Three Tips to Help You With Cloud Migration

Enda Kenneally, VP of Sales and Business Development with CCMA Silver Sponsor West Unified Communications (UC), provides practical advice on Cloud Migration. westuc-mobile-laptop-phone Legacy contact centre systems have many limitations that hinder a firm's ability to deliver the best customer experience across all channels. These systems often have high ownership costs and, more importantly, are inflexible. It is this lack of flexibility that is most damaging to the customer experience. As such, according to a recent West UC Report, 39% of companies have already migrated their contact centre operations to the cloud, and a further 53% are planning to move to a cloud contact centre platform within three years. The cloud offers many advantages over legacy systems, including faster deployments, higher profitability, future-proofing of the contact centre and better security. These enable the contact centre to deliver a significantly better and smoother overall customer experience. So, if you are planning to make the most of cloud technology and migrate your contact centre too, here are three top tips to help you:

  1. Know Your Customer Before you decide how to transition to the cloud and with which provider, make sure you know your customers' preferences. For example, web self-service is a feature most consumers expect for simple enquiries and straightforward transactions. Similarly, SMS messages can be very useful for outbound campaigns, and can save your contact centre agents a significant amount of time so they can focus on dealing with more complex enquiries. Would your customers be happy to receive SMS updates from you? It is essential to keep a pulse of your customers' choices at any given time and be aware that these may change depending on the nature of the enquiry, or over time as new technologies develop. Make sure you have done your research and select a cloud-migration partner that can deliver the flexibility you need to meet your customers' evolving expectations.
  2. Plan to Future-Proof It is only a matter of time before digital contacts overtake voice in the contact centre. In fact, West's report indicates that 88% of contact centre professionals expect this change to happen in the next five years. Digital communication methods will continue to evolve, and as such so will customer behaviour. To keep up with customer expectations, it is essential that you take the time to future-proof your contact centre. Will the technology architecture of the vendors you're considering integrate easily with your current and future systems? Will you have to pay for new features and functionalities, or are these included within your contract? Plan ahead and arm yourself with a tick-box of all the essential future-proof requirements. You should be buying into a platform that is designed for multi-channel contact from the outset and integrates easily with existing systems and infrastructure, including your CRM.
  3. Get Tech Savvy Not all cloud systems are equal. While moving to the cloud does not require the same level of capital investment as buying on-premise equipment, it is true that migration is a significant organisational change, so it is vital that you evaluate your choice of cloud platform and vendor carefully. It is vital to do thorough research before making the switch €“ find out what your business requirements are and investigate whether the providers you are evaluating are able to meet all those needs. Consider the market reputation of your chosen provider too. It is important to ensure that the company providing you with essential technology has a good track record.

Enda

written by: Enda Kenneally VP of Sales and Business Development West UC