Navigating the Evolving CCaaS Landscape: 3 Considerations

1. The CCaaS Conundrum: Look Beyond the Marketing Hype

Do you remember when ‘omnichannel’ was The New Thing? Many vendors claimed greatness without the substance to back them up. Even today, many systems have connectors into siloed digital channels and are not properly joined up.

So it is again with CCaaS. We see many claims to being the ultimate solution. But as the industry continues to evolve, it’s ever more crucial to delve deeper and ask the right questions.

If you’re contemplating a switch to CCaaS, consider these three key questions to ensure you’re on the right track:

1. Tenant Separation: Is each organisation fully separated from others on the system? This is essential so that each tenant can have a customization and upgrade path specially tailored to their needs, and entirely unaffected by other tenants
2. Scalability: Can new tenants be up and running quickly? Can cloud capacity for each organisation be adjusted seamlessly with no downtime?
3. Integration: Integration APIs using HTTPS or secure WebSockets are fine but you will still have issues of data or media sovereignty, legacy processes and systems that must be tied in to your new cloud contact center service. Does your provider have the ability to deliver integration hooks and tools for your legacy needs using a Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) approach? (Hint: if they just offer a VPN connection, you should not be betting your business on them!)

A resounding ‘Yes!’ to these questions ensures a solid foundation for your CCaaS journey.

2. Inbound Automation: Rethinking Efficiency

Automation is not just a buzzword; it’s a necessity. To optimise customer service and reduce operational costs, you need a paradigm shift from manual intervention to full automation.

In order to maintain service levels, do you have supervisors running around making sure (or rather attempting to make sure) that all customer sessions are getting to the best-match agents with minimal delay? They probably have a plethora of tools to help them do this. But this is not automation, despite how it may be portrayed.

True automation involves your CCaaS product performing agent resource allocation and service level management on the fly with no intervention, liberating supervisors to focus on strategic initiatives. To achieve this, the system must have access to agent skills and target service levels for all queues. While resistance may emerge (especially from vendors emphasizing their toolboxes for supervisors), the efficacy of a truly automated system speaks for itself.

Curious? Allow us to demonstrate the difference.

3. Outbound Automation: The Compliance Dilemma

One of the buzzwords for outbound is compliance. But what does compliance really mean in this context? It’s not just about avoiding dialing proscribed numbers; it’s also about how the contact is made, e.g. dialing within the US in accordance with the FTC Sales Rule (and frankly this is the type of compliance that most dialers struggle with).

When assessing an automated dialer claiming to be ‘compliant’, ask questions and understand the nuances.

Does the vendor equip you with tools to set up the product so that you won’t dial a number that is proscribed? Or are you being given the tools to navigate the compliance landscape yourself? Or does their use of ‘compliant’ mean something quite different?

For more on this, read up about Sytel Global Compliance™ and the Sytel AI Dialer™.

As you navigate the complexities of the CCaaS landscape and inbound/outbound automation for in the coming year, remember that success is found in looking beyond the marketing allure, in the deep examination of the features that truly matter to your business. At Sytel, we’re committed to helping you make informed choices for a prosperous year ahead.