Contact Center Trends

What is a “Cloud-Native” Contact Center and Why Should I Care?

By Gavin Gustafson

June 12, 2018

0 min read

“What is ‘cloud-native’?” is not a simple question and is one that has more than a few answers. Asking Google for help can quickly send you down a technical jargon rabbit hole from which you may emerge forever changed, but no closer to the answer you seek. To save you the trouble, a simple and commonly-found definition is as follows:

“Cloud-native is an approach to building and running applications that exploits the advantages of the cloud computing model.”

Let’s boil that down even further: cloud-native is the symbiotic practice of designing and creating applications specifically for the cloud. Once deployed in the cloud, these applications outperform those build for on-premises or hybrid environments because they were built to work in that environment. Put into a non-technical analogy; a mountain bike works best on a trail in the mountains where its fat tires and suspension can absorb the terrain undulations. That same bike still works on the road, but not nearly as well and its large tires and shock-absorption system can actually be a hindrance.

Now that we have established a reasonable baseline of what cloud-native is, let’s dive into how cloud-native applications apply to the contact center environment; why a cloud-native solution is better than an on-prem or hybrid solution and why you should you care.

The only thing consistent about the technology landscape is that it is constantly changing. A customer service operation must be agile in order to quickly adapt to changing business needs. Train travel did not adapt and has, for the most part, been left behind by airline travel. Many retailers did not adapt to the change in shopping habits brought on by Amazon and, as a result, some have been left behind. Blackberry was not prepared for the iPhone and has become a relic of the recent past. Is your organization ready for what’s next – whatever that is – or is it poised to be passed?

Unfortunately, if you are working off a rigid infrastructure, you are probably spending most of your budget and resources around maintenance and upgrades instead of innovation. Unlike legacy vendors, modern contact center platforms are born in the cloud and have the software architectures that are made for the cloud. They are cloud-native. Shifting away from archaic on-premises platforms, and even the first-generation cloud-adopted systems, to a cloud-native contact center stack will power your pace of innovation and better serve your customers and business partners.

"A move to the cloud is not a challenge to IT, it's really a challenge or opportunity for IT.... When faced with an objection to cloud from IT consider asking if they just want to keep the lights on or do they want to build, create, customize and cultivate their platform? Would they rather be a janitor or a gardener?"

Creative Freedom for IT

The innovation-related benefits for cloud-native solutions are clear, but what of those people and departments that will arguably be affected most by a switch to cloud? A common objection to cloud comes from IT and often centers around reliability, data security and a perceived lack of customization options compared to on-premises systems. These are common, long-held misconceptions that have been thoroughly debunked. For details on these and more, take some time to watch the Objection Busters series on YouTube from Andrew Pryfogle of Intelisys. These objections from IT are often rooted in a perceived reduction of job security. However, rather than a challenge to IT a move to cloud is really a challenge or opportunity for IT.

In an on-premises, hosted, hybrid or even a first-generation cloud system, the IT department is heavily involved in the implementation of the system. This part is fun and exciting, building and creating it exactly to their specifications. After the initial implementation process and bug fixing, the system becomes set it and forget it which reduces IT’s role to custodial. When faced with an objection to cloud from IT consider asking if they just want to keep the lights on or do they want to build, create, customize and cultivate their platform? Would they rather be a janitor or a gardener?

Talkdesk is the leading second-generation, cloud-native Contact Center as a Service revolution, built from the ground up for today’s digital communication environment. At Talkdesk, our vision is to transform customer interactions and create a frictionless journey for both Customers and Agents. Talkdesk Enterprise Contact Platform empowers companies to continuously improve customer experience. With enterprise class performance and a consumer-like ease of use, Talkdesk allows you to easily adapt your contact center operations to the evolving needs of your customers and your teams, resulting in increased productivity, customer satisfaction and cost saving.