Roadmap for Selecting a Contact Center Infrastructure Solution

Transcription

1 Roadmap for Selecting a Contact Center Infrastructure Solution June 2012 Sponsored By:

2 Table of Contents Getting Started with a Contact Center Infrastructure Selection Process... 1 The RFP Process... 2 Building a Contact Center Infrastructure Decision Matrix... 2 The Scoring Process... 4 Commercializing the Contact Center Selection Process... 5 Building a Partnership with your Vendor i DMG Consulting LLC

3 Getting Started with a Contact Center Infrastructure Selection Process The time has come to acquire, replace or upgrade your contact center solution and supporting applications. It s a buyer s market, due to the maturation of cloud-based contact center infrastructure providers who have entered the market with competitive offerings. Take advantage of this opportunity by including both premise-based and cloud-based solutions in your contact center infrastructure selection process. While this may add some complexity to your financial and technical analysis, it greatly expands your options and improves your negotiating leverage. Execute the RFI Process A decision of this magnitude one that will be important to your enterprise and contact center for the next 12 months to 8 years should be based on a rigorous selection process. This means that you should set up a contact center infrastructure selection committee with representatives from the business, IT, and possibly finance. This team should draft a high-level request for information (RFI) document that reflects all current and expected short and long-term requirements. These requirements should be used to identify 3 to 6 vendors that can meet your IT and functional requirements and are aligned with your operational expectations and culture. Once they are identified, reach out to these vendors and request a formal presentation and demo for all team members. This is the first stage of the selection process. While it s often done somewhat informally, it is an essential step for identifying the right solutions to include in your request for proposal (RFP). When the RFI process is over, you should have a list of 3 to 5 vendors that can meet your organization s contact center infrastructure needs today and for the next 5 to 8 years. All of the vendors on the list should be viable options. Once you ve identified the right competitors, your selection process is bound to be successful. Now, here is where it gets interesting. During the RFI process, team members are likely to speak with other contact center infrastructure vendors with whom they have a relationship with or whom they prefer, for a variety of good and bad reasons. These vendors will try to subvert the process and, if allowed, can succeed in derailing an objective selection. Unless you are a government agency and have no choice but to respond to the interlopers, avoid them. If their capabilities and reputation had been strong enough, they would have come out as favored candidates during the RFI selection process DMG Consulting LLC

4 The RFP Process The RFP process is more complex and time consuming than the RFI step. For an RFP to be done properly, the selection team needs to work with the business and IT groups to identify and prepare a detailed document that explains the current and planned business and technical environment. The document should list all of technical, functional and operational requirements and ask for detailed information about how each vendor can address these needs, as well as their time frames and cost for making it happen. The RFP may vary in length from 10 pages to over 100, but make each question count. The purpose of the RFP is not to torture vendors, but to solicit information that will enable the selection team to identify technical, operational, functional and financial differentiators. (The best RFPs dedicate significant space to explaining the proposed operating environment, as this information helps vendors propose realistic and cost-effective solutions. Once finalized and clarified, vendor RFP responses can be attached to the vendor contract to show all of the vendor s commitments and promises this approach helps eliminate misunderstandings, which is necessary to build a strong working relationship with the selected vendor.) There s another step that DMG has found to be a best practice for a contact center infrastructure selection process, albeit one that is a bit unorthodox. While the vendors are responding to the RFP, invite them to demo their solution for your IT and business administrators and/or support staff. (It is ideal if the demos can be conducted on a site that is similar in function and scale. If the vendor can t accommodate this request, it tells you quite a bit about them, as well.) Of course, the team members involved in these demos are scouts and influencers, not the decision-makers. This will give your team an opportunity to experience each of the solutions, but limit each vendor s ability to inappropriately influence the decision by building a personal relationship with one of these scouts. This will also keep the vendors busy and hopefully away from the more senior members of the selection team. The scouts and influencers should be asked to rate 1 to 3 categories in the evaluation matrix. The categories will likely include ease of use, system administration and system flexibility. This will allow them to make a difference in the overall scoring, but not dominate it. Building a Contact Center Infrastructure Decision Matrix An important step in the RFP process, one that is frequently skipped, is building a formal analytic matrix. This is an Excel-based model that the selection team uses to score each component and capability of the solutions included in the RFP process DMG Consulting LLC

5 Every question in the RFP should map back to one of the categories in the analytical model. Each category should consist of 1 to 10 questions. The weighting process is also important. The contact center infrastructure selection team should work together to assign weights to each question within a section. Then each section should be weighted, as well. See Figure 1 for an example. Figure 1: Contact Center Selection Decision Model The typical high-level criteria included in contact center infrastructure decision matrices are listed in Figure 2. However, the specifics within each section depend upon the needs of your organization, and should be decided by the selection team DMG Consulting LLC

