Selecting the right Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) vendor is one of the most important decisions your business can make, impacting everything from customer experience to operational efficiency.
However, choosing a CCaaS vendor too often comes with hidden costs and surprises that can affect business plans and budgets. According to Forrester, fewer than 40% of companies meet their desired outcomes from cloud migration projects. And change isn’t coming anytime soon: Gartner predict that 60% of I&O leaders will experience public cloud cost overruns that negatively impact their on-premises budgets. Public cloud cost overruns that negatively impact their on-premises budgets.
Drawing on 25 years of CCaaS industry expertise, let’s explore some of the hidden costs in selecting a vendor and explore how to avoid them to ensure a smooth migration.
Understanding the True Cost of Your Cloud Migration Project
Estimating cloud migration costs involves several factors, including the full scope of the migration, the chosen strategy, and ongoing operational expenses. While specific figures can vary depending on the size and complexity of the contact center and business, here are some general benchmarks:
- Small to medium migrations – these projects range from $20,000 to $100,000. This estimate encompasses planning, migrating data, and initial setup.
- Large enterprise migrations – for extensive projects, costs can exceed $700,000, especially when application refactoring and compliance are involved.
Why the Wrong Vendor Choice Hurts More Than Just Your Budget
Choosing a CCaaS provider is about far more than finding a platform that “works.” While any respectable vendor can cover the basics, those that can’t align closely with your current and future business goals can quickly become roadblocks to progress. Common issues with misaligned vendors include:
Lost time and frustrated teams
When a vendor lacks flexibility, it can slow your team down. Without wiggle room to customize a solution to your customers’ needs, you are left with slow response times, frustrations, and delays.
Missed growth opportunities
Vendors with rigid contract terms or limited scalability prevent businesses from adapting to new demands, resulting in missed chances for growth. If a provider can’t keep pace with your evolving needs, they can seriously hold your business back.
The Hidden Fees in Vendor Selection Sales Pitches
Beyond the visible costs, hidden fees are one of the most common challenges businesses face with CCaaS contracts. These can include:
- Integration issues: Not all platforms integrate well with existing CRMs, ERPs, or workforce tools, adding unexpected costs for consultants or additional software requirements.
- Unanticipated downtime: Integration and update phases can lead to downtime. Without clear SLAs, productivity losses can add up.
- Training and change management: Proper training and change management are critical but often come with additional costs, adding to the total expense.
- Licensing and user limitations: The per-agent or per-seat charges stack up quickly if licensing and add-ons lack transparency.
- Overlapping services: During migration, you might run cloud and on-premises services simultaneously. This “double-dipping” can lead to extra costs until the final cutover.
- Upgrades and maintenance fees: Not all vendors include updates, so keeping your system secure and up to date can become a recurring expense.
- After-sale support packages: Extended customer service, account management, and technical support often come at a premium cost, so factor these in.
How to Choose the Right CCaaS Vendor
Avoiding unplanned, costly issues requires a proactive approach. Look for vendors that:
- Provide scalable, transparent pricing models: Ensure that the pricing structure is upfront and allows for growth without hidden add-ons.
- Provide strong support for integrations: A vendor should seamlessly integrate with your existing systems or, at the very least, provide robust support and clear documentation.
- Align with your long-term goals: As a best practice, evaluate how well a vendor’s services fit with both your current needs and your future growth plans. Prioritize vendors with flexible contracts and rolling review periods to keep up with your evolving requirements.
Alternatively, you can seek an unbiased, independent, vendor-agnostic CX partner like Miratech. We take our vast CCaaS and CX experience and prioritize your unique needs over vendor agendas, providing you with clear guidance on the best way forward that’s right for you.
Avoid Hidden Vendor Selection Costs
Navigating hidden costs in CCaaS contracts can be complex but understanding where these might arise will help you budget effectively and avoid unwanted surprises. For a deeper dive into selecting the right vendor and avoiding costly pitfalls, download our comprehensive guide.
