CCaaS 6-12 Report

Customer expectations are redefining the contact center

Customers increasingly expect to communicate with businesses in real time through the devices and digital channels they already use. The report describes this consumerization of IT as a major force behind demand for messaging, social media and self-service alongside traditional phone support.

Cloud platforms also make basic call routing and queuing easier to deploy through self-service administration portals. More sophisticated integration with business processes and internal systems still requires planning and implementation effort.

Economic uncertainty puts efficiency at the center of investment

The report’s economic context is explicitly historical: it cites a J.P. Morgan forecast of 0.5% to 1% U.S. real GDP growth in 2023. Despite uncertainty, Gartner projected worldwide IT spending of $4.6 trillion for 2023, up 5.1%, including 2.4% growth in communications services. Analysys Mason forecast SMB IT spending growth of 6.3%, reaching $1.466 trillion.

Contact centers faced staffing shortages even as major technology companies announced layoffs. A 2022 Censuswide survey cited in the report found that 66% of respondents said contact volumes exceeded their capacity to handle them; two-thirds said dealing with frustrated customers had affected employees’ mental health. Flexible working and tools that reduce repetitive work therefore matter to both service quality and retention.

Market forecasts point to automation and continued cloud adoption

AVANT cites a Gartner forecast placing global CCaaS revenue at $17.9 billion by 2024. The report also cites Gartner projections that contact-center conversational AI spending approached $2 billion in 2022, that automated agent interactions would rise from approximately 1.6% to one in ten by 2026, and that conversational AI could reduce agent labor costs by $80 billion by 2026. These are forecasts reported in April 2023, not confirmed outcomes.

AVANT estimated that its Trusted Advisor ecosystem accounted for more than 25% of year-over-year growth in North American CCaaS revenue in 2022. Industry observers also anticipated opportunities from Cisco maintenance renewals in 2023. That ecosystem estimate describes a contribution to market growth, not overall market share.

Why buyers are reconsidering their existing platforms

AVANT’s Interactive Quick Assessments show that replacement decisions combine lifecycle pressures with operational needs. Expiring service contracts prompted consideration for 27% of respondents. Equipment end of life or loss of warranty was cited by 36%, compared with 30% in the previous report, while inadequate scalability rose from 25% to 29%.

System consolidation was a more common driver than price, at 24% versus 19%. This suggests that buyers should assess the value of retiring fragmented legacy systems, rather than comparing subscription prices alone.

Additional functionality remained the leading desired benefit. Improved analytics rose to 51% from 34% in the previous report, easier management increased to 50% from 46% in 2021, remote-agent enablement reached 47% from 32%, and self-service increased to 30% from 19%.

Support distributed agents and improve employee experience

CCaaS supports agents working beyond a central office, widening recruitment options and potentially reducing office requirements. Live monitoring and the ability for supervisors to intervene in calls help managers support performance across distributed teams.

Retention also depends on giving agents usable tools and meaningful work. CRM access, unified knowledge, messaging, agent assistance and real-time coaching can reduce the need to search disconnected systems. Bots can handle routine requests and pass the interaction context to a person when escalation is needed.

The report quotes Five9’s Matt Miller describing industry agent attrition of about 45% and a 40-day hiring period. These attributed industry estimates reinforce why employee experience belongs in the business case, alongside customer-facing improvements.

Use conversational AI to strengthen self-service and coaching

AVANT identifies AI-enabled customer service and application integration as two central technology trends. Vendors were making conversational AI and chatbots easier to implement within CCaaS platforms, reducing the specialist development effort previously associated with these projects.

Routine requests, such as password resets or package enquiries, are candidates for self-service. Automated interaction analysis can also broaden quality monitoring and inform coaching. The report quotes Observe.AI’s Rob Fish contrasting typical monitoring of 2% to 3% of calls with AI-enabled visibility across interactions; buyers should assess individual vendors’ capabilities rather than assume identical coverage.

Integrate the platform with the wider business

A contact center is part of an organization’s operating processes, not a standalone application. APIs, documentation, prebuilt connectors and low-code or no-code tools can simplify integration, but buyers still need to validate their specific workflows.

Knowledge management and conversational AI integration should preserve context when a customer moves from self-service to a human agent. This helps avoid repeated questions and gives agents access to relevant information.

• Connect data sources to automate repetitive entry and related queries.
• Integrate CRM and marketing systems to support a more complete customer view.
• Link analytics to measures such as wait times, first-call resolution and customer satisfaction.
• Connect workforce management systems to align staffing with demand.

Evaluate generative AI with data handling in mind

The report describes early CCaaS adoption of ChatGPT for transcription and call summaries, process automation, custom charts and trend analysis. Summaries attached to call records illustrate how generative AI can reduce administrative work.

It also raises questions about copyright in training material and whether user inputs may be used to train or refine models. Its advice is to avoid processing sensitive data until vendors can demonstrate appropriate private-instance arrangements and data handling protections. These cautions should be understood in the context of the report’s April 2023 publication.

Build a cross-functional buying process

As CCaaS reaches more business functions, platform selection involves technology, customer experience, marketing and operations stakeholders. A Metrigy study cited in the report found CIOs, CTOs and other technology leaders were contact-center vendor decision makers nearly 60% of the time; chief customer officers or CX leaders were involved 35% of the time.

The report highlights opportunities among smaller businesses as well as large deployments. Organizations should begin with business objectives, identify current strengths and priority gaps, and use a phased ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach to limit disruption.

Test technical fit before committing

Translate business priorities into specific demonstrations, reference checks and documented requirements. The report’s technical checklist focuses on whether a platform can scale, interoperate, support the required channels and provide usable operational insight.

• Confirm capacity for growth, seat-provisioning times and channel concurrency limits.
• Validate integration effort with CRM, help desk and other essential systems using comparable customer references.
• Test real-time analytics and the ease of building customized reports.
• Request evidence of security and data management practices, including applicable GDPR and HIPAA requirements.

Assess business value, resilience and delivery responsibilities

The business checklist extends beyond upfront price to total cost of ownership, phased channel adoption, customization, training, professional services and agent usability. Buyers should request relevant references and evidence of customer satisfaction, including available CSAT or NPS results.

Business continuity requires scrutiny of disaster recovery and infrastructure dependencies. Ask whether a third-party cloud deployment can operate across regions and how a provider using its own infrastructure handles data-center downtime.

Finally, clarify the roles of product vendors, service providers and Trusted Advisors. Vendors develop the underlying products; service and channel partners may help deliver or integrate them. The report describes Trusted Advisors as third parties outside the vendor and the customer’s internal IT department who help evaluate options and make recommendations. These roles can overlap, so responsibilities should be explicit.