CX Tech Is More than Just AI

October 31, 2024

Written by Eric Krapf, General Manager and Program Co-Chair, Enterprise Connect Publisher

Over the past couple of years, the Venn diagram circles for “CX” and “AI” seem to have been moving toward near-total alignment, at least in public perception—with the “AI” circle threatening to eclipse “CX.” But IT pros with responsibility for contact center technology know that there’s a lot going on in CX tech that isn’t (directly) related to AI.

Start with the fact that we’re nearing the tipping point between on-premises and cloud-based contact center implementations; in fact, Omdia is forecasting that 2025 will be the year when cloud-attached agent positions finally surpass premises-attached seats. We’ve been hearing about CCaaS for so long that it’s been easy to forget how difficult the migration has been for many enterprises, and how challenging it is to make this large a change to such a customized, business-critical platform.

Indeed, large enterprises are finding CCaaS migrations to be incredibly complex and multi-faceted. That’s why I’m pleased to have a pair of case study sessions on the Enterprise Connect 2025 program focused on large CCaaS migrations, aimed at helping you overcome the many issues you’re likely to encounter if you’re embarking on your CCaaS migration.

In our first case study, IT leaders from the University of Michigan will offer a deep dive on the process they’ve recently completed. Like any innovative enterprise professionals, the UMich team took the CCaaS migration as the occasion to roll out innovative new functionality, including enhanced security through SSO integration; custom disaster recovery solutions; and a host of new customer-control features.

Our next enterprise-led session will feature a CX tech leader from Rollins, Inc., the parent company of Orkin pest control and other brands. His discussion will focus on the challenges that IT pros at companies like Rollins—and many others—face when trying to serve a business that grows by acquisition as well as organically. He’ll describe not just the transition from premises to cloud, but, as the session title puts it, “Making the Multi-Cloud Journey Work for You.” He’ll also discuss how Rollins is looking to add AI-driven features to the mix – proving the point that AI can be part of the discussion without taking up all the oxygen.

Both of these sessions will be followed by a half-hour of “post-session networking.” This is a format we debuted last year, where we set aside the meeting room for half an hour following the session itself. Instead of having to clear out for another group, attendees can stick around, meet the speaker, and continue the conversation with their peers. Last year’s attendees loved this opportunity to network with those who share their most immediate challenges and areas of interest.

Finally, we’ve got an overview on cloud migration pitfalls from a consultant to Fortune 500 enterprises, who will offer a comprehensive look at “How to Avoid the Gotchas in a Complex CCaaS Migration.” Some of these gotchas she’s observed and will help you overcome include:

• Not understanding the costs and volumes in your baseline demand set, or all of the integrations and applications in play in your current environment
• Underestimating the required effort, including time to: develop the RFP, review and validate responses, review vendor demos, down-select vendors, negotiate and finalize contracts (including SOWs and multiple supporting documents), UAT, and training.
• Not testing for failover and rollback procedures
• Not understanding the complexity or time needed for number porting
• Lack of granularity in the TCO for the "to be" environment, and bad assumptions that can drive up costs, particularly around AI or new feature functionality
• And more

So if your enterprise is poised to make the big move to CCaaS, with all its complexities, these sessions are all definitely for you. I hope you can join us in Orlando, and if you register now, you’ll get our best prices. See you the week of March 17!