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When you are moving house across town or across the country, it can be a very stressful time. You will be worried about perhaps losing or even breaking things. You’ll have a long list of things to do, when to do them, and who will be doing them. The rest of your life truly stops until you’ve completed the move. You might even start looking at all of the bits and pieces you’ve collected over the years, and ask yourself “Where will that go in the new house?” or even… “Do I really need that anymore?”

You will soon get to a point where you may consider hiring a moving company to assist you with this. This company will take stock of what you have, provide some useful advice on cleaning out things you may not need (put some things into storage, sell or discard other things, etc.), and ultimately, take everything you own, pack it, move it, unpack it and place each valuable item into each room in your new house, wherever it may be in the world.

Now, if you were moving from a shared flat into your first house, it’s unlikely you would need a moving company. But… say you are a family of five, moving across the country from a big house to an even bigger house, then a moving company begins to make sense, from a time, risk, and money perspective. If you were a business moving from one office to another, this is an absolute no-brainer. You wouldn’t ask your employees to move company property to the new office, would you?

My question is this: Why would you not do the same for your UC systems or your contact center systems? These are big, complex, sophisticated systems. Your plan to move, even a part of these systems, to a new CCasS configuration will be complicated. It will require you and your teams to analyze all of your UC and CX systems, decide what is going to be moved and make a list of tasks and activities, drawing resources away from day-to-day business operations. Wouldn’t it make far more commercial sense to use the services of a company who can do things like:

• Instantly take stock of your entire configuration and complete a task in months when it would take days

• Tell you exactly what you have, how much of it, what is useful, and what is not to determine what can go into “storage” and what should be kept for the move

• Pack up all of the things that are going to be moved, transport them, and unpack them directly where it is needed in the new systems

Doing all of this in an automated way saves you time, money, and risk. We are now in a world where there are more UC/CX solutions than ever before. There are compelling arguments for migrating portions or all of your systems over to them. Remember, that you don’t have to do this alone. There are “moving” companies out there who are ready and willing to help. And why would you do it any other way?

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Staying on top of cloud migration I – Finding the right cloud platform

Cloud migration does not begin with the movement of data from one platform to another, but rather, with the search for a new cloud platform. Finding the right platform is crucial for ensuring continued smooth operations – but how do contact centres know they have selected the right platform for them? It’s not just commercial considerations, but it’s also the provider’s long term viability, its security model, its service reach, current feature functionality and what’s coming down the road, amongst others. Furthermore, it’s crucial that your business also has a good understanding of your current technical configuration. The right configuration management tools are crucial to this step because the tools generate a configuration record, essentially creating a document of your intellectual property, which is the definition of how you want the experience to be for your customers, all extracted from your current technology platform. A detailed configuration record is vital for optimising cloud migration. With a detailed record of configuration changes, contact centres have an easier time searching the market for the most suitable platform, and even use the configuration record to compare capabilities between platforms.

Furthermore, contact centres can extend or duplicate specific solutions that work for them using configuration management tools. A configuration record allows contact centres to stay on top of the cloud migration process at all times because the configuration record helps mitigate the risks of migration. Without the configuration record, contact centres risk being held hostage by providers refusing to share the record. Of course, to get the right configuration record, providers need to invest in the right tools.

Staying on top of cloud migration II – Mitigating cloud migration risks

With the right configuration management tools, contact centres can negate the risks of cloud migration. Contact centres and cloud providers take several precautions to make the shift as safe and efficient as possible, but there are still risks associated with migration. One of these risks involves setting up a state or mode of operations that customer care agents, technical engineers and business executives are familiar with. Replicating a familiar environment is one of the biggest risks of cloud migration. However, the right configuration management tools collect detailed information on the state of operations in legacy systems. The configuration record provides the information necessary to adjust the mode of operations for future platforms in a workspace that is safe, easy to use and “reversable” if you encounter problems.

Configuration management tools allow contact centres to stay on top of the cloud migration process by supporting development operations. With the configuration record (generated by the tools) it allows contact centres to observe the evolution of the configuration, i.e. how the configuration progressed to its current state. Support for development operations aids in several processes vital for maintaining the cloud platform, including regression testing – since regression testing is usually done after adding new functionality or making changes to an existing platform. Having a record of how changes were implemented aids in maintaining the cloud platform because its easier to diagnose issues when there is a record of all the changes.

