Jul/Aug 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

Increasingly, channel partners and consultants are working with businesses across all industries to deploy contact centers as-a-service (CCaaS). This cloud-based model, which relies on software-based communications ser- vices versus on-premises hardware and infrastructure, often delivers modern business voice and messaging services more efficiently and at a lower cost than legacy telco providers. Nearly a fourth of respondents to No Jitter’s 2017 Cloud Communications Survey have turned to CCaaS, and more than half of those respondents have said the total cost of ownership is lower than expected. Further, Research- andMarkets forecasts the global CCaaS market to grow from $6.8 billion in 2017 to nearly $21 billion by 2022. CCaaS offerings allow businesses to reliably connect their end users to distributed call center locations, as well as manage the system locally through a web-based portal. In addition, CCaaS offers benefits including the following: • Higher scalability. With traditional ser- vice providers, scalability can be a chal- lenge as the voice networks may have a limit on the number of channels that can be provisioned. The CCaaS model allows organizations far more flexibility simply by purchasing new channels online to meet the precise size needed. • Lower costs. Instead of large, up-front capital investments, most cloud con- tact center solutions are sold on a sub- scription model, offering businesses the ability to deploy a full-feature platform for a modest and predictable monthly fee. • Increased speed of deployment. Because cloud contact center applica- tions are deployed as a service, instead of an on-premises solution, resources can be provisioned with only a few clicks. There’s no hardware to pur- chase, install or maintain; deployment time can be cut down to hours or days. • Reduced burden on IT resources. On-premises communications infrastruc- ture must be purchased, tested and maintained by IT, requiring huge upfront capital expenditures as well as in- house time and resources. The CCaaS model puts that work under the respon- sibility of the cloud provider, freeing up time and budget for internal IT teams. For partners and consultants, cloud- based contact centers provide the oppor- tunity to help business customers differ- entiate their offerings while also nurturing customer relationships. Businesses can improve customer interactions by giv- ing their end users a choice in how they interact with the business. This includes options ranging from “traditional” voice at your service: Xaas Staying in Contact F or technology partners and service providers, one of the primary goals is to help businesses choose the right communications platform for their contact centers. In doing so, they are positioning their business customers to grow revenues and discover new methods of interacting with their end users. By Al Castle calls, web forms, text messaging, auto- mated phone menus and the like. Partners also can add value by helping businesses to find cloud-based communi- cations solutions that integrate into existing applications and software, such as CRM platforms or appointment booking systems. A word of advice: CCaaS offerings can provide a compelling recurring rev- enue opportunity for partners, but selling it can be challenging for inexperienced solution providers. Contact centers are no longer pigeonholed into strictly the “sales” or “customer service” buckets. The multiple channels of communica- tions being deployed in today’s contact centers (voice, messaging, web, etc.) has created the potential to collect valu- able customer data and insights that benefit across all departments within the business, from marketing to business development. As a result, it’s important for partners to have conversations with various stakeholders across the busi- ness to gain buy-in on the purchase. As businesses continue to reap the benefits of cloud-based communications services, channel partners will be well- positioned to serve as trusted advisors for their customers. CCaaS is a compel- ling and fast-growing model for telecom services that helps organizations of all sizes to continue innovating, differentiating their offerings and serving the needs of their end users. o Al Castle is the vice president of product and engineering at Flowroute, a West Company. Why CCaaS is disrupting the channel 26 Channel Vision | July - August, 2019