Clients are looking for cost-effective, efficient and secure infrastructure.

Channel Partners

April 12, 2017

3 Min Read
MasterMinds: Uncovering Cloud Contact Center Solutions

**Editor’s Note: MasterMinds is a biweekly feature in which we invite leading master agents to share information, insights and expert opinions about what’s going on in their agencies, the IT/telecom channel or the business community in general.**

4dce505bee1942699a556ebf113d2fb2.jpgBy Lily Weibel

The cloud contact center solutions market is sizzling.  According to Gartner, the global market was expected to reach $204 billion by the end of 2016, and will continue growing throughout the foreseeable future.

“The market for public cloud services is continuing to demonstrate high rates of growth across all markets and Gartner expects this to continue through 2017,” explained Sid Nag, research director at Gartner. “This strong growth continues to reflect a shift away from legacy IT services to cloud-based services, due to increased trend of organizations pursuing a digital business strategy.”

This is a golden opportunity for trusted advisers. Countless organizations today are searching for contact center infrastructure that is cost-effective, efficient and secure. At the same time, businesses are seeking cutting-edge software for workforce optimization and customer experience management.{ad}

There is a great deal of money on the table for the trusted advisers who can successfully pair businesses with these needs with cloud contact solutions providers.

Here’s how you can get started.

Look for Opportunities
First, browse the leading verticals in the cloud contact center solutions market and identify segments where you already have a strong foothold and can leverage your expertise.

The following industries are experiencing the strongest demand for cloud contact center services today:

Spend some time identifying the industries and customers you want to target, and then move onto the next step: Planning your engagement strategy.

Plan Ahead
Before you approach a customer about a cloud contact center opportunity, make sure you have an accurate sense of the business’s position and needs.

For example, HIPAA compliance is almost always a…

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…deal breaker for health care organizations, as they are required to comply with a strict set of privacy regulations. Retail companies need PCI-compliant solutions in order to ensure integrity while storing and transmitting customer payment data. Know the issues that matter most to your customers, and pair them with contact center providers that can meet their specific demands.

It’s also important to leverage your own knowledge about your customers. For instance, you probably already know how your customers’ networks are assembled. You have a sense of their pain points and their budgets. Use this information to press the right buttons during your conversations and drive sales.

Chances are likely that some of your customers are struggling with costly, aging legacy infrastructure, outdated customer service programs and a lack of data storage. Such enterprises could strongly benefit from premium, managed and scalable cloud contact center solutions.{ad}

At the same time, many of your customers are already in the cloud and are looking to switch providers. In fact, 95 percent of businesses are unhappy with their cloud services. For these types of services, you will want to identify why they are unhappy early on in the process.

Engage the Customer 
Once your strategy is in place, arrange a meeting and try to ask probing questions that can open the door to a conversation about cloud contact center services.

For example, you may want to focus on the heavy amount of capex and opex that comes with owning legacy contact center infrastructure. You can also ask questions about performance and uptime, agent productivity and available capacity.

As with any sale, you may not close on the first go-around. It may take several weeks to close an agreement with a company. It’s what you do in the meantime to influence the sale that counts.

Lily Weibel is director of partner relations and marketing for AVANT Communications.

Have a question or topic you would like considered for discussion? Submit it to [email protected]

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