New PerfectServe Research: 85% of Healthcare Leaders Want to Switch Their Contact Center Vendors, But Most Feel Trapped
MIAMI, June 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PerfectServe®, a leading healthcare technology company specializing in unified clinical communication and provider scheduling solutions, today published a report with findings that highlight the most pressing technology challenges facing healthcare contact centers. The data paints a picture of unwieldy and disconnected tech stacks that come with a high maintenance burden, make it hard to train and retain operators, and often damage patient experiences.
Featuring survey results from 105 senior-level IT and operations leaders at large, sophisticated healthcare organizations, the report — 85% Want to Switch Software Vendors: Why Healthcare Contact Centers Are Stuck with "Good Enough" — revealed that only 32% of respondents are “very confident” their current tech stack can support future contact center complexity. 85% report a “moderate” to “very high” IT maintenance burden with their existing tech that makes resource allocation difficult.
The downstream impacts of this dysfunction are felt by operators and patients alike:
- Among the “moderate” and “major” tech gaps reported by respondents, 52% identified managing transfers and escalations as an ongoing challenge for operators, while 51% said manually switching between systems during calls is another common roadblock.
- Broken communication also introduces real clinical risk for patients, with 53% of respondents indicating long wait times as a common pain point. 37% said those and other inefficiencies directly lead to delayed clinical responses.
"This report confirms an unfortunate truth about the contact center landscape in healthcare,” said PerfectServe Vice President Sean Collins, a veteran of the operator console space with over 20 years of experience. “Contact center operators do incredibly important work, but in many instances they’re just lower on the priority list, with limited budget and less authority to impact technology decisions being made above their heads. They want intuitive tools that can keep pace with the speed and complexity of care delivery, but current tech stacks are falling short.”
Top Takeaways from the Report
PerfectServe’s research uncovered several themes that sum up the struggles of today’s healthcare contact center:
- Communications technology (and particularly the software for routing calls, messages, and clinical alerts) is holding organizations back. Dated and poorly integrated contact center tech leads to communication workflow failures that stifle productivity for operators and negatively impact the patient experience.
- Only 15% of respondents want to stay with their existing vendor, but over half say switching vendors would be difficult. Even if they’re not satisfied with current outcomes and workflows, the cost of switching and vendor lock-in make it difficult for many organizations to take the leap.
- Speed metrics are masking deeper problems. 83% of respondents said they’re hitting their service level targets like average speed-to-answer, but long wait times (cited by 53%) and multiple transfers (cited by 44%) are often lurking in the background. Most organizations aren't tracking the metrics that would show why.
- AI ambition is outpacing infrastructure. 67% call AI-enabled routing critical or very important, but 68% still have hybrid or on-prem architectures that will make the transition to AI more difficult. 9 out of 10 contact center professionals surveyed said they’re still at “early-stage AI maturity.”
- Tech that doesn’t serve a contact center’s needs in turn causes operator staffing problems. 84% say technology gaps affect recruiting, training, and retention. The top justifier for investment is reduced operator workload (64%).
“Too many healthcare organizations wait for some kind of catastrophic outage or broken integration before they decide it’s time to upgrade the contact center,” said PerfectServe Sr. Director of Product Management Duncan Harris. “But this area of the business is no longer just a cost center, and it deserves renewed technology investment commensurate with its value. With the right approach, the contact center can be a well-connected hub for efficient hospital communication that yields happy operators, happy providers, and even happier patients.”
For a complete breakdown of survey data, download the full report.
About PerfectServe
PerfectServe accelerates speed to care by optimizing provider schedules, streamlining clinical communication, and engaging patients and their families in the care experience. Our cloud-based software simplifies complex clinical workflows and schedules with secure and timely communication by dynamically routing messages to the right person at the right time. We drive more efficient care collaboration in all settings to improve patient outcomes and bring joy back to caregivers. PerfectServe has over 25 years of experience and is a trusted partner to more than 500 hospitals and 30,000 medical practices.
PerfectServe Contact:
Matt Kothe | Director, Corporate Marketing
865.776.9824
mkothe@perfectserve.com
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