Unity Contact Center

Unity Contact Center brings inbound customer communications into one agent workspace for small and medium businesses. It is most compelling for contact centers already running Cisco BroadSoft ACD. Its channel coverage and supervisor controls are useful, but the BroadSoft dependency makes it a poor standalone choice.

Overview

Agents can handle voice, email, web chat, SMS, callbacks and Twitter in a blended interface, with conversation histories, canned chat responses and the option to escalate conversations to supervisors. Customizable routing sends inbound work to appropriately equipped agents, while Unity manages agent availability as they enter conversations. That combination can reduce the need to split channel work across separate tools, especially for a BroadSoft-based team.

Unity is an overlay for BroadSoft ACD call centers, not a replacement for the underlying platform. Businesses without BroadSoft should look elsewhere rather than treating Unity as a self-contained contact center. Kakapo describes it as cloud-based and says queues, channels and agents can scale without limits or bottlenecks.

Key features

Supervisors can configure web chat queues and routing in the portal, then embed generated JavaScript on a website to deploy chat and callback widgets. This gives teams a direct way to add those contact paths to their own site, but call handling still depends on ACD queues and the other channels have their own prerequisites: SMS needs a number able to receive SMS, Twitter needs a handle, and email needs an IMAP-compliant server.

The supervisor app combines real-time and historical queue statistics with agent management tools. A configurable dashboard presents contact center statistics in tabular or graphical views, helping supervisors monitor operations in a format suited to their needs. CRM integrations support contact lookup and screen popping; documented options include Salesforce, Agile CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk, Sugar CRM and Zoho CRM. The portal can also connect to Microsoft 365, Exchange, Gmail and Twitter.

Agents can handle several channels in one interface, but that breadth is useful only if the business can meet the channel prerequisites and already has the supporting BroadSoft ACD environment.

Pricing

Unity Contact Center uses custom pricing, with pricing available on request. Kakapo offers a 14-day trial with full functionality and Service Provider branding, so teams can assess the complete feature set before committing. Kakapo also offers a demo request form with product specialists. No seat minimum, renewal term or paid plan breakdown is provided here, so buyers should request a quote that spells out the commercial terms for their deployment.

Platforms

The product is listed for web and Windows. Unity Web Apps run in browsers on Windows, Mac and Linux machines, with Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari listed as supported browsers. The Windows application supports Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11 in 32-bit or 64-bit editions. This gives web users broader desktop operating-system coverage than the dedicated Windows application.

Who it's for

Unity is aimed at SMB contact centers that already use Cisco BroadSoft ACD and want shared handling for voice and digital channels, plus queue oversight and agent management. It is less suitable for businesses seeking a platform-independent contact center, or teams unable to meet requirements such as an ACD queue, SMS-capable number or IMAP email server. Kakapo says it has developed its own UC and call center applications since 2006.

Pros and cons

Pros: Voice, email, chat, SMS, callbacks and Twitter share an agent interface, with histories, canned responses and supervisor escalation.

Pros: Supervisors get live and historical queue statistics, agent management and configurable dashboard views.

Pros: CRM integrations support contact lookup and screen popping, while website widgets can deploy chat and callbacks.

Cons: The product depends on Cisco BroadSoft ACD, excluding businesses that need a standalone or platform-neutral contact center.

Cons: Channel use depends on supporting infrastructure and accounts, including ACD queues, an SMS-capable number, a Twitter handle and an IMAP server.

Cons: Pricing is custom, so buyers must request a quote rather than compare a published plan price.

Alternatives

For teams focused on SMS integration rather than a BroadSoft-based, multichannel contact center, Vonage SMS API offers a usage-based SMS API with pricing that varies by country and number type. LiveAgent is an alternative with ticketing, live chat, a knowledgebase, customer portal, contact forms and automation rules; its Small business plan is $15 a month, billed annually.

Freshdesk may suit teams looking for a free starting tier: its Free program is free for 1-2 agents over 6 months, while its Growth plan is $19 a month, billed annually. For a workforce-engagement emphasis, Genesys Workforce Engagement Management offers a Cloud 2 plus WEM add-on at £28 a year per named user, billed annually. Aspect League, Hoopla, BoardQ and Gamifier are also listed as alternatives.

For a wider comparison of gamification-focused tools, see Customer Service Gamification Software.

Verdict

Choose Unity Contact Center if your SMB already runs BroadSoft ACD and wants agents and supervisors to handle multiple inbound channels in a shared cloud-based system. The integrated routing, agent tools and queue statistics are its strongest case. Look elsewhere if you need a contact center independent of BroadSoft, or if the channel prerequisites do not fit your operation.