When the cloud migration process goes wrong, it represents a cost to the contact centre whole business in terms of time, reputation, money, etc. However, the right configuration management tools can reduce the cost of migration by mitigating the risks with the option to roll back changes. If regression tests reveal a new problem with the system caused by an added functionality, support engineers can rollback the changes, essentially, undoing the changes, thanks to configuration management tools. Rolling back changes can reduce the cost and time lost due to poor change implementation.

Optimising the cloud migration process with configuration management

Blackchair Symphony is a configuration management and auditing tool that can help you optimize internal workflows to maximize efficiency during CX migration. Using Symphony, contact centers can collect data to create a configuration log and rollback changes when needed to optimize project uptime and reduce risk. All the features that are necessary for maintaining oversight, minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency in the cloud migration process.

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Why is it so important to set up KPIs for cloud migration services?

Setting up KPIs for cloud migration services is the best way to measure the progress of cloud adoption. KPIs operationalise different concepts that are otherwise hard to measure, such as comparing pre-migration employee performance to post-migration performance or monitoring peak server utilisation levels. With the right KPIs, cloud providers can monitor progress and troubleshoot problems before they become too severe to determine the success or failure of the cloud platform.

Furthermore, contact centres have an overview of the current status of a project, so they know which areas are progressing well and which areas are ailing. However, KPIs can do more than just measure project progress. They are a great way of convincing upper management on the importance of cloud adoption. Some executives are still apprehensive about the cloud and dislike the time and money taken to migrate to the cloud. KPIs provide a rich body of evidence that will convince executives on the benefits of a cloud-based platform.

Types of KPIs

KPIs for cloud migration services come in different categories: Security, end-user experience, performance and response.

KPIs for security

Indicators of compromise (IOCs) – IOCs are red flags indicating unusual activity because of a malicious attack on the network. Security analysts should constantly monitor IOCs to keep data safe. There are many examples of IOC including geographical irregularities and unusual outbound network traffic.

Network I/O – Network input/output allows security analysts to monitor traffic on the network from all monitored terminals. Security analysts can uproot problems like unauthorised access using this KPI.

User audits –  This measures how many users can access the server and what resources they accessed during their session.

Data exposures – This reveals weaknesses and inadequacies in data protection measures.

S3 accessibility – Maintaining tight control over S3 accessibility is key to protecting data integrity. However, if the contact centre is working with a third-party cloud provider, then S3 accessibility will have to change.

KPIs for Performance

CPU utilisation operationalises the processing power an application uses. If CPU usage nears 100%, this is due to an inefficient system or a bug in the application. Memory utilisation measures how much memory an application uses. The CPU usage is usually a percentage, but can also be presented as Resident Set Size (RSS).

Response times – Measures the time taken to receive and complete an end user’s request. Response times are ideal for measuring speed and performance. The two most common measurements for response times are Average Response Time (ART) and Peak Response Time (PRT).

Uptime is a metric that measures the time the cloud-based contact centre solution is accessible to end-users and is expressed as a percentage.

KPIs to measure end-user experience

Latency – This measures the delay between the end user’s request and the response from the application.

Customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) – Customer satisfaction measures user experience, given that it shows how migrating to the cloud changes a customer service agent’s workflow. It is an excellent metric to measure the overall sentiment towards the new cloud-based solution, what problems were solved and new ones created.

Error rates – This shows the frequency of HTTP status code errors, it is expressed as a percentage.

Error types – Errors are measured by a series of different metrics, like Thrown exceptions, Logged exceptions and HTTP error percentage.

Making the most of cloud migration services

Cloud migration services are challenging to execute because there are so many variables to consider. Whether it is refactoring, re-platforming or re-hosting, contact centres have an immense task on their hands. Hence, they need to work with a third-party partner that specialises in cloud migration services. 

The third-party partner can oversee the migration process, monitor progress, identify and fix weak points before they become serious issues. Organisations experienced in cloud migration can make the process much smoother, leading to efficiency gains and cost savings.

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In this blog, we dive into a few key areas to consider when setting an intellectual property agreement.

Ownership

One of the most important areas to address in an intellectual property agreement is ownership of IP. In situations where ownership is not strictly defined, the cloud provider has a strong case for ownership. Furthermore, the transfer of data to the cloud qualifies as creating new content, which is often indistinguishable from the existing content. Hence, contact centres have to clearly state who owns the IP when migrating to the cloud.

