Leading communications company, Genesys, recently announced that businesses on the PureCloud platform, their omnichannel contact centre service, could see a serious return on their investments. PureCloud has been carefully designed to boost productivity, improve employee retention, and support cash flow. In a “Total Economic Impact” study by Forrester, Genesys has proven it’s value to contact centres across the globe.
To learn more about this exciting solution, I took part in an exclusive interview with Olivier Jouve, the EVP for PureCloud. Jouve is a veteran in the communication space and a pioneer of customer sentiment technology. Though he only joined Genesys in August 2017, he’s already an integral part of the company’s plan for long-term success.
What is the Genesys PureCloud Platform?
Jouve’s role in Genesys centres around the growth and development of the PureCloud system. I was keen to hear his description of what this product brings to the market. Olivier told me that PureCloud is the Genesys solution for omnichannel contact centre.
“It’s designed to deliver quick innovation and improve the customer experience. For me, PureCloud is two separate things. First, it’s an omnichannel strategy built on the latest intuitive technology, and secondly, it’s a platform where customers can build their own initiatives from scratch.”
According to Jouve, around two-thirds of Genesys’ customer base currently use PureCloud as a platform, developing the system with their own APIs and experiences. The service opens the door to everything a company could need from a modern contact centre, from pre-engagement to self-care, inbound and outbound messaging, and more.
While PureCloud began as a mid-market solution, it evolved quickly into something much bigger. “We started off serving brands with around 100, or 200 seats. However, the platform was designed to scale seamlessly, so there’s no limit on who we can serve. We’re beginning to see more customers in the enterprise market with thousands of seats, and our client base is constantly growing.”
What Makes PureCloud an Omnichannel Platform?
One of the primary selling points of PureCloud is the fact that it’s an omnichannel platform. I asked Jouve what Genesys defines as “omnichannel” in the contact centre environment.
“We provide voice – that’s one of the original skills we developed here as Genesys. Voice can be delivered through a host of strategies.”
“Customers can bring their own carrier, and we can support you through PureCloud, or we can be the carrier for our customers. This is what we call ‘PureCloud Voice‘, and it’s available in North America, Canada, and the UK as of two weeks ago.”
PureCloud Voice will also be rolled out into dozens of new countries by the end of 2018, including Ireland, France, Spain, and Germany. Of course, omnichannel contact centre support is about extending beyond the possibilities of voice. Genesys PureCloud also offers insights and productivity solutions for chat, email, social, and SMS. They’re also looking at solutions for “Line” – one of the main social media channels in APAC.
“Wherever the contact centre needs us, we can be there.”
How Does Genesys Improve ROI?
While PureCloud certainly has a lot to offer as an omnichannel solution, it’s real value can be seen in the power of its ROI potential. Genesys commissioned a TEI, or Total Economic Impact study from Forrester, which found that an average composite organisation could use the PureCloud platform to access benefits of around £3.6 million in value over the course of three years. In other words, the potential ROI is 571%.
“Forrester looked at 6 different customers in the mid-market range from companies across the globe. Many of our customers are moving away from on-premises, where they needed to think about the costs of hardware, IT labour, and more. Forrester looked at what customers were paying for their solution, that compared it to the potential of using PureCloud.”
The full Forrester report is available as a complimentary download. However, some of the results that they found included an improvement in productivity levels worth around £1.9 million, as well as a reduction in scalability costs of around £1.4 million. After all, on the cloud, it’s possible to overcome the costly infrastructure and hardware costs that come with on-premises strategies.
Why Does Moving to PureCloud Benefit Customers?
The most obvious advantage of moving to the cloud with Genesys is the fact that PureCloud allows organisations to eliminate the upfront CapEx costs of an on-premises contact centre. Additionally, cost savings can come from reduced needs for IT support, labour, and maintenance. However, moving to the cloud with Genesys also makes sense from a performance standpoint too. Jouve told me:
“With PureCloud, you can bring all the silos of the contact centre together, moving everything you need into a single user interface. This makes the whole platform easier to use, which can also improve employee satisfaction.” In fact, the Forrester report found that enhanced employee retention as a result of PureCloud contributed to £182,000 in savings.
Additionally, Olivier noted that the cloud allows people to see “what a contact centre should be”. It means that they can build their own scalable strategy for performance and customer satisfaction in an agile and effective manner.
“The PureCloud platform is helping businesses to develop the roadmaps they need for digital transformation. With it, they can optimise the customer journey, and prepare for disruptive technologies like AI, IoT, and machine learning.”
The Future with Genesys and PureCloud
A return on investment of nearly 600%, combined with a system where customers can begin to see value within less than three months is truly incredible. Olivier noted that clients are constantly raving about how the scalability, simplicity, and flexibility of the PureCloud platform allows them to adjust and ramp-up their productivity while giving better customer experiences (CX).
Before using the PureCloud platform, the participants in the Genesys study were using on-premises contact centres that were difficult to scale. These solutions lacked the agility of the modern marketplace and often required agents to use multiple platforms at once.
“What I really love about PureCloud is the fact that it gets customers up and running in weeks. They don’t have to wait months or years to evolve their IT project, and their system can constantly grow. Last year, we delivered 175 features to PureCloud, and there’s more where that came from.”
