Why Businesses Are Putting Their Call Centers in the Cloud (CCaaS)

Companies today must work harder than ever to keep their customers. Today’s customers have high expectations and a range of alternative choices. They want to communicate in a way that is comfortable and natural to them—whether it be email, chat or even SMS. And they expect a flawless experience every time. Should they feel dissatisfied, experience an inability to effectively communicate, a delay—you name it—there’s a good chance they’ll go elsewhere (and probably tell their friends and contacts about it while they’re at it).

In other words: the standard for service has never been higher. But companies of all sizes still battle with how to balance a great experience without breaking the bank. Thanks to the cloud, a new option is on the table: Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS). CCaaS may be a viable opportunity for many companies to affordability improve their service levels, while maintaining flexibility.

What is Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS?)

CCaaS is a solution where companies leverage cloud-enabled contact center software. Like many cloud solutions, companies can buy-in to the parts of the service they need, versus biting off more than they can chew. This includes the possibility of renting hardware from a provider, or having a provider maintain hardware for them. Hybrid models, where companies leverage a mix of in-house and cloud assets, are not unusual.

This allows companies to do two things – one, they can leverage sophisticated software to meet their call center goals, and two, it allows them to reduce some overhead costs and headaches associated with maintaining a robust call center.

How Businesses Benefit

Contact Center as a Service offers numerous benefits to companies, many which fall in line with other benefits gained from other as-a-service cloud offerings.

• Flexibility and scalability. Companies often grapple with changing needs for call centers, such as increase or decrease in agents due to seasonality, or rapidly changing call volumes. Contact Center as a Service can help companies make these changes fast, since it’s all based around software in the cloud. High call volume? No problem – just add resources as you need them. Plus, the typical pay-as-you-go models give companies the flexibility to scale and make these changes, knowing that they’re only buying into what they actually need. To make these changes to on-premise solutions would require a lot of manpower, and far more capital.
• Cost. Rather than focusing on hardware expenses, companies can shift to an operations mindset. What do they need to maintain their operations? What skillsets are truly needed in-house versus what can be outsourced? Many companies that make the transition to cloud systems benefit from their well-paid IT staff being able to focus on more strategic initiatives, versus things like mundane maintenance or repeat tasks.
• Continuity. Should a disaster hit an on-premise contact center, it could be days (or weeks!) to get things back in operation. A cloud-based model allows for the use of remote agents, safeguarded data and prohibits things like weather from impacting operations.
• Easy upgrades and implementation. Since a contact center software provider owns and manages the software, companies only need to access and opt-in to upgrades—not manage the process themselves. This means using always-updated versions of software, which often has benefits associated with it like enhanced security and access to the latest features.
• Use it anywhere. Work from home policies are on the rise and only predicted to continue to grow in popularity. Just like Contact Center as a Service allows for continuity and flexibility from a business perspective, these benefits are often cascaded over to employees. Companies can adopt work-from-home policies without disruption, since CCaaS can be accessed from anywhere.

iT1 is well-versed in all things cloud, including Contact Center as a Service. If you’d like to discuss if CCaaS is right for your business, we are here to help. We can advise you on which providers make the most sense for your needs and manage the migration for you.