Measuring integrated UCaaS and CCaaS ROI (Return on Investment) can be complicated. Most companies already know that connecting different technology stacks can help them access valuable discounts, reduce maintenance costs, and simplify their technology stacks.
However, the benefits of aligning UCaaS and CCaaS go beyond straightforward “hard cost” savings. Bridging the gaps between your platforms for internal and external communications can also enhance productivity, strengthen collaboration, and increase retention rates.
So, how do you calculate the true return on investment from integrating UCaaS and CCaaS platforms, and how do you take that ROI to the next level? Check out our Ultimate Guide to UCaas and CCaaS Integration.
The ROI of UCaaS and CCaaS Platform Integration
The popularity of converged UCaaS and CCaaS platforms has grown drastically in just a few years. After all, there are countless benefits to connecting your unified communications and contact center tools, from streamlined interactions to improved experiences for both employees and customers.
As demand for integrated systems has grown, various companies have studied the “ROI” of aligned platforms. For instance, Forrester and RingCentral partnered on a Total Economic Impact study that found UCaaS and CCaaS alignment reduced call handling times by 45% for participants. Based on that alone, Forrester predicted companies could save around $10.8 million annually with an all-in-one platform.
Similar studies have unveiled supporting data. For instance, a study by Metrigy: UC and Contact Center Platform Integration Drives Business Success found that integrating UCaaS and CCaaS improves customer experience ratings by 56.6%, boosts agent efficiency by 37.4%, and can increase revenue by 99.6%.
Read our vendor comparison guide here to learn about how to chose the right UCaaS and CCaaS vendor.
Of course, your UCaaS and CCaaS ROI will be unique to your business. Here’s how you can determine your specific return on investment.
How to Calculate UCaaS and CCaaS ROI
To determine your UCaaS and CCaaS ROI, you’ll need to consider several factors: the total cost of ownership for your solution, as well as the cost savings and additional revenue you unlock.
Calculating Total Cost of Ownership
First, you need to know the total amount you’re “investing” into your UCaaS and CCaaS solutions. There are more costs to consider here than you might realize, such as:
- Subscription fees: Monthly fees for UCaaS and CCaaS software, add-on services, phone connectivity, internet connectivity, and integrated apps.
- Hardware fees: Anything you may need to pay for handsets, phone systems, databases, storage solutions, office equipment, laptops, computers, tablets, and so on.
- Additional costs: Extra fees for things like priority support, onboarding and integration services, training, maintenance, and upgrades.
Identifying Hard Cost Savings
Next, you can start looking at the obvious “cost savings” from using your aligned UCaaS and CCaaS platform. For instance, you might look at:
- Legacy system savings: The savings incurred from switching from a legacy system to an all-in-one communication platform.
- Reduced operational costs: A cloud-based solution for contact center and unified communication tools might allow you to save money on local, long-distance, and international calls or travel and real estate expenses (by supporting remote work).
- IT infrastructure savings: With UCaaS and CCaaS, you may save money on managing, maintaining, and implementing various hardware and tools, such as servers and cooling equipment.
Understanding Additional Financial Benefits
Comparing your overall investment to hard savings is a simple way to get a basic insight into UCaaS and CCaaS ROI. However, as mentioned above, there are other integration benefits that can also impact your financial health and growth. Additional factors to look at include:
- Improved efficiency: The Forrester study mentioned above found that employees saved an average of 15 minutes before each conversation using an integrated UCaaS and CCaaS system – leading to potential savings of around $48,000 over three years.
- Reduced training costs: With access to unified and streamlined tools, you may be able to spend less time and money on training agents. Some solutions even make it easier to monitor agent performance and deliver personalized training resources to individual employees.
- Enhanced communication and collaboration: Improved collaboration enhances problem-solving speed, innovation, and creativity. It also reduces the time it takes to handle customer queries and complete tasks.
- Greater employee retention: UCaaS and CCaaS integration can enable hybrid and remote work and improve employee experiences, reducing the need to navigate multiple apps and tools. This can increase staff retention and minimize recruiting costs.
- Better customer experiences: With the ability to collaborate more effectively with team members on customer issues, and leverage intelligent tools to streamline interactions, businesses can improve customer experiences. This increases loyalty, better average customer lifetime values, and a stronger brand reputation.
- Stronger business insights: With aligned data across UCaaS and CCaaS platforms, companies can make better business decisions, finding new ways to reduce costs over time, improve productivity, and increase revenue.
Calculating UCaaS and CCaaS ROI
Assigning a value to these benefits gives you a more comprehensive view of your full UCaaS and CCaaS ROI. This allows you to compare your earnings and savings to your total cost of ownership. To calculate your ROI, divide the total savings and benefits by the total cost.
Here’s an example to guide you:
- Total Cost of ownership for one year: $60,000
- Total hard cost savings: $30,000
- Total savings/profits from other benefits: $20,000
UCaaS and CCaaS ROI = $50,000 / $60,000 = 0.83.
0.83 x 100 = 83% ROI.
Increasing your UCaaS and CCaaS ROI
So, once you’ve calculated your UCaaS and CCaaS ROI, how do you improve it? The easy answer is to keep a close eye on your metrics, and look for opportunities to adapt and evolve constantly. Here are our top tips for success:
- Track key metrics: Identify key metrics that directly impact your company’s financial performance and growth, such as customer satisfaction scores, productivity and performance rates, and employee turnover rates.
- Look for opportunities to automate: Find ways to increase operational savings by automating tasks that consume time and resources, such as transcribing calls, updating CRM systems, or following up with customers.
- Leverage artificial intelligence: Use artificial intelligence to access insights into new opportunities to improve savings, employee efficiency and customer satisfaction. Experiment with new work processes and strategies, and calculate the ROI.
- Continue integrating: Consistently bridge the gaps between the different tools in your ecosystem. Don’t just align UCaaS and CCaaS, connect your unified platform to your CRM system, WFM tools, and project management apps.
- Periodically adjust: Scale your system up and down based on your findings, introducing new features when necessary and removing solutions that aren’t driving positive results. Work with a vendor that allows you to adapt consistently over time.
Upgrade Your UCaaS and CCaaS ROI
The return on investment from a combined UCaaS and CCaaS solution could be much higher than you’d think. You’re not just saving money on disconnected platforms and hardware. You’re unlocking new revenue and growth opportunities with enhanced customer and employee experiences, boosted productivity, and increased efficiency.
Ready to learn more about the benefits of UCaaS and CCaaS integration and why it pays to consolidate your technology stacks in 2025?