Confidentiality

Maintaining confidentiality is an important part of setting up an intellectual property agreement. An agreement should address data leaks and discuss security measures to proactively protect data and keep it from the public eye. The agreement should discuss access controls (who has access and till what level) and a system for audit logs. Certain security features include two-factor authentication and advanced encryption, which are excellent assets for maintaining confidentiality.

Access

Before initiating a move to the cloud, contact centres have to state who has access to the IP and at what levels. Access control entails a sophisticated system that dictates who has access to the information and to what degree, allowing contact centres to give employees just enough access to complete their duties while still protecting data.

Key technologies and practices to consider

Along with addressing key areas to draft an intellectual property agreement, contact centres also need to agree upon the right technology to use.

Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)

A CASB is a software tool or service that sits between the organisation’s on-premise cloud infrastructure and the consumers. A CASB acts as a gatekeeper that gives contact centres the ability to extend their security policies beyond their infrastructure. The CASBs are effective in securing information because all network traffic passing onto the cloud provider and consumer’s devices are in line with the contact centre’s security policies.

CASBs are so effective because they utilise auto-discovery to identify which applications on the cloud are used and which one’s lie dormant. The auto-discovery technology can also identify high-risk users and applications among other factors. CASBs are vital and come heavily recommended for protecting IP during cloud migration because they allows the contact centre to implement high profile security access controls like device profiling and encryption.

Data Prevention Leakage Technology (DLP)

Data Prevention Leakage Technology (DLP) is a must-have for any contact centre when drafting an intellectual agreement. Data loss prevention has different functions, two of which are contextual analysis and content inspection. The technology applies for different mediums of communication like IM, emails, securing end-point devices, and on-premise file services. DLP solutions are designed to protect data and applications over the cloud to ensure there are no data leaks and prevent exposure of data. DLP solutions are essential for protecting data from leaking out to the public, be it through employee negligence or other nefarious means.

Generally, DLP technologies fall into two categories: Integrated DLP and Enterprise DLP. Examples of Integrated DLP include secure web gateways (SWGs), email encryption products, enterprise content platforms, data discovery tools, data discovery tools, email encryption products and secure email gateways (SEGs). By contrast, enterprise DLP solutions refer to packaged software that works on both desktops and servers. Enterprise DLPs are used for different functions like monitoring email traffic, soft appliances for data discovery,

Securing intellectual property

Drafting an agreement for protecting intellectual property is a crucial move for contact centres. Without a pre-arranged agreement, the integrity of information is severely compromised, which damages the contact centre’s credibility and ability to stay competitive in the long run. Besides investing in the right technology and considering key areas, contact centres must also look at the type of agreement best suited to their objectives. Be it an NDIS or Trademark Licensing, contact centres should consult with a lawyer before selecting the right agreement.

Once the intellectual property agreement is settled on, contact centres need to work with the right partners. Blackchair is the perfect partner because the firm specialises in optimising cloud migration to make it as smooth and seamless as possible via it’s flagship solution.

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Retaining ownership of business IP on the cloud

Business IP (proprietary information), if not secured, falls under threat when uploaded to the cloud. When stored offline, business IP can be secured easily, however, when on the cloud the information is meant to be more accessible making it more vulnerable to theft. Moreover, if cloud providers work with subcontractors in different countries, the data could be flowing into nations where intellectual property laws are weak. However, there are ways to shore up these leaks and retain ownership of your business IP.

The best way to shore up these leaks is to adopt a DevOps security (DevSecOps), model. DevOps security incorporates security measures and considerations at every stage of the cloud migration process, making it easier to lay a secure foundation that will protect business IP on the cloud. DevSecOps entails several methods like identity and access management (IAM), configuration management, vulnerability management, firewalling and unified threat management.

Another significant advantage of DevSecOps is the automation of security. There are a plethora of tools to automate different security operations – secrets management, configuration management and code analysis make security tighter and more time-efficient to execute, making DevSecOps the best option to protect business IP.

Keeping ownership of your business IP is not just about adopting the right security practices, but also working with the right cloud provider and setting the right terms on the SLA. Your ideal cloud provider is an experienced provider capable of sophisticated solutions and has a comprehensive plan around disaster recovery. If you are not familiar with the ins and outs of cloud-based solutions, it is also best to avoid migrating your core functions and your most important intellectual property onto the cloud.

