3CLogic_Logo
Get a demo
  • Contact Us
search 3CLogic.com
  • Product
    • Features
      • Voice-Enabled Self-Service
      • CTI
      • IVR Designer
      • IVR Analytics
      • Speech Analytics
      • SMS
      • Reporting
      • Automated Dialers
    • Deployment Options
      • 3CLogic Total Cloud
      • 3CLogic Hybrid Cloud
      • 3CLogic Cisco Connector
      • 3CLogic for Avaya Aura Call Center Connector
      • 3CLogic Genesys Connector
    • Customer Support
    • Security and Compliance
    • Why 3CLogic
  • Solutions
    • Customer Service
    • IT Support
    • Human Resources
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Contact Center
  • Integrations
    • ServiceNow
      • Customer Service Management
      • ITSM
      • Human Resources
      • Healthcare and Life Sciences
    • SAP
      • SAP Service Cloud
    • Salesforce
    • Microsoft
      • Dynamics 365 CRM
      • Microsoft Teams
    • Other
      • Verint
      • Sugar CRM
      • Zoom
  • Customers
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Learning Resources
    • Press Releases
    • Events
    • FAQs
    • Glossary
  • Company
    • About
    • Executive Team
    • Partners
    • Careers
3CLogic
Get a demo
search 3CLogic.com
close off-canvas menu
  • Product
    • Features
    • Deployment Options
    • Customer Support
    • Why 3CLogic
  • Solutions
    • Contact Center
  • Customers
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Learning Resources
    • Press Releases
    • Events
    • FAQs
    • Glossary
  • Company
    • About
    • Executive Team
    • Partners
    • Careers
  • Contact Us
Get a demo
3CLogic
Connect with 3CLogic on LinkedIn Follow 3CLogic on Facebook Follow 3CLogic on Twitter Subscribe to 3CLogic on YouTube
3CLogic's Contact Center Blog

Rethinking Legacy Systems: 3 Steps Customer Experience Leaders Can Take to Modernize the Service Experience

Posted by 3CLogic on Aug 12, 2022 8:00:00 AM
  • Tweet

Well-established processes are crucial for service desks and customer service centers. Relying on a standardized approach to tasks and operations helps to ensure that customers have positive experiences at every touchpoint. 

However, it’s easy to let the desire to remain consistent prevent organizations from seriously evaluating the technology they use. Why rock the boat and adopt a new platform for voice workflows if you’re able to get by with a legacy system that manages customer calls?

While it’s true that most organizations can make do with legacy systems, this approach typically leads to operational inefficiencies, frustrated agents, and a poor customer experience. Taking steps to avoid those pitfalls now can really pay off. To understand why, it’s important to first explore the use of legacy call center systems today. 

What Is a Legacy System And Why Is It Problematic In Customer Service?

Many service departments leverage legacy systems, meaning systems that are built on obsolete technology and incapable of offering the type of flexibility that newer solutions do. In some cases, these outdated tools are on-premise systems that don’t integrate — at least not easily — with other tools. This situation is actually quite prevalent. 

According to Contact Center Pipeline, it’s common for organizations to be running applications on legacy systems that were developed decades ago. This often leads to a significant amount of tedious work for agents and ultimately contributes to retention issues.

Increasingly, service desks and customer service centers are feeling the effects of outdated phone systems. ICMI research reveals that respondents say the most significant pain point standing in the way of meeting customer needs and expectations was the complexity of legacy systems. 

 

Pull-quote that reads: "The most significant pain point standing in the way of meeting customer needs and expectations is the complexity of legacy systems."

A huge part of the issue is that a legacy system is somewhat stagnant — it doesn’t have the same access to upgrades as its more modern counterparts. While it may be possible to integrate a legacy system with your other technologies, you typically need to use application connectors or even custom code to make it happen. Yet, this is really just a band-aid fix for a massive issue. 

It’s also important to consider what types of customer inquiries today’s agents are navigating. ICMI research shows that 47% of contact centers are facing more complex customer issues than they were a few years ago. Agents need easy access to customer information to help navigate complex problems, but that just isn’t possible when they’re using a legacy phone system that isn’t able to pull relevant information from the primary system of record their organization leverages. 

