The contact centre environment has changed. Today, the average contact centre space is no longer defined by rows of desks and blinking lights on desk phones. While the desk phone still has a place for many companies, it’s not the be-all and end-all of their communication solution. In fact, it’s only one part of a very broad puzzle – much of which is hosted in the cloud.
While the move from the cupboard to the cloud can be a challenge, it’s not the technology that’s a challenge for channel partners, but the commercial side – switching a reseller business’s revenues from CapEX to OpEX takes careful consideration.
We spoke to Bart Delgado – MD of Akixi, to get his thoughts on how resellers can capitalise on the cloud contact centre opportunity.
How Can Resellers Capitalise on the Cloud Contact Centre Opportunity?
Simply giving customers a way to make the jump to cloud is still a point of differentiation in the current market, but as the space becomes more crowded, resellers need to do more and offer more if they want to get ahead of their competitors.
“When you’re selling contact centre services, the key is understanding your customers. You need to know how people communicate, and what the buyer journey looks like for the customer. You need to differentiate yourself from the next person who comes along to sell a piece of plastic.”
According to Bart, the contact centre is just another way of improving workflow in a business. However, for a reseller to prove that their solution is going to make an impact, they need to connect it to the unique experience that each customer is having. Personalisation and context are essential to offering that unforgettable customer experience (CX) that today’s clients are looking for.
Does the Contact Centre Have a Place in UCaaS?
Increasingly, thanks to the easy access of the cloud, and the growing need for new and improved ways to offer customer experiences, the UC and Contact Centre worlds have begun to move closer together. I was interested to hear Bart’s thoughts on whether contact centre could be a reseller’s ticket to increase their margins in the cloud world.
“The more value you can offer an end customer, the more compelling you become. Some people would argue that there’s a resistance to moving customers over to the cloud in the first place – because of the lack of up-front margin that comes with not selling PBXs and hardware. However, when you add contact centre services to the UCaaS mix, then you start to build that margin up again, and pain of movement reduces.”
Ultimately, just like in any communications environment, selling contact centre technology is all about knowing your customer, and knowing what it takes to separate yourself from the next person with a bigger, shinier strategy. If people selling contact centre solutions can offer the right combination of UC, communication, and analytics in one go, without overcomplicating matters, then they might have what it takes to set themselves apart from the crowd.
