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Partnering with an external provider is a no-brainer
The rapid implementation of new technologies is crucial to the success of the modern contact center.
If there is one concept that the contact center industry should be very familiar with, it’s the principle of outsourcing. This is something that a large percentage of the industry itself has built its business on, so it makes it doubly strange that, when it comes to developing and implementing automation technologies, some centers prefer to do it themselves.
Why go through all the hassle of internal development when you can outsource the task to an external vendor of digital solutions? Such a provider not only has years of experience developing such tools, but also has the necessary skills and experience to implement a solution quickly – far quicker than you could do it in-house – and thus deliver the solutions to your center faster, enabling you to begin using, and benefiting from, these technologies more rapidly.
There can be little doubt that the improvement and development of automated technologies have led to a situation where contact centers are able to clearly and effectively improve their operational efficiencies and cost advantages. Automation not only assists in automating everyday contact center management tasks, but it is also able to deliver improvements in the center’s operational processes, enhancements in speed of resolution and, most crucially of all, better delivery of customer service. Automation is the answer to the fact that we now live in a time where service is expected to be 24/7 and responses to queries need to be nearly instantaneous.
The arrival of the digital age has created a situation where smartphones, the Internet, and Social Media are all viable channels for customers to use, and an increasing number of them want to do exactly that. Therefore, modern contact centers can no longer consider multimedia communication as a nice-to-have. It is something that they cannot implement fast enough. Since a true multimedia contact center encompasses e-mail, Web chat, SMS and social media, implementing the technologies to facilitate these channels is likely to be a time-consuming and arduous process.
Moreover, the rapid nature of technological advancement means that while these channels are currently the go-to options for delivering true omnichannel service in the contact center, they are unlikely to be the only ones in use in the near future. While we may not be one hundred percent certain exactly what new channels may arise in the world of tomorrow, we can be certain that the contact center will need to embrace them as rapidly as they need to embrace the current set of solutions.
So why seek to do all of this yourself, in-house when you can turn to a specialist provider of digital solutions to do it for you? The answer, you may be thinking, is that doing it yourself may be more cost effective, not to mention that in-house development will give you a solution designed specifically for your business needs. However, the truth of the matter is that all it will do is slow down the implementation of your digital channels.
And if there’s one thing you should have learned in today’s fast-paced world, it’s that slow and steady leaves you far behind your rivals in the game. This is why working with an external digital solutions vendor is by far the better choice. Not only are these players highly skilled at what they do and have the experience to implement solutions quickly and effectively, but they will be able to customize solutions to meet your needs and – perhaps most crucially of all – ensure that your center is future-proofed so that it can easily adopt whatever channels may come to the fore, further down the line.
Some of the biggest hindrances to a contact center’s advancement of their technology capabilities revolves around flexibility, the ability to integrate, and the costs linked to creating the required architecture. Since the implementation is basically a core aspect of their business, digital solutions vendors are able to bring vast experience to bear on these challenges and are thus much more easily able to overcome them.
The most obvious benefit of partnering with a vendor is that they will be able to implement the required solution far more quickly than you would be able to do yourself, but it is far from the only one. You will also be able to access their specialized industry knowledge and will be able to call upon expert support, should it be needed. Moreover, you will also have access to the latest technology, which means that as new channels arise or better ways of serving the customer become apparent, the vendor will be able to assist you in implementing these, to help you meet whatever new demands these future channels bring.
In addition, using an external vendor means that employees who would have otherwise been tied up with your in-house development and implementation can now be used in a more productive manner elsewhere in your organization. Furthermore, a rapid deployment of digital technology will quickly position you to begin delivering improved customer service – and improved customer service ultimately leads to an increase in profits.
If you look at it logically, most of these vendors have spent a lot of time and money already on exploring the various multi-channel options and designing unique and innovative technology frameworks. It seems silly not to leverage this for your own contact center’s benefit. After all, the more rapidly the vendor can implement the relevant solution for you, the more quickly you can get on with the job of servicing your customer to the best of your ability. And isn’t that – rather than developing and implementing your own solutions – really what your core business is?
[About the author]
Dylon Mills is the Director of Marketing Content Strategy & Development at Uniphore. As such, Dylon’s main responsibilities are to strategize, create and deliver content for Uniphore’s product portfolio that align with the global Go-To-Market strategy, corporate positioning, and marketing campaigns. Dylon’s prior work experience includes Product Management at one of the top Fortune 500 Technology companies, Symantec Corporation. Outside of work, Dylon enjoys problem-solving and any project that includes building/tinkering with tools. Dylon holds a BS Consumer Economics from the University of Georgia.