A Plethora of options

I would think that this is going to strike a nerve for many IT executives as well as customer service managers and executives. Just how many options are out there in the contact center market? New products are being invented on a weekly basis. Software companies keep expanding and moving into new fields. Startups are sprouting up all over the nation as well as the globe. With all the diverse and ever-changing options, you need to be ready to act fast, but smart, to find exactly what is needed for your contact center. Staying a step ahead can make all the difference. Finding the right contact center solution (whether it be a cloud, hosted or an on premise solution) for your specific requirements can be a challenge. With so many vendors out there, how can you find the best vendor for your needs? That’s where we come in. :)

Every sales executive comes into your office and says they’re the best with the latest and greatest technology, features and functionality. I’ve been at this for over twenty three years and it’s even stressful for me to keep up with all the new players. Case in point, I've read through dozens of articles and charts that report on the top 10 contact center solutions (cloud and on prem) and they're all different. What was totally surprising to me was in almost everyone of them, they left out one, two and sometimes three of the major players in the industry. It makes you wonder who writes this stuff or does the research. So, back to my original thought for this writing, how can IT or customer service managers wade through the muck when first there's so many different options out there today and second, poor reports and articles written on who the top players are.

Also, it’s not just the contact center platform either. It’s also all the third party software add-ons (ie. QM, WFM, reporting, omnichannel, IVR, etc.). Which one works best with this platform or that one? And you can’t just go to the analyst to see which ones are in the top 10, because depending on which analyst you ask, you will get a different list. Of course, there’s the vendors out there that say they provide all the applications needed themselves and there’s no need to “bolt on” additional applications. There again, sometimes those solutions may be okay, but might not be for everyone.

Yes, I know that there are the standard top players, but then you add in the cloud/hosted aspect to it (no pun intended), that creates a whole new ballgame.

Bottom line for me is that this is my life and what I’ve been doing for over two decades. It’s one of the major reasons why I restarted UltraVox Consulting, so that I can offer my services to any and all organizations that need experienced and knowledgeable ear to listen and help in making a sound decision on a major transition process. I’m vendor agnostic and look to uncover what is best for my client. Feel free to check out my website and/or to reach out if you have any questions.