All in all, there are a number of legacy system issues that you should take into consideration:

  • Ineffective or non-actionable disaster recovery plans
  • Longer wait times and higher abandon rates
  • Ongoing maintenance and costly, customized upgrades
  • Inefficiencies that degrade the employee experience
  • Lengthy training required to ensure employee proficiency

Clearly, the status quo isn’t working. Legacy call center solutions just aren’t capable of providing organizations with all the functionality they need. 

Should Customer Experience Leaders Upgrade From A Legacy System?

There’s no arguing the fact that legacy systems often prevent service desks and customer experience centers from reaching their full potential. So, why are legacy systems still used? 

For starters, it can be intimidating to replace something that’s been in place for so many years. Not everyone is so quick to believe that a modern voice solution will truly improve operations and performance. But it’s worth considering how others in the industry think about technology investments. 

In ICMI’s inaugural State of the Contact Center report, respondents cited the following as the top motivations for making technology upgrades:

  • Improving the customer experience (49%)
  • Reducing costs (39%)
  • Growing the customer base (38%)
  • Continuing to improve processes (36%)

The idea of reducing operational costs might not sound feasible, but you’d be surprised what you can achieve if you invest in the right solution. One health care system was able to save the equivalent of 18 full-time employees’ salaries annually by switching from a disparate, on-premise call center platform to a cloud-based voice solution that integrates with their primary system of record. An IT leader was even able to eliminate 45,000 emails within the first year of implementing integrated voice and SMS workflows for ServiceNow. 

These aren’t estimates or potential outcomes — they’re real results. Your organization stands to similarly benefit. 

What Actions Can Customer Experience Leaders Take To Remedy Their Legacy System Issues?

If you’re ready to rethink your legacy system in favor of a modern voice solution that better fits your organization’s needs, it’s time to think about how to proceed. The first step is to select which platform will serve as your single source of truth. 

 

Graphic about how to upgrade a legacy system that lists: determine your primary system of record, know what you need in a solution to replace your legacy system, and select and deploy the right solution

1. Determine Your Primary System Of Record

While many service desks and customer service centers leverage multiple systems that each store data separately, there’s usually one system that’s more complete than the others. It’s often a customer relationship management (CRM) system, a service management platform, or something similar. Regardless of the specific platform, make sure you identify it as your primary system of record.

By establishing which system will serve as the single source of truth, you can better understand both its strengths and limitations. For example, your system of record might include data management, digital channels, analytics, and an agent workspace but lack voice and SMS capabilities. 

2. Know What You Need In A Solution To Replace Your Legacy System

With your primary system of record identified, you can focus on solving for what’s lacking. If you’re leveraging a platform like ServiceNow, Salesforce, or Microsoft Dynamics 365, you could benefit from incorporating a solution with advanced voice and SMS features, such as voice self-service, intelligent call workflows, two-way SMS, and conversational analytics.

Bear in mind that more features aren’t always better. If your voice solution and primary system of record have overlapping features, that leads to redundancies and siloed data.

3. Select And Deploy The Right Solution

Comparing solutions can take some time, and that’s OK. Be thoughtful as you evaluate options, and be sure to pay particular attention to integrations. The best voice solution will ultimately be one that integrates seamlessly with your primary system of record to provide supervisors and agents with a unified view of the customer and minimize the amount of time agents have to spend switching between different screens.

You might even look into how different providers approach contact center deployment. Will they work to fully understand your organization’s needs? Will they guide you through the process? Will they provide technical support throughout the relationship? 

Implementing a new solution to replace a legacy system is a big change, so make sure you have access to exceptional customer support services that make the process as seamless as possible. 

Start The Process Of Sunsetting Your Legacy System

Legacy systems for voice might be the norm, but they’re not delivering the flexibility and efficiency that service departments need. Customers, agents, and even customer experience leaders like you can all benefit from a more modern solution. With the right platform, improving operations is almost inevitable.

