Ask ten enterprise CX leaders what they're modernizing first, and you'll likely get ten different answers.
Some are deep into AI pilots, others are finally confronting aging telephony infrastructure, and a few might be rebuilding outbound campaigns from scratch.
The ambition is rarely the problem. The sequencing almost always is.
Most modernization priority lists aren't built from first principles; they're shaped by vendor pitches, internal politics, and whatever technology is currently getting the most airtime.
AI dominates the headlines, so it gets the budget. Telephony is complicated, so it gets deferred.
The result is a modernization plan shaped by the wrong inputs, one with a habit of producing expensive surprises.
So, what does a smarter sequence actually look like? According to Rupert Adair, Director of Product Management at Enghouse Interactive, it starts by asking a different question entirely:
“The customer experience should be first. You should think about how you're trying to engage the customer – and that includes both inbound and outbound engagement: every contact the customer is going to experience.”
It's a reframe that changes everything downstream. Rather than skipping all your due diligence and just asking something like ‘What should we modernize?’, instead you're asking ‘What experience do we want to create, and what does that require?’ The technology stops being the project and starts serving one. So, that’s first in your sequence.
From there, Adair advocates building around what he calls the foundational layer – voice infrastructure, data architecture, and data location – before layering more agile components on top.
“We would start with the big items: core telephony, where the data is going to be, where the majority of the traffic might be,” he explains.
“The more agile pieces – AI, reporting, and so on – are easier to navigate afterwards.”
The Real Sequencing Mistake
When listening to Adair discuss the importance of sequencing in modernization, it is hard to understand why so many organizations get this process wrong.
When pushed on this, the Enghouse man revealed that the biggest mistake people make is not really about sequence at all. “I think it's actually communication at the outset,” he says.
“We see contact center managers, supervisors, and even agents who are really deeply frustrated with a new system because they weren't considered in the workflow. They weren't consulted; they weren't part of the design team.”
The distinction he draws is between treating modernization as a technology project versus a journey:
“It should be: ‘How are we going to provide better service to the customer?’ ‘What should we move, and what shouldn't we?’”
Once that conversation happens early and honestly, he argues, the sequence tends to follow logically.
Where AI Actually Fits
Given the volume of attention AI is receiving right now, it might seem counterintuitive that it isn't where Enghouse typically starts.