Differentiate Yourself with Vertical Contact Center Solutions

Let’s face it: it’s getting harder to sell a phone system. Business customers no longer care what label is on the phone, and they rarely want to lay out an additional expenditure for new hardware. Instead, they care about business outcomes and results. In the case of a contact center solution, they want to know what it does—whether it integrates with their back-office systems and tools, and if it fits into their overall, often legacy, environment. They want a customized and easy-to-deploy software-based system that allows agents to deliver a more satisfying customer service experience. Why? Because it ultimately translates into more business. Offering features that enhance the ability of a business to expediently and holistically resolve customer issues is a clear path to increased revenues for VARs, MSPs, or IT Solutions Providers.

Though the path to contact center revenue is clear, the choices involved may not be. Solutions that solve for a business' unique situation differ dramatically from industry to industry. This is where partners like you can implement a vertical approach to pivot challenges into tangible, lucrative opportunities.

Are You Speaking the Customer's Language? 

Rather than speaking to every potential (or existing) customer the same way, you can create and highlight customized solutions that serve specific vertical market needs. It's a strategy that's proven successful because customers and prospective relationships see that you understand their needs and more importantly know how to meet them.

We find that the more we speak the precise language of a vertical segment, the better response we get from the business. If you can master a level of personalization and customization that resonates with a particular market—say healthcare, financial services, government, or professional services—you’ll be ahead of the game. Taking it one step further, if you're ready to promote a proven template or use case, you can command the attention of even the most inaccessible or hard to impress stakeholders.

As you wade through an increasingly crowded ocean of competitors, it’s an ability that can differentiate you as more than "just" a technology solutions provider. Instead, customers will turn to you as an expert in your field and a trusted advisor.

Customized Contact Center Positioning by Vertical

• Healthcare: When designing a system for a healthcare company, it’s imperative that the solution be expressly responsive to incoming calls, since patients are likely to have urgent needs. Emergency calls can’t go to voicemail.
• Government: A government agency may require a more complex hierarchy that can discern the urgency of a caller’s issue through integration with back office data. Calls can then be assigned an appropriate level of response or routed to a particular caseworker.
• Professional Services: A global professional services company may need to identify and transfer callers to internal service groups that speak different languages.

While certain Contact Center and Unified Communications needs may overlap from one industry to the next, you should speak to each unique audience in a language they understand, using their vernacular, as well as relevant value propositions, benefits, and case studies. Once you’ve successfully deployed a vertical market contact center solution, you can use the proven example to open doors at organizations that will recognize the immediate value you'll bring them. You’ll be prepared to articulate how your solution's advantages address and align with that segment's needs, and deliver a concrete illustration of the results.

To be clear, we’re not advocating the replication of the same system for every customer in each vertical by any means. We firmly assert the value of creating a customized solution for every business—and frankly, business customers demand it.  

What we are saying is that if you develop an expertise in a specific vertical, it will pave the way to generate additional business in that market, allowing you to tweak each solution for the individual customer. Start by identifying several fields that present the most sensible match for your business model, and begin customizing your approach. Opportunity by differentiation awaits!