In the contact center environment, a sound deduction is that applications developed and enhanced over time are more apt to be “proven” in their ability to enrich customer service processes. That is, the vendor has had time to deploy the app, work out bugs, ensure reliability, make updates, integrate new features and innovations, and so forth. An ACD application is a good example. Over the last several years, some vendors have transformed basic automatic call routing apps into automatic contact routing apps for calls as well as email and chat. Some have also developed and evolved applications, such as recording and quality management, to support multichannel environments in an integrated fashion. In this sense, there are three decided advantages of working with a cloud vendor who has developed its own core technology and applications. One, the vendor can more likely offer you a tested solution that betters your chances of providing improved service for your customers. Two, the vendor has more control over the continuous improvement of their technology and the cloud-based services it supports, including the ability to extend improvements and upgrades to your contact center quickly. And three, improvements and new applications are made to work seamlessly with all other solution components, providing a unified approach to administration, reporting, and management (multichannel environments, for example). Conversely, if a cloud vendor leverages technology and apps mostly from third parties, the vendor is often at the mercy of those other vendors to maintain the core services platform. It also becomes costly and difficult to tightly integrate various solution components, both initially and on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, this can leave a cloud vendor in the position of “take what you can get, when you can get it.” Worse for contact centers using this kind of services structure, it’s not uncommon to get functionality that’s disjointed and several releases behind, and to have to wait several months for new services.
Expanding on the third point above, a factor that’s key to providing a better customer experience is whether a cloud vendor originates its services from an integrated suite, in which applications are designed to work together in a seamless manner. Contact center suites now commonly include apps for ACD, IVR, unified communications, recording, quality monitoring, post-call customer feedback surveys, and other basic functions. More recently, suites have come to include apps for advanced functionality such as multichannel and real-time speech analytics. The benefits of cloud-based services that emanate from integrated suites are also decided. Because suites are tightly integrated and designed to work together, they mostly eliminate the complexity of third-party apps that some cloud vendors piece together to originate their services. Application suites also simplify system and performance monitoring to a single point, both for the cloud vendor and for IT teams and supervisors in your contact center. In cases in which the cloud vendor has developed all of the applications in the suite they use for cloud services, you can expect vendor support to be better as well. Back to the single point of system monitoring and administration, issues can be detected and addressed quickly, and more accurately.
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