With the customer service landscape continuously evolving, contact center service providers face constant pressure to deliver enhanced experiences across multichannel environments. To meet these demands, they are increasingly looking for strategic partnerships. These collaborations unlock several benefits, enabling service providers to offer enterprises a wider range of capabilities, deeper expertise, and a global reach.
Lately, customers have been demanding seamless omnichannel experiences, personalized interactions, and instant resolutions. Service providers alone cannot cover this spectrum end to end. This is where partnerships come into play. By combining technologies with other players, service providers can leverage each other’s strengths to create a truly holistic customer service ecosystem.
Types of Partnerships Powering the Future of Contact Center Experience
- AI-powered Solutions
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- Sentiment analysis: Tools such as Observe.ai and CX Analytics (by NICE CXone) analyze agent-customer interactions in real time, detecting emotions and identifying opportunities for improvement. This allows service providers to offer proactive support and tailor responses to individual needs.
- Hyperpersonalization: Platforms such as Dynamic Yield and LivePerson utilize AI to personalize every interaction in the customer journey, recommending relevant content, offers, and support options based on individual preferences and past interactions. Another example is Personify, which personalizes chat conversations and interactions.
- Virtual assistants and chatbots: Advanced bots such as Ada and Drift empower service providers to automate routine tasks and answer simple questions, freeing up agents for complex issues and building efficient, 24/7 self-service options. Companies like Amazon Lex offer open-source chatbot development platforms to build custom bots.
- Predictive analytics: Companies like NICE CXone and CallMiner leverage AI to anticipate customer needs and potential issues. Genesys Predictive Engagement is another player in this space that helps predict when customers are likely to churn and take proactive steps to retain them.
- Gamification and Employee Engagement
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- Gamification platforms:AI and Ambition transform the agent experience with game-like challenges, rewards, and leaderboards. This fosters a positive work environment, boosts motivation, and improves agent performance and retention.
- Training: Tools such as Centrical and Axonify deliver small training modules accessible anytime, anywhere. This empowers service providers to upskill agents and equip them with the latest knowledge and best practices, leading to consistently high-quality customer interactions.
- Industry-specific Compliance and Security
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- Healthcare compliance: Companies like Health Catalyst and MEDITECH offer compliant communication solutions tailored to healthcare regulations such as Another player is MedStack, which specializes in secure healthcare communication platforms.
- Financial services security: Partners like RSA and Entrust provide financial institutions with secure communication channels and fraud prevention tools. For voice security specifically, NICE Security provides voice biometrics and fraud detection solutions.
- Omnichannel Engagement and Loyalty
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- Omnichannel loyalty programs: cxLoyalty and Aimia enable service providers to reward customers across every interaction channel, from voice calls to social media engagements. Other players in this space include Marketo and Oracle CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement, which offer broader marketing automation and loyalty program management solutions.
- Unified agent desktops: LiveChat and Zendesk integrate various communication channels into a single interface. This empowers agents to seamlessly handle customer inquiries from any touchpoint, delivering a consistent and efficient experience.
- Emerging Technologies
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- AR and VR: Companies like Strivr and VRdirect equip agents with AR/VR tools for simulated training scenarios and immersive customer support experiences. For example, Strivr Training uses VR to train call center agents in handling difficult customer interactions.
- Biometric authentication: Nuance Communications offers voice-based identification solutions for secure access and personalized service. Pindrop specializes in detecting and preventing voice fraud by analyzing call audio.
- Cloud Partnerships
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- Cloud contact center platforms: Companies like Amazon Connect, Genesys Cloud CX, and NICE CXone provide cloud-based infrastructure and software for running contact centers. These partnerships offer scalability, flexibility, and access to advanced features such as AI and analytics. Yellow.ai offers its conversational AI platform while Uniphore’s speech analytics solutions are also available in the cloud.
Why Partner with Tech Providers?
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- Filling skill gaps: Technology providers offer targeted solutions such as AI-powered sentiment analysis, hyperpersonalized chatbots, or industry-specific compliance tools. These partnerships help cover gaps, enabling service providers to offer holistic solutions tailored to unique client needs.
- Technology fusion: These partnerships open opportunities for innovative solutions including omnichannel support across voice, chat, social media, and even emerging channels like AR/VR. By combining expertise, service providers can stay ahead of the technology curve and deliver cutting-edge customer experiences.
- Shared innovation: Collaboration fosters a culture of cocreation, where partners share knowledge, resources, and ideas. This leads to developing new tools, techniques, and best practices that benefit both parties and ultimately trickle down to enhance the customer experience.
- Differentiation: Partnering with specialist technology providers makes enterprises stand out. They attract clients looking for unique experiences and expertise, becoming the go-to partner for specific groups and particular customer needs.
Figure 1: Some examples of service providers leveraging partnerships to enhance their CX services, from Avasant Contact Center BPT 2023–2024 RadarView
Looking Ahead
The core of contact center transformation lies in the strategic collaboration between service providers and niche technology providers. This partnership explores diverse use cases, from AI solutions and gamification to compliance tools and omnichannel strategies, including AR/VR and biometrics. Each partnership contributes uniquely to delivering exceptional CX, bridging skill gaps, driving innovation, and enabling providers to offer personalized, proactive, and efficient service.
Looking ahead, the cloud stands out as a pivotal orchestrator, facilitating this collaborative effort. Cloud-based platforms and niche technologies provide scalability and integration, nurturing an innovative ecosystem.
By leveraging the agility and expertise of niche tech partners, service providers can explore new possibilities, surpass customer expectations, and create unparalleled customer experiences.
By Surya Teja, Senior Research Analyst, Avasant, and Aditya Jain, Research Leader, Avasant