For years, customer experience has been the leading differentiator for businesses worldwide. More than anything else, from features to price points, your customers will be looking for excellent experiences in exchange for their loyalty.
Tools like CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, loyalty apps, and contact centres are all designed to assist with various points of the customer journey. However, as the technology landscape evolves, companies are increasingly looking for these services in a flexible, scalable, and cloud-based environment.
Cloud CX technologies provide all the tools companies need to innovate and enhance their customer experiences while offering the versatility of the cloud. The question is; how do you choose the right cloud CX vendor in 2022? Here are some points to look at as you conduct your search.
1. Ease of Use
An excellent cloud-based CX provider will deliver simplicity above anything else. When investing in cloud-based CX technologies, there’s a good chance you’re looking for ways to equip your employees with tools they can access anywhere. Ease of use will help to ensure the adoption of these innovations and prevent your staff from using unapproved technology.
You can start by examining things like two-factor or multi-factor authentication offered as part of the service whenever your users have to log in. Other options might include comprehensive access controls, so you can determine exactly who has access to which pieces of information in your business. The more secure the technology, the better.
2. Security
Security solutions for cloud-based technology have been growing significantly in recent years, particularly when it comes to dealing with customer data. Today’s consumers want to know their details are protected when connecting with your company. With that in mind, look into the security and privacy systems your provider has in place.
You can start by examining things like two-factor or multi-factor authentication offered as part of the service whenever your users have to log-in. Other options might include comprehensive access controls, so you can determine exactly who has access to which pieces of information in your business. The more secure the technology, the better.
3. Provisioning
In general, cloud-based customer experience technology will automatically be easier to roll out to members of your team than on-premises solutions. However, it’s worth taking a closer look at the provisioning requirements before you invest. For instance, if you’re going to be delivering a cloud-based service desk to all of your team members, find out how you can get your staff members to securely download and install the software remotely.
You may need to look into whether your technology comes with things like how-to tutorials and guidance to get remote members of staff set up without technical assistance too. Make sure you consider the ease of rolling out patches and software updates over time.
4. Reliability
Reliability is one of the most important considerations when investing in CX tools, whether on the cloud or otherwise. If you can’t depend on your technology to deliver excellent experiences when you need it most, then the service you provide to your customers will suffer too. With this in mind, look into whether your solution provider offers any guaranteed uptime agreements, or special failsafe features to ensure you don’t have unnecessary downtime.
Most CCaaS solutions will provide some manner of SLA so you can estimate how much downtime you might have to worry about. CRM, service desk, helpdesk, and other apps can also have additional tools to keep you up-and-running, like offline versions of technology to access when the internet isn’t available.