Cloud-Based Contact Center

How the Cloud is Changing the Contact Center Landscape

Updated: September 23, 2014

Cloud-Based Contact Center

“Even your most loyal customers always have a choice about where to take their business.” ― Marilyn Suttle

There is no question that the cloud is changing the landscape of businesses across the board. This is just as true for the contact center. These are also known as Call-Center-as-a-Service solutions or CaaS. The cost benefits alone for implementing CaaS is quite tangible. For instance, you can save dramatically on your total cost of ownership (TCO) for things such as office space. All you pay for is the supporting hardware and applications. Not to mention, you can be sure some of your competitors have already moved to or are planning to utilize a cloud-based contact center. So, to remain competitive, it would behoove you to follow suit.

According to DMG Consulting, more than 18% of contact center seats are using a cloud-based contact center infrastructure. In fact, recent reports have shown that the cloud-based contact center market will grow from $4.5 billion in 2014 to $10.9 billion by 2019. This takes in a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21.3%. North America will continue to take the lead in terms of revenue spend followed by emerging countries such as the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Latin America (LA), and Asia-Pacific (APAC).

Start Acting Like a Big Company

Cloud-based call centers use the scale and strength of the internet to deliver enterprise-like capabilities. This includes strength, reliability and security without having to install antiquated and complex telephone systems. You don't have to deal with expensive and time-consuming hardware updates.

Also, you can deploy new cloud applications in a matter of days instead of months. This allows your company to focus on your core business rather than fiddling with stressful delays. Whether you are delivering new marketing campaigns or delivering targeted messages regarding product launches and promotions, the cloud gives your contact center the agility you desire.

Decrease Your TCO

What CaaS can do is take away the expense of leasing or purchasing a physical office space, hiring maintenance staff and buying costly hardware. Why deal with all of that when you don't have to? Cloud-based call centers using VoIP phone system gives you a signaling-only architecture that helps to significantly reduce spending. A virtual call center does not interact with the media path, so you don't have to purchase expensive switching equipment. As a result, you get to increase capacity and user interactions in real time.

Improve Disaster Recovery

Many SMBs lack the staff, knowledge and resources to have an up-to-date disaster recovery plan. In a benchmark survey created by the Disaster Preparedness Council, one-third of organizations said that they lost most or all of their data in hours or even days. The losses amounted to thousands and even millions of dollars. Can your business afford to lose that much? Although there are still some concerns with cloud security, it is still much safer than going with an on-site solution. Whether there is an instant failover or surge in client traffic, the cloud-based contact center will keep your information intact through methods such as redundancy and use of multiple power sources.

Protect Customer Data More Efficiently

Customers are already weary of businesses losing their information to hackers. It is an accepted occurrence that takes place daily. Nonetheless, having a security breach can obliterate an SMB in an instant. Through the cloud-based contact center, you get to use advanced technologies designed specifically to secure systems, safeguard and isolate data. Keeping up with the standards and certifications needed for policies and training can easily drain an SMB of additional resources that can be used towards expansion or research and development.

Easy to Implement

If you already use a unified communications system, a cloud-based solution is normally simple to integrate. To illustrate, you can synthesize video, chat, text and video conferencing. In addition, many providers have the ability to collaborate with your already-installed CRM systems making the switch that much more straightforward.

Boost Stability

Consumers want to work with stable businesses. They need to feel they can trust you to understand their needs. The more dire situation occurs when you can't service your customers because of a technology interruption. Many of them won't care why or how it happened, they will only remember that your company could not be there for them when they needed you most. There are hundreds of options available in every industry. Customers have every right to go with a business that offers proven reliability.

Flexibility

If you have a seasonal business, you can manage your usage to fit those types of fluctuations. Perhaps your busiest times of year are during the holidays and summer time, then you can increase your capacity at that time and choose a plan tailored to your needs. There isn't any reason to partner with a provider that gives you more than you will ever use, and with monthly subscription plans, you don't have to.

Based on the lowered TCO, increased security and improved reliability, becoming a cloud-based contact center seems the most obvious and logical choice. In addition, the rapid growth of the industry means your competitors are jumping on this bandwagon, as well.
 

Want to learn more? Check our Cloud Contact Center white paper.