Strategic Pathways into the Enterprise Beyond the Contact Center

Automation and the Customer Experience

CCaaS providers are not always well-aligned with either the technology or the business processes needed to make meaningful improvements in operations.

Enterprises today are guided by three fundamental priorities when it comes to improving their customer experience (CX): automate the contact center (CC), incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into processes and extend those processes beyond the center into other parts of the business. These imperatives are being pressed onto contact center leadership, who must work with IT to scope out and deploy complex systems with as little disruption as possible. The inherent bias among CC leaders is to look to existing CC technology suppliers to expand their automation footprint because they have already automated many existing agent and self-service behaviors, but there is a flaw in that reasoning. CCaaS providers are not always well-aligned with either the technology or the business processes needed to make meaningful improvements in operations. While they are experts in routing and in agent management, they may not have the expertise or technology for building and testing automations across teams. Instead, enterprises should consider software providers with a wider field of view, especially those that are specialists in building automations. 

The Impact of AI

The technology stack for contact centers and surrounding teams has become more complicated. The transition to cloud seemed to promise an environment with more simplicity, and to some extent that was true, but it came at the same time as rapid developments in AI and automation, which carry another level of complexity.

Contact center performance is one area where AI has made an impact. Use cases are plentiful, but narrow, with notable improvements in things like self-service containment, deflection and reduced after-call work time. Workflows to be created take in many more functions than those that reside in the contact center, amplifying both AI utility and the scope of any project. Businesses are being told that they can generate substantial savings, and while that is true, there are foundational elements to an AI deployment that are being glossed over—data and knowledge management, for example—that may prevent buyers from seeing ROI commensurate with the amount of effort a deployment takes and the disruption it causes.

Where CCaaS Falls Short

Through 2028, the establishment of CX application suites on a common platform will become the focal point of the drive to optimize customer and organization engagement. As a result, contact centers are under pressure to streamline and simplify the core tools into single-vendor packages. Those single-vendor packages are required to integrate more broadly into enterprise tools including CRM, back office, field service and knowledge management, among others.

They are also under pressure to find new ways to control costs, especially by implementing AI and automation. They need AI, but they also need it to show concrete results in a reasonable timeframe and to do more than make agents more efficient and productive. AI needs to incorporate tools and processes enterprise wide.

CCaaS can lead to vendor lock-in when the AI platform is built directly around the contact center tech stack, rather than through an IT-led platform that serves multiple enterprise use cases. This suggests that IT is best suited to lead the scoping and overall deployment of an AI platform to ensure enterprise-wide integration and realization of value. 

Deciding on an Automation Strategy

Through 2027, AI will have become integrated by default into the base of the CX tech stack, enhancing a wide range of apps including contact center agent management, field service and marketing (analytics and lead scoring). But enterprises should consider the path forward carefully.

There are several factors that go into the decision-making process around automation.

Specific business needs must be coordinated with the level of customization required. If the business requires highly specific and tailored solutions, this leans the decision towards an AI/automation specialist. CCaaS providers can handle standard deployments but may not have the expertise across domains to do more complex projects that extend beyond the contact center. There may be specialized business processes, or the need to redesign existing processes to conform to a more integrated design across departments.

Existing IT infrastructure related to the kind of integrations should be assessed. IT teams will need to establish that any automated processes that extend beyond the contact center conform to how existing systems are designed, and that the current infrastructure is prepped to accommodate the new requirements that come with AI and automation projects.

Budget constraints, timing constraints and tolerance for disruption must be identified. If it was just a question of upfront cost, an automation project fronted by a CCaaS vendor may suffice, but that does not take into account the long-term costs associated with continued operations, such as customizations, updates and further integrations, as needed.

