We’re all kind of turning into Millennials,” says Max Ball, principal analyst at Forrester
It has been great to finally get back out to see some of our key customers and partners over the last 9 months. It has felt like an age since we could have face-to-face interactions, workshops and strategy sessions. In my role, engagement is not only a part of the job I thrive on, but is also imperative to fully assist customers. Whilst I have embraced remote technologies and they will always have their place going forward, nothing beats the real thing.
At SVL we are enjoying being able to get back to what we do best. Providing valuable business solutions to help our customers get the most from technology and assisting with the consultancy and design around all things (in and out) of the cloud and beyond.
As a Solution Architect for our Business Transformation team, I had written previously in a blog post about the impact of the pandemic and how this had accelerated cloud adoption for many clients. What is evident now the dust has finally settled is that not all customers were ready to make the leap of faith and have perhaps underestimated some of the challenges and decisions required, despite the “Cloud First” approach that we all hear about!
Customer expectations have massively shifted when interacting with businesses. As consumers we now expect to be automatically met on the channel of our choice, and to have the ability to easily move between SMS, WhatsApp, Chat, Social or traditional Voice Channels seamlessly, and to quickly get resolutions or to find the answers to commonly asked questions via self-service options. In some cases, this journey begins well before reaching the Contact Centre, and it all happens without you really having to think about it. Or at least it should.
“Your best bet, in theory, is self-service with a digital entry point that provides the answer right away without having to talk to someone, whether it be chat or voice. Of course, that’s in theory.
Max Ball, principal analyst at Forrester.
In practice, most of the time, selfservice causes friction, whether it’s intentional or not.” –
Organisations have been on a transition to optimise their Contact Centres, provide better customer service and allow greater choice of control and flexibility to their staff. This has been achieved through the addition of omni-channel capabilities with digital first, automation, chatbots and ultimately a move to the cloud where all of this functionality can be leveraged under a single platform. If you wrap all of this around advance workforce engagement tools, Analytics and AI, it’s not a surprise that in some cases, it’s possibly too much too soon.
Despite the options available, some customers are not ready to make a full transition into the world of being cloud adopted. This can be down to a combination of commercial, contractual and technological constraints with existing vendors, integrations and legacy platforms. In some cases, these “traditional” technologies are so embedded to the core day to day functions that it can be very challenging to see the light at the end of the “technology” tunnel for some clients, and also for them to see the full benefit, power and flexibility that comes with cloud solutions.
For over 20 years, SVL have enjoyed working with NICE systems, a key partner who are market leaders and this year no surprise again at the forefront and top right on Gartner’s magic quadrant in the CCaaS space with their flagship CxOne Platform. For our traditional customers of NICE technology, I want to highlight some exciting pathways that allow companies to transition into the cloud, but at a pace that suits and with multiple options available that does not involve an “all or nothing” approach.
NICE CxOne App Link allows customers to keep their current Contact Centre Infrastructure, gain a risk-free foot into the cloud door and start to use some of the advance cloud based technologies from day 1. This is an unique solution and SVL are pleased to be one of the only UK NICE Partners that are able to offer this capability. With CxOne App Link, Voice, Screen and Metadata are uploaded automatically and fully encrypted into a secure AWS S3 Bucket and then consumed via CxOne. This allows clients to be able to use modern Analytics and QM Tools on their data, and to gain valuable business insights without having to change their existing infrastructure. This can be adventitious in an initial multi-path into the cloud.
CxOne Open further enhances this journey by connecting traditional ACDs (Avaya, Cisco, etc.) directly into the Cloud with zero footprint meaning a massive reduction and savings in infrastructure. This also allows customer to move away from traditional CapEx operating models while retaining their Telephony Solutions until they are ready to complete the move into being fully cloud adopted.
I would be happy to discuss any of the points above, or cloud adoption strategies overall with my contacts, or to have a chat about moving into full CCaaS if you are ready.
Feel free to email at cdardis@svl.co.uk
