Replacing contact center platforms poses big dilemma

Moving contact center platforms from on premises to the cloud might be an enticing idea to customer support teams. They see technology innovations such as deeper AI, sharper analytics dashboards and more supported customer communication channels in new cloud products that just aren't available in their own applications stacks.

Probably the most enticing thing about replacing on-premises contact center platforms with new cloud equivalents is the dramatic reduction of IT support overhead needed to keep servers running in a data center.

Achieving that, said call center technology consultant and SearchCustomerExperience expert contributor Scott Sachs, isn't so easy. Certainly, there is a strong upside to the cloud products; they're well-suited for new call centers. But for existing contact centers, migrations can be challenging.

It's important to understand what the traditional vendors still offer versus technology gaps the cloud vendors may still be filling. This can help an organization determine if it should go forward, wait or decline when considering a cloud platform.

Even more importantly, Sachs said on the podcast, changing platforms is an opportunity to re-evaluate all of a contact center's customer service processes. Detailed re-examinations of these will yield understanding of how contact center performance metrics must be recalibrated and even rewritten to reflect new processes and leave behind the last generation of customer experience rigidity.

In this podcast, you can listen to Sachs' take on these issues as well as some tips from his decades of experience helping contact centers customize their tech stacks for next-generation customer service. He also offers pointed advice on how to see through vendor marketing ploys and do your research before you embark on replacing call center platforms.