If you’re still unsure of whether now is the right time to upgrade your existing call center platform, it’s important to know that you have options. Some voice solutions can be deployed in a number of ways to meet you wherever you are in your digital transformation. Explore 3CLogic’s contact center deployment models guide to learn more.

Topics: voice, contact center technology, customer service management, digital transformation, SMS

3CLogic

Written by 3CLogic

Subscribe by Email

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

  • customer service (59)
  • call center (50)
  • contact center (37)
  • call center software (29)
  • customer experience (23)
  • crm integration (22)
  • ServiceNow (18)
  • cloud call center (18)
  • contact center solution (17)
  • CRM (16)
  • best business practices (15)
  • contact center software (15)
  • multichannel contact center (14)
  • cloud based call center (13)
  • cloud based contact center (13)
  • remote agents (12)
  • IVR (11)
  • customer support (11)
  • call center software features (10)
  • multichannel communications (10)
  • SaaS (9)
  • contact center integrations (9)
  • customer service management (9)
  • sales (9)
  • self-service (9)
  • customer service team (8)
  • multichannel call center (8)
  • omnichannel (8)
  • scalability (8)
  • voice platform (8)
  • IVR technology (7)
  • SugarCRM (7)
  • call center scalability (7)
  • cloud based solution (7)
  • cloud call center solution (7)
  • cloud security (7)
  • contact center technology (7)
  • customer satisfaction (7)
  • employee retention (7)
  • first call resolution (7)
  • outbound sales (7)
  • social media (7)
  • telephony CRM integration (7)
  • 360 view (6)
  • agent retention (6)
  • artificial intelligence (6)
  • cloud customer service (6)
  • cloud customer support (6)
  • interactive voice response (6)
  • voice (6)
  • CSM (5)
  • CTI (5)
  • call center solutions (5)
  • cloud based (5)
  • cloud computing (5)
  • crm software (5)
  • hybrid cloud (5)
  • reporting and analytics (5)
  • small business solution (5)
  • VOIP (4)
  • VTAG (4)
  • agent coaching (4)
  • agent training (4)
  • at-home agents (4)
  • automation (4)
  • big data (4)
  • call blast (4)
  • cloud (4)
  • contact center solutions (4)
  • customer engagement (4)
  • customer relationship (4)
  • digital transformation (4)
  • predictive dialer (4)
  • redundant systems (4)
  • sales campaign (4)
  • service management (4)
  • tcpa (4)
  • tcpa compliance (4)
  • technology (4)
  • virtual agents (4)
  • voice AI (4)
  • work from home (4)
  • B2B marketing (3)
  • COVID19 (3)
  • Knowledge16 (3)
  • ServiceNow CTI (3)
  • WebRTC (3)
  • chat (3)
  • cloud contact center (3)
  • cold calling (3)
  • contact channels (3)
  • customer service experience (3)
  • digital workflows (3)
  • digitaltransformation (3)
  • fully redundant software (3)
  • intelligent routing (3)
  • mobile (3)
  • multichannel (3)
  • outbound (3)
  • outbound call center (3)
  • outbound campaign (3)
  • service delivery (3)
  • social customer care (3)
  • software (3)
  • speech analytics (3)
  • technical support (3)
  • text (3)
  • voice self-service (3)
  • DX (2)
  • ITSM (2)
  • IVR menu (2)
  • Inside sales (2)
  • Natural Language Processing (2)
  • SMS (2)
  • agent attrition (2)
  • agent productivity (2)
  • agent turnover (2)
  • auto-attendant for call center (2)
  • business intelligence (2)
  • call center agent (2)
  • call center compliance (2)
  • call center scripts (2)
  • call center solution (2)
  • call center technology (2)
  • call handling procedures (2)
  • call scripts (2)
  • cloud contact center solution (2)
  • computer telephony integration (2)
  • contact center trends (2)
  • cost savings (2)
  • custom crm integration (2)
  • customer service trends (2)
