Some combinations – like peanut butter and jelly or Batman and Robin – make sense. While you could eat a burger without fries and Sherlock Holmes could solve crimes without help from Dr. Watson, who would want to live in that world? While we’re naming dynamic duos, it’s time to add another pair to the list: Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS).
If you’re wondering whether you should mix UCaaS with CCaaS, here’s everything you should know about these two types of cloud communication solutions and why integrating them makes sense for most companies.
What’s the difference between UCaaS and CCaaS?
UCaaS and CCaaS software are two sides of the same coin. Unified communications solutions combine various communication channels such as voice, video conferencing and messaging in one cloud-delivered platform, according to Vonage. UCaaS software can serve as a cloud phone system and replace a traditional on-premises PBX for internal corporate collaboration.
UCaaS solutions have exploded in popularity as businesses have sought to accommodate remote workers. In 2020, global public cloud UCaaS revenue increased by 21.2 percent to $16.4 billion, according to the IDC. Cloud-delivered unified communications software offers companies greater flexibility, mobility and scalability while promoting productivity from any location or device.
CCaaS – or cloud contact center software – similarly provides multi-channel communication capabilities via one unified platform, according to Vonage. However, CCaaS solutions facilitate external interactions with clients with features such as skills-based routing, advanced analytics and AI-powered sentiment analysis.
The CCaaS market has also experienced significant growth as companies empower remote agents and enhance the customer experience (CX). The global contact center as a service market was valued at $3.48 billion in 2020 and is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of 15.7 percent from 2021 to 2028, according to Grand View Research.
On their own, UCaaS and CCaaS can each position companies for long-term success in the digital era. However, in many cases, you can achieve even better results with both.
Benefits of integrating UCaaS and CCaaS
While you can deploy one or the other separately, it makes sense for many businesses to invest in UCaaS and CCaaS solutions that seamlessly integrate. Often you can purchase both products from the same supplier. Bundling unified communications and cloud contact center software in this way can prove advantageous in numerous ways, including the following, according to Vonage and RingCentral.
- Increased collaboration between departments. By integrating UCaaS and CCaaS, you’ll make it easier for contact center agents to reach out to other in-house resources (e.g., members of your tech support team) to address customer inquiries.
- Greater visibility into daily operations. The reporting and analytics features of your unified communications software can shed light on how internal staff members communicate, while your contact center solution can report on interactions with clients. Together they paint a thorough picture of how your company functions.
- Improved CX. If a customer reaches out to your contact center and needs to speak with someone in another department, integration with UCaaS allows the agent to direct the call to the right person faster.
If you’d like to learn more about UCaaS and CCaaS for your business, our trusted advisors can help you find a supplier that offers both solutions (or a single platform with UC and CC capabilities) and meets your unique requirements. We leverage advanced tools and an extensive partner network to save our clients dozens of hours they would have otherwise spent shopping around on their own.
For details about our advisory services, please call 877-599-3999 or email sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
