Discover how you can optimize your customer service with a cloud contact center
A cloud contact center is an internet-hosted solution where all customer communications for a business are received or processed. It often comprises a comprehensive suite of tools that allow agents to communicate with customers through different channels like email, SMS, voice call, chat, and more.
If you're looking to enhance your customer engagement campaign, a cloud contact center should be the first thing to consider. So let's take a comprehensive look at cloud contact centers and how they can benefit your business.
Traditionally, customer communications were limited to voice calls and primarily conducted through an analog phone system.
A cloud contact center differs from this traditional model in two ways:
Let's discuss both in more detail.
The old business phone system relied on analog telephone technology to handle customer communications. This analog system made use of physical copper wires connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to make or receive phone calls.
As you may imagine, this system made the customer journey difficult and inaccessible. Customer support was limited to calls, and call center agents had to work on-site because the phone infrastructure was hosted within company premises.
A cloud-based contact center system is hosted remotely through the internet. With cloud solutions, the infrastructure needed for a contact center is set up and maintained off-site by a third-party provider. All your business needs for a cloud solution is a communication device and a powerful internet connection. Once you have those, your contact center is ready to go.
An omnichannel cloud contact center is a software solution that operates as a centralized communication hub where agents can access all customer correspondence across different communications channels. Most omnichannel cloud contact centers provide support for the following channels:
Of course, not all business solutions offer the same things, so make sure to verify with your provider which channels their solution supports. If there is a particular channel your customers prefer, you may also want to ask if your provider offers special features or addons for it.
An on-premise call center would require you to purchase expensive equipment like data centers, servers, routers, power supplies, etc. You are also responsible for the maintenance of your equipment, requiring additional ongoing costs for labor and IT personnel.
With a cloud contact center platform, all of these are handled by your provider off-site for a single subscription fee. Providers offer a variety of pricing plans that cater to different business types, sizes, and needs, so you can choose a cost saving model that can provide you with the highest returns.
Some contact center solutions come with workforce management tools and analytics that can help you optimize your operations. 8x8’s Contact Center solution, for example, uses complex algorithms to forecast inbound interaction volume, allowing your contact center managers to make appropriate staffing decisions ahead of time.
Cloud contact centers are equipped with intelligent ticket and call routing systems that can automate basic tasks. These systems streamline workflows—reducing agent idle time and freeing them up to focus on assisting customers instead of menial tasks.
As your business grows, your customer service team will surely scale with it. With cloud-based contact centers, all it takes to get upgrades or set up new agent accounts is to contact your solutions provider. Since the cloud contact center infrastructure is hosted remotely by your provider, you won't need to install any complicated phone hardware just to set up a new agent station. All it takes to get cloud deployment started is a quick chat with your provider.
With automated contact center operations and an optimized workforce, your agents can now focus on providing clients with a better customer experience. Contact center solutions can speed up ticketing processes, ensuring that complaints are resolved as quickly as possible which results in high customer satisfaction. Their omnichannel capabilities also give your agents the flexibility to engage customers through their preferred channels of communication.
An on-premise call center would require you to purchase expensive equipment like data centers, servers, routers, power supplies, etc. You are also responsible for the maintenance of your equipment, requiring additional ongoing costs for labor and IT personnel.
With a cloud contact center platform, all of these are handled by your provider off-site for a single subscription fee. Providers offer a variety of pricing plans that cater to different business types, sizes, and needs, so you can choose a cost saving model that can provide you with the highest returns.
Most providers guarantee an almost 99% uptime of their cloud contact center platforms, ensuring that your business experiences no disruption in its daily operations. Of course, do not hesitate to review their performance and ask about disaster recovery options, downtime compensation, and business continuity alternatives.
Hopefully we have convinced you of the potential benefits cloud-based contact center solutions can offer your business. If we have, here are some key features you'll want to look out for before sealing the deal with a cloud contact center provider.
An inbound contact center handles all incoming communications from customers. Inbound campaigns need intelligent routing systems and automated self-service features to ensure that customers receive assistance as soon as possible. In particular, the following tools are necessary for inbound centers:
Outbound contact centers handle outgoing calls to customers. They are primarily used for promotions, sales inquiries, market research, etc.
For outbound campaigns, the most important tool is the auto dialer. As its name suggests, auto dialers automatically dial numbers for agents to speed up the calling process. The most common types of auto dialers are:
Although they're different, both inbound and outbound contact centers need quality management and workforce optimization tools. Take a look at some of the essential features that will help optimize your staff:
Contact center customization can be done using app integrations or APIs. Some common app integrations include:
An on-premise contact center's infrastructure is installed and maintained by the business within the premises. A cloud contact center is maintained offsite by a provider and is hosted through the internet.
Nowadays, the two terms are used interchangeably. But technically, a call center only handles phone calls. A contact center can handle communications from different interaction channels such as email, text messaging, social media, etc.
It depends on your business needs. For small businesses that only receive a low volume of customer interactions, cloud-based call centers (also known as virtual call centers) might be sufficient.
For large enterprises that deal with a high volume of interactions across multiple digital channels, an omnichannel cloud contact center may be more appropriate. To give you a better idea of which one would be better for your business, here is a table that gives an overview of their main differences:
| Cloud Call Center | Cloud Contact Center | |
|---|---|---|
| Supported channels | Voice only | Multiple communication channels (email, voice, chat, SMS, social media, etc.) |
| Infrastructure | Hosted remotely by provider | Hosted remotely by provider |
| Minimum hardware requirements | 1) Phones that can connect to the internet 2) Computers with CTI (Computer telephony integration) | Computer |
| Minimum software requirements | CTI applications or virtual call center software from provider | Cloud contact center software from provider |
| Advantages | 1) Agents only need to be trained in call assistance | 1) Can provide customer assistance across different channels 2) More self-service options for customers such as forums, virtual agents, websites, etc. |
| Disadvantages | 1) Restricted to voice calls 2) Self-service options are limited to IVR menus 3) No flexibility - All assistance must be done in real-time and subject to agent availability | 1) Agents need to be trained in engaging with customers in different platforms |
Some call center software might be outdated or is already included as a built-in functionality in your cloud contact center solution. To be sure, ask your provider if your legacy software is still necessary and if it's compatible with your new system. Alternatively, you can ask your provider if they have a similar software to your legacy tool, and install that instead.
Your provider should walk you through the installation process. Installing the contact center technology should not be any different from installing any other piece of software. But it's best to do it with technical support from your provider to avoid any unnecessary problems.
A powerful cloud contact center will elevate your customer engagement strategy to another level. Reduce irate customers and maximize agent productivity using 8x8 contact center's intelligent routing systems, workforce and performance management features, and flexible app integrations.
Ready to get started? Contact sales today or request a demo.