In the past, on-premise call centers were the norm. But, since the evolution to contact centers and the development of cloud computing, another option has become available, cloud-hosted contact centers or contact centers as a service.
Better known as CCaaS, this new deployment option helps provide smaller businesses that operate with less resources a contact center solution without the need to invest in expensive equipment or a pricey on-site option.
This allows these businesses to grow and to interact with their customer base on a budget without losing out on the quality that they would have had with the alternate choice.
Using the option of contact center as a service comes with the perks of new technologies and much more, so let us delve into that.
What Is A Contact Center As A Service?
The term contact center as a service, or CCaaS, is a software solution for a contact center that is offered to a business and hosted for them by a third party.
They are presented as out-of-the-box solutions with different package options that are usually tailored for a specific business niche to best fit a particular set of business needs.
The best ones offer a wide array of different editions with options to scale with the business as well as a number of contact center technologies that will help streamline agent workflow and boost customer interaction.
The Benefits Of A CCaaS Over On-site CCs
Learn more about Cloud CC vs. on-premise CC solutions.
Compared to the more traditional on-premise contact centers, cloud-hosted CCs offer a variety of benefits that help burgeoning businesses keep up with the competition at a fraction of the cost by offering similar, if not better quality service.
Here are some of the key benefits which enable that:
No Physical Location
Considering that contact centers as a service are hosted by a third party, businesses do not need to invest in a physical location, allowing them to conserve funds and allocate them toward other projects if need be.
Enabling Modern Work Practices
On top of the cost reduction provided by a contact center hosted on the cloud, businesses will also be able to empower their employees with work-from-home and hybrid work benefits as access to their workspace will only require a stable internet connection aside from their login details.
Access To More Talented Workers
With the removal of the need for employees to come to a specific location for work, businesses can now hire potential candidates from further away as distance will no longer prove as big of a hindrance in the hiring process.
This, in turn, will greatly improve average employee quality, enhancing the overall level of customer service and satisfaction along with it.
An Out-of-the-box Solution
The months that would normally take for a physical CC to be set up are reduced to mere minutes with little to no service downtime with a CCaaS.
Utilizing contact centers as a service brings about faster deployment times too. They do not require any server or equipment setup, nor a physical location, meaning the months that would normally take for a physical contact center to be set up are now reduced to mere minutes with little to no service downtime.
Scaling With The Business
Unlike its on-premise counterpart, a cloud contact center does not take too long to add new lines. Just a few clicks and everything will be up and running instead of having to install new hardware for a physical contact center.
This allows businesses to enjoy more organic growth without needing to delay or stall it due to lengthy deployment prerequisites.
Omnichannel Integration
The power of a contact center is to be able to integrate multiple channels into its service and track customer interaction across each individual one.
This is something that a CCaaS is able to do better than currently existing alternatives.
This is all thanks to the various contact center technologies that can be utilized to streamline and automate some of the more tedious processes that would normally fall to employees to manage, leaving them more room to focus on improving the customer experience.
Bicom Systems’ own Contact Center solution has developed its own omnichannel which showcases the best that this technology has to offer to businesses.
The Technologies Available To Cloud Contact Centers
When talking about CCaaS, it is also worth noting some of the key contact center technologies that they enable, all of which are focused on streamlining employee workflow, providing a more seamless customer interaction and elevating overall customer experience.
1. IVR
An automated system that customers will interact with prior to being connected to an agent designed to reduce contact center traffic.
This is mainly done through a set of automated questions that the system will ask the customer and, based on their input, will lead them down the decision tree until their inquiry is properly categorized and can be delivered to the proper specialist.
This helps minimize potential call transfers and reduce customer frustration.
The system also helps eliminate a lot of the more common inquiries either by providing customers with status updates or news about potential service outages and the reason behind them.
It can also help resolve these common inquiries by guiding them to an FAQ which could enable them to potentially resolve the issue themselves.
2. CRM
A system that gathers customer data from prior interactions, profiling them and allowing agents to deepen their relationships with the customer to ensure more pleasant interactions in the future and to improve customer satisfaction and handling time.
3. Chatbots
Chatbots are another form of automation that help customers with more common problems, but they also serve as assistance outside of business hours.
While relatively simple, their logic has been improving with time and so has their usefulness.
4. Performance Tracking
Being able to track agent performance and their customer interaction can be a great help in improving future CX and can show supervisors potential pain points for agents or the service as a whole that require improvement.
5. Reporting Tools
Finally, tracking different channels individually may seem like a difficult task, but CCaaS offer numerous reporting tools that can let any contact center manage that process with ease.
Such is the case with the blended reporting functionality from Bicom Systems’ Contact Center solution.
Knowing Whether A CCaaS Is The Right Option For A Business
While cloud contact centers are the preferred option for most businesses, they do have a few shortcomings which may not be ideal for some individuals.
Little To No Flexibility
Cloud contact centers are extremely flexible when it comes to scalability, but less so when it comes to feature flexibility.
The features found in solutions offered are a package deal where most CCaaS providers will not be able to remove or add extra features to one which may make them less desirable for businesses that often shift their company direction.
Monthly Or Annual Payments
While the subscription-based model fits well with the cloud-hosted model, some businesses do not like having to constantly keep up with payments and may prefer just getting it all done in one go like they can with an on-premise solution, even with a higher upfront fee.
These businesses prefer to own the solution which is not really the way business usually works in a CCaaS ecosystem.
Keeping Data Safe
Not having data on company premises opens up a few security concerns, especially for businesses that handle a lot of sensitive customer or company information.
The business may not feel as comfortable about the idea of it being hosted elsewhere where they do not have control over the level of security provided as they will not be able to anticipate potential leaks or security breaches.
Looking To The Future With Cloud Contact Centers
Despite the few existing downsides of CCaaS, their many benefits far outweigh these detriments. They are expected to be the future of customer service for businesses going forward, especially with the constant strides made in the field thanks to new technologies like machine learning and AI helping refine or automate existing functionalities..
Join us in welcoming this new future with Bicom Systems’ own Contact Center solution which aims to provide a seamless transition into the contact centers of tomorrow.
If you want to find out more or have any questions, feel free to contact us.