From there, you’re able to locate a recording of the call and analyze the exact moments that the solution triggers an issue.  

• Natural Language Processing allows the tool to transcribe across all interactions, including chat, SMS, voice and email. This rich data is mined by the solution to reveal trends happening across all channels.  

• Self Service is a natural benefit of AI. Predictive analytics can be used to determine trends, which can shape the user’s experience. If you notice your users request the same simple tasks repeatedly, your organization can automate this process. This reduces the strain on your agent base and your customers get the data they need swiftly.  

• Agent Assist / Virtual Agent is an emerging trend that will reshape the way your organization handles customer interactions. It’s also possible to ease into the world of cloud contact center solutions by starting with virtual agents as the initial phase of migrating to the cloud.  

• AI in the contact center deserves its own article. Be on the lookout for future articles that tackle this topic. In the meantime, let’s start a dialogue to see if your organization can benefit from AI. 

Integrations and Advanced Features 

• In the old days (think 2015) you had to bundle a variety of third-party add-ons to build a complete solution. That is a consumption and support nightmare. Do you enjoy opening multiple support tickets while employing Perry Mason as your prosecutor who holds the vendor’s feet to the fire as they point the finger at one of the many third-parties you’re utilizing? No, you do not. There is a better path. 

• CCaaS solutons are built for integrate. Many of the leading vendors in this space offer out-of-the-box integrations with crucial business applications, such as O365, Google and leading CRMs. Examples of this include Salesforce, Zendesk, Hubspot, etc... 

• Do you need an integration but that’s not listed out-of-box? No problem. As long as your app has open APIs, we can work with developers to create a custom integration.

Agent Experience  

• Agent experience is one of the features least considered during the evaluation process, but it directly correlates with your ability to hire and retain talent. If you’re an agent looking for a job, would you rather utilize a 1987 Ford F150 or a new Cadillac? Would you prefer to toggle between 47 applications (none of which are integrated) or would you prefer a seamless experience?  

• Happy agents are able to quickly and efficiently solve customer problems. This leads to stellar satisfaction scores and the ability to retain your employees. Anyone struggling to hire and retain quality agents? I know your hands went up! 

Availability 

• Contact Centers demand uptime and reliability. Any CCaaS solution that you review should have a minimum of 99.99% uptime.  

• If you can connect to the internet, your contact center can function without restrictions with a CCaaS solution.  

• I know what you’re going to say. What if I lose connectivity? Great question! You should have diverse and redundant internet connections, which includes DIA (fiber), broadband (best as a backup), LTE, etc... 

• If your users lose their primary internet connection, your CCaaS solution can still run over an LTE connection, such as a mobile hotspot, home internet connection, or the guest network of a local coffee shop.  

Customer Experience 

• During the pandemic it was extremely common to find customers who were struggling with abandonment rates and poor customer satisfaction scores. Their legacy systems could not keep up with the demands of WFH and dramatically increasing inbound interactions. Fun fact, all channels for the contact center saw an increase in interactions since 2020.  

• These solutions allow your business and agents to be more agile, while providing real-time analytics that improve performance.  

• In closing, you should consider CCaaS because your customers will benefit.  

This is one of the most transformational solutions that your business will consider over the next twelve months, because it drastically increases your ability to service your customers. If you’d like to learn more about a migration strategy or selecting a solution that’s right for you, let’s start a dialogue.  

Y’all be good!  

DB 

Definitions 

CCaaS - Contact Center as a Service 

VM - Virtual Machine

UCaaS - Unified Communications as a Service 

AI - Artificial Intelligence 

CRM - Customer Relationship Management 

API – Application Programming Interface 

WFH – Work from Home 

DIA – Dedicated Internet Access 

Seats - A license for a cloud-based contact center solution that is tied one-to-one with users

Contact Center volume has drastically increased since 2020, including omnichannel utilization increases. Voice still reigns supreme as the primary avenue to reaching your customers, but additional channels are rapidly growing. Organizations that have been slow to adopt new channels, such as chat or SMS, are limiting engagement with their most valuable resource - their customers. This is especially true of younger users.

Staffing Issues

Contact Centers historically struggle to retain agents. The turnover rates in this industry range from 30-45%. It should be noted that the pandemic and the great resignation elevated this rate. How can you possibly create a positive customer experience if your staff is turning over at such a high rate?

To make matters worse, wage increases have forced some organizations to do more with less. Does that sound like you?

Wait, there's more! Not only are agents turning over at a much higher rate, but there are fewer agents in the job market than there were prior to 2020.

To recap, agents are turning over at a rapid pace, there are fewer agents to replace them in the job market and they're more expensive to replace. Perfect!

How can you solve this pain-point?

Intelligent Virtual Assistants

Automation is the path forward. Surely you've utilized a clunky chatbot. Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVA) scale far beyond the wild-west versions of chatbot that lack intuitive design. Modern IVA solutions create a conversational tone that mimics humans and allows your customers to engage at higher rates and self-service.

