The concept of cloud-based call centers has evolved with the increasing usage of e-mails, chats, social media and texts by businesses to connect with their customers and deliver services. It is a web-accessible platform that can handle customer calls and interactions. Call centers based in the cloud can be accessed from virtually anywhere, eliminating the need for a physical infrastructure, that in turn reduces operational costs and increases scalability to support evolving customer experience strategies.
Evolution of a Cloud-Based Call Center
Strategically, cloud-based call centres are a part of the organisational plan to enhance profitability by improving operational costs and quality of the customer service. By adopting cloud-based call centers, businesses are focusing on streamlining technology that could benefit customers by creating a profitable customer engagement hub under low infrastructure costs.
Cloud-based call centres basically are a form of network-based service in which a provider owns and operates call centre technology thereby providing its services remotely to businesses in a subscription model. These are increasingly becoming mainstream because of being readily available as a service. Businesses continue to prioritize these cloud-based platforms as they offer features that improve customer interactions, drive customer satisfaction, as well as identify areas within the organisation that would best benefit from the implementation of this model.
Deployed within minutes, with zero or minimal up-front capital investment, a cloud call center lets a business deliver state-of-the-art capabilities that transforms its legacy call center to one that supports both digital and voice interactions. In cloud-based call centers, there is no requirement of hardware which ultimately eliminates the problem of maintaining the equipment and its upgrades.
The Hows and Whys of a Cloud-based Call Center
Installation
The installation of an on-premise call centre can be time-consuming. This includes planning the necessary hardware, licensing, setting up and making the software systems compatible. On the other hand, the installation of a cloud-based call centre is the easiest. It does not require any complexity of maintaining the hardware and without any assembly.
Operational & Ownership Costs
The cost of an on-premise call centre is high. The setup costs include purchasing the hardware, licensing, and the necessary office space for its accommodation. Apart from this, the operational costs would include replacing the installations, due to the changing technology and frequent software upgrades.
On the other hand, the only costs that cloud-based systems require is a strong Internet connection as everything is cloud-based.
Easy Call Centre Management
Managing a physical call center is often a challenge as the business needs to keep track of regulatory conformances, license registration as well as hardware maintenance and upgradation. Most of these challenges are eliminated in a cloud-based call center making its management much simpler.
Flexibility in Business Operations
With on-premise physical call centers businesses do not have much flexibility with the number and actions of the agents. The agents normally cannot work remotely and adding/removing agents as per requirements is often a challenge.
A cloud call centre software however makes it easier for businesses to add or remove the agents. Cloud-based systems also allow the agents to work remotely with a strong internet connection, and offer a 360-degree customer support.
Scalability in Sync with Business Growth
An on-premise physical call centre grows only linearly with its workforce and physical assets. The cloud-based call centres however offers a scalable software system where they are just dependent on data servers.
Reliability Over Business Systems
Notwithstanding the better quality of call in an on-premise call center, its performance is often affected during a breakdown. Cloud-based call centers are oblivious to any physical breakdown as they depend on the Internet connection.
Benefits Of Cloud-Based Call Centers
The key benefits of a cloud-based call centre could be summarized across different aspects.
Speed of Deployment – Cloud-based call centres could be implemented quickly as they are for all purposes hardware free. As a result, there is no hassle in the setup procedures in the business environment.
Seamless Business Model – The use of cloud-based call centres allows users to seamlessly access systems with the help of an Internet connection and consequently deliver high-level customer experiences anywhere anytime as a result.
Supple and Scalable – As per the varying requirements of different business, the cloud-based call centers can be scaled for their business operations.
360 Degree Customer Support – Cloud call centres being made available anytime anywhere, agents can respond to customer inquiries of any nature from any place at anytime.
Monitoring Performance – With cloud-based contact centres, businesses can focus on measuring efficient agent performance. This in turn will lead to higher productivity and improved quality levels of service.
Holistic integrations – Call centres typically rely on multiple software systems that include CRM, call script generators and helpdesk tickets. While integrating all these systems in a physical set up can be a challenge, it can be done in a cloud-based call center only through a few clicks.
Increased Productivity – Agents can be more productive in a cloud-based call center as an integrated dashboard helps them take effective decisions.
Choosing the Right Cloud–Based Call Center
Businesses need to focus on certain criteria while selecting their cloud-based call center.
Technology: Businesses need to focus on the technology behind their hardware, applications and workforce and verify if the cloud-based call center solution can align with all of them. The solution, most importantly, should integrate smoothly with the data sources and help the business become a better customer service organization.
Vendor Positioning: Businesses should assess whether the cloud-based call center solution vendor understands their strategic business roadmaps. It is crucial that their strategic view points converge so that the business always has a better alignment with the vendor.
Realistic Strategy for Customers: Customer experience is becoming critical for customer retention for most businesses in a competitive environment. Businesses need to examine how much the cloud-based solution helps them to enhance customer experience.
As an organization, today you might have a plethora of choices while going for a cloud-based call center, but your focus should be on a solution that is innovative by design with enhanced functionalities and cost-effective. VAANI as a solution fits exactly all these criteria and to learn more about VAANI.
