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How to build a best-of-breed Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solution
The voice-to-digital convergence in CCaaS solutions
July 22, 2024 • 5 minutes
In today’s fast-paced world, Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions are critical for meeting customer expectations, which are higher than ever. Gone are the days when a single channel of communication sufficed; customers now demand seamless, connected experiences across every touchpoint — from phone calls to messaging and beyond. They expect brands to understand their preferences and deliver personalized, effortless customer engagement and support.
What is CCaaS?
At its core, Contact Center as a Service refers to a cloud-based solution that enables businesses to provide exceptional customer experiences across multiple communication channels. Unlike traditional on-premises systems, CCaaS solutions offer scalability, flexibility, and the ability to integrate with a brand’s broader digital ecosystem.
According to LivePerson’s State of Customer Conversations 2024 report, 8 out of 10 consumers are more likely to purchase from businesses that connect their interactions across phone and messaging platforms. Additionally, 76% of consumers want the option to seamlessly switch between calling and messaging depending on their preference at the moment.
Given these customer expectations, it’s crucial for businesses to integrate voice capabilities into their contact centers’ digital ecosystem. A modern CCaaS solution should seamlessly blend voice and digital channels to provide a truly omnichannel customer service operations experience. This is where adopting a best-in-class approach becomes essential.
Why enterprise contact center solutions call for a best-in-class approach
Investing in the right tools for contact center operations is a long-term commitment. However, many enterprise CCaaS solutions still fall short. A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting in March 2023 reveals that more than half of contact center decision-makers believe CCaaS platforms have only 75% or less of the functionality, features, and usability of on-premises solutions. This unfortunate reality means that companies looking to accelerate their digital transformation are often left wasting time, training, and investment with all-in-one CCaaS solutions.
This underscores the need for a best-of-breed approach when building your contact center as a service (CCaaS) solution. By integrating flexible technology into your existing and future tech stack, you can create enterprise-grade CCaaS solutions that seamlessly blend voice and messaging capabilities while providing advanced omnichannel analytics. It can accelerate your digital transformation goals while enhancing your contact center capabilities without completely overhauling the underlying technology.
- Voice and messaging integration capabilities: A modern CCaaS solution connects voice and digital channels, enabling fluid interactions across all customer touchpoints.
- Enhanced agent experiences: Provide an omnichannel agent workspace to increase efficiency and improve customer satisfaction.
- Scalable AI and automation: Leverage voice and messaging AI chatbots to automate routine tasks and reduce wait times.
Let’s take a peek at what this looks like for brands building a best-of-breed omnichannel contact center.
In this approach, voice capabilities are seamlessly integrated into the digital ecosystem for unified communications. This technical integration forms the foundation of truly omnichannel CCaaS solutions, allowing for fluid interactions across all customer touchpoints. By breaking down the silos between voice and digital communication channels, brands can leverage the strengths of each medium while maintaining a cohesive customer journey.
Applying the Conversational Flywheel™ to your CCaaS solutions
At the heart of this approach is the Conversational Flywheel, a powerful framework that can be used to build modern Contact Center as a Service solutions that deliver exceptional customer experiences. This cyclical model emphasizes continuous improvement across four stages: Understand, Connect, Assist, and Automate. Brands can enter at any stage and leverage different aspects to propel their digital transformation forward.
Here’s how it can work
1. Understand: Analyze conversations as part of your contact center analytics. Conversational customer data provides insights into customer intents and can identify areas for self-service or operational improvement.
- Example: Use conversation intelligence tools to analyze both voice transcripts and messaging data to determine which channels are best for specific conversations.
2. Connect: Deliver seamless customer interactions by integrating voice and messaging channels.
- Example: Go beyond interactive voice response (IVR) and implement conversation shifting, so customers can switch between voice and messaging customer support without losing context.
3. Assist: Leverage conversational commerce and customer service to empower contact center agents with tools that boost efficiency and enhance personalized experiences. This can increase productivity and decrease attrition.
- Example: Use an omnichannel agent workspace for a streamlined support process.
4. Automate: Deploy AI-powered tools to handle routine tasks. Both voice and messaging AI agents can help reduce wait times and free up human agents to focus on more customized support.
- Example: Implement AI and automation to answer FAQs across voice and messaging platforms.
Choosing the right CCaaS provider for enterprise brands
Selecting a CCaaS provider is a critical decision for enterprise brands aiming to modernize their contact centers. A best-in-class approach allows businesses to adopt cutting-edge solutions without overhauling their legacy systems. By integrating voice, messaging, and AI capabilities, you can create a unified, omnichannel experience that aligns with customer expectations. Keep in mind the following:
- Agility and standardization: Modern enterprise contact center solutions must be agile enough to keep up with technological advancements while maintaining operational efficiency.
- Cloud-First Strategy: Transitioning from on-premises solutions to cloud-based CCaaS providers ensures scalability and long-term success.
The modern CCaaS: Connecting the best of voice and digital
As we consider the best-of-breed approach to Contact Center as a Service, it’s important to emphasize the role of voice in this modern framework. By integrating voice capabilities with digital messaging and AI-powered solutions, businesses can create a unified experience that meets customers where they are, regardless of their preferred communication method. This integration allows for seamless transitions between communication channels, ensuring context is maintained and customer satisfaction is maximized.
As enterprise brands continue to evolve their tech stacks, agility and standardization are critical for keeping up with advancements in technology and customer expectations. On-prem voice solutions shouldn’t hold businesses back as they look to enhance their contact center. Adopting a best-of-breed approach to CCaaS ensures that both voice and digital capabilities meet modern customer expectations and continue to drive business success — without the need to rip and replace legacy systems. By leveraging the Conversational Flywheel framework and integrating best-in-class solutions, brands can create a truly omnichannel experience that enhances both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Transform your contact center with a best-in-class CCaaS solution
Ready to revolutionize your contact center? Download our eBook, “Bringing Voice into the Digital Fold: A Modern, Best-of-Breed Approach to CCaaS,” to learn how to integrate voice into your digital ecosystem and drive omnichannel customer engagement.
