The Evolving Landscape for CCaaS Services in 2025

The Evolving Landscape for CCaaS Services in 2025

Tony:

Hello, today is Thursday, March 20th, 2025.  I’m Tony Mangino from TC2 and this is Staying Connected.

On today’s podcast we’re going to revisit one of our 2025 hot topic areas- Contact Center as a Service, or CCaaS.  I am joined today by LB3 Partner, Laura McDonald and TC2 Director Julie Gardner to discuss what we are observing as our clients go to market for these services in 2025 with all the AI buzz.

Laura and Julie- welcome.   

So, Julie let’s start with you, you spoke to us back several times in 2024 about CCaaS.  What has changed in the market?

Julie:

Thanks Tony.  We continue to see AI deliver feature functionality and efficiencies in areas like call transcription and summarization, predictive capabilities, trending topic detection, sentiment analysis, natural language Q&A, agent assist or next best action, and automated scoring.  These areas continue to provide some of the best use cases that can be tracked and measured against from an AI perspective.

Tony:

Are you seeing clients more open to using AI and what are the challenges when evaluating the various supplier offerings?

Julie:

Our clients are asking how AI and automation can deliver efficiency and improve both CX and EX.  We are seeing a shift from ‘let’s wait and see’ to a ‘we need to get on board’ attitude.  As AI offerings in the CCaaS space mature, the providers are finding ways to monetize their investments.  And different suppliers monetize in different ways…token consumption, per named user, per concurrent user and per API call.  It’s critical that you understand how CCaaS offerings that leverage AI are priced and you have a total cost of ownership model that accounts for your particular demand and use cases.  B/c pricing models vary by supplier and it’s a net new service for most, it’s often difficult to estimate what the expected usage and cost will be.

Tony:

Interesting.  Are you seeing any changes in the key players?

Julie:

On the solution provider front, we continue to see Genesys, Five9 and Nice as the big three for enterprise users but there are certainly others.   It really comes down to size, footprint, use cases and integration requirements.

Tony

Laura, from a contracting perspective, any tips?

Laura:

CCaaS solutions have a lot to offer, and we are seeing more clients migrating from on-prem to cloud solutions.  Contact centers are often the primary customer interface, so enterprises want to get this right and minimize any disruption.  AI use cases are exciting both for improving the customer and agent experience but also for the data and learning opportunities they present, but they are also a bit of unchartered territory. 

From the contracting perspective, I’d recommend folks look at their contracts and potential contracts from three vantage points. 

1) What do you have now, when does it expires, and how long will it take to migrate.  You need to make sure that existing contracts and licenses are aligned, or if not aligned you know how that impacts your migration.

2) What do you need to get a good contract in place?  Julie mentions some key things above.  What pain points are you trying to solve and what features do you want to offer? Is this decision being driven solely by costs?  Is the Call center internal facing or customer facing.  Make sure you document those things and include them in your RFP/RFI and contract.  Don’t forget to include ramp up and ramp down provisions as well.

3) Future state – the technology and use cases will continue to evolve.  Migrating solutions is a lot of work, so you want to build a flexible contract to adapt to the changing needs of your business at an optimized cost. 

Tony:

So, what about AI, both you and Julie mention it.  How do you contract for AI when there is so much that is unknown?

Laura:

First, Enterprises need a general AI Policy – which should include a governance model that addresses data protection, intellectual property, liability, regulation and ethics, enforcement and create an ongoing governance board.  Then you need to find out what the suppliers are offering or say they have down the pike. 

Your contact should address the following: 

1) What data is being used and how sensitive is that information?

2) Where will the data reside and be collected? 

3) Will your data be fenced or will it be used for general purposes and training by the provider?

4) Do you need any consents and if so, who is responsible for those consents (by the way, you should always assume the answer is you)?

5) Will you need that data and is it subject to HIPAA or PCI or other protections? And related to that…

6) What are the applicable laws?  Many states have privacy and other laws that either apply or could apply.  Right now, it seems like California and the EU are the hotbeds for legislation and/or for cases involving the use of AI, so you need to think about where and who is accessing and providing data.  If the applicable laws change, what are your remedies?   Termination?  That’s tough but necessary, indemnification? That’s essential.  With AI, it is critical that you have your IT, legal, cybersecurity and data privacy teams engaged and aligned. 

Tony:

Julie, what has changed the way in which clients go to market for these services?

Julie:

We always recommend issuing an RFP, but the RFP you used for your on prem call center is not fit for purpose for a CCaaS solution.  Ultimately, your organization’s needs around managed services, implementation and integration will dictate the scope and structure of your RFP.  But, an RFP process will absolutely get you the best terms and conditions.  Also, be sure to include an in-depth solution demo in your sourcing process.  And I don’t mean 30 minutes with the vendor “showing” how things work.

Laura:

Tony, timing is always a factor, but it is REALLY a big factor in migrating from prem to cloud. Give yourself the runway to execute your preferred sourcing strategy, complete your contract negotiations and implement the new solution.  Start with knowing expiration dates and working backwards.  This takes time so ensure you have that runway to migrate based on your existing contract expirations.

Julie:

Great point Laura.  Solution providers and SIs will try to take advantage of compressed timelines by introducing nonstandard terms and conditions and running out the clock. 

Tony:
Thanks to you both for the great discussion today.  If you’d like to talk Laura, Julie, me, or any of our LB3 and TC2 colleagues about your CCaaS needs, please give us a call or send us an email.  You can also stay current by subscribing to Staying Connected, checking out our websites, and following us on LinkedIn.