Less than five months after calling off its attempt to purchase contact center provider Five9, Zoom has debuted its own Zoom Contact Center.
Zoom announced in July 2021 that it was purchasing Five9 for nearly $15 billion in an effort to break into the contact center market. Zoom has always had its roots in the business and enterprise market before becoming a household name as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the deal was seen as a way to refocus on those roots. That deal came up short, however, coming under a US national security review, and ultimately being abandoned in September 2021.
The company has continued on with its own plans, unveiling Zoom Contact Center. According to Zoom, what sets apart its new service is a focus on video, as opposed to primarily audio.
“Unlike most contact center technologies that are only optimized for voice, Zoom Contact Center is the first omnichannel contact center solution that is optimized for video and intentionally supports a robust suite of channels, such as voice and video (with SMS and webchat in beta for upcoming launch),” writes Sydney Sloan, Head of Product Marketing.
The new product can be used as a standalone customer solution, or integrated with existing websites and applications. In addition, the solution is designed to be scalable, with customers only paying for the support they need.
Companies are already reaping benefits from the new platform.
With Zoom Contact Center, our contact center supervisors have the ability to organize service representatives based on skills, so when a member reaches out, we can now route their inquiries directly to experts that are equipped to handle their unique needs. A process that would previously require multiple service representatives can now be accelerated and streamlined into a single conversation. We’ve seen our overall call time and pick-up time improve significantly as we provide more efficient resolution and a better experience for our members.
Chris Neal, Senior Vice President Operations, First Federal Credit Union
Zoom Contact Center is already available in the US and Canada, with international support planned for later in 2022.