The Case for an Automation Specialist

Unlike CCaaS providers who offer standardized solutions, specialists can customize the AI functionalities to fit precisely with business processes, goals and customer service strategies for more precise targeting of pain points and optimization opportunities. Specialists provide highly adaptable approaches, allowing businesses to modify and expand their AI capabilities as their needs evolve. They can implement modular applications that can be easily scaled or adjusted in response to changing customer demands, market conditions or technological advancements. Additionally, specialists can ensure that new AI tools integrate smoothly with existing IT systems, preserving past investments in technology and avoiding disruptions.

When considering companies to consider as a specialist automation partner, there are several criteria to seek out. Moving past traditional CCaaS firms does not mean leaving contact center expertise behind. Automation projects require a keen understanding of the nuances of how customer interactions flow and the underlying communications infrastructure that enables them. An automation partner needs to be capable of building and maintaining complex integrations, while staying focused on the purpose of the project: maximizing the efficiency of the customer process.

The type of automation needed in this environment is different from that which is offered by Robotic Process Automation (RPA) providers. RPA is a broader suite of services that go well beyond the targeted projects needed to automate customer interactions. RPA is more general and applicable to projects that span the entire business. Instead, a new category of providers, called communications automation specialists, are better suited to customer-facing processes.

Communications automation seeks to ensure that communications happen in the right mode, at the right time, with the right resources brought to bear, all with as little human intervention as possible.

Communications automation looks at the various modes of contact across channels and optimizes them for efficiency internally—and just as importantly, for effectiveness externally. In other words, it seeks to ensure that communications happen in the right mode, at the right time, with the right resources brought to bear, all with as little human intervention as possible. This is a tighter set of needs than RPA or other enterprise automation projects address. It is more likely to be confined to contact center operations and their IT teams, and it may bring along selected aspects of marketing or sales, but only insofar as they involve the communications processes. Communications automation providers are less involved in optimizing back-office tasks that involve workflow and documentation, and more focused on the delicate balance of voice, email, chat and other interaction channels. They are going to have more experience integrating communications with CRM and marketing automation tools, and less with ERP or broad business platforms.

While they are not CCaaS providers themselves, communications automation firms should have broad experience with contact centers, CCaaS platforms, underlying telecom platforms and CSP relationships.

Next Action Steps

Cost control and efficiency have been the core goals of contact centers for so long that it may be hard for leadership to see beyond those goals to using the center as a tool for growth and revenue. Centers have also been adept over the years at adding new technology to their arsenals in pursuit of more efficient operations. In front of them now is an opportunity more complex, but also the prospect of using customer service as a lever to boost satisfaction, increase loyalty and through connections with other CX teams, truly have influence on customer behavior.

The logical approach is to knit existing infrastructure together with new AI technology and an underlying layer of automation that connects to a wider set of business processes. In order to maximize the impact (and minimize the disruption), contact center leadership needs to take some concrete steps in tandem with their peers in IT:

• Clearly define the specific business needs and expectations from the system.
• Provide detailed use cases and scenarios to guide the selection process.
• Collaborate with IT to ensure that the chosen solution aligns with business objectives and enhances operational efficiency.
• This part of the process should also include providing IT with insights into how the current systems are used and identify any integration points.
• Highlight any critical systems or processes that must remain uninterrupted during the transition, which involves identifying the tolerance for disruption to contact center operations.
• Work with IT to identify potential risks and develop mitigation strategies.

Key Takeaways

CCaaS can be a limiting factor when it comes to AI for enterprise CX. While they know how to produce efficiencies in the interaction handling flow, CCaaS vendors often lack expertise with broader platform integration. Specialists can help bridge the gap between contact centers who might be inclined to seek out a “local” approach with spot AI applications for niche use cases, and IT who can organize an all-enterprise approach to automation. This helps mitigate contact center costs and disruption, and spreads costs and ROI around. While it may seem counterintuitive, using a specialist can help future-proof a deployment for precisely the reason above—broader platform deployments encourage vendors to pursue further integrations, more innovation, and process automation across departments, thus breaking silos.