Contact center technology has come a long way over the past 10-15 years. Cloud contact center platforms are now the norm, yet some organizations are still driving the “old Buick” so to speak.
Many contact centers are still relying on on-premises systems built for a different era. Back then, everything happened in the office, automation was minimal, and voice was the only game in town.
As communication technology continues to evolve, contact center leaders need to adapt or run the risk of losing valuable customers that expect more from the organizations they want to do business with. Cloud contact center solutions continue to make significant investments in their Omni-Channel integrations, building features that leverage voice recognition, and even use AI to support agents as they navigate their conversations with customers.
If you’re starting to rethink your on-premise contact center platform, here are five reasons contact center leaders are making the switch to CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) platforms:
1. Remote and Hybrid Teams Need the Right Tools
A 2023 Gartner report reported by Sprinklr found that the number of remote call center agents is expected to grow by 60% from 2022 to 2024. Additionally, some companies (like SQM) had a report come out in 2023 which indicated that over 87% of their call center agents were working from home, highlighting a major change in how businesses operate in general.
We would be remiss to not mention that a major advantage of CCaaS software is that it gives contact centers the flexibility to move their workforce when necessary, and still hit their service levels (SLA’s) without skipping a beat. When the pandemic hit, companies had no choice but to have employees work from home. With natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, or wildfires occurring more often, companies need to be prepared to adapt to their employees working from home or even in another State.
Let’s shift our focus now to large hardware devices, VPN access, and on-site maintenance: it doesn’t really align with the modern workforce. Cloud-based CCaaS platforms, on the other hand, enable agents to securely log in from anywhere. Supervisors can monitor performance and coach agents in real time, regardless of location.
While research shows that contact center work is no longer tied to a building, the degree of remote work varies a lot on the industry the contact center operates in. So, some contact centers in healthcare, or say banking may have physical centers to keep up with strict data privacy and compliance regulations.
2. Customers Expect Omnichannel
Today’s consumers reach out over chat, text, email, and social media, and all of that occurs sometimes in the same service interaction. Furthermore, companies are expected to keep up with the same seamless, consistent interaction irrespective of the channel(s) a customer uses.
Legacy platforms often treat these as separate channels, creating siloed experiences and fractured service. Agents might have to access different systems/tools/screens to access each channel’s information, which can be incredibly frustrating and lead to faster burnout.
CCaaS platforms on the other hand bring all customer interactions into a single, unified interface. What you get is consistency, a personalized approach to customer care, agents see a full conversation history across ALL channels on their dashboards, and managers can track and optimize performance much more easily than before.
The result is a smoother, faster, and more satisfying experience for customers that think of these elements as “hygiene factors” and not “nice-to-haves”. (Summarized from ‘State of the AI Connected Customer Report’, Salesforce)
3. Automation Reduces the Burden on Agents and Improves CX
Legacy platforms offer little in the way of automation and is almost always the #1 reason why so many companies are moving to modern CCaaS platforms.
Modern CCaaS platforms come with advanced tools like that help your agents/supervisors/managers work smarter. Automation not only reduces wait times and agent fatigue but also frees up teams to handle more complex, high-value interactions.
AI unlocks new efficiencies. The ones we love the most?
- Virtual Agents Handling Routine Tasks – The most common queries of password resets, appointment confirmations, order status checks and more can be handled with a chatbot or voice bot. This helps with call volume and gives teams time to focus on complex issues that wouldn’t do well with automation alone.
- AI-based Smart Routing – Analyze customer behavior, language, and past interactions to send them to the best-suited agent or resource.
- Transcription and Sentiment Analysis – Essentially, modern CCaaS tools often have the functionality to simultaneously transcribe calls, summarize calls and “read the room” by flagging customer sentiment, in real-time. This has an additional advantage of staying ahead of potential compliance risks.
4. Real-Time Insights Drive Better Decisions
Contact center leaders can’t afford to make decisions based on last week’s metrics. (Forbes) Legacy systems have not always kept up with data demands, and it has led to delayed or limited reporting capabilities.
In contrast, today’s CCaaS platforms provide real-time dashboards, predictive analytics, and AI-driven insights to improve forecasting abilities. These allow managers to spot trends, adjust staffing, and improve workflows on the fly. This kind of operational agility is essential in high-volume environments such as call centers-where every minute counts.
5. The ROI Is Tangible
Upgrading from a legacy system may seem like a big investment but it pays off faster than expected. A typical ROI timeline looks something like this:
- Immediate-4 months – Organizations are able to witness an increase in agent productivity pretty quickly:
- Agent Handling Time (AHT) – Smart routing, in-call guidance and having your existing knowledge base literally on their fingertips helps agents resolve calls quicker, improving call talk time.
- After-Call Wrap Up Time – Better workflows, AI generated transcript notes and more, help shave off minutes of calls almost immediately.
- Agent Utilization – Modern CCaaS systems help in creating real-time dashboards and forecasting agent schedules, that then assist in optimizing staffing. This is critical in verticals like retail for example, whose business is seasonal.
- Adherence Efficiency – Towards the latter part of this 4-month period, the insights into schedules and the monitoring tools you’ve gained from your new CCaaS system, drive an improvement in tracking whether agents are working the prescribed number of hours they’re scheduled for (meetings, breaks included).
- 3-6 months – As organizations begin to adapt to the new system, further efficiencies related to automation, and becoming adept at using omnichannel support, emerge. Examples of this are:
- First Contact Resolution (FCR) – Smarter call-routing, better agent tools, and training helps in improving the rate at which agents are able to “solve a customer’s problems”. While it is difficult to gauge a true metric, companies like NICE have witnessed that a 1% gain in FCR has translated into a 1% gain in customer satisfaction (CSAT).
- Conversion/Sales Rates – Conversion Rate Improvement comes as a result of more informed and better trained agents, a decrease in talk and after-call wrap time, combined with an increased motivation to produce results. In NICE CXOne, the system displays individual and group sales KPIs in real-time to agents via ‘always-on’ desktop tickers and agent performance scorecards.
- 6-12 months – As a result of beginning to hit stride with a new platform, things begin to get easier for agents, positively impacting retention rates. Why is this important? A McKinsey benchmark reports that the cost to hire, onboard and train new contact center agents can cost anywhere between $10-20K.
In short, for organizations that have made the switch, the ROI is truly tangible.
We Work with the Best in CCaaS
At DecisivEdge, we partner with leading CCaaS providers to help you find the right fit for your business. Our network includes top platforms:
- Genesys
- NICE CXone
- Five9
- Talkdesk
- RingCentral
We’re connected with many of the top CCaaS providers and can coordinate product demonstrations on your behalf once we understand your business goals and the features you need most.
Don’t see your preferred platform on the list?
No problem. DecisivEdge’s #1 priority is to make sure we’re helping you choose the platform that truly fits your needs.
We are your partners throughout the process, taking time to understand your business, your goals, your teams, your technology environment before recommending a CCaaS solution that makes sense for you.
Let’s talk about what you’re looking for. Contact us today.
