Solutions for contact center procurement professionals

Are there such things as cost-effective CX solutions that are also rich in capabilities, reliable, flexible, and in compliance with multiple data security standards? Absolutely.

As a software procurement professional, you're responsible for identifying, vetting, and purchasing contact center solutions that will address business requirements now and well into the future. Many businesses are now competing on the basis of customer experience, meaning they strive to consistently provide experiences that are convenient, memorable, and free of friction. If your company is similarly customer focused, choosing the right contact center solution is a crucial element of enabling your organization to meet its strategic objectives.

No pressure.

But implementing cutting edge software isn't enough if it's vulnerable to hackers and breaks the bank. You also need to find compliant CX technology with an attractive return on investment (ROI). You've been charged with discovering options that are not only priced competitively but will also help your business reduce costs and increase revenue.

Take a closer look at the benefits of NICE CXone, a value-driven customer experience platform that's built to meet modern customer demands while safeguarding their data and providing a multitude of business benefits.

Cloud-based versus on-premises - which is the right software model for your business?

The decision of whether to select a cloud platform or an on-premises system is a critical one that will have long-lasting implications for your internal operations, the quality of your customer experience, and your financials.

Cloud solutions are hosted by the software provider and accessed by end-users through a web browser. Because the vendor hosts the platform, they are responsible for applying software updates and security patches, purchasing and managing hardware, and maintaining databases. Providers are also tasked with data security, providing redundant environments for business continuity, and ensuring high system availability. These contact center as a solution (CCaaS) options are often priced so that you only pay for what you actually use.

In contrast, on-premises systems are hosted on-site and require internal IT support for tasks such as software support and testing, hardware maintenance, data security, and business continuity. On-premises solutions typically require you to purchase licenses for the maximum number of concurrent users.

This information gives you a glimpse into the business case implications for each model, but to understand why organizations might choose one over the other requires a closer look at the pros and cons of each.

In addition to being affordable AI tools for customer service, cloud solutions are often highly configurable, easy to integrate, can be accessed from anywhere (support a work from home model), include the latest innovative functionality, and can scale quickly and easily.

On the flip side, reliance on an internet connection adds an element of risk. Additionally, hosted software normally can't be customized, and clients of cloud software providers don't have sole control of their data.

On-premises software comes with its own set of advantages. First off, these applications can typically be extensively customized, which may appeal to businesses with very unique requirements. They also don't rely on an internet connection and provide organizations with complete control of their data and systems.

On the other hand, on-premises systems often have higher upfront and ongoing costs, and businesses with seasonal fluctuations may sometimes find themselves paying for capacity they aren't using. Additionally, these solutions require IT overhead, are difficult to access remotely, and often can't scale quickly.

Which platform model is right for your organization depends on requirements regarding areas such budget, scalability, control, flexibility, and need for customization.

We, of course, prefer the cloud model.

NICE CXone is an industry-leading, value-driven customer experience platform built for quality, compliance, and current and future consumer demands. Use of modern AI technology, a devotion to data security, innovative functionality, and industry-leading availability set us apart from the pack.

Here's a more detailed look at how CXone can meet your requirements and provide a compelling ROI.

Compliance

Compliance is so important to us that we've dedicated valuable resources to ensuring best in class data security. The NICE Trust Office comprises a team of cloud security professionals, along with tools and processes dedicated to ensuring superior security, compliance, and reliability for contact centers. By safeguarding contact centers, the Trust Office enhances security throughout CXone, adopting a proactive approach to exceed external audit requirements.

Our relentless focus on security and compliance has enabled us to earn multiple certifications, including:

• FedRAMP
• PCI DSS level I and II
• CPNI
• GDPR
• AICPA SOC 2 type 2 + HITRUST

When you choose our compliant CX technology, you can rest easy knowing your data is in good hands.

