When building or outfitting a contact center, the core question that must be answered is: what software provider or system is foundational? For decades, the fundamental element was the routing engine, but as technology moved to the cloud, the primacy of the voice ACD receded. As it did, it became possible to conceive of a tech stack that’s not organized around routing but instead is focused on data or automation tools. And as you expand the landscape of what’s foundational, you open the discussion to a wider group of enterprise IT stakeholders who (correctly) view the “new” contact center platforms as relevant well beyond that center.
In effect, modern contact centers are transitioning from their roots in interaction routing towards integrated customer experience (CX) platforms that combine communications with data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. And that’s opened the landscape to a significantly expanded group of software suppliers to outfit those centers. For enterprises, this promises to add functionality to existing operations, but at the same time, it makes the buying choices more complex.
The group of providers most likely to benefit from this expansion are CRM developers; chief among them is Zendesk, which describes itself as a “service-first” CRM provider. I translate that to mean “focused more than it used to be on the contact center and the interaction landscape.”
Zendesk’s current product evolution illustrates the extent of its transition. What began as a help-desk ticketing solution has become a layered platform architecture. There are three related platforms: Sunshine as the core, Sunshine Conversations for messaging and the Resolution Platform for AI. Atop these, Zendesk has built a literal contact center operational tool, Zendesk for Contact Center, using Amazon Connect as the voice routing substrate.
These platforms facilitate applications that are directly related to contact center operations: Support, for trouble ticketing; Guide, a knowledge base; Explore, an analytics engine; Workforce Engagement; and Quality Assurance. Taken together, they form a service ecosystem akin to what you would find in a solution from a modern Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) provider. One key difference from the way legacy contact center tools are positioned is that Zendesk is wrapping interaction-handling into the process of both resolving interactions and maximizing the effective outcomes of those interactions. This, I would argue, is the core difference between running a contact center and running a CX operation. And you can learn more about Zendesk in our analysis in the ISG Buyers Guide on Contact Centers.
This framing is important in the changed service environment. For one thing, it assumes (correctly I believe) that voice routing is a commodity that should not be the foundational element or the starting point when putting together a service tech stack. And for another, it separates voice call handling from digital interaction handling—there’s no reason that a legacy contact center provider should have any advantage when it comes to building modern self-service tools for digital interactions. Why would they? The latter are built on AI, workflows and conversational automation, not old IVR expertise. Those elements are a lot closer to the systems being deployed in wider enterprise contexts, systems whose platforms have been vetted and understood by IT teams and other line-of-business users. So, the argument could theoretically be that the contact center itself is an adjunct to a set of data-focused service processes, most of which are not related to communications. And where does that data live? Often enough, in the CRM or a related system.
ISG Research asserts that by 2029, enterprise CX software will be so spread across multiple departments outside the contact center that IT teams will be the main driver of purchasing to ensure consistency across the enterprise tech stack.
With employee service offerings for IT and HR, and conversational commerce tools that link service to revenue outcomes, Zendesk can plausibly present itself as a platform for enterprise-wide service delivery. For CIOs and CX leaders, this expands the conversation: the purchase of a “contact center” suite now carries implications for the broader data strategy, AI governance and enterprise workflows. Rather than compete as a traditional CCaaS provider defined by routing, Zendesk offers an “assembled” contact center alternative: Amazon for telephony, first-party applications for service and AI baked in.
This presents enterprises with intriguing choices. They can outfit a contact center with traditional legacy tools and have their CRM and data infrastructures sit alongside in a parallel tech stack. Or they can consolidate with either routing or CRM as the foundational platform, with one core provider managing both. (It is the case that some CCaaS providers do also provide CRM and data tools.) If the enterprise perceives stronger value in how their customer data is used to drive revenue and loyalty, then they might choose to organize around a CRM like Zendesk’s. That stance doesn’t preclude using traditional CCaaS for routing, AI or self-service, but it does offer the opportunity to explore how the contact center can be reframed, not just as an interaction-handling machine but as a hub for enterprise CX. In this case, Zendesk’s platform includes tools to automate, assist and measure service interactions across channels. The catch, if you consider it one, is that the onus is then on the enterprise to invest in wider technology to support that mission: knowledge management, journey management, sophisticated analytics and conversational AI. It’s certainly a serious transition for those running contact centers, but it’s one that’s inevitable.
We recommend that enterprises consider broader options for essential contact center technology, including CRM-based platforms like Zendesk’s.
Regards,
Keith Dawson