Tight integration matters as contact centres unite systems of interaction and record.

For decades, the contact centre has been defined by two distinct technology layers, each with its own purpose and pedigree.

By Luyolo Dungelo, Business Services Manager at Connect.

On one side, systems of interaction – tools that manage how agents communicate with customers, from voice calls and chat to social messaging.  

On the other, systems of record – the back-end platforms that store and organise the data that defines the customer relationship, from CRMs to case management systems.

Traditionally, these two worlds operated separately. In this legacy model, an agent taking a call or chat might need to swivel between screens – one to engage with the customer in real time, another to search for account details, order history, or previous tickets. 

However, as evolving customer expectations increasingly demand speed, personalisation, and consistency, this approach is no longer efficient. The friction doesn’t just slow resolution times; it undermines the quality of the conversation.

Creating a unified view.

In the dynamic new world of customer service, one of the most transformative developments underway is the convergence of these two historically separate domains. 

This shift is redefining how businesses engage with customers, streamline operations, and deliver service experiences that feel human yet are powered by intelligent automation, which demands tight, native integration between systems of interaction and record. 

But it’s not just about the agent experience on the front end. Seamless integration with the back end is also needed to enable data to flow both ways in real time to deliver consolidated, accurate and relevant customer information on the agent’s screen.  

The system must integrate tickets, all customer data points, which requires sanitised databases, CRM system information, transaction data, and all order and delivery information.

Moreover, native channel offerings, rather than integrated channels, are the foundation for true omnichannel experiences – the ability for agents to seamlessly pivot in a single conversation across voice and digital channels without a loss of context or relevance on one system.

The ability to see whether they are busy with an order, trying to complete a purchase with items in their cart, following up on a query or tracking an order is the key to creating intuitive and frictionless customer experiences that delight.   

A unified system empowers agents to personalise interactions instantly by seeing context and history at a glance, resolve issues faster without duplicate questions or data entry, and deliver consistent experiences across every channel, because all records are updated in sync. 

Data consolidation also provides more streamlined reporting, with the ability to extract real-time insights, as dashboarding on the different systems previously sat in two different places. With convergence, all reporting and dashboards sit on one platform, delivering better insights to enhance quality assurance (QA) and workforce planning.

Convergence in the cloud.

It is in the cloud where this transformational shift in the convergence of systems of interaction and record is taking place.  

However, integrating systems in the cloud or hybrid models can create challenges, typically requiring a middleware layer to extract the data for processing. 

Unlocking these capabilities typically requires system integrators, like Connect, to integrate multiple front-end and back-end systems across vendors to bring all the channels into a unified pane for the agent, offering a single view of the customer.

The vendor play.

Vendors have taken notice of this trend and are now positioning their solutions to do it all. What all of this means is that the vendor war is on for the agent desktop, channels of interaction, and case management. 

Vendors that traditionally specialised in either ticketing or interaction systems are broadening their offering, developing additional capabilities as they compete for end-to-end ownership of the stack.

For example, a global cloud contact centre provider is working to develop case management and workflow management capabilities, while a global CSM solutions expert, traditionally a ticketing system, has in recent months included a contact centre offering, WFM and automated Quality Assurance. 

On the surface, the value proposition makes sense. The real question is, how well will this work? Can interaction specialists craft exceptional workflow experiences? Can case management and workflow specialists deliver the interaction capabilities needed to deliver a truly converged system?

It is critical to determine who owns the desktop in the integration of these systems, because the goal for the convergence of systems of interaction and record is gaining a single view of the customer to deliver exceptional customer service.

With so much at stake, the convergence of systems of interaction and record is more than a trend – it’s the foundation for the next generation of contact centres.  

It’s about going with the vendor that can best integrate AI tools to further streamline operations and enhance engagement by seamlessly handing over frontline engagement from bots, summarising conversations, making it easier to understand sentiment and intent, and analysing interactions to help agents understand what is happening at a glance.

Choosing the right solution.

As the major vendors fight for relevance, operators will need to decide whether they stick with their existing system until full integration happens or migrate.  

In a world where the customer journey is fluid and omnichannel by default, the ability to merge context, history, and conversation into a single pane of glass is becoming a competitive necessity. 

For contact centres evaluating technology investments, the message is clear: don’t just look for the best call handling tool or the richest CRM.  

Look for a partner like Connect that has the vision and capabilities to assess your specific needs and bring both together with the best available solutions into a seamless, end-to-end customer experience platform.