Financial benefits

NICE CXone has been proven to enhance revenue and reduce costs. Through the enablement of superior CX, your business can improve customer loyalty and lifetime value. And with solutions such as automation, digital self-service, and intelligent routing, you can realize a significant decrease in operating costs.

The following are some areas you might want to include in your business case for a new contact center platform.

Increased customer lifetime value

When your new solution consistently provides exceptional experiences, you'll transform more of your customers into brand advocates. These so-called "promoters" are more likely to recommend your brand to people they know, buy more products, and stick around longer. These factors contribute to a higher customer lifetime value as well as decreased acquisition costs.

Higher conversion rates

If you have an outbound sales team, our predictive dialer has been known to increase conversion rates while also reducing labor costs by keeping agents fully busy. Conversion and cross-sell rates also benefit from having customer history available in every channel.

Reduced operational costs

Our cost-effective CX solutions really shine when it comes to streamlining operations and reducing costs. The following are just a few examples of cost savings that are possible with CXone.

• Reduced handle times. As you know, higher handle times result in higher labor costs, and sometimes handle times are higher than they need to be. This is an area our technology tackles with solutions ranging from automation to a unified agent desktop that consolidates all agent systems into a single user interface.
• Improved first call resolutions. Not resolving issues during the first contact creates a poor experience and results in additional interactions and higher labor costs. The CXone platform addresses this issue from multiple directions, including intelligent routing that connects customers to the agent most likely to resolve their issues, tools that suggest the next best steps for agents to take, and a smart knowledge base that puts relevant information at agents' fingertips.
• Self-service. Self-service offers the promise of reducing labor costs, but only if it's effective at resolving issues. Our self-service solutions are infused with artificial intelligence, making more DIY attempts successful and removing the burden of repetitive tasks from your valuable agent resources. Factoring in the cost savings makes our self-service solutions affordable AI tools for customer service.
• Capacity management. Because labor dollars are a contact center’s largest expense, staffing needs to be closely managed. Taking your eye off the ball can lead to costly and unnecessary overstaffing that could have been avoided with the right technical tools. CXone Workforce Management is made to optimize your agent capacity, starting with volume forecasting, then agent scheduling, and continuing through intraday management.

As you can see, being a cost-effective CX solution is more than just a pricing model; it should also yield financial benefits such as increased customer lifetime value and reduced handle times.

Real-world financial benefits of using NICE CXone

We have many examples of clients that have experienced financial benefits as a result of using CXone. A couple of these examples are discussed below.

Major healthcare company

This client, a large healthcare company, is focused on providing satisfying member experiences. Wishing to enhance CX and reduce operational costs, they chose two NICE solutions - Enlighten AI Routing and Enlighten AI for Customer Satisfaction.

Enlighten AI Routing predicts the optimal match between customers and agents, enhancing various outcomes such as customer experience, efficiency, sales, and more. Routing a customer to the right agent is a method for making better connections and speeding up the resolution process. In this case, our client experienced an immediate 8% decrease of average handle time, which translated into an $11 million annual reduction in operating costs and a 3x return on investment (ROI).

The other system they chose, Enlighten AI for Customer Satisfaction, is designed to determine customer sentiment and other characteristics. It enhances the logic our routing solution uses when matching customers with agents. The two applications working in tandem resulted in a 5% increase in customer satisfaction with no additional training expenses.

Major pharmaceutical company

Eliminating redundant systems is another effective way to reduce costs, as this next success story demonstrates. This global pharmaceutical company has contact centers in three different locations that were using disparate interactive voice response (IVR) systems. Migrating all three centers to a single solution - CXone IVR - not only reduced technology costs but also improved productivity and agent satisfaction.

As you're evaluating technology solutions for your contact center, consider including factors beyond price to create a more holistic business case. NICE CXone is competitively priced, but its financial impacts also include a wealth of revenue and cost saving benefits.

For more ideas about evaluating the financial implications of new affordable AI tools for customer service, download "The ROI of Experience Management."