MultiCaaS is a term defining a powerful concept that combines two essential components: Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS). Let’s delve into why MultiCaaS is shaping the future of contact centers and how it can enhance your organization’s Return on Investment (ROI) in communications platforms.

What are the Components of MultiCaaS?

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS): This component provides a unified platform for various communication channels within your organization. By integrating voice, video, messaging, and collaboration tools, UCaaS ensures seamless communication across teams. 

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS): CCaaS is a cloud-based solution that manages customer interactions efficiently. It eliminates the need for on-premises hardware and software, making it cost-effective. CCaaS enables features like intelligent routing, real-time analytics, and omnichannel support. Optimizing the customer journey in the contact center is must be a key focus of any brand.

UCaaS + CCaaS = MultiCaaS

By combining UCaaS and CCaaS, your users can streamline interactions between agents, subject matter experts, and customers.

  • Consistent Experience: MultiCaaS offers a single platform for all communications, ensuring a consistent experience for both internal teams and customer-facing agents. Agents can access subject matter experts without leaving the customer call, leading to faster call resolution and improved Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores.
  • Efficiency and Collaboration: With MultiCaaS, agents collaborate seamlessly. They can access real-time customer information, including CRM data, support history, and payment details. This integration reduces time wasted toggling between different applications and enhances overall efficiency.
  • Reduced Complexity: Using one vendor for both UCaaS and CCaaS simplifies your tech stack and lowers costs per user. 

Future-Ready: MultiCaaS, coupled with value-added AI capabilities, ensures a future-ready contact center.

MultiCaaS Product Example:

8×8 was one of the first service providers to combine UCaaS and CCaaS into a single MultiCaaS platform.  The product team at 8×8 quickly realized that the platform can be optimized by highlighting certain users as “experts” in a particular knowledge set, enabling contact center agents to easily reach out to these experts to quickly answer questions or solve problems to improve the customer experience.

8×8 Expert Connect is a powerful feature that bridges the gap between agents and experts within an organization. Let’s explore how it works and the benefits it brings:

  1. Unified Login and Shared Presence:
    • Unified Login: With 8×8 Expert Connect, users have a single username and password for both 8×8 Work and 8×8 Contact Center. This streamlines access and ensures a consistent experience.
    • Shared Presence: Agents can see the availability of experts directly from their 8×8 Agent Workspace. Experts, using the 8×8 Work for Mobile or 8×8 Work for Desktop application, view agents in the same way they see other employees in the company.
  2. Communication Channels:
    • Chat: Agents and experts can initiate chat conversations seamlessly. This real-time communication allows for quick problem-solving.
    • Click-to-Call Dialing: Agents can call experts directly when needed.
  3. Benefits of 8×8 Expert Connect:
    • Increased First Contact Resolution: By connecting agents with experts, organizations can achieve a 30% or more increase in first call resolution. When agents have access to expert insights, interactions become more efficient.
    • Shortened Call Durations: When agents can quickly reach out to experts for answers, call durations decrease. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and cost savings.
    • Expert Time Protection: Experts can indicate their availability and block access when busy. This ensures their time is used effectively.
  4. Limitations and Requirements:
    • Applies to X Series Customers: 8×8 Expert Connect is available for X Series customers who have access to both 8×8 Contact Center and 8×8 Work.
    • Directory Tab or Expert Connect: Agents must have access to the Directory tab or Expert Connect in their 8×8 Agent Workspace to connect with experts.
    • Multi-Region Chat: To enable multi-region chat, a one-time migration effort is required to bring all users under the same organization.

In summary, 8×8 Expert Connect enhances collaboration, improves problem-solving, and ensures efficient communication between agents and experts, ultimately benefiting both customers and organizations.

Current State of the MultiCaaS Industry

Most of the leading native UCaaS and collaboration providers have now developed their own native CCaaS offerings to complete the MultiCaaS solution for their clients, but many have yet to achieve the full breadth of CCaaS capability required by larger enterprise contact centers. Therefore, UCaaS providers have invested in sales channel partnerships and software integrations with the leading global CCaaS providers to meet advanced CX requirements.  

Similarly, leading global CCaaS providers are in different stages of their global UCaaS deployments, and some are opting to avoid the complexities of offering a full PSTN capable solution.  They all, however, have invested in achieving seamless integrations with solutions like MS Teams for telephony.

MultiCaaS Client Use Case

A leading global consumer products company with multiple product lines transitioned from a premises-based Avaya PBX and Contact Center platform to a MutliCaaS enabled service provider.  The MultiCaaS capability enabled a single global PBX with the ability to add contact center agents from around the world into the single global tenant.  The result is a highly efficient corporate voice platform with advanced contact center features and the ability to integrate any corporate user into the contact center platform.  The result is enhanced User and Customer Experience, enabling questions to be quickly answered, problems to be easily addressed, and enhanced reporting across the customer journey.

The above example included a transition from a legacy voice and contact center platform, directly into a MultiCaaS solution.  The global cost savings to IT in this case was a reduction in technology spend by over 50% and a ROI case that was celebrated by executive leadership.

MultiCaaS Summary

Macronet Services coined the term MultiCaaS when the first service providers began to combine UCaaS and CCaaS functionality.  Today, MultiCaaS optimizes communication, collaboration, and customer service, ultimately contributing to a more efficient and effective contact center. By embracing MultiCaaS, organizations can enhance their ROI and deliver exceptional experiences to both customers and agents.  

The team at Macronet Services is highly experienced in leading our clients to the right solutions to propel their business to the next level, and report on the ROI.  Please take a look at our resources including our CCaaS RFP template and our Network Design Strategy Playbook.  Please Contact Us anytime for a conversation about how we can help!