A contact center is like a call center on steroids; in addition to providing customer service via voice calls, a contact center offers customers a way to reach brand support through text-based messaging and video calls as well.
Over the years, we’ve researched and reviewed more than 30 business phone systems and call center solutions. Right now, if you’re looking for a large-scale contact center solution for your enterprise, Nextiva is the best there is. It’s an end-to-end solution that scales with your business while offering many of the most advanced features available in 2024.
That said, every enterprise is different, and it’s important to weigh your options so you can choose the best contact center solution for your business.
Best Enterprise Contact Center Solutions: Our Top Three
We’ll be going over five solutions in total, but the following three stand out for their superlatives:
- Best overall: Nextiva, due to its comprehensiveness, modern features, and easy setup. You can download Nextiva for free today.
- Most user-friendly: Zendesk, because of its clean, intuitive interface.
- Most flexible: Genesys Cloud, due to its extensive customization options.
Nextiva: The Best Enterprise Contact Center Solution Overall
Nextiva is our top pick because it’s a fully end-to-end contact center solution that can work for enterprises of all sizes in any industry. It’s already in use by over 100,000 different companies, and it is ranked in first place on G2 for call center infrastructure.
- We found Nextiva’s setup and integration process to be easier than that of its competitors. This means you and your employees will spend less time in the transition period when you make the switch.
- Nextiva features a state-of-the-art, AI-powered IVR system that can reduce the strain on human agents and route calls intelligently with ACD. Your representatives will spend less time redirecting calls and more time assisting customers.
- Smart automation allows users to create tasks, reach out to customers, and analyze performance charts with minimal grunt work. Your agents will spend less time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks.
Most of the top contact center solutions stand out in a few key areas—Nextiva stands out everywhere, which is especially important for enterprises with diverse functions. This enables you to reduce the overall number of contact center applications needed to run your operations, with Nextiva functioning as your all-in-one solution for everything customer-related.
Nextiva’s four contact center plans are quote-based and vary based on the number of features included—from a purely voice-only package to a full CCaaS solution with advanced workflow automation capabilities. Talk to an expert about Nextiva and get a personal introduction to the service today.
Zendesk: Most User-Friendly Enterprise Contact Center Solution
Zendesk is known for its intuitive, easy-to-use interface that gives agents a short learning curve while minimizing headaches. Thus far, Zendesk provides solutions for over 130,000 companies looking to improve their customer experiences.
- Zendesk’s Agent Workspace is an all-in-one dashboard where agents can manage all communication channels. Its website states that “Zendesk is built for agents first, which means that the Agent Workspace is made for them.” Customer service representatives can see all of the important information in one place, resulting in more focused problem-solving.
- Agents can customize the layouts of their own interfaces with drag-and-drop functionality. This allows each agent to work according to their own strengths and weaknesses, boosting both productivity and morale.
- Zendesk prioritizes little details like real-time notifications and chat bubbles when customers are typing. Your agents will be fully up-to-date on all customer communications, resulting in better overall service.
When compared to Nextiva, Zendesk falls short in a few key areas, particularly in its lack of the most modern and technological features. For enterprises with high standards, missing out on these cutting-edge features can make or break the customer service experience.
That said, Zendesk is a relatively inexpensive option in the market, with plans starting at $69 per agent per month.
Genesys Cloud: Most Flexible Enterprise Contact Center Solution
Genesys Cloud is ideal for enterprises that may not fit the traditional mold and need a contact center that can adapt to their specific business model. This is exactly where Genesys Cloud excels.
- Genesys Cloud boasts a “composable CX platform.” By prioritizing API development and embracing open data and artificial intelligence, Genesys Cloud allows enterprises to build their own unique contact center platform. Your enterprise won’t have to sacrifice efficiency to fit into the mold of a generic contact center.
- Integration with the AppFoundry Marketplace means your agents will have access to over 350 third-party applications. Whether you want to integrate with a CRM software or simply use AI in a different way, these pre-built integrations make the process faster and easier for your agents.
- Genesys Cloud is constantly innovating, with the latest feature release coming in March of 2024 (the time of this post). Your enterprise will consistently be on the front lines of new contact center technology.
One area where Genesys Cloud falls short in comparison to Nextiva is its mobile app. Agents who use the Genesys mobile app struggle with limited features as well as overall app reliability. Nextiva’s app is one of the best in the industry, with full-on softphone functionality and a 4-star rating across almost 4,000 reviews.
Genesys Cloud pricing starts at $75 per agent per month.
Five9: Best AI-Powered Enterprise Contact Center Solution
If your enterprise has extremely high call volumes and you’re looking for the most advanced IVR system to avoid hiring more agents, Five9 has got you covered.
- Five9’s Intelligent Virtual Agent feature is a fully conversational AI that customers can communicate with in the same way they’d talk to a human—and it works over both voice and messaging channels. The Intelligent Virtual Agent takes easier tasks off your agents’ plates, freeing them up for more engaging and fulfilling work.
- The Agent Assist feature utilizes AI to advise and guide your representatives through the customer service process via live checklists and guidance cards. This is especially useful for large enterprises that may not be able to provide specialized, one-on-one training and guidance for every agent. With custom guidance from Agent Assist, your agents can provide a more focused level of service.
Though Five9’s AI features are undoubtedly top-of-the-line, its heavy concentration on AI can sometimes detract from the functionality of other core features—a problem Nextiva does not have.
Five9 is on the expensive side, with plans starting at $175 per agent per month.
