Theme #3: Cloud Migration
This is another familiar meta-trend -- and a prime reason for RingCentral to commission this study -- and it's particularly pressing for contact centers. The research indicates that 62% of respondents have premises-based contact centers, and as Table 3 shows, they have a long way to go for this migration.
| Table 3 – Cloud Plans for Contact Center | % of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Fully transitioned | 11% |
| Partially transitioned | 24% |
| Have plans, but no transition yet | 26% |
| No plans for moving to the cloud | 15% |
| Don't know | 24% |
While it's not clear if a sense of urgency is lacking, this transition goes hand in hand with digital transformation, and with CX being so important, there's a real gap here. That's evident when considering why contact centers would move to the cloud. As with Table 2, respondents ranked the top five reasons, and Table 4 below shows the top overall reasons from a list of 13 factors.
| Table 4 – Reasons for Moving to the Cloud | % of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Increase reliability/uptime | 28% |
| Better meet needs of today's customers | 27% |
| Better reporting and analytics | 26% |
| Ability to scale up or down | 25% |
| Improving security | 24% |
| Reduced reliance on internal IT | 23% |
Perhaps not surprisingly, these reasons are mostly about the contact center -- improving performance, making it more secure, getting better diagnostics, etc. While all of these are valid -- and should ultimately help improve CX -- the responses show no indication that moving to the cloud will somehow help support the organization's digital transformation strategy.
By now, contact centers surely recognize they'll never improve CX in today's market as currently constituted, and cloud represents the best path forward. However, that shouldn't be done in isolation -- the opportunity is bigger than the contact center, and as the last theme indicates, it even extends to our old friend, UC.
Theme #4: Integrating Contact Center with UC
These worlds have been moving closer together for the right reasons, and with cloud being the main enabler, this final theme ties things together. Overall, 61% of respondents have some level of integration, and at face value, this is a good sign.
To be fair, the survey defines this broadly, referring to any from a list of communications applications (voice, messaging, video, etc.), rather than integrating the contact center with a UC platform that incorporates all of these applications. However, even this watered-down form of integration is positive, and is further bolstered by the finding that 42% of those not doing this now are considering an integrated solution.
Even more encouraging is the broad range of expected benefits. As per earlier tables, respondents ranked their top five reasons, and here's what came out on top.
| Table 5 – Benefits for Integrating CC and UC | % of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Cost savings | 53% |
| Time savings | 52% |
| Improved levels of customer service | 52% |
| Increased agent productivity | 50% |
| Better communication between agents and rest of the company | 44% |
Implications
Table 5 may well hold the key to address the alignment gap between the needs of the contact center and overall plans for digital transformation. Clearly, these benefits received high rankings for importance, and what's notable is the variety. This is a great mix of benefits, especially if thinking across all the themes in my analysis. Digital transformation isn't articulated explicitly, but these certainly reflect the desired outcomes, and I think tell a stronger story than just trying to address cloud or CX independently. This leads me to conclude that starting here could be the best path for elevating the conversation from a technology refresh to the more holistic Contact Center 2.0 vision RingCentral is communicating with this research. How do you see it?
BCStrategies is an industry resource for enterprises, vendors, system integrators, and anyone interested in the growing business communications arena. A supplier of objective information on business communications, BCStrategies is supported by an alliance of leading communication industry advisors, analysts, and consultants who have worked in the various segments of the dynamic business communications market.
