Microsoft has closed the competitive gap with contact center rivals thanks to its Digital Contact Center Platform.

Cisco, Google, and Zoom are some of the bigger names in the contact center space, a segment of the industry that has become increasingly important in the wake of the pandemic. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the company lagged behind its rivals by not offering a comprehensive solution.

“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, contact centers have grown more vital for managing the customer experience,” said Gregg Willsky, Principal Analyst at GlobalData. “However, despite the increasing importance of contact centers, true contact center capabilities had been missing from Microsoft’s unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) portfolio.”

According to GlobalData, that has changed with Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform, a solution that goes far beyond the limited abilities that existed in Dynamics 365.

“The greatest strengths of the Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform include omni-channel engagement, self-service capability, and the use of artificial intelligence,” Willsky continues. “To deliver the platform, Microsoft is partnering with a wide network of independent software vendors (ISVs) and system integrators, as well as leveraging several existing Microsoft tools including Dynamics 365, Teams, Power Platform, Azure, and Nuance.

“Despite these strengths, in the near term at least, Microsoft could struggle to gain traction in the contact center space. However, the multitude of installed Office and Teams users provides a lot of potential for the company’s presence in the market.”

Microsoft has already been making major headway in the cloud market, thanks in large part to the scope and breadth of the company’s services. With Digital Contact Center Platform, the company shores up a previously weak point in its portfolio of available services.