Spending Increases Fuel CX Transformation Projects

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Spending on customer engagement technologies is strong for 2023, despite tech company layoffs and an overall global economic slump. Business leaders recognize the added value technology provides when interacting with customers, analyzing the quality of those interactions, and maintaining a pool of loyal and satisfied employees. That explains why 65% of companies plan to increase their CX spending in 2023, by an average of 25%—even during an era in which only 25.9% of companies plan to increase overall business spending.

As the top technology area in which companies are increasing spending for 2023, it’s key for CX leaders to direct that budget wisely. So, while fine-tuning their 2023 CX strategy, they should carefully evaluate how they’re delivering their technologies to both customers and employees. One of the top areas for investment is in the contact center. Technology has improved rapidly in contact center platforms and associated applications, so projects often are (and should be) transformational. More than half of companies completed a CX transformation project in 2022—and they spanned a variety of areas, including adding cloud-based applications, improving self-service, and addressing network performance and security issues, among others.

To position their customer engagement strategy for responsiveness and flexibility, most have or are planning to move from on-premises platforms to cloud-based services, either fully or partially. Cloud services can facilitate an influx of new applications, support a hybrid workforce, and address security concerns from fraudsters trying to wreak havoc in contact centers.

Nearly 40% of companies are using or planning to use network service providers (or carriers) to deliver all or part of their Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) or Contact Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS) platforms. They have found that carriers deliver value in areas such as network reliability, security, and cost.