6 Things to Look for in a CCaaS Consultant
Optimizing the customer journey and providing a superior customer experience is the new battleground for business competition. In fact, customer experience is equal to product/service as the determining factor for brand choice and customer loyalty.
88% of consumers report that customer experience is as important as the product or service offered by a business
Contact center interactions are a critical part of the customer experience. 78% of customers have reported backing out of an imminent purchase due to poor customer service, which means that all of the resources invested in getting the customer to the conversion point are wasted due to a bad interaction. On the other hand, 94% of customers report that positive service experiences increase the likelihood that they will buy from that brand in the future.
However, improving the contact center is one of the most complicated digital transformation projects a business can undertake. Contact center transformations affect departments across the entire organization: from customer support, to sales, to finance, to human resources. Increasingly, the C-Suite is held accountable for improving CX, as measured by CSAT, NPS, and other measures of customer satisfaction.
This is one of the reasons that many businesses choose to work with a CCaaS consultant: a trusted partner that supports contact center transformation. CCaaS consultants help to:
- Assess existing solutions
- Evaluate vendors
- Define an ideal future state
- Build a strategy for transformation
- Implement new solutions
- Provide post-implementation optimization support
Evaluating consultants to find the right match for your company is critical to the success of the CCaaS transformation project. Finding the right partner can ensure that your CCaaS transformation is completed on time, within budget, and that it reaches measurable objectives in a timely manner.
6 Things to Look for in a CCaaS Consultant
1. Experience
CCaaS transformations are not everyday activities for most companies – except for CCaaS transformation consultants. A consultant can apply a proven methodology to ensure that the evaluation of the existing system is accurate, the solution chosen is the correct, the strategy for changeover is sound, timelines are realistic and deliverables are complete.
2. Flexibility
You don’t, however, want a CCaaS consultant that is tied too tightly to their methodology – or to a single vendor or solution. There is no single right way to complete a contact center transformation, so look for a consultant that applies a flexible approach within their methodology, responding to the unique needs of your organization to create a custom solution.
3. Technical and Interpersonal Skills
The best CCaaS consultant will have a balance of hard and soft skills to ensure the success of a transformation project. Hard technical skills, including in-depth knowledge and understanding of different communication channels and options, helps in both assessing the success of your existing solution and deciding what the ideal solution of the future will look like. However, a digital transformation project, like installing a new CCaaS system, takes a lot of resources – and it requires support across multiple departments to ensure successful implementation.
Your CCaaS vendor should be excellent at communicating, facilitating, and project management to help keep all parties aligned, on board, and informed. Regular communication is a key factor in maintaining enthusiasm for a project, and keeping everyone focused on goals and objectives.
4. Scalability
One of the challenges in creating a successful transformation strategy is determining the resources that will be needed at different stages of the project. At the outset, a project might need more strategic support and vendor evaluation, while at implementation some of those would be changed for technology experts.
It would be difficult to redirect internal employees to a major project that could take several months; and impractical to find and hire employees with the right skill sets, crossing over from communications to technical expertise to project management. Much easier to select a partner with scalable resources on demand to see you through the fluctuating resource requirements of a long-term project.
5. Objectivity
If you’re starting from scratch in implementing your first CCaaS system, you want a consultant with knowledge of (and experience with) a variety of different vendors. That way, you can be certain that they are searching all available solutions to build the best fit for your company’s unique needs.
If you have a CCaaS solution, but are considering whether or not to renew your existing contract or get a new one, you don’t want a sales pitch – you want an objective third party that can help you make the right decision for the short- and long-term goals of your company. A third party partner with experience in CCaaS transformation can provide both the expertise and objectivity to evaluate all of your options.
6. Deliverables
Different consulting groups may use similar language to describe the services they offer. But the ones that will truly make a difference in your digital transformation are consultants that do two things: manage responsibilities and timelines, and provide useful and specific deliverables.
At ACLIVITI, we can provide examples of the types of information that will be provided to our clients throughout the project: from TCO/ROI reports, to vendor evaluation matrices, to weekly team communications and executive presentations.
Providing a better customer experience and meeting evolving customer expectations are driving forces behind the focus on improving the contact center. But there are other benefits to be realized as well – including streamlining processes, reducing agent turnover, controlling costs, and increasing revenues.
CCaaS transformation projects can be challenging: from assessing existing solutions, to evaluating vendors, to implementing and optimizing a new solution – it can be difficult to know where to begin. If you are in this situation, ACLIVITI can help. Our team of experienced advisors can help build alignment across key stakeholders, devise a strategy that meets organizational goals and objectives, and create and implement the solution that will support your current and future success.
Contact ACLIVITI today! We’d love to hear from you.
