When businesses take on a massive change, like implementing new cloud-based unified communications and contact center telecommunications technology, it's understandable that decision-makers may think it's better to start with one and add the other later. But before you go that route, you might want to consider this: Hubspot recently ran a survey about the most significant challenges businesses face; respondents said their #1 pain point is disconnected systems.
Now we get that many companies were forced to run like that a few short years ago when the pandemic hit, and they had to send their employees home with little to no preparation.
As such, they patchworked a remote-enabled communications strategy to survive—typically choosing to modernize to a cloud-based contact center platform because that's the staff that deals with customers— thinking (rightly so) that anything that kept the communication flowing was better than nothing. But we aren't in that same situation any longer, and frankly, it's much better to implement and utilize your contact center and unified communications at the same time for several reasons.
Below you'll find the main benefits of why UC and contact center are better together:
Implementing Unified Communications and Contact Center Together Saves You Time
Coordinating efforts to implement both platforms simultaneously is a time saver in the long run. Planning a migration takes multiple steps and a lot of time and effort. For instance, as a communications partner, when we design a move, some of the steps we take include the following:
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Discovery: Assessing your current system and functionality plus future communications goals.
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Recommendations: Based on the above information, we help you narrow the field to which Gartner vendor platforms best fit your needs.
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Vendor Demos: We arrange customized vendor demos of the platforms so you can see them in action and choose the best solution for your situation.
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Migration Plan: Our Technical Account Management (TAM) team sets a schedule and keeps the project on track for your go-live day.
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Testing: Our engineers perform test cases in preparation for your move to spot potential issues before they arise.
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Training: Depending on your training requirements, our TAM team may conduct virtual or in-person training sessions readying your team to adopt the new tools.
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Go-Live: Our implementation managers and TAMs perform the move on your behalf or work with our vendor partners to oversee and ensure everything is functioning correctly with as little disruption as possible.
And that's just the abridged version! As you can see, doing all that twice stretches resources you could allocate elsewhere while you're already reaping the benefits of both systems without doubling your efforts. It's a much more cohesive process.
Implementing UC and Contact Center Together Can Save You Money
Overall, a cloud-based system saves money in the long run, even with one of the up-front costs associated with migration and implementation. That said, why pay to move twice? In most cases, doing so may not be the most cost-efficient way to upgrade.
Additionally, many leading vendors have teamed up to offer both UC and CC (like RingCentral and NICE and 8x8 and Genesys), making the possibility for better pricing incentives when you buy both at once. When you bundle services, there may be more room for negotiation (which a trusted communications partner can help with).
There's another savings avenue most people don't think about, and we'd be remiss in not mentioning it here—it's less expensive for your staff and agents to be able to interact "On-Net." Meaning, both your UC and contact center users can make calls to each other without having to route from the contact center platform out to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network, which costs more) and back to the UC platform.
Utilizing UC and Contact Center Together Improves Communications Reliability
Speaking of PSTN, it's generally not as reliable as cloud-based communications. For example, when there's a natural disaster, phone lines may not function, and there isn't reliable backup. But with the cloud, there are redundancies for service through data centers. If that goes down, the system automatically reroutes to another facility, ensuring dependable uptime.
And there is another reason bundling is a good idea. Because UC technology came before (in most cases) contact center it's more reliable. Therefore, if your contact center goes down, your calls can still get through on the UC system, so you don't miss a beat.
Utilizing UC and Contact Center Together Bolsters Employee Engagement and CX
There are myriad reasons why UC and contact center are better together regarding employee engagement and customer experience. Here are some of them:
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Improved Employee Collaboration: Office staff (UC) and customer service agents (CC) can communicate using the same unified tools from both sides of the platform and can reach SMEs easily with the touch of a button.
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Better Employee Morale: It's proven that employees who have the proper tools to do their jobs are happier, more efficient, and more productive. Plus, with the mobility UC/contact center gives them, it's a definite upside to having all the same tools available regardless of where they work.
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Higher Customer Service Scores: Improved team interaction means better service for your customers, with shorter hold times and easier agent access so callers don’t have to be transferred, leading to more first-call resolutions, plain and simple.
So, if you're considering moving to a cloud-based communications platform and need both UC and contact center functionality, there are numerous reasons to employ both together.
Would you like an assessment of your communication solutions options and a plan to upgrade? Contact us; we'd love to help!
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