Considerations in Moving to the CloudeBook

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10 Considerations in Moving to the Cloud 2

Is the Cloud Right for Your Contact Center?

As more contact centers embrace the cloud deployment model, there is a plethora of service and solution choices, functionality and capability to sift through to determine the best fit.

This ebook offers ten key considerations for moving to a cloud-based contact center, including: cultural fit, accessibility to reference customers, technology, partners, integration and customization, business continuity and security, responsiveness and innovation.

Evaluating these considerations in detail and getting answers to critical questions up front will enable you to select the right provider, provide the best match to your organization’s business goals and requirements, and migrate a large contact center to the Cloud with confidence.

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Cultural FitIs the Company You are Considering Aligned with Your Company’s Goals and Strategies?

An appreciation and understanding of the style, company traits and values of the cloud provider you are considering is a first step to choosing the right company to manage your large contact center.

Does your company and the prospective service provider share the same traits and values such as accountability, leadership, innovation and responsiveness?

Does the service provider have proven capabilities to address your strategic initiatives in the contact center?

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Reference CustomersCan you Speak with Reference Customers that Have the Same Business Goals, Strategies and Requirements?

Reviewing and speaking in depth with reference customers who already have experience with the provider can provide invaluable insight .

Did the service provider just meet or did they exceed the expectations?

Did the service provider help your business become more successful after implementation?

Are they a full service provider on an ongoing basis?

Talking to customers can also provide first-hand knowledge and validation of a provider’s true technology, tools and third-party integration expertise.

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Partners and TechnologyDoes your Prospective Provider have a Broad Partner Network to Provide Extensive Support?

The depth and breadth of a provider’s technology should be demonstrated by the level of their research and development, technology innovation, investment, and strength of the partner ecosystem.

A provider is as good as the company they keep. Who are their technology and implementation partners? Look for providers who work with recognized partners validated by third-party research organizations.

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CustomizationWhat Level of Customization will You Need, and Does Your Prospective Partner Offer Such Services?

One of the common myths about moving contact centers to the Cloud is that you must adhere to a one-size-fits-all approach dictated by the cloud vendors.

The right service provider will work to provide you with a cloud-based solution that absolutely fits your business regardless of size. The provider will offer the level of customization needed at a reasonable cost, along with the ability to integrate its systems into your own based on your requirements and timeline.

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Integration and ToolsWhat Level of Third-party Back Office/telephony/CRM Integration Expertise and Tools Are Available?

Look for and talk to client references that can attest to the extent of third-party integrations.

A good data point on integration capabilities and partner strength is to review APIs in depth.

IntegrateThe right contact center provider can integrate its systems with your infrastructure to ensure seamless solutions and produce the intended customer and agent experience.

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Business ContinuityDoes Your Service Provider Offer a Broad Level of Business Continuity Options?

The contact center can be your customer relationship lifeline. Understanding the provider’s ability to ensure business-as-usual operations during interruptions of any kind is another critical step in the provider evaluation process.

While many cloud providers offer a variety of redundant capabilities within and between datacenters within their infrastructure, look for key capabilities such as:

Making sure your contact center is continuously up and running regardless of the circumstance is as important as having the right cultural fit, technology, partners, and customization.

Secure datacenters with geographic separation

Dual carrier network redundancyActive-active traffic distribution across multiple datacenters

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Security and ComplianceHow Much Has Your Vendor Invested in Security and Compliance Capabilities, and What Are Their Levels of Certification?

Though the specter of security breaches in cloud environments is a concern, the reality is that cloud-based contact centers can often be more secure than on-premises solutions, due to their continual investments in security.

Choose a cloud service provider that can prove that their solutions are fully compliant with the latest industry standards such as PCI, HIPAA and SSAE16.

Find out whether the provider is certified compliant and at what level and on what version of the standard.

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Implementation and SupportHow Much does Your Vendor Rely on Third-party Providers for Implementation vs In-house?

Ask detailed questions about the experience level of the provider’s in-house technical resources:

Ask how much full ownership the prime contractor has for solution deployment. Get clear answers about what, if any part, of the implementation will be outsourced or sub-contracted, for what specific tasks, and by which vendors.

How long have they

been working for the

provider?

How many implementations have

they performed?

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Contact Center FocusIs the Vendor Focused on the Contact Center or Is Their Business Model Spread Across Different Technology Areas?

After receiving answers and evaluating the first eight considerations you should have a good understanding of how focused the provider is on the contact center.

Will they potentially be distracted with other business operations and support such as PBX, or CRM implementations?

One way to fully understand the provider’s focus and commitment on contact centers is to ask about comparative revenues and resource deployment between each division within the cloud provider’s organization.

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Innovation and ResponsivenessWhat Track Record does Your Vendor Have with Innovation and Responsiveness to Changing Requirements?

Among the core benefits of using a cloud-based contact center provider — you no longer have to sacrifice application breadth and the latest technical functionality for cost savings and ease of implementation.

Evaluate the provider’s track record for new product and service introductions and functionality upgrades.

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As more contact centers move to the Cloud, service providers will need to continue to stay on the cutting edge of contact center technology innovation to help customers stay current and innovative in the way they handle customer experience.

Take the time and effort up front to consider these ten evaluation criteria when selecting a provider to ensure they can meet all of your cultural, application, technology, business continuity and security requirements now and in the foreseeable future.

Summary

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About GenesysGenesys is the market leader in multi-channel customer experience (CX) and contact center solutions in the cloud and on-premises. We help brands of all sizes make great CX great business. The Genesys Customer Experience Platform powers optimal customer journeys consistently across all touchpoints, channels and interactions to turn customers into brand advocates. Genesys is trusted by over 4,500 customers in 80 countries to orchestrate more than 100 million digital and voice interactions each day.