There’s no doubt about it: AI is still a hot topic in the CX industry and across the business world. CX analysts and the CX media predict that AI will continue to be a priority for businesses, which makes sense as we’re really in the early days of the AI evolution. What does this mean in practice?
Businesses need to understand where AI can add value to their organization, and they must get their AI implementation strategy locked down in order to be successful, now and in the future. But that’s not the only piece of the pie. As CX analyst firm Metrigy identified in their recent CX Metricast 2024 market study, combining your unified communications (UC) and contact center (CC) on one platform also has the potential to transform customer experiences for the better.
In this article we’ll dive into the details of Metrigy’s recent research, showcased in the infographic: Why move to the cloud with a UC + CC vendor in 2025, and share some practical examples of UC + CC + AI, or Total Experience, in action.
Why move to the cloud with a UC + CC vendor?
Metrigy has found in their research that companies that have switched to UC + CC with one vendor are benefiting significantly from improved processes and even showing revenue growth because of the change. They suggest that businesses that don’t take steps to make the switch could be missing out.
By the end of 2024, 72% of companies planned to implement an integrated, cloud-based UC + CC platform from the same provider. A further 18% of companies are planning to implement or evaluate UC + CC providers in 2025
Plus, 69% of companies can see the value of integrating their UC + CC platforms, demonstrating that it would be wise to explore vendors that offer a combined unified communications and contact center offering.
The 8 top ways companies find value from an integrated UC + CC platform
The obvious benefits of it being easy for agents to connect with experts in real time or having one bill for your communication solutions are not the only advantages of a unified platform. Companies identified the following values, which, when combined, have the power to transform a business into a streamlined powerhouse.
1. Enable agents and supervisors to provide customer feedback for sales and marketing programs
With all of your teams working on one platform inside and outside of the contact center, getting direct customer insights to your sales and marketing teams can be a much more turnkey process. Many UC + CC providers include CRM integration, which can enable a more complete customer view.
2. Allow conversations between frontline and back-office personnel over the same app
Traditionally, contact centers have operated separately from the rest of the organization, leading to a fragmented customer experience. By combining UC + CC along with the power of AI to provide a Total Experience for customers, agents can connect with experts outside the contact center to resolve customer queries as a team.
Take one of Zoom’s customers, Topaz Services, for example. Topaz is an outsourced “Hotel Contact Center” and needs easy access to the hotels they represent to resolve customer queries and issues quickly. With Zoom Team Chat, Topaz agents can connect instantaneously with hotel staff to answer questions like "Is the hotel pool still under construction?". Agents can respond accurately to a guest’s questions on the spot, significantly reducing handle times.
3. Facilitate the ability of agents and supervisors to share product development feedback
On one shared platform, contact center employees can easily provide customer insights to the product development team to help improve their solutions, which makes more loyal and satisfied customers possible. A good AI-powered Quality Management tool can be used to gather these insights faster than before. Distribution of information can be made easier with custom or out-of-the-box APIs that can be integrated with the UC + CC platform and made accessible to the right teams.
4. Bring collaboration tools to the contact center
When the entire organization uses one platform for employee and customer communications, collaboration and efficiency simply become second nature.
InflectionCX, a contact center BPO, has seen jaw-dropping improvements in efficiencies in customer service and internal processes using Zoom Contact Center and Zoom Workplace. Not only have they dramatically reduced their call time (3 minutes) and after-call work (3.5 minutes), but they’ve also seen drastic changes in how they train and collaborate as a team.
5. Consolidate analytics with common interfaces and cross-platform metrics
Deep analytics are great for contact centers, but what if they could help the rest of your organization? Better still, what if you could pull data from other parts of the organization with ease? A key piece of sales data from the customer’s first purchase could provide that missing link to an exceptional customer experience. Plus, getting a full picture of the entire customer journey across technologies can reveal valuable insights into the contact center and other parts of your business for the management and executive team.
6. Support the use of video or screen-sharing during customer calls
Sometimes it can be difficult to explain a complex issue over the phone. Perhaps a customer has a busted pipe they are trying to fix with guidance from a tech support agent. Or maybe it’s a personal health issue that a doctor needs to be able to see to diagnose.
Having the ability to move easily from phone or chat to a video call can make all the difference in a customer’s experience. As shown above, the data in Metrigy’s research clearly shows that it’s a key value-add for a combined UC+CC approach, with 39% appreciating the value of video and screen-sharing during customer calls.
7. Pull experts into customer interactions
Effective service is all about speed. If your customers are waiting to be served, or worse, having to repeat themselves over and over to multiple agents, your customer service is failing. A unified communications and contact center platform can make it easy for agents to get customers to the right subject matter expert who can effectively respond to their queries — the first time. Add AI to the mix and the repetitive ‘Doom Loop’ can be a thing of the past thanks to AI-driven call summaries and context that can be passed to each employee the customer touches.
One of Zoom’s customers, Vensure, discovered that the faster they can route calls to the right people, the higher the likelihood of single-call resolution. Now that every Vensure employee uses Zoom Phone, anyone can easily be added to a client call that comes in via Zoom Contact Center. This means clients can get quick access to subject matter experts across the company, who can answer their questions and resolve their issues first-hand. The result: shorter calls and fewer return callers.
8. Reduce costs with bundled pricing
Dealing with multiple vendor bills can be complex and expensive. Consolidating all of your communications with one vendor can result in easier account management and significant savings.
The main benefits of UC + CC integration
Looking at all of the ways UC+CC is working for businesses and helping them deliver a Total Experience to customers, it’s no wonder they’re seeing some significant impacts on the business. The top benefits of UC + CC integration reflect what all CX leaders are striving for:
- Higher revenues
- Better employee productivity
- Improved CSAT
- Reduced costs
Access the full infographic and speak to your internal decision-makers about why a combined UC and CC approach is the right approach for your business: Why move to the cloud with a UC + CC vendor in 2025.
Set your contact center up for success with Zoom. Reach out today to speak with one of our experts who would be happy to talk through what Zoom CX and our Total Experience approach to UC + CC can do for your business.