Keeping ownership of business IP during cloud migration

The key to retaining ownership of business IP during cloud migration is to ensure a secure a cloud infrastructure before migrating to the cloud. The first step is to set a baseline for security, this means setting the right policies and infrastructure as well as performing a gap analysis to see how the cloud will change the security paradigm. Security tools should be selected based on their ability to operate natively on a cloud platform, but also to operate seamlessly on other cloud platforms.

There is a wide range of security tools and the right tools have to be chosen for the right situations. The most common security tool is a next-generation firewall (NGW) solution, but there are other solutions including detection service, intrusion protection, cloud access security broker (CASB) and web application firewall (WAF). Work with your cloud provider to choose the right security tools.

A lifecycle management framework must also be established, this consists of setting up dynamic provisioning, scaling and setting up a single point of management for your chosen security tools. Setting up a single point of management consists of several steps, including central ITSM solution along with a central log for data collection and correlation. It is also important to account for bandwidth requirements. Check the requirements because you need to make sure you have sufficient bandwidth for your data flow model.

Compliance regulations are also an important factor to consider when securing ownership of the business IP. There are different sets of regulations for processes. For example, for data stored on the cloud and if data moves between cloud and physical networks. You need to work with an experienced, reliable third-party to ensure you meet all cloud compliance requirements.

If you follow the right procedures and establish the right security protocols, keeping ownership of your business IP, as you move to the cloud, should be relatively simple. Doing so requires working with experienced cloud providers and reliable third-parties who know the cloud platform inside and out.

Sources:

https://devops.com/6-considerations-for-secure-cloud-migration/
https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2015/03/article_0004.html

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How does cloud commoditization occur?

Cloud commoditization is an ongoing trend, taking place due to the standardisation of quality
and changes to pricing structure.

Cloud platforms differ on several features like security, application architecture, integration, IT
service management and target market. When considering all these factors, some cloud
platforms become more suitable for some businesses over others. For example, Genesys
focuses specifically on the needs of contact centres. However, the proliferation of cloud
computing technology has made it easier for cloud providers across the board to provide similar
features, regardless of the provider’s capabilities.

Standardising quality and pricing structure

Quality standards often come down to measurable parameters, which includes two different categories: Hard parameters and soft parameters. Hard parameters consist of availability, response times and utilization. Meanwhile, soft parameters consist of ease of use, problem handling and user helpdesks. Usually, the parameters are dictated by the SLA defined by both the client and service providers. There is no set standard for what the service should be.

The standardisation of quality is a positive development for contact centres and consumers because they are not bogged down by differences in quality and features that could make cloud migration much easier.

Cloud migration becomes commoditized when pricing structures change. Under conventional terms, the pricing structure follows the ‘post pricing’ system, where services are billed on an annual or monthly fee. Prices differ based on quality, but also the region. For example, QoS is 80% more expensive in Japan, compared to the US. However, Amazon proposed a new pricing structure that could change cloud services, as we know it.

Under this new model, customers can state the maximum price they are willing to pay per hour and that price increases and decreases, based on how the infrastructure is used. It is a more flexible pricing system because organisations only pay when they use the service, as opposed to paying a fixed price every month.

With this new pricing structure, it is only a matter of time before organisations see that the true value lies in tying price more closely to the actual cloud resources used. It is a positive development for the consumer, though we feel that price should not be determined by use alone, especially where cloud migration is concerned because an excellent cloud provider can make the migration process easier.

Migrating to the cloud – Does it change with commoditization?

Cloud migration might be commoditized, but we feel that it does little to alter the actual migration
process. The standardisation of quality and changes in pricing structure can make some parts of
the process easier, for example, contract negotiations. However, it does little to alter the
technical process. Contact centres still need to follow the right procedures and adopt the right
metrics, if they want to avoid common migration issues that affect other contact centres.

Measuring the baseline network performance of the cloud is an essential step before moving
into the cloud. The best way to measure the baseline performance is by utilising synthetic and
end-user monitoring. Synthetic transaction monitoring and end-user experience monitoring can
provide the quality metrics contact centres require to measure the baseline performance. The
monitoring techniques are used to identify performance issues in the cloud and test new
features. Hence, making both monitoring methods perfect for finding the metrics that will help
you measure the baseline performance of the cloud.

The cloud migration process is greatly improved when you can monitor the flow of traffic in the
cloud network, before actually moving in. To accomplish this, you need to conduct several tests
like synthetic testing, ping testing, traceroute functionality and Border Gateway Protocol routing.
BGP is an effective litmus test because it exchanges router information between networks. By
mapping out the traffic flow in advance, you can measure latency, loss and jitter.

