6 Key Benefits Companies Get by Investing in a Cloud Based Contact Center

More than 50% of contact centers around the globe have invested in a cloud based offering of some sort, with more companies all set to join the trend

16:37 19 July 2019

Companies, both small and big, are embracing a digital transformation of this scale mainly for the benefits that these cloud applications have on offer. Here are some key benefits of a proper cloud based contact center environment that companies cannot afford to ignore.

Better Customer Service

Empowering agents with necessary information to be able to solve customer issues is key to delivering a first class customer service experience. And that’s precisely what robust cloud-based contact center software solutions bring to the table. 

Most offerings are targeted at helping agents gain the authority to deliver really well on key performance indicators that matter the most namely first call resolution, first agent resolution, and low call handling time- all of which guarantee a very positive experience for the customer. 

Besides, these offerings come with smart functionality that make integrations with other services and apps simple and easier. And that translates to a seamless and intuitive experience for your team of customer service representatives who are having to shuffle between a number of apps mainly CRM suite of applications, helpdesk software, survey forms in order to guarantee a better quality of customer service at every level imaginable.

Lowered Costs and Better Competitive Ability for your Business

Setting up an on-premise contact center is a costly proposition for any business. Think about it. Your business might incur huge capital expenditure for purchasing hardware(including servers, equipment to handle calls and computers to route them) and licensing. Depending on how big your contact center team is, renting an office space and making necessary arrangements to ensure smooth operations might require a huge chunk of money as well. And it doesn’t stop there. Factor in the recurring costs of operation, mainly costs for renewing licenses as and when they expire and for upgrading hardware.

Thankfully, migrating to a cloud based solution is a smart move in that it allows your business to shift from a capex to an opex model whilst keeping up with the latest technology. And that means you can avoid having to make a huge investment in hardware or infrastructure. In fact, all your business needs to keep operating properly is a monthly subscription to a good cloud contact center solution and a good and reliable internet connection. That’s all.

Other than reduced capital requirements, cloud technology keeps your operations smooth and agile which are indispensable for you to be competitive. When you’re striving for competitive advantage, you want to be able to adapt adeptly to your growing business needs. And you don’t want to be running your contact center with aging hardware and obsolete software.

Enhanced Productivity and Better Employee Efficiency

Given the amount of time and money that goes into recruiting agents, your business will do well to implement a cloud based solution with which you can retain your agents while making it easier for them to become more productive and efficient. For instance, cloud-based technology provides an all-embracing, integrated dashboard view as well as superior call monitoring applications that managers can use to take stock of the situation and jump in to help agents that are drowned with field calls. Similarly, agents can also seek assistance from their managers if required. All of this will surely have a positive impact on overall agent turnover. 

In addition to this, implementing an effective cloud contact center solution means your teams have less things to worry about. With a cloud based contact center service, your IT team doesn’t have to bother with merely supporting the status quo by doing all the same-old application maintenance and other routine tasks. With more time and resources at their disposal, these teams now have an opportunity to put their time and effort elsewhere particularly in those areas of business that drive key results.

Easier to Scale Up and Down

In contrast to on-premise customer contact software, cloud based offerings are easily scalable and flexible to meet your business needs, no matter how unique or challenging it is. These services can be easily ramped up to accommodate a sudden flurry in activity or increase in calls whether or not it is well anticipated. For example, businesses having contact center apps on the cloud have the flexibility to scale up and handle additional capacity at the stroke of a button and then scale it down as they see fit when it’s business as usual.

Measure and Improve

 

They say you can’t improve what you can’t measure. What was not easy to track with traditional contact center applications is totally measurable with the latest contact center offerings that come with integrated analytics baked into them. Advanced suite of applications that sit atop the basic contact center platform extend the functionality of the whole cloud offering to new dimensions, making it easy to measure with accuracy both the key metrics of individual agents like agent performance and overall operational efficiency at a department level. 

Informed Engagement courtesy new tools 

Cloud offerings allow for integrating new services and functionalities to traditional customer service interactions, thereby taking engagement to a whole new level. In the past, organisations were quite content with touching base with their customers primarily through telephone and email. With the advent of modern cloud based systems today, there is a great shift in communication using sophisticated technologies such as automated messaging bots, live support chat, social media and mobile messaging.

There is a clear competitive advantage to investing in a feature-rich cloud based contact center. When is your business going to implement yours on the cloud?