As I mentioned, you've surely utilized a chatbot in the past. How is an IVA different than the traditional chatbot? The answer is AI (artificial intelligence), which continues to improve at a rapid pace and learns as you feed it more data. This allows the IVA to create tailored responses to your customers, by factoring in location, trends associated with that consumer and their past interactions and your knowledge-base.

Here are a few examples of the benefits you can expect:

• Transition to Live Agents, including detailed notes of the interaction.

• Seamless Integration Under a Single Pane of Glass, so you don't have to toggle between multiple apps.

• Out-of-the-box IVAs or Custom Builds, which means your organization gets exactly what it needs on budget.

• Quick Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, so your customers find information quickly, but you don't tie up an agent.

• Automate Simple, Repetitive Tasks, such as password resets, order look-ups, scheduling, payments and more.

The Proof is in the Pudding

This saying originated in 17th century. The full saying is actually, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." Simply, the evidence of the value is best felt through experience. The best way for you to determine if an IVA is right for you is a tailored demo built on your requirements. If that sounds like you, let's map out your unique requirements and build a roadmap to improve your customer experience.

Holler at me,

DB

• The Pandemic – It was a doozy! 

• Mass relocation – Tens of millions of Americans have permanently moved since 2020.  

• The Great Resignation – Nearly 50 million people quit their jobs in 2021. Depending on the statistics you subscribe to, it’s reasonable to believe that 50% of Americans are currently considering a job move.  

• Agent Burnout - American employees have noted burnout as a contributing factor to quiet quitting and changing positions. Contact Center agents historically have high turnover rates, which are being compounded by the current environment.

Traditionally agents were located on-premise in tight quarters. The pandemic forced many of these agents to work remote, which has been enabled by modern CCaaS solutions that allow agents to work from anywhere in the world with full functionality. Combine this with fierce staffing shortages, which can be firmly felt in contact centers. As a result, you can expect that many contact centers will continue to operate fully or partially remote in order to attract talent.  

Organizations that utilize legacy systems likely struggled with contact center performance. Here are a few examples of areas that have been challenging:  

• Agent Training – How will you adequately train the dispersed workforces? These agents have to be trained on a number of complex applications, as well as learning to appropriately resolve customer issues. 

• Agility - Prior to Covid-19, the last great pandemic was in 1918-1919. Modern businesses were not equipped with the relevant data to make crucial decisions during this unprecedented time. To further complicate matters, layer in political turmoil, threats of war, a looming recession, and supply chain challenges. Businesses face an increasingly complex environment in which it must make critical decisions, often times in real time with limited data. This means that businesses must be agile. Contact Centers often feel this pain early, and must quickly adapt in order to support end users and retain brand loyalty. You should prioritize flexible solutions that allow your business to scale and evolve as your needs change, because your needs will definitely change!

• Collaboration - How does your organization connect end users to specialist inside of the organization who do not sit in the contact center? A percentage of your calls will not resolve with a contact center agent. Does your communication/collaboration stack enable agents with the ability to quickly engage resources?

• Access to Data – Agents must have access to real-time data, such as knowledge banks, so they can act with accurate information. This requires collaboration tools that reach beyond simple exchanges with their peers.  

• Agent Performance – How do you measure agent performance if they’re not staffed in a single location? Modern tools give you the ability to support the agent’s support needs while measuring their performance, without implementing spyware.  

• Company Culture – How do you teach company culture, which is imperative to creating a positive support experience for your end users, if your agents work remotely? Utilizing CCaaS applications, including video and chat collaboration tools, can be helpful. Please note that modern tools are not a magic trick for creating company culture; that still requires intentional communication and engagement.

• Volume - It's no secret that inbound contact center engagement increased across all channels. While there has been a massive increase in omnichannel engagement, such as SMS, chat and email, voice still reigns supreme. Pindrop's Covid-19 summary report states that call volumes increased 600% above normal levels.

• Data Orchestration - I know what you're thinking. What the heck does "data orchestration" even mean? By data orchestration I simply mean utilizing your customer data in meaningful ways that enable you to improve the customer experience and increase revenue. One lesson from the pandemic is that businesses often do a poor job of using data to impact businesses decisions. This is often revealed in one of two ways: 1) your legacy tool doesn't provide advanced analytics and reporting. 2) You have the data, but you don't understand what to do with it. If you struggle with either of these, let's talk about a roadmap for unlocking your data.

• New Channels - SMS, Chat, Email, Social Media, Secure Messages, on and on.

Contact Centers are in a period of flux at the moment. If you’re struggling because your traditional practices aren’t as effective, you’re not alone. We may never go back to “normal,” but there are a number of tools and processes you can adopt that will improve agent performance and your customer’s experience.