Call centers field hundreds of calls a day, if not thousands. But between limited staffing resources and outdated legacy systems, many call centers aren't operating efficiently—and that hinders their ability to deliver the best customer experience possible.
By modernizing their infrastructure, call centers can improve customer and employee satisfaction. Cloud-based call center solutions, also known as cloud contact centers, can help businesses provide exemplary customer service and stay ahead in a competitive environment.
Common call center challenges
The traditional call center infrastructure is built around on-premises hardware that needs ongoing maintenance and support, which can be time-consuming and costly. It often requires software licenses to function, and it's often difficult to upgrade, too. On-premises infrastructure and servers are also housed in one location—and in a business landscape that's rapidly shifting to remote work, on-premises infrastructures don't give businesses the flexibility and agility they need to maximize productivity.
Many call centers also rely on software that doesn't meet modern customer service needs, doesn't provide real-time analytics or actionable insights, and can't easily adapt to customers' communications preferences, whether that's through text messages, social media or mobile chat channels such as Facebook Messenger.
A cloud-based call center solution isn't a panacea for every ill, but leveraging one is critical to maintaining a competitive edge and helps your call center deliver a modern, frictionless customer experience.
How the cloud can transform call center operations
Cloud-based contact center solutions move the underlying infrastructure from on-premises servers to virtual servers, increasing storage capacity, computing resources and flexibility so that businesses can integrate emerging technologies and communications channels. It also lets call center agents and managers access automatic call distributors, interactive voice response systems, workforce management tools, advanced call center analytics and other advanced features—and lets them do so from anywhere and at any time.
One of the most significant benefits offered by the cloud is that it helps companies expand their operations and scale their resources based on demand. For example, a cloud-based solution could help a business handle a surge of calls during a crisis by offering a flexible software licensing model or a pay-per-seat structure and capabilities that make it easier for call center agents and auxiliary staff to access the critical systems and features they need to work remotely.
Cloud-based call center solutions also provide more reliability and availability. They're more easily updated than on-premises solutions, and they're less likely to experience system failures, which create long downtimes. They can handle greater workloads, so your call center can seamlessly integrate new channels—such as SMS messaging or virtual chatbots—without worrying about whether your system can handle the resources those channels require.
With cloud-based call center solutions, you can also take advantage of application programming interfaces (APIs) and integration with other systems to add functionality and features—such as advanced analytics, automated messaging and scripts, and AI-driven applications—that allow your call center to reduce wait times by more quickly routing calls to agents.
Together, these capabilities can improve call center management, bring more agility to call center operations, provide more cost control and help you better meet your customers1 needs.
What to look for in a cloud services partner
Modernizing your call center infrastructure is critical—but it's even more critical to do it with the right technology partner.
When comparing vendors, look at which one offers the capabilities that you need and that you're going to need. You should ensure that the provider prioritizes security, conducts regular vulnerability testing, enables end-to-end data encryption and offers robust threat detection tools and an updated incident response plan in the event of a security breach.
It's also important that your potential cloud services partner has experience in your industry or a track record of success with companies that serve millions of customers or that have a large, distributed remote workforce. Making sure that vendors have experience with these kinds of implementations is a critical part of the due diligence process and helps you maximize your investment.
Modernizing your call center with the cloud
Consumers expect quick, personalized service, and they want to communicate on their terms. Your call center can't meet these new customer expectations with old technology. Cloud-based call center solutions improve reliability, security and performance, and they help you scale your call center operations to give customers the best service and experience possible.
Learn how Verizon Contact Center Hub services deliver flexibility to help you maximize efficiency.