Contact Center as a Service is a cloud-based communications platform with advanced features designed to help businesses manage their customer interactions through different channels (e.g., voice, SMS, webchat, email, and WhatsApp). It also includes quality management tools like reporting, analytics, monitoring, evaluations, and surveys along with workforce management tools to help businesses ensure a good customer experience.

Although the software's origins began in formal call agent contact centers, businesses of all sizes in all industries see the need to improve their customer experience to retain customers, drive revenue, and remain competitive. Businesses who need a Contact Center solution need advanced tools that let them better manage their customer communications while helping their customer-facing employees be more efficient and effective in their interactions.

Typical business phone systems include simple call routing using auto attendants (e.g., "press 1 for sales", "press 2 for support"), hunt groups that distribute calls to a group of users, and basic reporting to show hold times/talk times, etc. Contact Center software solutions offers advanced call features like:

• Interactive voice response to route calls based on customer information, priority, and skill
• Multichannel management for voice, email, webchat, texting, and social media
• Self-service options to allow customers to complete requests without an employee
• Artificial intelligence and deeper reporting tools to assist with analysis
• CRM integrations to improve call routing and personalize customer interactions

Businesses consider purchasing Contact Center software when it becomes harder to manage the volume of inbound customer communications and they start to miss more calls, experience higher hold times, and lose customers to their competition. Businesses also purchase Contact Center services to differentiate themselves from their competition. They want to offer more communications channels, self-service options, and better personalization so customers choose them over other businesses.

While there are great benefits from using Intermedia's Unified Communications software (called Unite) and hosted Contact Center together, it's not required. Contact Center can work "over the top" of your existing UCaaS or on-premises phone system.

More businesses want to integrate their UCaaS and Contact Center software to simplify their call communications tech stack down to one application for employees. It also improves customer experience since customer-facing employees can easily collaborate with subject matter experts in the organization to quickly resolve customer inquiries. Businesses can also capture significant savings by purchasing their communications support from one provider.