Cloud migration is not an easy process and cannot be done properly without third-party
assistance. This is where we come in, Blackchair specialises in overseeing cloud migration to
an omnichannel solution. We aim to increase the efficiency of migrating to a new platform,
identify new opportunities of automation while anticipating trouble spots and taking steps to
avoid it.

Cloud commoditization is an ongoing trend that sees quality across the board even out and
pricing structures become more precise. However, we feel that it will have little effect on the
actual cloud migration process.

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Here are five ways to facilitate contact centre cloud migration

Assess your current contact centre

Before venturing into a cloud migration project, you need to assess your contact centre in its current form. The purpose of the assessment is to determine which systems get priority when transferred to the cloud, the systems that will be left behind (assuming there are any and what systems will be added to increase the contact centre’s capabilities. When assessing the contact centre, take a look at the core systems (ACD and caller queue), management systems (workforce optimisation and quality management systems) and service applications (scripting and knowledgebase systems). You will need to identify the key parties using your communication systems as well as any relevant KPIs.

Looking at KPIs is especially important because it narrows down your list of potential cloud solutions to what is most relevant. You will not only know how your contact centre is performing but also identify any gaps in performance metrics – metrics which can be found in the cloud solution.

Go live before actually migrating

One way to smooth over your contact centre cloud migration is to have the system go live, before actually migrating over to it. You can use this opportunity to train your customer service agents, so they become more familiar with cloud software, by taking practice calls with other agents. Customer care agents will make errors while getting used to the new cloud platform, and it is better to make mistakes with each other than with real customers. Thus, going live before migrating makes for a smoother transition.

Going live before migration is also a great way to test your new platform under different scenarios. How will the new platform perform when nearing maximum capacity? Can the platform maintain high-quality calls when hundreds of agents are using it? The only way to know, for sure, is to stress test the new platform before actually migrating to it. By testing the platform, you can identify fallacies and shortcomings that would have otherwise been impossible to identify.

Call quality

Ensuring high call quality is paramount during contact centre cloud migration. Call quality varies depending on the Quality of Service (QoS). In such cases, contact centres have two choices: a private or public network.

A private network refers to the connection between you (the contact centre) and the underlying platform. A private network can prioritise voice over web browsing or streaming, ensuring high call quality at all times. Under a private network, you will have complete control over what the network prioritises. To accomplish this, the network needs to have the intelligence to give preference to voice packets over others. During moments of heavy traffic, Quality of Service configurations (QoS) will prioritise voice quality over others.

With a public network, you don’t have much control over what the channels prioritise, which means voice packets will have to compete for bandwidth space with video streaming and web browsing packets. However, public networks offer a tremendous volume of bandwidth at affordable prices. Private networks, on the other hand, offer less bandwidth for a higher price, but with QoS intelligence.

Develop an assessment model

An assessment model is one of the final steps in optimising your contact centre cloud migration strategy, it is a measuring stick to see if your business goals align with actual outcomes. Naturally, contact centres have to first establish quantitative goals and what they aim to achieve with their cloud-based platform. Assessment models consist of quantitative tiers or outcomes for business goals. An assessment model is useful in optimising your cloud migration strategy because you get a clear and precise idea of what you are hoping to achieve, which paves the way for an efficient migration.

Select the right cloud vendor and partner

Based on what you hope to achieve with your cloud platform, goals and assessment model, you need to select the right cloud vendor and partner. The right cloud vendor supports omnichannel communication, legacy apps, but also scalability in data. However, cloud migration is far more complicated and a competent, experienced partner is needed to facilitate this transition. With the right partner, you can avoid the pitfalls of shifting to the cloud.

How Blackchair helps optimise contact centre cloud migration

Blackchair is the ideal organisation to help contact centres migrate to a platform, given that we specialise not only in platform translation but also CX analysis, cloud audit and cloud compliance. Blackchair assists contact centres in achieving a smooth transition to a cloud platform, while also making it easier to read and interpret the various metrics that measure performance.

Cloud platforms have tremendous potential for contact centres, provided that the migration process is as efficient as possible. Thus, an efficient migration process can be accomplished with due diligence given to call quality, an assessment model, selecting the right vendor and choosing the right vendor.

On that note, is there anything else contact centres can do to optimise their shift to the cloud in your opinion?

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