When considering adopting the cloud for your call center operations, one of the first questions you will ask is how. Do you go all in and move the entire department to the cloud – a rapid revolution? Or, do you move it application by application, so that your operations only take on a bit of change at a given time – a slower evolution?
“There is no correct answer as to whether moving to the cloud in stages or in a single step is the better option: solution providers state that there is likely to be only a minor difference in overall cost at the end of the process. Most customers move to the cloud application by application, although it is important to ensure that there is a long-term strategy and timescale in place. This method reduces the risk of changing systems and fits in with any specific need to upgrade or replace the functionality.
Implementing cloud-based solutions for most businesses is often an evolutionary journey, driven by a combination of decisions made elsewhere in the organization, the need to upgrade equipment or improve functionality, and to avoid the financial pressures that come with capital investments. The contact center industry is moving inexorably to a state where cloud-based functionality is the norm, and with every successful trial, proof of ROI or high-profile success, this becomes more of a reality.
From the practical viewpoint, the benefits to migrating in small steps mean it allows users to build confidence of familiarity with the new system, as well as allowing more time for customization and calibration. Businesses running a very large telephony system already are obviously much less likely to do rip-and-replace, rather moving to the cloud department by department, and piece by piece.
For organizations where the telephony infrastructure is still not at the end of life, adding functionality for cloud-based deployments on an as-needed basis may be a good option, allowing the usage of new tools and techniques. For new, smaller or rapidly growing contact centers, it would seem to make sense to use a fully integrated cloud-based solution with rich functionality and benefit from the Opex/pay-as-you-go model. The core components of the contact center, including ACD, IVR and recording, may work well as a consolidated resource in the cloud, so businesses may deploy this cloud functionality together.
Some factors influencing organizations’ movement to the cloud for the clients contact center include:
- The requirement for a department or discrete part of the contact center to have new functionality up and running quickly (for example, for the collections department to implement an outbound dialer)
- The level of depreciation that the current telephony infrastructure has experienced
- What applications can be integrated with the client’s current collaboration tools. This can include messaging, SMS, CRM, bot, etc…Customers want communication in all shapes and forms. The client must figure out what works best for their best and customers.
- Whether there is a suitable new campaign or new client (for outsourcers) where a cloud-based solution would be appropriate to trial, allowing the establishment of a template for success that can be repeated throughout the organization at a wider scale at a later date.”
* From The Inner Circle Guide to Cloud-Based Contact Center Solutions
Corporate Technologies Group can help you transition to a Cloud Call Center.
If you believe your on-premise call center is becoming too costly to be effective, it’s time to consider a hosted VoIP solution. CTG has been in the voice and data technology business for nearly 20 years. We’ve deployed hundreds of hosted phone service installations through countless technology providers. Not all hosted VoIP Phone Systems are equal and their client experience and capabilities across the board are vastly different from pre-installation evaluation to training to reporting and features. At Corporate Technologies Group, Inc. we know what problems can be solved by what phone companies and technology when it comes to Hosted Phone Services.
