The art of tailoring suits mirrors our approach to building your contact centre

I recently posted on LinkedIn about themes emerging from our conversations with organisations looking for help building their Twilio Flex contact centres.

One of the most striking is the "need for speed", which is balanced against budget and enthusiasm for a custom solution.

This is not dissimilar to the world of tailoring, which provides a useful analogy for how we at Zing approach delivery.

The two phrases are often used interchangeably (and seized upon as such by vendor marketing). They are in fact very different, and tailoring studio Artefact London provides an excellent summary of exactly how they differ.

Bespoke tailors draw unique paper patterns by hand, whereas made-to-measure tailors use existing patterns and make basic modifications.

A bespoke suit is infinitely customisable and should fit perfectly. It costs more and takes far longer to make. A made-to-measure suit may not have quite the same range of options or quality-of-fit but is cheaper and quicker.

The third option, off-the-peg is far cheaper, comes in standard sizes, and its simply a case of choosing a preferred brand.

'Boxed' Software as a Service (SaaS) contact centre solutions are the off-the-peg suits of our world: cheap, functional, widely available, and often fit for purpose when a solution is needed now and for a relatively low upfront investment.

But we are entering the era of SaaS 2.0* where tomorrow's winners are seeking to build integrated and customised SaaS solutions that deliver exceptional business value.

Flex is designed to allow customers to build exactly the solution that they want. With its single-pane-of-glass view and an ever-increasing suite of native channels and integrations, it defines the basis of a SaaS 2.0 solution.

We build on Flex to offer our customers truly bespoke and made-to-measure solutions.

For example, the needs of customers such as Age UK don't fit the 'normal' conventions of a contact centre. They're not selling, they are helping. Age UK chose Flex because it enables them to build exactly the solution they need. We have worked as a long-term partner to build and refine their perfect solution.

Others want the principles of best practice to help them deliver an initial solution ASAP. buildNow for Flex is our made-to-measure solution. Plug-and-play, it's designed to accelerate builds whilst still delivering a fully customised contact centre.

1. You pick the features you want, we plug them in;
2. Focus then turns to customisation - we write the code, you own the outputs;
3. We can also help with deployment and provide ongoing support.

Different approaches to suit different budgets, timescales and requirements. Both approaches infinitely sharper than an off-the-peg solution.

Whether bespoke or made-to-measure, the first stage is the initial consultation. At Zing we work hard to understand your goals and objectives at the outset and the tangible and intangible values that you are striving for with your new contact centre.

Download our Partner Guide

Choosing the right Twilio partner can be a challenge. You need a partner who works as an extension of your in-house development team, adding value and delivering at speed. There's a lot to consider, which is why we've put together this guide to help you find the ideal partner. We cover the different types of Twilio partners, where to find them, how to assess them and more. Download the guide here.

Whether you're new to Twilio or re-implementing, we're here to help. Find out more about how Zing can help to grow your business.

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* SaaS 1.0 products were generally less customisable, and often required customers to conform to a specific set of features and workflows. SaaS 2.0 is characterised by more automation, machine learning capabilities, and greater integration with other software and services. SaaS 2.0 products often have more user-friendly interfaces, and allow for greater customisation of features and workflows. Source: ChatGPT