  • dynamic scripting (2)
  • email (2)
  • employee engagement (2)
  • employee turnover (2)
  • enterprise communications (2)
  • fault tolerance (2)
  • gamification (2)
  • high call volume (2)
  • improve customer service (2)
  • inbound (2)
  • increased call volume (2)
  • integration (2)
  • knowledge base (2)
  • knowledge management (2)
  • machine learning (2)
  • no centralized server (2)
  • pci compliance (2)
  • personalized customer service (2)
  • personalizing customer service (2)
  • public cloud (2)
  • saas integrations (2)
  • sales prospecting (2)
  • sentiment analysis (2)
  • software support (2)
  • third-party integrations (2)
  • virtual assist (2)
  • voip crm integrated contact center (2)
  • webinar (2)
  • work force management (2)
  • workforce management (2)
  • workforce optimization (2)
  • AI (1)
  • ASA (1)
  • B2C (1)
  • CTI Connector (1)
  • Cloud Communication (1)
  • Customer Experience Management (1)
  • FCR (1)
  • Knowledge18 (1)
  • Microsoft Dynamics (1)
  • Microsoft Teams (1)
  • Millennial Consumers (1)
  • On-Premise (1)
  • PCI (1)
  • Product Launch (1)
  • SAP (1)
  • SLA (1)
  • ServiceNow HCLS (1)
  • SugarCon (1)
  • after call work (1)
  • attriction rate (1)
  • auto-dialer (1)
  • bad customer service (1)
  • banking industry (1)
  • best practices (1)
  • blended contact center software (1)
  • bpo (1)
  • business technology (1)
  • call abandonment (1)
  • call center management (1)
  • call center reporting (1)
  • call center security (1)
  • call volume (1)
  • call-back (1)
  • citizen services (1)
  • contact center attrition (1)
  • crm integrator (1)
  • cross-sell (1)
  • customer journey (1)
  • customer loyalty (1)
  • customer service metrics (1)
  • customer service rep (1)
  • cx (1)
  • data recovery (1)
  • database management integrations (1)
  • edge computing (1)
  • employee satisfaction (1)
  • engaging work environment (1)
  • financial services industry (1)
  • frustrating customer service (1)
  • grid computing (1)
  • healthcare (1)
  • help center (1)
  • helpdesk (1)
  • high attrition (1)
  • hold times (1)
  • holiday customer service (1)
  • holiday season (1)
  • hyrbird cloud (1)
  • inbound calls (1)
  • inbound contact center (1)
  • infusionsoft dialer software (1)
  • interactive voice response menu (1)
  • kpis (1)
  • lead conversion (1)
  • lead tracking (1)
  • marketing automation (1)
  • mobile trends (1)
  • multichannel customer care (1)
  • multichannel customer service (1)
  • on hold (1)
  • preview dialer (1)
  • real-time chat (1)
  • reliability (1)
  • remote contact center (1)
  • reporting (1)
  • sales best practices (1)
  • sales team (1)
  • sales tools (1)
  • salesforce dialer software (1)
  • security (1)
  • service level (1)
  • small contact center software (1)
  • social care (1)
  • sugarcrm integrator (1)
  • tcpa regulations (1)
  • telemarketing (1)
  • time in queue (1)
  • voice workflows (1)
  • wait on hold (1)
  • waiting on hold (1)
  • web self service (1)
  • wfo (1)
  • zoho dialer software (1)
See all
  • Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
  • IVR Analytics
  • Speech Analytics
  • Reporting
  • Automated Dialers
  • Contact Center
  • ServiceNow
  • Sugar CRM
  • Universal CTI
3CLogic-footer-logo
9201 Corporate Blvd., Suite 470
Rockville, MD 20850
(800) 350-8656
info@3CLogic.com
Connect with 3CLogic on LinkedIn Follow 3CLogic on Facebook Follow 3CLogic on Twitter Subscribe to 3CLogic on YouTube
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Security
© Copyright 2023 by 3CLogic. All rights reserved.
Now Certified App Availble on Microsoft AppSource Salesforce Partner Logo
Now Certified App Availble on Microsoft AppSource
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Security
© Copyright 2023 by 3CLogic. All rights reserved.