In the “new normal” defined by recent events, most of us have adapted to different patterns of life. Businesses are managing employees who are working remotely, our kids are digitally learning and we’re all social distancing. While we’ve adapted to these and other changes knowing that they’re temporary, it’s undeniable that some things will remain changed for the foreseeable future. For many business decisions, when has become now. And this has never been more evident than with the technology that’s needed to serve customers. Organizations not only have had to step up to deliver critical support to employees, customers and communities, they also have had to reinvent how they deliver uninterrupted support. Cloud has become a big part of that equation.

With the high demand for customer support across all industries, and the shift to working from home, we’ve launched a set of rapid response options to give you free access to the Genesys Cloud™ platform. This equips you to provide mission-critical support and enable remote teams quickly, with deployment in just 48 hours. Genesys Rapid Response is available for any organization, including existing Genesys customers as well as other businesses, government agencies and non-profits.

Business agility isn’t merely beneficial; it’s mission-critical as you move forward. Technology leaders recognize the opportunity to go beyond simply extending services for urgent customer experiences to build the foundation for long-term relationships that are rooted in trust and loyalty.

The time to move to the cloud is now. And it’s important to ensure you have access to the following benefits of cloud.

Speed

    • Agility in innovation: Define the role of IT in your organization by innovation, not hardware management.
    • Ease of deployment and administration: Be responsive to meet the changing needs of the business and extend control where it makes sense.

Power

    • Business continuity: Regardless of external events, ensure you can adapt to changing conditions that call for fast, secure scaling; distribution; and management of your workforce, including critical customer support.
    • Capabilities: Get everything your business needs for artificial intelligence (AI)-powered customer journeys in one platform so you don’t have to manage multiple systems and custom integrations.

Control

    • Enterprise-grade extensibility: Easily extend your solution, when needed, using open APIs from an ecosystem of proven partners.
    • Freedom: Control your own destiny with a cloud architecture that delivers continuous access to innovation rather than forced upgrades.

Weighing Your Other Options
On the surface, staying with your current on-premises system seems like a less-risky decision. But you’ll need to ensure that the version of software your call center relies on isn’t reaching end of manufacturer support (EoMS) anytime soon. If so, you might be forced to upgrade just to get support — but you probably won’t get any innovation or business value. The level of effort and cost for this type of “upgrade” could equal — or even exceed — the cost of migrating to the cloud. Meanwhile, you won’t gain any of the benefits of speed, power and control. And that means you’ll be subject to opportunity costs.

You may also have the option to stay with your current on-premises system but initiate a “path to cloud.” This sounds logical at first, and there might be incentives involved. But you’ll need to carefully investigate where the path leads. With some vendors, the path to cloud is actually just a path to a hosted on-premises call center solution. And, in some cases, it’s not even the vendor’s solution; it’s a partner-hosted offering. If your goal is to move to the cloud, this type of solution likely won’t meet your needs. It could work in the short term but, as a strategic technology leader, you want a long-term solution.

Finally, you could migrate to cloud with your current vendor. If your current vendor has a cloud solution, this could be the best path. However, the same guidance applies: Be sure to investigate the “cloud” options thoroughly to ensure they meet your business requirements today — and into the future. Instead of a modern, microservices-based public cloud application that offers all the benefits you expect, many “clouds” actually are hosted on-premises systems — and they’re rife with limitations. For any cloud solution, be sure to research the vendor and specific solution using third-party analyst and peer review sites. And ask for customer references you can contact directly.

It’s Time to Adapt
It’s no longer a matter of when. To stay current with shifting business and employee needs as well as customer demands, it’s important to act now. You’ll likely still have questions — and maybe even some concerns. Cloud migration isn’t a trivial decision. We’re here to help with deep experience and a personalized migration plan that transitions you smoothly to the cloud.

It’s time to transform your customer experience with a cloud call center. Check out this report to learn more about three customer service megatrends in 2020.