By Kevin Lasky, COO, ApexCX

If you ask most executives what makes top brands stand out, you’ll hear all sorts of answers: technology, smart people, maybe even great marketing. But if you really dig in, if you look closer than most, you’ll find one thing they all share. It’s a contact center designed with real thought.

Not just one with enough staff. Not just one that runs smoothly. It’s truly a well-designed one. It doesn’t matter if you run a small 50-seat operation or manage a huge global network. The principles apply to everyone.

They Design from the Customer Backward

Most contact centers get built from the inside out. Companies focus on their own internal processes, what their workforce needs, and how to make things more efficient. Often, they’ll let one department, or even an old process, dictate the new process without even asking why. But the best companies flip that idea on its head. They start with the customer’s experience. Then, they design everything else backward from that point.

This means a few things:

• They map out what customers actually need at every step of their journey.
• They figure out why customers reach out to them in the first place, and how customers actually want to get in touch.
• They remove any rough spots or friction points before an agent even sees them.

A good customer experience should never depend on an amazing agent fixing a broken system. Top brands understand this deeply. They design their centers so agents can do their very best work because the system supports them, not in spite of it.

They Don’t Make It Too Complicated

The more complex you make the design, the more likely it is to fall apart. It’s one of the reasons smart companies hire experts (like us) who do this kind of optimization every day.

Top brands keep things simple:

• Their communication channels are clear. Customers know exactly where to go for help.
• Their queues make sense. There’s no guessing game about where you stand.
• Agents get trained on the things customers genuinely ask about. No wasted time on irrelevant details.
• They track results, not just impressive-sounding numbers that don’t mean much.

When something goes wrong, they don’t just put a band-aid on it with more software or new scripts. They look for the real cause of the problem and fix it right there, at the source.

They Focus on Helping, Not Watching, Agents

A poorly designed system treats agents like problems. It sees them as people who need to be tightly controlled, given exact scripts, and constantly watched. Great design, though, seeks to apply people power in the best way possible, and treats agents like problem solvers. And it gives them all the right tools to solve those problems well.

Top brands focus on:

• Access: Agents can easily get to all the information and systems they need. No unnecessary hurdles.
• Flexibility: There’s room for agents to change their tone or approach to match the customer they are talking to.
• Feedback: Coaching happens all the time, and it’s based on how agents perform, not just whether they followed every rule.

Yes, quality assurance matters. But its purpose isn’t to catch mistakes. It’s about building a system where mistakes are much less likely to happen in the first place.

They Design for Change

Customer expectations are always moving. Technology keeps evolving. Sometimes, your customer volume spikes unexpectedly. New ways for people to connect keep popping up.

The contact centers that perform best aren’t built to stay the same forever. They are built to adapt.

This means their design is:

• Modular: You can swap out tools or change parts of the operation without tearing down the whole thing.
• Scalable: When you grow, the quality of your service doesn’t have to suffer.
• Cloud-based (most of the time): This makes remote work, flexible call routing, and quick new deployments normal.

Old systems and rigid infrastructure make change a real headache. That’s why the smartest brands invest in being flexible from day one.

They Treat Technology as a Tool, Not the Whole Plan

Here’s something important to understand: A lot of companies buy expensive customer experience software thinking it will magically fix everything.

It won’t.

Top brands don’t just throw technology at a problem with their processes. They use technology to make good design even better, never to replace it.

This means things like AI, automation, and data analysis get used with a clear purpose:

• Automate the simple tasks. This lets agents focus on the tougher, more complex issues.
• Use AI to suggest the best next steps, not to take over the conversation entirely.
• Let data analysis guide decisions, instead of just creating charts and graphs that no one ever looks at.

If your technology is confusing your agents, or actually creating more work than it saves, then it’s not helping you.

They Connect the Contact Center with the Business

Too often, contact centers operate like they’re on their own island. Top brands bring their contact center right into the center of their business.

You can see this connection in a few key ways:

• Shared goals: The contact center isn’t just focused on how quickly calls are handled or customer satisfaction scores. Its goals are directly tied to things like revenue, keeping customers around, and what people think of the brand.
• Customer voice: Insights that come from the people on the front lines get sent back to the teams working on products, marketing, and top leadership.
• Career paths: High-performing individuals in the contact center are seen as valuable talent, not just another number.

This kind of connection doesn’t happen by accident. It requires the entire business to see the contact center as a key asset, not just another department that costs money.

They Design for Empathy

Empathy isn’t just a “nice to have” skill. It’s the building block for trust. And the best contact centers are designed to make it easy for agents to be empathetic.

This means:

• Giving agents enough time: Rushing calls just kills any chance for real connection or understanding.
• Training with real situations: Agents don’t just read scripts. They learn how to truly listen and respond.
• Letting humans be human: Scripts, workflows, and company rules should support good judgment. They should never replace it.

The brands that do this well don’t just sound friendlier on the phone. They build deep, lasting loyalty. Because when customers feel truly understood, they stick around.

Final Thought: Design Is a Leadership Function

Here’s the bottom line: Contact center design isn’t just a task for operations. It’s a responsibility for leadership.

If you treat design as a one-time project, or something you can just hand off to someone else, you’ll miss the bigger picture. But if you treat it as a powerful strategic tool, one that impacts customer loyalty, what people think of your brand, and how efficiently you run things, then it becomes a real competitive advantage.

Top brands know this. And now, you do too.