GuideContact center · 6 min
How do we move our contact center to the cloud, AI included?
Write down your agents, channels and what the AI should take with Clectiv AI. Then bid the platform and the AI together, and move in waves, pilot first.
The Clectiv team ·
The move to the cloud is when the platform and its AI can be bid together. Bid them as one, while each provider wants the whole thing. Then move carefully, because customers notice every dropped call.
What do we decide before choosing a platform?#
What you have, what has to plug in, and what the AI should take. Write it down once, and each platform answers the same list.
A cloud contact center (CCaaS, contact center as a service) is one the provider runs. You pay per agent seat, the software lives in their data centers, and your agents can sit anywhere with a headset and a browser.
| What | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Agents, by site and schedule | Sets the seat count, and when you can cut over without hurting service. |
| Channels | Calls, chat, email, text, social. Each one is priced and built separately. |
| What has to plug in | Your CRM, workforce management, call recording, knowledge base, payment systems. |
| Compliance | Card payments (PCI), health data (HIPAA), outbound calling rules (TCPA), recording consent. |
| What the AI should take | Which contacts AI handles alone, where it helps your agents, and what stays with people. |
The plan asks the rest, from phone numbers and reporting to the date your current system's support runs out.
The integration line is the one that bites. A platform that can't talk to your CRM the way you need isn't a fit, whatever it costs.
A reference that looks like you beats any demo. Same size, same CRM, same channels. The plan asks each platform for one.
Before you call anyone#
Agents, channels and integrations go into Clectiv AI before a platform hears your name. Next, Clectiv AI runs the process: it bids the job out to the providers that fit, they compete on the same plan, and you choose. Call one first and you get its demo, its AI roadmap, and a price built to lock you in before anyone else bids.
Should AI come with the move or after it?#
Bid it with the move, and roll it out in steps. That's the one hint here: priced together, the AI is part of a big contract each provider wants to win. Added later, it's an add-on you buy from the one provider you're already locked into.
Start with the AI that helps your people, and end with the AI that handles contacts on its own. Notes after every call give agents time back on day one.
AI agents on routine contacts come later, once you trust what they'll say. Clectiv AI's plan sets the order for your floor.
AI agents need a clean knowledge base. If your answers are scattered across old documents, cleaning them up is part of the project. Price it in.
Five9, Genesys, Talkdesk, NICE, RingCentral and Zoom all sell cloud contact center platforms. Those names are a sample of our contact center providers, and Clectiv AI runs the process with them for you: start a project.
This is familiar ground for us. Clectiv AI runs the process we've run many times, so you start where other companies finished. Taking the plan straight to these providers is how you get the best pricing, terms and contract we can.
How do we cut over without dropping calls?#
Move in waves, and keep the old system running until the new one carries real volume. A failed cutover with nothing to fall back on costs far more than a few weeks of overlap.
Start with one team, picked with Clectiv AI. A queue with steady volume and a supervisor who'll tell you what's broken shows you the problems while they're small. The plan asks the rest, from when the numbers port to which weeks to stay away from.
Keep the old platform's support contract through the last wave. If you need to roll back, you'll want someone to call.
The plan makes every proposal price the move itself: implementation, integration work and the overlap period. That's where proposals differ most.
Common questions#
Can my CRM stay?#
Should we add AI when we move to the cloud, or later?#
How do we avoid dropping calls during the move?#
What does a cloud contact center have to plug into?#
Who trains our agents on the new platform?#
How does Clectiv AI get this done?#
Take it to Clectiv AI. Tell it how many agents you have and what you run today. It scopes the move with you and writes your plan: agents, channels, what the AI should take, what your people keep, and what has to plug in.
Then the Clectiv team takes your plan to the cloud contact center and AI-agent providers that fit, all at once, through our partner network of 620+ providers. Their bids land in one view, they compete for the work, the team pushes on terms, and you choose.
Other companies already made this move. Clectiv AI runs the process we've used with them, so you start where they finished. The best pricing, terms and contract we can get come from the plan going straight to the providers that fit.
You pay nothing: it's free to you, and it's days, not months. The rest of what we source in contact center is on the contact center page.
Choosing the AI, and how to pay for it? Read AI for customer experience.
Sources and method. No prices appear in this guide. Provider names are examples of who sells cloud contact center platforms, from Clectiv's provider directory, not a ranking.