Five reasons to move your customer service operation to the cloud  

Cloud for contact centres has become a hot topic and the rapidly growing availability and proven functionality of cloud-based technologies means that organisations are moving many of their core business applications to the cloud - and the contact centre is no exception. Pent-up frustration with legacy system limitations is just one reason customer service operations are finding that the cloud offers real advantages over on-premise solutions in practically every respect.

A number of industry surveys have confirmed the cloud-based contact centre trend. If you’re still sitting on the fence, the five factors below should help you assess the benefits of the cloud for your organisation.

1. Multichannel as a priority
Today, consumers use multiple ways to communicate with brands and have high expectations of the companies they deal with - often expecting to be able to contact them in a variety of different ways - be it via instant chat, telephone, email or social media. The need to join up these channels into a seamless dialogue has put both customer experience and multichannel firmly on every company’s agenda. Many organisations are finding that cloud-based solutions provide this multichannel capability ‘out of the box’ without the need for complex, expensive and time-consuming integration projects.

2. Limitations of legacy
On-premise equipment continues to be a problem for the contact centre. It tends to hold back innovation and the ability to match the expectations of today’s customer. Our own research confirms that over half of all contact centre managers and directors believe legacy equipment is preventing them from rolling out a multichannel infrastructure; and almost 50% say on-premise equipment is preventing their contact centre from meeting KPIs. In fact, frustrations with legacy systems are a key driving force for the cloud shift.

In addition, traditional vendors are not meeting their customers’ needs. A huge 65% of contact centre managers in our survey said legacy system suppliers did not understand their business and only contacted them when there was an issue or the contract was up for renewal. With a cloud solution provider, service and support are part of the total package so these issues need not occur.

3. PCI compliance
Compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is vital for all companies who accept credit cards – either online or offline. Most contact centres know that nothing is more important than keeping a customer’s details safe. It is very costly to update legacy systems to adhere to the latest regulatory requirements – 56% of contact centre managers and directors in our survey agreed that their legacy system is a hindrance to PCI compliance.

However, with a PCI compliant cloud system, credit card details are never spoken, recorded or stored. The call is recorded in its entirety, but details are entered via the telephone keypad and are securely masked. This technology is simple for the agent to use and customer-friendly too.

4. Flexibility and scalability
When using a legacy system, contact centres typically pay up-front for named licenses, which can be very costly if they operate shifts or need to bring in additional agents to adapt to seasonal peaks in contact volumes. As a result of this rigidity, many contact centres end up over-paying for licenses they don’t use for most of the time. However, with cloud-based solutions it is possible to take a ‘pay as you go’ approach so that contact centre managers can add and remove seats as and when they require, rather than pay for upfront licenses. Licenses also tend to be for concurrent users rather than named agents, which is a far better system for companies operating with temporary or part time agents. These differences can bring big savings for contact centres and afford them the flexibility they were previously unable to have. They can deal with fluctuating contact volumes by bringing in employees in on a short-term basis or even to work remotely, to meet peaks in demand.

5. Cost-savings
Finally, eliminating the need for large capital investments in hardware and adopting a pay as you go cloud system can offer substantial savings. Cost savings occur because contact centres are able to reduce the amount they spend on maintenance and upgrades of traditional on-premise systems, in addition to the more flexible licensing options outlined above. Expansion also becomes a seamless experience – firms pay only for what they need without any large upfront expenditure, while benefiting from continuous innovation as the leading cloud platform providers will continuously enhance their system to respond to customers’ needs.

The majority of the contact centre industry has woken up to the fact that the cloud offers real advantages over on-premise voice solutions in practically every respect for end users. They are no longer lacking confidence in cloud services; those who have adopted it are demonstrating that the benefits are tangible and real. For many contact centres, it is no longer a question of if, but how long before it’s time to get ahead in the cloud?