The drive to move communications tools into the cloud was not supposed to create more silos, but unfortunately the division between internally focused business communications tools like phone and chat (Unified Communications as a Service, or “UCaaS”) and contact center solutions (Contact Center as a Service, or “CCaaS”) did just that. Many organizations maintain two separate but co-existing cloud platforms with overlapping functionality and users.
Until recently, it was hard to see the downside to this because of the benefits of moving both stacks from on-premises to the cloud. But the pandemic raised the stakes by forcing contact center agents into remote work. Pulling those employees out of a physical location made them much more reliant on internal communications and collaboration with their managers/supervisors and peers. Those features were not generally part of CCaaS platforms, making CX and IT leaders aware of the disconnect between the two types of toolsets. Also, contact centers have increasingly turned to knowledge workers and back-office teams to help interact with customers, as customer expectations become more demanding and interactions become more complex. The lines have become blurred as every employee has a role to play in customer experiences, and the communications tools they use need to reflect that commonality, while offering a tailored product experience to each user based on their role.
