With much fanfare, Verint announced an Open CCaaS platform at its hallmark Engage 2023 event.
Many rushed to celebrate how the innovation will open up contact centers to the broader business, enable more integrations, and allow service teams to leverage a new partner ecosystem.
Yet, in doing so, they skipped past the true differentiator of the solution.
“What I find really interesting is the solution starts with workflows and moves into other operational systems,” says Liz Miller, VP & Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. “Whereas all other providers have started with the systems and tried to accommodate work.
That is a noble pursuit and one that has to happen.
“Yet, in of itself, that can be really hard. Having to take that telephony backbone and make it fit for agents, supervisors, and leaders that could be an awkward expansion and transition.”
Nonetheless, contact centers often look to Verint as THE expert in tying contact center workflows together. As such, Miller suggests that it is perhaps the best-placed vendor to lead the conversation.
“It’ll be really interesting to see if that people-centric core stays or if they shift to how everyone else builds their tools,” she concludes.
That is perhaps the worry. Verint’s mission should not be to lead a competition of who can be the most open, with all vendors shouting: “It’s me! It’s me!”
Instead, it should start with the workflows and work back from there to leverage the benefits of a bring-your-own-carrier (BYOC) model.
Of course, that is much easier said than done, as mobility is still an issue with BYOC offerings.
Yet, telephony vendors are making progress in this regard. For instance, Ericsson – with Vonage – aims to manage the entire network experience to enhance the performance of over-the-top (OTT) communications applications.
In doing so, it may deliver the next-level mobility that will make Verint’s Open CCaaS model tick.
If it does tick, Verint may shake up the entire CCaaS space, which is a much more compelling conversation than: “Look at how many shiny integrations we have.”
Are Contact Centers Ready for This Conversation?
With Verint Open CCaaS, contact centers can kick down the door to new-fangled workflows that reimagine customer and agent experience.
These workflows may also increase the connection between contact centers and other departments and open up opportunities for service leaders to drop AI and automation into contact center experiences more easily.
That all sounds excellent, and generative AI has accelerated that conversation. Indeed, many vendors now boast about how they can connect various AI models and allow businesses to bring their own.
Yet, there is a detachment from what most contact center leaders are ready for.
“For the folks who traditionally had contact center on their business card, thinking about the various channels they don’t even own and AI models… that’s outside of their comfort zone,” states Rebecca Wetteman, Principal at Valoir.
How do I evaluate systems and train people? How will I keep this going on an ongoing basis without exposing myself to risks? There is a really steep learning curve there.
For some, it’ll even be a struggle to partner with departments outside customer service and play a more cooperative role in customer experience.
After all, specific departments often try to own CX in its entirety. Noting this phenomenon, Miller states: “The walls are getting bigger and thicker, and that’s a really bad place to be.”
Not only will it limit the value of new workflows, the contact center will remain siloed as it adds more channels and capabilities.
Think about how some businesses transfer customers over the phone to different departments; that could happen on digital channels too.
Lines like: “I can’t help you here in the contact center because you first spoke to marketing” over email will prove even more destructive to customer relationships.
For such reasons, while Verint’s BYOC-driven Open CCaaS approach is exciting, an education must happen too for businesses to leverage its many benefits.
Listen to more insights from Liz and Rebecca into Verint’s Open CCaaS Platform and other CX news as they join Michael Fauscette, Founder, CEO & Chief Analyst at Arion Research, and myself on an upcoming episode of our CX BIG News Show.
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