6 Figure 2: Contact Center Infrastructure Decision Framework Criteria Criteria Technology and architecture Security Core platform Management applications Supporting applications Agent functional requirements Supervisory requirements System administration Customer references Post-sales support/ongoing maintenance Cost/TCO/ROI The Scoring Process Scoring the RFPs will bring out the best and worst in team members, which is why it s essential to create the analytic model and perform the weighting before the RFP responses are received. (Otherwise, people will tend to slant the weights to favor their preferred provider.) Once the RFP responses are sent back, sub-groups, consisting of three to five people, should carefully read each proposal and score each item in the matrix on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being worst and 10 best). Each member of the sub-group should perform this task independently, and then meet as a group to reach consensus for each line item in the selection matrix. This is not going to be easy, but it is an essential step. It may take two to three rounds to achieve a consensus, but this is time well spent. This process forces team members to explain their priorities and preferences about the inevitable trade-offs. Once consensus is reached, the two top vendors should be invited in to give a formal presentation and demo. The selection team should create a list of topics for each vendor to address and capabilities to be presented. The team should also ask each contender to address any and all areas that are not fully understood. Each of the two finalists should be given a 3-hour window to present their value proposition and explain why they are the right choice. DMG recommends doing both sessions in a single day so DMG Consulting LLC

7 that the information is fresh. The next morning, the full selection team should meet and pick the winner and runner-up. Both vendors should be notified immediately of the team s decision. When the vendors are notified, both should be put on notice that you reserve the right to change your mind and negotiate with the runner-up if the final pricing and contract negotiations with the preferred provider are not successful. To keep the momentum going, these negotiations should begin immediately. Commercializing the Contact Center Selection Process Once the selection is complete, contact center negotiations and contract specialists should take over. In most cases, it will speed up the process and result in more favorable contract terms if you bring in the professionals, to prevent vendors from taking advantage of business and IT leaders, who usually are neither experienced nor professional negotiators. Figure 3 lists the key issues that need to be addressed during negotiations and some tips for getting the best deal. Figure 3: Negotiating Tips Price Key Issues Service levels Definition of a successful implementation Implementation time frames Key responsibilities for Tips Do not allow the vendor to finalize the price until all other terms are addressed; be prepared to address the pricing issues multiple times as requirements are refined. Vendors will try not to make these commitments; do not sign a contract without them. The best way to establish a good working relationship is to have well-defined expectations and guidelines for performance. Set expectations for timing and service levels, but be willing to consider paying a bonus if the implementation is done on time and within budget. This could move you to the front of the line and result in your getting the best resources. Document implementation start, end, and all notable dates and milestones. All responsibilities and time frames should be in writing. Document exactly what is expected from the business, IT and DMG Consulting LLC

8 Key Issues vendor and business Implementation resources Customized implementation plan Integrations Customizations Bandwidth Network service providers Contingency/Back-up Support commitments Reporting requirements Training Tips the vendor for each stage of the implementation and on an ongoing basis. This is important for premise-based implementations and critical for cloud-based initiatives because few companies have experience with them. Document exactly who is responsible for each implementation step. If you don t like the planned resources, ask for a change before the contract is signed. Carefully review the implementation plan. Ask for any changes before the contract is signed. Document all integration requirements and costs before the contract is signed. Include all required customizations along with their high-level specifications in the purchase agreement. Determine who is responsible for measuring and monitoring quality of service (QoS) on an ongoing basis. Identify and document all carrier changes and who is responsible for placing orders. Document and agree to contingency and back-up approaches and related costs and responsibilities, and include this information in the purchase agreement. Review and agree to what the vendor offers or specify exactly what you expect service levels and time frames for all types of issues. Identify and document all custom reporting requirements, responsibilities and delivery time frames. Specify and describe all training for IT and the business (administrators, managers, agents, etc.) DMG Consulting LLC

9 Building a Partnership with your Vendor You re likely to be living with your contact center infrastructure solution for many years. Therefore, it s a good idea to start building a good relationship with the selected vendor immediately, upon completion of the contract and pricing negotiations. (This is also an important reason why business and IT leaders should not be directly engaged in the negotiations.) Until the contract is signed, it s all about what the vendor can do for your business. The moment that the contract is finalized, it s time to build a mutually beneficial relationship. If you are going to be successful during the implementation and on an ongoing basis, you will need to work together. Meet right away and find out from the vendor what your business needs to do to make the implementation successful. Regardless of whether this is a premise-based or cloud-based implementation, the business will need to address QoS, to ensure that they have adequate network and carrier connectivity and capacity and the appropriate internal resources to get the job done right and on schedule. These steps will set the stage for a strong and positive partnership with your vendor DMG Consulting LLC

10 About Five 9 Five9 is the leading global provider of cloud-based contact center software for sales, marketing and support. The award-winning Five9 Virtual Contact Center and Predictive Dialer serve customers of all sizes on five continents. Customers profit from Five9 s reliable, robust functionality that provides the best technology, improves agent productivity, and delivers business flexibility. For more information on Five9, please visit or call Facebook: About DMG Consulting DMG Consulting is the leading provider of contact center and analytics research, market analysis and consulting services. DMG s mission is to help end users build world-class, differentiated contact centers and assist vendors in developing high-value solutions for the market. DMG devotes more than 10,000 hours annually to researching various segments of the contact center market, including vendors, solutions, technologies, best practices, and the benefits and ROI for end users. DMG is an independent firm that provides information and consulting services to contact center management, the financial and investment community, and vendors in the market. More information about DMG Consulting LLC can be found at DMG Consulting LLC

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