CV_JulyAug_2017

Whatever acronym fits the bill, those

looking to capitalize on the burgeon-

ing CCaaS market should keep in

mind that the most important needs of

their customers goes beyond contact

center technology.

In addition to moving customers’

traditional on-premises applications

and servers to the cloud (e.g., Micro-

soft Office 365), many service provid-

ers are starting to look at selling new

services, such as CCaaS, which is

growing at a fast rate. DMG Consulting

found that in the last 12 months, the

number of cloud-based contact center

seats increased by 20.9 percent. The

cloud-based contact center infrastruc-

ture market is estimated to continue

to grow between 23 and 24 percent

between 2017 and 2020. The reality

is the cloud contact center market is

growing while on-premises implemen-

tations remain anemic at best.

Service providers that are already

selling cloud-based services have a

distinct advantage over those that’ve

yet to make the move to cloud. But,

those looking to sell CCaaS solutions

and services find that the audience,

sales cycle and business drivers for

CCaaS adoption can be different than

other cloud services. In order to be-

come a successful CCaaS provider,

it’s critical to understand that it’s not

just the cloud contact center technolo-

gy that’s important. Yes, those looking

to move the contact center to the cloud

are looking for a great set of contact

center features, but they are looking

for more than just the software. They

really are looking for a solution pro-

vider — not just a cloud provider.

With that in mind, here are the

top three things contact center pros-

pects need from their cloud contact

center provider:

1. Knowledge of contact center best

practices.

Although cost savings

is one factor driving companies to

the cloud, when it comes to CCaaS,

there’s often another driver that’s

equal to or greater than initial cost

savings — the customer experience.

Companies are looking to make it

easier for their customers to reach

them, whether it’s for sales or sup-

port, and they want to use technology

to deliver a better experience. This is

an area where the service provider

can’t afford to “fake it until they make

it.” CCaaS solution providers really

needs to educate themselves on the

best ways to implement, integrate and

configure the cloud contact center

technology to solve their customers’

business problems.

For instance, one of the big turn

offs consumers site when calling a

company is having to talk with mul-

tiple reps (and repeat their story mul-

tiple times) before finally being put

Jacki

Tessmer

ThreeThings

CCaaS Providers

Can’t Ignore

ontact center as a service providers

come in all sizes and styles; whether

it’s a communication (CSP), managed

(MSP), application (ASPs) or Internet

(ISPs) service provider.

at your service: Xaas

in touch with someone who can help.

Providers that understand this can

engage clients in a discussion about

how the technology can be leveraged

to ensure this process is streamlined.

A caller who has opened a support

ticket has already provided details that

can be used to get the caller to the

best agent. It may require configuring

the IVR to look up the caller’s ticket,

retrieve product details and confirm

the amount of time the ticket has been

opened and whether they have al-

ready interacted via another channel.

That information can be used to route

the customer directly to a technician to

address specific problems.

In other instances, the answer

may entail training and empowering

agents with knowledge bases that

can be quickly searched using natural

language, and/or it may entail mak-

ing a recommendation to add screen

capabilities, so agents can resolve a

higher percent of calls without having

to escalate them to other reps. A ser-

vice provider that can educate a cus-

tomer about how other contact centers

blend technology, process and people

to solve problems and provide the best

practices is providing a real business

solution that goes beyond just moving

technology to the cloud.

2. Provide value-added integration

services.

While many contact cen-

ter solutions already integrate email,

phone, chat other communications

channels and tracking across customer

interactions to deliver an omnichannel

experience, there are additional ben-

efits companies can gain by integrating