Many organizations are choosing to move their customer communications to a cloud contact center model. But what exactly is a cloud contact center, and how does it differ from an on-premise contact center?
/f/152969/1920x1920/9d6aa2d075/man_lightcircle_v2.png)
/f/152969/1721x1237/d3eb5208cf/asian-man-phone-happy-left_dark.png)
What is a cloud contact center?
A contact center is the central point from which all inbound and outbound customer communications are managed. Nowadays, many contact centers are held in the cloud, meaning that no hardware is held on the organization’s premises other than the devices themselves, such as phones or laptops. Calls are routed over the internet using SIP trunking.
Cloud contact center technology is supplied by third-party Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) companies. CCaaS providers manage maintenance and updates, and enrich the technology with new innovative features throughout the year. Moreover, unlike other types of contact center solutions, cloud contact centers disperse resources between multiple servers, meaning that the service is scalable and reliable.
What is a cloud contact center not?
An on-premise contact center
Contact centers have historically been “on-premise”, where servers are located on-site, typically at the office of the organization. Internal IT teams are responsible for maintaining the servers.
A hosted contact center
A hosted solution is where a server is reserved solely for the purposes of your organization. This may be situated in your office, or at a data center. Either way, your organization is responsible for the management of this server, requiring you to have an IT team with the time and expertise to set up and maintain this server.
A Managed Contact Center
A managed solution is similar to a hosted solution, with a server in a remote location being solely dedicated to your organization. A key difference, however, is that through a managed services provider, organizations have support, management and maintenance given to them from the provider.
The benefits of the cloud
Minimized need for management
Having a third-party CCaaS provider managing the contact center technology removes the burden from internal IT departments, and minimizes costs to the organization. It also means that organizations benefit from new product developments, without having to commit any extra resource. The best CCaaS providers will deliver developments at the cutting edge of technology, on a regular basis.
With the cloud, billing is predictable, typically paid on a monthly basis to the CCaaS provider. This means that companies do not have to pay for costly replacements to on-premise hardware as they would with an on-premise solution.
Flexible and scalable
Cloud contact center solutions allow organizations to scale up to handle peaks in demand. Unlike on-premise solutions, organizations do not incur extra charges when queues exceed a certain length in a cloud solution. A good CCaaS provider will instead supply organizations with a range of tools, such as IVR and Machine Agents, to help reduce queues and wait time.
Cloud contact center packages also flex to the needs of each organization, ensuring they only pay for what they need. With the cloud, organizations can choose which channels they wish to utilize, and how many agent and supervisor seats they need.
Location independent
Having a cloud contact center means that customer service staff can work from any location, as long as they have a suitable device, and an internet connection. This empowers even the most disparate and remote workforces to contact their customers and work together, no matter where they are.
Organizations can also switch from office-based to remote working in a few clicks, enabling them to continue being open for business, even if the office itself cannot be open.
Security
Organizations need to be sure that sensitive data is still secure when working over the cloud. Managers and supervisors need to have control over compliance, wherever their agents are working. A PCI-DSS compliant cloud solution ensures that agents do not have access to payment data, removing the burden from management to oversee compliance. In terms of cybersecurity, cloud solutions typically offer a range of measures, such as Two-Factor Authentication, and IP Whitelisting, which only allows access through a specific VPNs.
Rich Functionality
CCaaS providers such as Content Guru supply tools that offer a 360 degree view of the customer, allowing agents to provide a connected customer journey with ease. Such tools include Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Workforce Management (WFM), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Reporting.
What does Content Guru do?
Content Guru launched as the first CCaaS provider over 15 years ago. Since then, the company has delivered its cloud-native solution, storm®, to some of the world’s largest mission-critical organizations, offering a minimum 99.999% reliability rate.
storm is a true omnichannel solution, allowing organizations to provide their customers with options of how they chose to engage. Meanwhile, Content Guru’s philosophy of hyper-automation enables customers to reduce wait time and average handling time (AHT). This is delivered through tools such as Machine Agents, who work alongside human agents, dealing with easy and routine tasks.
Learn more about storm and discover how a cloud CCaaS solution can benefit your business.
/f/152969/1721x1237/44e023c370/product_laptop_right_small.png)