2022 proved a disruptive year in CCaaS, with the likes of Microsoft, Salesforce, and Zoom throwing their weighty hats into the ring.
In addition, stalwart on-premise vendors became much more explicit in their efforts to shift customers from on-premise solutions to the cloud.
Such trends had a seismic effect across the industry and changed the go-forward plans for many.
The predictions below take this into account, mulling over what end-users can expect from several prominent CCaaS players in 2023.
AWS Achieves Leader Status
Few understand why the Gartner CCaaS Magic Quadrant does not already class AWS as a market leader. After all, the business has almost unlimited resources. Yet, rivals - including Vonage - rank above the vendor on "ability to execute."
The good news for AWS is that it inched closer to the leader quadrant in 2022 while many competitors fell back.
Moreover, its utilization-based pricing model remains a significant draw for seasonal businesses, and its speed of innovation is impressive, releasing feature enhancements almost weekly. These come in addition to the many exciting capabilities announced at its recent re:Invent show.
At the event, Amazon Connect, alongside its Global Cloud Infrastructure, played a starring role.
These moves suggest that CCaaS is becoming a priority at AWS, which may lead to 2023 finally being the year market analysts recognize the vendor as a leader in the space.
Twilio May Consider Pre-Built CCaaS Options
The launch of Twilio Flex came at around the same time as Amazon Connect, with both framed as developer-friendly platforms.
Indeed, they essentially offer a set of building blocks, allowing organizations to create the CCaaS solution that works best for them.
Yet, over the years, AWS stretched its lead in customer acquisition – as per a 2022 Metrigy study.
Why? It is likely because AWS recognized that some customers prefer elements of the offering to come connected. In addition, some wish to have the complete kit pre-built.
Nevertheless, Twilio Flex has primarily remained as a set of building blocks.
Now, demand for such a solution does exist, with Twilio achieving its largest-ever Flex deal last year.
However, Twilio is catering to a much smaller audience. Noticing this trend, it may consider pre-built CCaaS options in 2023. If not, it will likely remain in the CCaaS shadows.
Zoom Rolls Out Its CCaaS Solution Across EMEA
"Of all the communication companies, they [Zoom] have the strongest attachment from the user audience," states Zeus Kerravala, the Founder & Principal Analyst at ZK Research.
Such intense customer loyalty will likely support Zoom’s enterprise growth in 2023 and fuel its CCaaS momentum as the Zoom Contact Center rolls out across EMEA.
Nevertheless, there are some significant feature gaps within the CCaaS platform, including a lack of digital customer engagement channels. Expect Zoom to fill these in 2023 with internal R&D.
Meanwhile, as it did with Solvvy in 2022, Zoom may make further acquisitions and establish close partnerships to deliver more differentiative features.
Another excellent example of how it did so last year is through its partnership with ServiceNow, which paves the way for Zoom to build an innovative agent experience in 2023.
Five9 Sticks to Its Guns
Despite a strong 2022, Five9’s stock tumbled by 20 percent when CEO Rowan Trollope announced that he would step down in October.
Such a hit is understandable, considering Five9’s growth during Trollope’s tenure. However, former CEO Mike Burkland has returned to the role, which has provided stability, as highlighted in Five9’s impressive results last quarter.
In addition, despite stepping down to receive cancer treatment, he remained an active chairman and worked closely with Trollope during the rearchitecture of its CCaaS solution. He also played a part in the development of its CCaaS strategy.
So, do not expect any significant change in strategy from Five9 in 2023, which sometimes come with a c-suite change. Instead, Five9 will likely continue to land and expand with conversational AI, further its international growth, and aim to differentiate itself through its ability to execute.
Google Strives to Build Momentum
The contact center is not something a vendor can do half-heartedly. Many businesses consider it a mission-critical function.
Yet, Google has made a habit of doing this with its ventures into the enterprise. As such, question marks remain over their intent in the space.
With that said, its initial steps have proved promising, partnering with UJET, landing its first customers, and tying the solution with Chrome.
These announcements came quickly towards the end of 2022, underlining its desire to build momentum in the space in 2023.
Microsoft Refines Its CCaaS Proposition
The launch of the Digital Contact Center Platform was first met with some confusion. How close is it to Teams, Dynamics 365, and Azure? It all seemed quite unclear.