Today’s CIO is typically given two mandates by the C-Suite: thinking cloud-first and cutting costs. The rationale is that both mandates go hand-in-hand. Transform from a traditional IT shop built around legacy customer contact center technology and on-site infrastructure to the cloud, and the savings will follow. Even better, cloud-based call center platforms offer many other benefits that promise to bring not just savings but significant competitive advantages.
In its 2020 “Save to Thrive” analysis, Deloitte sums up the appeal:
“Companies today need to harness the transformational power of digital technologies to streamline their cost structures and generate strategic cost savings that are both significant and sustainable. These improvements can help a company achieve its immediate growth objectives while preparing for the inevitable ups and downs of the economic cycle. They can also position the company to capitalize on digital disruption—becoming the disrupter, rather than the disrupted.”1
That sounds great. However, there’s a catch… According to that same report, 81% of companies surveyed were unable to meet their cost-reduction targets.
That’s not great, but the outcome can be far worse. There are many different cloud-based call center platforms out there offered by a multitude of vendors. The differences between solutions often seem minor if you go by the bullet points in their marketing material. Many industries have very distinct service needs—think insurance or medical companies that store and access critical and extremely sensitive personal data. But unless the right questions are asked, it’s far too easy to pick a cloud solution that doesn’t support those requirements.
The outcome of making the wrong choice can be a nightmare for the company and the CIO. Choose the wrong vendor to partner with, and the CCaaS solution may have limitations that make it inferior to the legacy system it replaces. Employees from multiple departments will have been put through a disruptive implementation process, only to end up holding the bag and having to work around newly introduced issues. Partner companies may have felt the consequences as well. Costs may be higher than expected. Depending on what contract was signed, the company may be stuck with this compromised solution for years.
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The personal consequence of a misstep like this to the CIO can be severe. A loss of standing in the C-Suite and a potential threat to their employment is real. If there was pressure before to adopt cloud computing and cut costs, the pressure to fix the resulting mess will be tenfold.
How does a CIO avoid this scenario? How do they meet or exceed cost-reduction targets while also choosing a cloud-based call center platform that delivers on the promise of competitive advantage?
Having a trusted advisor like ACLIVITI makes all the difference. We live and breathe cloud computing solutions. We know the solutions, the vendors, which systems are best suited for specific applications, and we know the pricing, and we know how to ask the right questions. When a solution is chosen, we can bring years of experience in helping guide successful deployments. With ACLIVITI on the team, the CIO can rest assured that the C-Suite is going to be celebrating a successful cloud implementation instead of pointing fingers because it failed to live up to expectations.
Migrating to the cloud is the future of business, and ignoring the shift will leave you behind. Contact us to learn how ACLIVITI can help you navigate this important IT decision.
1. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/global-cost-management-survey.html
