9.09.2024
The Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) industry is becoming increasingly competitive, with many players vying for dominance. Microsoft's recent entry into this space with the Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center adds a competitor to the mix. How does this latest offering stack up against established solutions like Luware Nimbus? Read on to find out.
Microsoft’s Entry Into the CCaaS Space
Microsoft is the newest player in the CCaaS industry. Since announcing a voice channel for Microsoft Dynamics 365 in 2021, Microsoft has gradually expanded its offerings, which it is now also offering independently to its CRM/ERP solutions. After introducing the Queue app for simple use cases, Microsoft has now also launched a “Copilot first” Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center. However, as Charlie Mitchell of CX Today states, Microsoft is still a relatively new player in this field and has “quite the mishmash of solutions”. Microsoft serves individual segments with different solutions. The Microsoft Queues app is available for simple contact centers, whilst the Dynamics Contact Center is designed for larger companies. Michael Jakob, CTO of Luware, says, “This makes it difficult to fulfill all specialized voice use cases on one platform. Scaling from simple scenarios to a full-blown contact center would require a migration from the Queues app to Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center. The two solutions vary significantly in terms of technology and design, making it difficult for a company to scale its customer service needs. A comprehensive solution like Luware Nimbus offers more possibilities in this respect.”Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center
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Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center operates as a standalone solution. Users require a separate contact center application.[/caption] The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center is Microsoft’s latest value proposition when it comes to customer experience. Launched on July 1, 2024, the “copilot-first” contact center is a
standalone CCaaS solution that combines Nuance routing technology, generative AI capabilities and smart self-service features. The solution is built on
Microsoft Azure. Unlike Dynamics 365 Customer Service, which is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center is detached from the Microsoft CRM and can integrate with any CRM or ERP's. It also offers
omnichannel capabilities with customers having the option to engage across voice, SMS, chat Email and social media apps. The solution emphasizes
generative AI with pre-built copilots for digital channels to facilitate personalized conversations. It provides a comprehensive 360-degree view of customer sentiment through advanced sentiment analysis, translation and transcription, and supports users with conversation summaries and response suggestions. Tom Arbuthnot, co-founder of Empowering. Cloud and Microsoft MVP, sums it up well: “Microsoft is currently fixated on AI. Their focus is on 'our AI for the contact center' rather than 'our contact center offerings as a whole.”
Luware Nimbus
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Luware Nimbus is fully integrated into Microsoft Teams. Users don’t need to toggle between applications, and can manage all internal and external conversations from the intuitive platform they already know and love.[/caption] A contact center built on the Azure cloud is nothing new, and Luware Nimbus is an established and certified M365 third-party solution built natively for the Microsoft cloud that offers the same
hyper-scalability and reliability. As a smaller vendor, Luware Nimbus can also provide customers with faster and better support to ensure a smooth deployment. Unlike Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center, which is a separate application, Luware Nimbus is
fully integrated with Microsoft Teams. This integration means you have a single platform for all interactions, whether with internal employees or external customers. Users don’t require an additional client. Luware Nimbus also boasts superior audio quality, thanks to its seamless integration with Microsoft Teams, ensuring to clear and reliable conversations for both agents and customers. Luware Nimbus is also
very easy to use and configure. The solution can be set up in
under an hour. All administrative settings can be done within a single web-based Administrator portal. Because Luware Nimbus is also fully integrated into Microsoft Azure, it offers access to the same state-of-the art technology such as sentiment analysis and chatbots. However, Luware Nimbus prioritizes being a
user-first contact center rather than a co-pilot-first solution. This approach ensures that users have all the tools they need to deliver exceptional service, focusing on a superior user and customer experience and using AI only where it adds value. While
Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center relies on Dataverse for data synchronization to fully enable its contact center functionalities, especially its copilot features. Luware does not require persisting customer data to leverage capabilities like intelligent routing or AI-processing.
This distinction is crucial to consider, especially for companies that have not fully invested in a Microsoft data strategy or face specific compliance challenges. Without Dataverse, organizations may find limitations in leveraging the full capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center, including potential difficulties with data residency, security, and integration. In contrast, Luware Nimbus offers a more streamlined approach, eliminating the need for complex data synchronization processes and potentially simplifying the overall data management landscape, while also providing
greater flexibility in terms of compliance and data governance.
In Summary
Both Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center and Luware Nimbus offer native contact center solutions built on the Microsoft Azure cloud, providing organizations with scalable, cutting-edge technology for their customer service needs. Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center operates as a standalone solution, while Luware Nimbus is fully integrated with Microsoft Teams. The two solutions have different focuses: Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center emphasizes AI and offers advanced AI technologies that improve customer service. In contrast, Luware Nimbus prioritizes customer interactions, using technologies that effectively support both users and customers in their service needs. The choice between Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center and Luware Nimbus depends on your specific business needs. Use the table below to make an informed decision. Microsoft Dynamics Contact Center |
Luware Nimbus |
|
| Hosting Platform | Microsoft Azure | Microsoft Azure |
| Solution | Standalone solution | Native Microsoft Teams application |
| Modalities | Voice, Chat, Email, SMS, Social Media | Voice, Video, Chat, Email, External tasks |
| AI | Uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to automate tasks, provide insights, and personalize interactions | Uses Microsoft Cognitive Services and Azure Bot Service to enable speech recognition, text-to-speech, and chatbot functionality |
| Routing | Supports omnichannel routing, skill-based routing, and intelligent routing based on customer data and preferences | Supports skill-based routing, priority routing, and overflow routing based on agent availability and workload |
| Integration | Works with any CRM built on the Power Platform, other CRMs need to be integrated via Power Automate | Integrates natively with Microsoft Teams, Dynamics 365, Azure, Office 365 and more. |
| Analytics | Enables real-time and historical analytics, dashboards, and reports for measuring and improving contact center performance | Enables real-time and historical analytics, dashboards, and reports for measuring and improving contact center performance |
| IVR | Provides tools for creating and managing interactive voice response (IVR) menus, chatbots, and voice bots | Provides tools for creating and managing IVR menus, complex workflows, chatbots, and voice bots |
| Customer information | Allows agents to access customer information, history, and sentiment from Dynamics 365 and other sources | Allows agents to access customer information, history, and sentiment from Dynamics 365 and other sources |
| Billing model | Subscription-based (monthly or annual) Volume discounts available | Subscription-based (monthly or annual) Volume discounts available |
| Trial | Free 30-day trial with up to 25 agents and unlimited channels and features | Free 30-day trial with up to 10 agents and unlimited channels and features |