The pressure to stay up to date has never been greater, with the hype of AI reaching its peak in a business climate that has been marked by consistently high inflation and business costs. The sense of urgency to completely restructure when confronted with advances in technology that are perceived to be competitive, can increase pressure to adopt a complete, end-to-end solution.
However, a complete overhaul of IT infrastructure and core business operation systems poses significant risks. These include disruption to operations, losses on existing infrastructure investment as well as regulatory and security concerns for data. When considering cloud versus on-premises as an all-or-nothing decision, these uncertainties can stop consideration of the cloud in its tracks.
Neal McMahon leads Avaya’s UCaaS sales efforts in the UK and Ireland.
Risks of full cloud transformation
A wholesale cloud migration can be complicated and requires a complete assessment of existing privacy and data configurations including where the data is stored, if it crosses borders and the quality of a cloud service provider’s assurances about security and governance. This is further complicated if enterprises have customers in one part of the world, data in another, and contact center operations in a third.
Larger enterprises operating in multiple industries may see variations in security and privacy requirements depending on the field. Regulations and compliance practices that cover even a portion of operations can be seen as a hindrance to a full-scale migration.
Most contact centers have existing investments with certain features, particularly voice, that work just fine and a “rip-and-replace” move to the cloud would be disruptive.
Of course, none of these challenges are insurmountable, and a full-cloud transformation may still be the preferred option in some cases, but the risks are worth bearing in mind. For those who aren’t ready to move entirely to the cloud, though, there is a middle ground – a hybrid model that gives enterprises access to innovative features without the disruption of throwing away what works.
Realizing the advantages of a hybrid model
With a hybrid model, existing investments can be enhanced with new cloud capabilities at a measured pace, according to organizational preferences. That allows an enterprise to capture incremental gains in a “step-migration” fashion, accelerating time-to-value. It also minimises the negative impacts of change management processes. In essence, a hybrid deployment can be seen as a migration, rather than a transformation.
Hybrid deployments provide a balanced approach to dealing with issues of control, performance and scale in a way that can be customized to an enterprise’s specific situation and needs. With a hybrid approach, an enterprise can harness new and future technology advances that have growth-related impacts on employee and customer experiences. It becomes possible to future-proof without causing disruption.
Many companies have a serious investment in existing on-premises processes, often developed at great expense over time. A hybrid approach lets an organization preserve what works while still experimenting with new ideas. The enterprise retains control over key systems, and resources are dedicated to the organization rather than shared among many companies, as in a public cloud.
Dividing capabilities among cloud and on-premises or private cloud can improve reliability by distributing services across different data centers and systems. IT teams can maximize the value of existing investments by managing technology until it legitimately reaches the end of its useful life span or plan a staged transition over a longer period of time. On-premises systems are often customized and configured with details that are unique to an organization’s business situation. Hybridizing preserves these customizations in existing call flows, processes, and staff training. Existing voice infrastructure can remain in place while integrated digital channels are added to the mix. These new channels can then be tested in the customer base without fear of abandoning them if they prove ineffective.
By using the cloud to run a proof of concept or test a new technology or process in the cloud, an enterprise avoids incurring the capital expense of adding the process to an on-premises system or ditching the on-premises system altogether. It becomes possible to run a short-term campaign testing a new offer, service or promotion where customers use voice or digital to contact the hybrid system for agent handling. This flexibility also allows enterprises to utilize tools and technologies that have a limited life cycle or do not meet requirements for capital expenses, such as deploying an AI chatbot or analytics applications.
The case for a gradual migration via hybrid cloud deployment
The cloud is not a monolithic entity that provides only one option. By incorporating a hybrid element, an enterprise retains control while leaving the door open to full-scale migration on its own terms and at its own pace.
A hybrid model affords the opportunity to be innovative without being disruptive. Enterprises should look at it as a project to move business forward, but at a pace that fits best with objectives and culture. Keep what works, innovate where possible, and use key business goals as critical mileposts along your journey. Enterprises can migrate without having to completely transform and gain the benefits of the cloud without losing existing investments.
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