Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) is a software deployment model that enables companies to reduce IT, integration and support costs. It's needless to say that transforming a contact centre is a mammoth task by itself, moving it to the cloud requires double the time and effort. Investing in a good CCaaS not only impacts business agility and digital transformation but also improves customer experience in the long run.
In this edition of the CX Today round table, we welcome:
- Genefa Murphy, Chief Marketing Officer, Five9
- Jonathan Allan, Chief Marketing Officer, Puzzel
- Paul Holden, Head of Sales, Akixi
- Colin Gill, Head of Production and Solutions, Akixi
- Baker Johnson, VP of Marketing, UJET
- Frank Sherlock, VP International, CallMiner
Experts from five companies share their thoughts on how cloud contact centres have transformed to benefit CX, ways to future-proof a business with CCaaS and what the companies prioritised during the pandemic.
Here's what they had to say.
How has the evolution of cloud contact centres benefitted CX?
Murphy: "With the pandemic, the contact center was thrust into the spotlight for most businesses. The contact center essentially became the new front door. The evolution of cloud technology, and the increased acceptance by consumers to use digital channels, has enabled organizations to reimagine CX by increasing business agility, accelerating digital transformation and embracing continuous innovation.
Businesses that migrate their contact centers to the cloud can quickly and cost-effectively take advantage of the latest technologies to streamline operations with automation and analytics, empower their agents to work from anywhere, engage customers on their channel of choice, and use the power of AI to scale their workforce with Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs).
"Leveraging the cloud’s flexibility, scalability and ease of integration, these innovations are creating better experiences for both customers and agents through their facilitation of an agile mindset that enables customers to rapidly respond to changes in the market."
Allan: "Pre-covid, the contact centre was just one part of the full customer experience. It was where customers went to solve problems, and almost always came before or after a face-to-face or in-store interaction. Now with video, virtual agents, CRM integrations and real-time reporting, the contact centre has transformed, for many companies, into the face of their brand. It is fast becoming a hi-tech, multi-functional business unit capable of delivering immersive end-to-end customer experiences with AI-powered precision and a human touch, making the moments that matter happen."
Holden: "Cloud contact centres have benefited the customer experience as they have enabled companies to offer a consistent service, 24/7, from any location, across multiple platforms. The traditional method of making a call to a business and being restricted to certain hours of availability, governed by resource in that location, would dictate how long you were held in a queue.
Utilising the cloud, the hours and resources can be far more flexible, agents can be in any location, even at home, all on the same platform. The other advantage of the evolution of cloud contact centres is also the ability to introduce digital and social channels into the customer experience, offering further choice and flexibility of interaction by the end customer to enhance the experience.
"Building on this cloud foundation, introduction of digital and social, also opens the door to integration with other cloud applications that hold customer intelligence, for example the CRM or ERP system, so you’re empowering your representatives with information which also enables great CX, as an end customer they get through on their channel of choice, voice or digital, and get a more personalised experience which ultimately will build brand advocacy and loyalty."
Johnson: "Easier, more flexible integrations with CRMs and other external systems – we are particularly passionate about this at UJET! The ability to quickly display customer information is key, but to us it doesn’t stop there. Part of the power of the cloud is that it is easier to pull information from many sources and have it displayed. Many of our customers connect UJET to their mobile apps and can see customer information from the app, ask customers to take photographs of problems, send them instructions to the phone, and make switches from chat to voice effortless and the context is retained."
"Next, the cloud has helped contact centers add non-voice communication channels easily. We see contact centers of all sizes branch out to digital channels when they move to the cloud. Customers have the ability to seek contact in a channel they prefer, and the ability for agents to use one interface to work with customers in voice, chat, email, SMS, or other channel is a strength of the cloud."
Sherlock: "Cloud-based contact centres contain a plethora of data that can dramatically impact customer experience and customer relationships overall. The contact centre is the frontline of an organisation's business – it’s the place where customers go to communicate with your brand and more often than not, find resolution to issues they may be having. It’s where the voice of the employee, voice of the customer and the overall brand perception are conveyed – whether that’s over the phone or in text-based interactions."
But today’s customers are communicating across more channels than ever before. Cloud contact centres make it possible to more effectively and flexibly scale as business needs change.
"This flexibility is a key part of being able to not only collect and monitor those interactions, but analyse and extract insights from every conversation. When organisations deeply understand their customers, they can make better decisions in-the-moment and post-interaction to drive CX."
"Cloud contact centres make it easier to keep pace with changing customer expectations, based on deep understandings and insights."
How can CCaaS help future-proof a business?
Murphy: "A cloud contact center allows for both iterative and incremental adoption of new technologies as well as rapid innovation. With cloud, organisations can evolve as fast as the market, which promises a competitive advantage when customer expectations change on a dime.
"For example, during the pandemic it has become increasingly important to support more efficient self-service options, such as online help, intelligent virtual assistant (IVA), as well as digital channels like social media, webchat, and text/SMS. Being able to adapt quickly – and continuously – helps enterprises future-proof their CX. And, given better CX has been proven to have a correlation to loyalty, it in turn future proofs the business."
Allan: "CCaaS solutions are designed to be easy and fast to deploy, and to grow with your business. Most importantly, the ability for these cloud solutions to support constant innovation and improvement means that customer systems are always moving forward and making the most of new features, integrations and technology developments.
With customer behaviours and expectations changing all the time, it no longer makes sense to buy an expensive to deploy on-prem solution that will become outdated as soon as it’s installed. Businesses are better off buying a cloud solution that is continually updated with the latest tech, that can scale with their business, and that can be customised with apps and integrations at any time to suit their unique needs."
Holden: "Contact-Centre-as-a-Service can help future-proof a business as the
