Are you navigating the complexities of CCaaS implementation? This guide outlines common challenges and provides actionable solutions for a successful transition.
So, you adopted a new CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) vendor — what can go wrong? Well…a lot. Here’s a checklist of challenges and solutions to inform your implementation strategy.
Integration complexities with existing systems
When CCaaS platforms can’t integrate with existing CRM software, enterprise infrastructure systems, or resource planning software, businesses spend unnecessary time building new workflows from scratch or fixing errors. Even with access to the best features, your agents and supervisors will be held back by data inconsistencies and process delays that erode the customer experience.
Solution: You can overcome this challenge by thoroughly evaluating integration needs with potential vendors before deciding. Rope in stakeholders in your IT and customer-facing teams to understand the data your organization needs and the conditions that must be met for efficient data flow within your internal teams. Look for providers that give you good native integrations or the ability to configure APIs as needed.
Data migration, integrity, and security concerns
Data migration to a new CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) platform can easily become the most time-consuming part of implementation. Organizations of all sizes must adhere to industry-standard security compliance, which is even more important for enterprises that manage high volumes of data in sectors like healthcare, telecommunications, and finance. As you move data from one source to another, you must deploy the right processes to ensure no data is lost, stolen, or corrupted.
Solution: Businesses don’t have to put this on themselves if they don’t have the resources or expertise to do it well. You can engage with external experts to manage the data migration process in adherence to your security and regulatory needs. Work with a partner who can advise you on planning your migration, the security measures you must invest in, and the technical infrastructure you need to execute data transfers correctly.
Also Read: Top CCaaS Platforms to Transform Your CX
Resistance from employees
If agents and supervisors are against a new CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) software, they won’t implement your desired processes. This means no improvements are made to your processes, and you get no ROI from your new tool.
Solution: A change management strategy is crucial for communicating new systems and workflows to employees. Get employees involved in the decision-making process and strongly support them during implementation. You need to make it easy for employees to hit the ground running with these new tools. Invest in robust training and education programs to help agents and supervisors learn about new features, understand different platform use cases, and familiarize themselves with processes for getting issues resolved. You can use Whatfix’s digital adoption platforms to empower employees with 24/7 access to resources that answer common questions. You can also use Whatfix to build guided product flows within your CCaaS platform to feed employees contextual information about new features and processes as they conduct their workflows.
Time-intensive initial setup and onboarding
As we’ve seen in this article, many CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) platforms are feature-rich. These features must be set up and integrated into existing processes and tools. It can be a lift from an IT and employee training perspective.
Solution: Businesses can avoid delaying setup and onboarding by weeks or months if they leverage a phased implementation strategy. Instead of rolling out all features simultaneously, work with your agents to identify the most critical features they need to overcome existing bottlenecks. You’re separating your ‘nice-to-have’ features from the ones you must have. This lets you better manage your resources and gives employees time to familiarize themselves with new changes and information one step at a time.
Risk of service interruptions during the transition
As you restructure your technology stack and business processes to a new CCaaS platform, gaps within the system can lead to issues with missing information, miscommunication, or even platform downtime. A new CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) software should add efficiency without putting ongoing customer interactions at risk.
Solution: Plan your workflow and data migrations to your customer service and technical bandwidth during the least disruptive times. For example, you can schedule these changes outside agent hours or during periods with low traffic volume. Work with your IT team and your CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) vendor on a risk mitigation plan that outlines clear steps to minimize damage if unexpected service interruptions occur.
Also Read: Conquer Customer Chaos: Optimize Your Contact Center Workflow
Unexpected costs or pricing models
If sudden price hikes or hidden costs occur during implementation, your new customer support processes risk long delays or being scrapped altogether. This problem becomes even more severe if your IT and customer-facing teams have already started working to migrate data to the new platform.
Solution: Communicate your budgets clearly and work with your finance and legal team to outline a pricing agreement that protects your organization from hidden costs. Before forming any partnership, get documentation and pricing sheets that outline the costs of all included and excluded services. Create a list of the features you need and use this list as your source of truth when discussing pricing agreements.
Meeting compliance and regulatory standards
Different regions and industries have different compliance and regulatory standards. For example, companies with customers in European Union countries must adhere to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards. At the same time, businesses in the healthcare industry have the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Solution: Work with your legal team to clearly define the security needs of your business operations and customers. Bring these requirements to your evaluations with CCaaS vendors to accurately filter out solutions that can’t give you what you need. You must also implement the right protocols for monitoring compliance requirements and making necessary infrastructure upgrades. For example, companies dedicate resources yearly to conduct security audits and assessments to stay on top of evolving compliance standards.
Vendor lock-in and exit strategy concerns
Vendor lock-in restricts companies from moving to another provider if they decide their existing platform is not meeting their needs. This forces companies to settle and pay for services without benefit.
Solution: Negotiate flexible contract terms defining clear processes and costs associated with switching to a new provider. If you can’t agree, evaluate your needs and make an informed decision on whether to work with a vendor. This ensures that businesses have control over their contact center and the flexibility to adapt to their business needs whenever needed.
Also Read: Demystifying Contact Center Metrics: A Guide to Boosting Customer Satisfaction
Ensuring the solution’s long-term viability and support
A CCaaS platform is a big investment, so it has to serve a long-term vision. You don’t want to work with a platform that isn’t there to support your growth. You also don’t want to deal with the hassle of migrating to a new platform due to unexpected circumstances like your CCaaS vendor ceasing operations or regulatory issues.
A CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service)platform is a big investment, so it has to serve a long-term vision. You don’t want to work with a platform that isn’t there to support your growth. You also don’t want to deal with the hassle of migrating to a new platform due to unexpected circumstances like your CCaaS vendor ceasing operations or regulatory issues.
Solution: Do your due diligence on all the vendors you’re evaluating and establish service-level agreements (SLAs) to define the KPIs and requirements they need to meet. You can look at their financial stability, partnerships with existing customers, certifications, and credentials. You should only work with platforms that showcase strong and steady growth in their market.
Addressing specific business use-case needs
Not all call centers function equally. Depending on the industry or use case you’re serving, your agents may need specific capabilities and workflows to manage customer requests properly. If an industry-leading CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) platform cannot be used to execute niche processes that generate revenue, then it’s not the one for you.
Solution: Pilot programs effectively explore and evaluate a platform’s compatibility with your organizational needs. You can select a few agents to run their workflows on this new platform for some time and collect their feedback afterward. This allows you to directly compare employee performance on different platforms. The results of this pilot program can help you identify potential customization opportunities or flag platforms that are poor fits.
