GigaOm Radar for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) Solutionsv1.0

1. Executive Summary

Contact center as a service (CCaaS) solutions offer a unified interface to centralize customer interactions. Agents interact with a unified dashboard that consolidates all necessary tools and information into a single, user-friendly platform. This interface allows agents to handle customer interactions across multiple channels, such as voice, email, chat, and social media, without switching between different applications. They can access real-time customer data, interaction history, and AI-driven suggestions to provide personalized and efficient service. Features like call control, collaboration tools, and knowledge base integration are readily available, enabling agents to resolve issues quickly and effectively. Additionally, real-time analytics and performance metrics help agents monitor their progress and improve their service quality.

Supervisors and managers interact with CCaaS solutions through a comprehensive dashboard that provides real-time insights into contact center operations. They can monitor live calls and interactions, access detailed performance metrics, and use tools like call whispering and barging to coach agents during calls without the customer hearing the interaction. Advanced analytics and reporting features allow them to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and identify trends or areas for improvement. Additionally, workforce management tools help in scheduling, forecasting, and ensuring agents adhere to their schedules.

CCaaS solutions address several key challenges faced by traditional contact centers. They can help reduce costs by eliminating the need for on-premises hardware. In addition, the cloud allows them to scale to meet increases in call volume. The unified interface pulls together multiple communication channels, making it easier to respond to customers or employees quickly and efficiently. A growing number of features enhanced with AI are improving agent productivity and customer satisfaction. Overall, CCaaS streamlines operations, reduces costs, and enhances the quality of customer service.

The target audience for CCaaS solutions includes businesses of all sizes that prioritize customer service, support centers, and interaction management. This encompasses small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) seeking scalable and cost-effective solutions and large enterprises needing advanced features and integrations.

There is a wide range of vendors in this market. Most vendors offer mature and robust solutions that integrate advanced features such as AI-driven automation, real-time analytics, and omnichannel support and include out-of-the-box integrations to various other business systems. Vendors are continuously evolving their solutions to meet the demands of modern customer service and support operations, making CCaaS an essential tool for businesses aiming to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

This is our first year evaluating the CCaaS space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports.

This GigaOm Radar report examines 19 of the top CCaaS solutions and compares offerings against the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) outlined in the companion Key Criteria report. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading CCaaS offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.