CCaaS and UCaaS solutions have emerged as two of the most essential cloud-based investments in the modern technology stack. While CCaaS platforms give companies the flexibility to deliver incredible customer experiences over various channels, UCaaS tools power internal collaboration.
Increasingly, innovative companies are discovering the benefits of unifying these two ecosystems. By aligning CCaaS and UCaaS, business leaders can improve employee and customer experiences, enhance productivity and efficiency, and even reduce costs.
According to Masergy, around 65% of companies now prefer to invest in pre-integrated UCaaS and CCaaS solutions. As the world of communication continues to evolve, new trends are emerging to shape the future of these all-in-one ecosystems. Here are just some of the trends worth keeping track of if you want to consolidate UCaaS and CCaaS this year.
1. Combining CCaaS and UCaaS With Other Tools
For many companies, aligning CCaaS and UCaaS is just the first step in a full strategy for technology consolidation. In today’s world, employees are using dozens of applications and software solutions on a daily basis. These tools consist of everything from workforce management tools for scheduling, to CRM systems and customer journey mapping platforms.
As the cloud environment evolves, UCaaS and CCaaS vendors are producing ever-more flexible platforms. These solutions now support a host of APIs and native integrations, designed to bring more tools together in the workplace. With a comprehensive “Everything as a Service” or “XaaS” approach, businesses can build more versatile work hubs.
Not only do these unified platforms improve employee productivity and efficiency, but they can have a significant impact on business results. With a more unified environment, agents can deliver more streamlined, personalized experiences, access data quickly, and unlock new opportunities for growth.
2. AI Innovations Continue to Evolve
Artificial intelligence is making its way into virtually every part of the business landscape. Agents are using virtual assistants to guide them through complex tasks. Customers are leveraging generative AI tools for more intuitive self-service solutions. Brands are even investing in advanced conversational AI solutions for in-depth insights and analytics.
As AI algorithms, machine learning tools, and LLMs grow more advanced, we’re likely to see more of these innovations in combined CCaaS and UCaaS platforms. Some companies are already experimenting with low-code and no-code bot builders. These allow companies to create self-service tools for both agents in the UCaaS space, and customers alike.
What’s more, advanced AI solutions built into CCaaS/UCaaS platforms can enhance business insights. They can assist companies in understanding how agent experiences and behavior affect customer outcomes. Plus, they can drive more intelligent scheduling and planning decisions, and empower companies with in-depth analytics.
3. The Rise of Total Experience in CCaaS and UCaaS
As mentioned above, aligning CCaaS and UCaaS platforms can lead to more efficient experiences in the business and contact center. These combined ecosystems are excellent for prioritizing “total experience”. That means they positively impact every user and customer.
Combined UCaaS and CCaaS platforms can significantly improve employee experiences, by boosting productivity and efficiency. They eliminate the need to jump between numerous tools in a workflow. Some solutions can even automate repetitive tasks like recording and storing data.
This leads to greater employee engagement and productivity, which directly impacts customer satisfaction scores. When team members are empowered with the right tools and resources, they can deliver faster resolutions to customer problems, and mitigate potential issues.
Some companies offering CCaaS and UCaaS tools even offer advanced solutions for managing total experience. They may include workforce management and engagement tools, solutions for collecting customer feedback, and features for mapping the customer journey.
4. Greater Flexibility and Scalability
As the communication landscape continues to evolve, companies need to find ways of supporting a wider variety of tools and resources for internal and external interactions. Combined UCaaS and CCaaS platforms today don’t just align calling and emailing platforms. They provide access to a comprehensive range of platforms and channels.
Innovative tools can include access to self-service solutions for both agents and customers alike, helping businesses to build efficient, automated workflows. Flexible platforms can empower companies to connect new communication channels to their ecosystem, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or video conferencing tools.
What’s more, many innovative CCaaS and UCaaS tools allow for a high level of customization and personalization. They allow companies to connect with carriers around the globe, and implement hardware from a range of vendors into their technology stack. This ensures every business can create a bespoke environment for communication success.
5. Advanced CCaaS and UCaaS Automation
Similar to AI, automation has become increasingly valuable in the business landscape. As companies look for ways to boost productivity and efficiency, automated workflows are growing more common. Many CCaaS and UCaaS vendors are taking advantage of these trends.
Some of the top platforms in the current market come with their own low-code and no-code automation builders. These allow companies to streamline a variety of tasks within the contact center and wider business space. Plus, they can help to minimize the risk of human error.
Automated solutions can help with everything from recording data, to redacting private information from recordings for compliance purposes. They can accelerate call wrap-up times for employees, and provide quick insights into user and customer profiles. Some solutions can even allow businesses to unify different apps and tools with automation options.
6. Increased Security and Controls
Finally, the evolution of the communication landscape, combined with changing employee and consumer trends, has led to new complexities in the compliance world. Today’s business leaders need to securely capture and store information from more channels. They also need to mitigate risks across a wide network of connected devices and solutions.
As a result, CCaaS and UCaaS platforms are beginning to offer more advanced security and control tools. Alongside end-to-end encryption for every conversation, these platforms now offer advanced data management options and tracking tools. Some solutions can even monitor compliance standards automatically, and send notifications to team members when necessary.
There are even CCaaS and UCaaS platforms that come with built-in tools for multi-factor and biometric authentication, enhanced by AI. This ensures businesses of all sizes, from any industry, can preserve and secure the right data.
The Evolving World of CCaaS and UCaaS
As companies continue to invest in the flexibility and agility of the cloud, combined CCaaS and UCaaS platforms are becoming more common. Increasingly, trends in the industry are paving the way to a more unified cloud ecosystem for companies.
What’s more, vendors are investing in the latest innovations for both AI and automation, to improve productivity and efficiency on a massive scale. With the right UCaaS and CCaaS platforms, companies can take advantage of the latest trends to facilitate incredible long-term growth.
