7 Reasons Why Using Contact Center Software in the Cloud

Digital transformation happens across various industries, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t affect contact centers by, among other ways, moving them to the cloud. Read how it facilitates flexibility, location independence, operational cost, security, and other vital factors.

Technology is constantly evolving and affecting more and more aspects of our lives. Cloud-based solutions that can be accessed from any device, respond to the needs of modern consumers that expect services to be accessible immediately and mobile-friendly. This is not only the case of using apps such as mobile e-commerce platforms but also in a professional context. Thanks to the better access to the mobile internet and public hotspots, lots of work happen on the go. Employees are frequently given flexibility in terms of the workplace and the devices they use. Moreover, different services are also offered by startups and small companies that often need to be flexible and act fast to respond to the changing needs of their markets. It all affects the rise of SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms and software hosted in the cloud.

There is no reason why digital transformation shouldn’t affect contact centers. On the contrary — customers’ expectations are high, and they hope for a call center to work smoothly across different channels and to have all the necessary information gathered in one place. Professionals working in contact centers also have high expectations towards the software they use: it should be fast, user-friendly, and integrated with other tools they work with.

Let us take a closer look at specific reasons why a cloud-based contact center is probably the best idea for your business.

1. Reduce Operational Cost

Building an in-house contact center is costly and time-consuming. It requires setting up all the necessary infrastructure, purchasing hardware and licenses, renting a space, hiring and managing IT officers who will maintain all of that. Moreover, these are unlikely one-time costs, but rather ongoing — hardware needs to be replaced with the new, software updated, the recruitment process is usually also a recurring one.

The cloud-based contact center allows for reducing these costs significantly. You don’t need to invest in all of the abovementioned infrastructure and staff. Just pay a monthly fee that fits your needs, without compromising quality.

2. Scale your contact center flexibly

As already mentioned, a cloud-based contact center can and should be aligned to your needs. We’re aware that these needs can change rapidly, which is especially but not only true for startups, solopreneurs, and SMEs. Upscaling and downscaling is a challenge when you own an on-premise in-house contact center. The recruitment process can be lengthy and costly. Making staff redundant is, on the other hand, one of the most unpleasant experiences while doing the business. The same problem appears when it comes to renting a bigger office space or dealing with paying rent for what you don’t need anymore. CloudTalk takes all this burden off your shoulders: if your marketing and sales campaigns are successful, simply upgrade your plan to ensure smooth customer service to the growing number of clients. If you have temporary troubles — you can downgrade anytime and cut unnecessary costs. Cloud is flexible.

3. Give your clients omnichannel experience

Modern consumers want excellent personalised support, and they want it now. Brands have to be available wherever their clients are, including mobile apps and social channels — both well-known and those growing in popularity. It’s a much more significant challenge for on-premise contact centers than those based in the cloud because usually the latter offer numerous integrations with third-party tools ( CloudTalk has over 500!), such as CRM, helpdesk and e-commerce software. Thanks to that, you can anticipate your customers’ needs and provide top-notch personalised service based on the data gathered in other tools.

4. Increased happiness and productivity with Intelligent Routing

80% of calls starts in less than 20 seconds of waiting. No one likes to wait, so the faster a contact center agent picks up a phone, the better. Modern cloud-based call centers use up-to-date technology such as Intelligent Routing that minimises the waiting time. CloudTalk uses it as a part of the Advanced Dial Plan feature, and you need to choose the options that fit your business well: For example, when a call is routed, it can ring to all agents assigned to the group. Another option would be ringing a selected agent or an agent who has been assigned to a specific client. Thanks to that plan, callers are attended, and no call is missed even when agents are busy or unavailable.

Intelligent Routing also significantly improves the agents’ productivity, especially in an outbound call center. A lack of manual dialing means an increase in productivity of up to 270%.

5. Reaching one contact center around the world

Your company may go global and expand its reach to the new regions and countries around the world, but the customer service should be consistent no matter the location. The cloud-based solution is also a win in this case as international phone numbers are usually one of their basic features. CloudTalk offers numbers from over 70 countries. The next step would be hiring agents who speak the clients’ languages, and this is another advantage of the cloud — you can hire and onboard them remotely and give them access to the contact center software so that they can work from their own devices.

6. Hassle-free onboarding

Speaking of onboarding — it needs to be fast and easy. For reliable cloud-based call centers, it’s a priority because the positive user experience is a key factor for many of their clients. The significant advantage of cloud-based software is that it can be accessed from many devices, including mobile. With a desktop and mobile app, and a dashboard that can be accessed from a browser, there is no need to invest in any equipment besides professional headsets. Customer support is also here to help — CloudTalk always offers an initial call to facilitate setting up, even in the cheapest plans.

7. Security

Security issues are among the biggest myths and misconceptions regarding cloud-based call centers. Contact centers indeed deal with lots of personal, transactional, and even sensitive data. However, processing the data in a brick-and-mortar office on devices that never go outside it, doesn’t guarantee the total security and lack of data breaches. Reliable cloud-based providers take full control over it. CloudTalk, for example, follows recommendations established by security standards ISO 27001/27002, PCI/DSS and the OWASP security project. It’s also GDPR-compliant, which means it has to deal with personal data with full transparency and caution. In the cloud, infrastructure is monitored 24/7; phone calls, passwords, and credit card information are encrypted and can’t be accessed internally.

As you can see, there are many reasons behind choosing a contact center software in the cloud. In contrary to the on-premise option where you’re responsible for everything — building, maintenance, and hiring staff to do that, the cloud takes most of the burden off your shoulders. Moreover, there is simply no need to reinvent the wheel, and such a software has been developed by professionals who know how to build one, both in terms of specific industry knowledge and creating user-friendly interfaces and workflow. Finally, the cloud gives the flexibility that cannot be achieved in any other way.

Originally published at https://www.cloudtalk.io on August 2, 2019.