10 Steps to Optimize Your Cloud Contact Center Migration

A cloud contact center migration is a step toward greater efficiency, flexibility, and security within your organization. Cloud-based software essentially enables your business to run your contact center through web-based applications – so that means employees just need a wifi connection to connect with your customers. The convenience that comes along with these solutions is unmatched, which is why it should definitely be on your radar.

So, what is a cloud contact center migration? A contact center cloud migration is the transition of an organization’s contact center software, applications, and general data to the cloud. Some of the most popular cloud contact center solutions are Five9, Genesys, and NICE CXone.

Since contact centers are a hub for both inbound and outbound communications, many organizations hesitate to mix things up. However, with increased expectations from customers in terms of contact center support, nearly every business will need to transition to the cloud to maintain a competitive customer experience.

The first step in the contact center cloud migration process truly determines how every following step plays out. Finding the right partner for your migration makes everything else easy, so do your due diligence when researching. Best case scenario? You find a provider who can handle every step of the process from consulting, to implementing, to optimizing and updates. That way, you can just explore your options and have things handled by actual experts in that technology.

Creating a strategy requires looking at the goals and objectives of your business and contact center communications. At the end of the day, there are a ton of benefits to transitioning to the cloud for a more modern contact center. For example, you can grow your team – because cloud solutions empower employees to work securely from anywhere. Ultimately, many decisions need to be made before jumping into implementation. This is the phase where you can start to build out a timeline and create priorities for the migration. What needs to migrate first? When is a realistic time to deploy? All of this can be planned out with your CX services provider.

Before getting started, businesses must build a budget for their cloud contact center technology. This is where you can lay out the best vendor options and create a plan for implementation. With the help of a contact center consultant, you can perfectly align your budget with your cloud contact center migration strategy. In general, one of the main reasons businesses transition to the cloud is the reduced cost. On-premise solutions come with a lot of up-front cost and physical infrastructure. Cloud solutions have a much smaller up-front cost – and often offer a “pay as you go” model, which reduces the initial investment and allows businesses to only pay for what they use in terms of storage.

How do you know it’s worth it? InflowCX builds a comprehensive financial model for each client that proves return on investment through operational efficiencies, automation enhancements, and outsourcing. This process shows exactly how your new system supports your bottom line.

Before making a decision on a contact center solution, you need to see the functionality in action. A good vendor will set your team up with a demo and walk you through all the features available in their recommended cloud contact center solutions. This allows you to also work within the platform and understand the user experience. Without this step you won’t know if this interface will align with your call center’s processes.

Selecting a solution is one of the most critical steps in cloud contact center success. With so many options on the market, it can be difficult to determine which is right for your team. Many IT companies and vendors align with a single specific cloud solution and create exclusive partnerships with that brand. From the consumer perspective, this only limits the options available to you, because the IT provider is incentivised to only recommend that specific software. The best part about working with InflowCX is our completely vendor-agnostic model. We are only motivated to provide the best recommendation for your business’ unique needs – not based on an internal contract.

Your team must test the new cloud contact center solution before implementing it across the organization. Bring in contact center employees and have them try out the new software and provide their honest feedback. Get a sense of their needs and concerns so we can address them before they go live. Once you launch the solution, keep a finger on the pulse of their experience. This technology should not be the cause of any  customer grievances and only enhance their perception of your brand.

Everything was planned out, now it’s time to implement. Who’s going to handle that process? Finding a reliable provider to execute that connection is key to success. That’s where InflowCX comes in to deploy and put the new solution in place. Whether your business is large, small, or somewhere in between, this process should be handled with care.

Once the cloud contact center solution get implemented by an expert, they can get your team onboarded to that new technology. Without a solid understanding of the interface, they will not be able to deliver a great customer experience. The best cloud contact center solutions have a ton of additional enhancements that take the UX to the next level, so your team should fully understand all the features.     

Once we put everything in place, things don’t stop there. Technology always changes and requires ongoing assessment and reassessment to ensure security and efficiency. That’s why it’s important to always keep a pulse on the status of your cloud contact center to ensure everything functions properly. This is also a time to revisit your strategy and look at the outcomes you identified at the start of your cloud contact center journey. Were those goals and desired outcomes achieved? If not, what needs to be done to get there?

Everything is installed and running smoothly, but technology is constantly adapting and improving. That’s where optimization comes in. This includes both critical updates, as well as adding new features, plugins, and more. As your team gets familiar with their new technology, we can work together to start identifying which areas need upgrades or additional functionalities. On top of that, implementing the latest general software updates has to be factored into the strategy. Our world-class Managed Services team can help with updates, take care of any bugs, and even find common security gaps that form over time. Software that’s kept updated ensures the most reliable security and best functionality on the interface.

With a highly efficient contact center, your employees can take advantage of the flexibility and ease-of-use that goes along with the cloud and the latest cloud-based technology. That convenience and capability leads to a better customer experience and better overall brand success.

Is your contact center ready to begin their cloud migration? Make InflowCX your partner for that process. From guidance, to execution to optimization we can ensure you receive the right-fit solution for your team and your customer experience goals.

Contact us today to start the conversation and kickstart your contact center strategy.