Talkdesk: Most Automated Enterprise Contact Center Solution
Talkdesk excels at automation, and not just at the IVR stage, but throughout the entire customer service process as well.
- Talkdesk focuses on using AI in practical ways to improve operations and drive up ROI. Its Interaction Analytics, for example, captures and analyzes all customer interactions, revealing trends in key metrics and customer sentiment. Without having to gather data themselves, your agents will be able to understand the bigger picture and adjust their service accordingly.
- Talkdesk AI Trainer allows your own agents to build their own customized AI models based on their specific needs—with no coding or language modeling experience required. You’ll be able to cut down on unnecessary automation features and focus on the ones that truly matter for your business.
Talkdesk’s generous offering of AI features allows enterprises to automate huge swathes of the customer service process, freeing up their agents to tackle complex problems and make more informed decisions.
Talkdesk’s plans start at $85 per agent per month.
What Matters When Reviewing Enterprise Contact Center Solutions
Being able to separate the good contact center solutions from the bad ones is vital for making the right choice for your company.
Below are five of the most important criteria we use when evaluating the top contact center solutions. (Just remember, the reason why we put Nextiva in first place is because it does the best job at combining all of these criteria.)
1. AI capabilities
In 2024, AI is an essential piece of any contact center solution. The AI capabilities we’re talking about here include inbound and outbound IVRs with a call center dialer, virtual assistants, and even larger-scale workflow automations.
Integrating AI into your contact center can dramatically increase agent productivity and reduce customer wait times. Meanwhile, as generative AI continually improves with new updates, customers can receive increasingly personalized customer support without ever even speaking to an agent.
Not all AI models are created equal, however, so look for contact center solutions that specify exactly what their AI tools do and how they help. In 2024, a reliable IVR system, chatbots, and at least some level of workflow automation are expected.
2. Integration with enterprise applications
Most large enterprises already have substantial software infrastructure in place, making it nearly impossible to start over from scratch without significant downtime. A contact center solution that can integrate with your enterprise’s existing CRM, ERP, and HR software will be up and running much faster than a solution that can’t.
Search for platforms offering pre-built integrations with widely used enterprise systems, as well as open APIs for custom integrations. This will ensure that your enterprise’s data can flow seamlessly between systems without any manual input.
3. Advanced security protocols
Data leaks—whether accidental or the result of malicious attacks by cybercriminals—do happen, and the best way to prevent them is with advanced contact center security.
In the best case of a data leak, the compromised customer data will result in a big loss of trust in your enterprise’s reputation, and probably decreased demand as well. In the worst case, it can result in legal action and costly lawsuits, especially if your enterprise is in a field like healthcare, where data security protections are mandated by law.
At a minimum, make sure your contact center solution provides end-to-end encryption. Beyond that, make sure it has compliance certifications relevant to your industry—such as HIPAA if you’re in healthcare. Audit trails and access controls are also important features to look for.
4. Enterprise-grade reliability and uptime
Uptime is a measure of how often the contact center solution is in active service and running properly.
Many startups and small businesses can afford the occasional contact center downtime without serious repercussions, but this is not the case for enterprises that communicate with hundreds or even thousands of customers at once. Random bouts of downtime can lead to big losses of revenue, decreased customer satisfaction, and damaged reputations.
Look for contact centers solutions with a proven track record of high uptime—generally 99.999% or higher. Beyond that, make sure the software is backed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs), has redundancy capabilities, and includes detailed disaster recovery procedures.
5. Global reach and multi-language support
A contact center solution’s capacity to support global operations includes IVR systems in multiple languages and time zones, as well as compliance with international regulations.
If your enterprise has expanded beyond just the United States, for example, you’re going to need customer support in new regions and languages besides English. Meanwhile, you also need to comply with local laws so that you don’t put your enterprise in any hot water.
Look for contact center solutions that advertise multilingual support—both for the customer interface and the agent workspace. Also, check for the ability to route calls automatically based on language or region, as well as any features that can help you remain compliant with local data protection and privacy laws.
How To Migrate to an Enterprise Contact Center Solution
Once you’ve decided that your enterprise needs a contact center upgrade, the first thing you should consider is that the implementation process may take several months from beginning to end.
In fact, you may even want to budget for even more time, since large companies are notorious for egregiously underestimating migration timelines.
In any case, don’t let this duration deter you, because the sooner you can migrate the better.
Here’s an actionable 6-step process you can use as the foundation for a migration plan:
- Create a shortlist of the most promising contact center solutions for your specific company, and aim to include no more than five.
- Schedule calls and demos with the experts at those companies. Before meeting, make a list of questions you’ll want to ask so you can be sure to cover all the bases.
- Use free trials to try out the solutions for yourself. Again, stay organized by making a list of pros and cons that jump out at you as you become familiar with the software.
- Do real work with the providers. Start by transferring a small data set over to each solution you want to test.
- Assemble a small team and start using the new software to field calls and communicate with select customers. Have your team members write down pros or cons that stand out.
- Continue testing and reviewing feedback until you have a winner—then pull the trigger and execute a full, company-wide rollout of the service.
Based on our reviews, there’s a good chance you’ll end up choosing Nextiva first. It offers unprecedented customer support throughout the setup process—plus, you’ll have a dedicated expert to walk you through every step. This ensures minimal downtime during your migration, which is absolutely vital for large enterprises with reputations to keep.
Download Nextiva for free or speak with an expert today.
