There’s a common misconception when it comes to purchasing UCaaS and CCaaS technologies that we are buying products.

Every product vendor, whether it be Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, or Five9 provides us with some of the Unified and Contact Center as a Service (collectively referred to as XCaaS) tools that we need to empower our organizations to communicate more effectively and optimize their workflow.

But there’s no one size fits all when it comes to XCaaS, and no single product is going to be the perfect fit to meet our needs.

Instead, what we are looking for are solutions, and products are the tools that we use to get us the capabilities we need to do our work more efficiently. Trying to force through one particular product has its challenges that can have more long-term negative impacts on the organization. 

Understanding the Challenges of Focusing on Buying Products 

No two departments in an organization are exactly alike, so why should their XCaaS purchases be? 

Beyond concerns like personal preferences for one platform or product over another, operational needs can have a real impact on decision making for which services are the right fit for various parts of the organization. 

Take the customer support department that needs their XCaaS products to work with the phone model sets that they already have in the office. They probably need solutions that will also tie their voice calling into their CRM and other key systems that allow them to handle customer inquiries.

While everyone needs clarity in their communications, Supports’ needs will be different than the engineering folks or management who require much higher bandwidth services for making video calls discussing major deals.  

What different vendors are able to offer will also vary by location. The types of calling plans that might be available in northern Europe might not work well for the American North West or South East Asia where you might have a new department spinning up operations.

Add to these challenges the problem of vendor lock in where you become totally dependent on their ecosystem and lose your ability to be flexible. Getting out of those licenses when they no longer suit your needs can be a real pain to deal with.

Getting to those solutions means mixing and matching between different products, and that means working with someone who is interested in selling you solutions –– regardless of which products you decide to go with. 

Advantages of Working with a Solutions Provider 

In working with a product vendor, the right answer will always be to buy whichever product their company is selling. Even if it isn’t going to be the right fit.

However, working with a solutions provider that can offer you a range of different products from across a range of vendors gives you the flexibility to find the right mix that will work to meet your needs.   

Speaking with CallTower’s Chief Revenue Officer William Rubio, he tells UC Today that one of the most important steps that his team does is the discovery call with prospective clients to understand their needs.

“Pretty quickly, we are able to understand the different challenges that their teams are facing,” says Rubio. “Sometimes they have hardware limitations that can impact their choices of which services, or already have in place other services that need to play well with whichever XCaaS solutions they are looking to onboard.” 

“A key part of our process is helping to consult with clients and help them to gain that essential buy-in internally that is key to their long-term success, helping to eliminate shadow IT and getting folks to make the most out of their XCaaS products” says William Rubio. 

“From there we are able to get a handle on which products, Microsoft, Cisco, or something else entirely, are going to be the right fit per use case,” he explains, adding that, “Since we buy and hold the licenses ourselves, we can provide our customers with the flexibility to move between products as needed. We can even offer them a better price than if they went directly with a given vendor” 

Beyond the price and flexibility advantages, Rubio explains that CallTower is able to flatten the experience for their customers who would otherwise have to bounce back and forth between vendors for management and service if they were dealing with it on their own. 

“Our customers use our Connect portal as a centralized point of control for managing everything including setting up new users, managing licenses, and other day-to-day actions across all of your services,” he tells UC Today. “All billing and support can be managed through us, so you can take advantage of all the services that our vendors have to offer without having to become an expert on how to navigate the ins and outs of their specific products.” 

Final Thoughts 

Vendors in the XCaaS space have stepped up during the pandemic to help support their customers, helping to make remote work a viable option over the past nearly two years.

But even as the products keep getting better, as customers we need to retain our flexibility to find the right options that will provide solutions to our needs, regardless of who is making them.

To learn more about how CallTower can work with you to find the right set of solutions for your organization, visit them today for your free consultation. 

 

 



from UC Today https://ift.tt/38IAGs3