true benefits of a cloud based call center

True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 1

True Benefits of a

Cloud-Based

Contact Center


Contents

Call Center vs. Contact Center ......................................................................................................... 3

Cloud-Based, Hosted, On-Premise .................................................................................................. 4

Cloud-Based ................................................................................................................................. 4

Hybrid .......................................................................................................................................... 4

On-Premise .................................................................................................................................. 5

Cloud-Based Contact Center or CCaaS ............................................................................................ 5

State of the SaaS Contact Center Industry in the US ................................................................... 5

Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center ...................................................................................... 6

Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) ............................................................................................ 6

Unparalleled Scalability ............................................................................................................... 8

Mobility / BYOD ........................................................................................................................... 8

Unified Communication and Integration ..................................................................................... 9

Low Downtime........................................................................................................................... 10

More Advanced Features .......................................................................................................... 10

Reduced Customer Churn Rate ................................................................................................. 11

Case Study ..................................................................................................................................... 12

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 12

References ..................................................................................................................................... 13


Call Center vs. Contact Center

Clear communication delivered with lightning-fast efficiency is THE cornerstone of

customer satisfaction. It goes without saying that keeping buyers in a responsive and

receptive state of mind is one of the biggest responsibilities of a brand. This is achieved

through quick problem solving and by providing the desired information at the right time

without lags or delays.

A recent American Express survey shows that an annual 59% churn rate of buyers is

experienced in the United States because of under-performing customer support teams

and unrewarding interactions with brands.

Today, the foundation of robust customer service is

a contact center that facilitates the “to and fro” of

information between brands and buyers. There is

some confusion around the term, however, and

many do not know how to distinguish between a call

center and a contact center.

The definition and scope of a call center is quite

restricting. It refers to a setup of hardware (equipment) and software, through which

incoming voice calls are received and issues are resolved by trained representatives.

A contact center, on the other hand, is the one-stop touch point with prospects and

customers. It uses voice calls, text chats, video conferences, and even web interface

monitoring to ensure that buyers and potential clients get targeted information about the

brand (and its offerings), solve their problems by either getting in touch with a

troubleshooter or by consuming content in the self-service model, and become a part of

the brand community with easy accessibility to company resources. Hence, a contact

center unifies various communication channels on a single platform, in accordance with

the Unified Communication or UC concept.

More and more enterprises are shifting away from the one-channel approach of a call

center and embracing the holistic approach of a contact center.

“A call center may not

always be part of a

contact center. But the

contact center always

involves a call center to

entertain voice calls.”


Cloud-Based, Hosted, On-Premise

Since a contact center is so vitally important, it is natural that there is a lot of speculation

around the different architectures and models that can offer the convenience of attending

to customers and prospects in a professional and organized manner.

Contact centers can be purely cloud-based, hybrid, or static (on-premise).

Cloud-Based

A contact center in the cloud is a convenience many companies have adopted with a sigh

of relief. In this model, there is no need to purchase costly hardware and software solutions

to be deployed at the office site. The entire infrastructure required to maintain a contact

center is the responsibility of the service provider. The client only needs a fast and reliable

broadband connection and a 10-digit telephone number. Based on the number of

representatives in the enterprise, licenses are purchased from the vendor. The contact

center setup is bundled as an application that is installed and accessed via a shortcut on

the desktop. Hence, the contact center becomes an operational cost instead of being a

large up-front investment. inContact offers cloud-based contact center solutions, which

are also known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) contact centers.

Hybrid

The middle ground between cloud-based and on-premise solutions is a hybrid contact

center, which can be good for businesses that are not comfortable with a completely virtual

deployment. Many companies, due to the sensitive nature of the work they do, can’t store

data at a foreign location (the database or server of the vendor in a SaaS model) and for

them, the hybrid setup represents the best of both worlds. It involves the introduction of a

gateway or portal between the office equipment and the service provider’s infrastructure

in the cloud. It also allows the client to retain existing equipment and migrate to the cloud

at its own pace, while enjoying the faster speeds and greater workforce productivity that

come with the SaaS system. Genesys is a popular hybrid service provider.


On-Premise

Also known as a legacy system, this variant requires a large up-front investment in

hardware and software, as well as skilled IT personnel to maintain and upgrade the

technology according to the market trends. Though it is losing popularity because of the

cloud and hybrid models, the on-premise contact center still makes sense for businesses

that deliver bespoke services, and require heavily customized systems that may not be

possible with the SaaS platforms. Siemens is one of the market leaders of legacy contact

centers.

In the end, the decision to go for a particular deployment model depends upon:

The size of the business

The agility required in terms of IT solutions

The scalability requirements (Will the business experience sudden growth, or is it

in its cash cow stage?)

The sensitivity of the information being stored and exchanged through the contact

center (and associated national compliance laws)

The needs of the business in terms of services

Cloud-Based Contact Center or CCaaS

At a glance, SaaS contact centers do not have any significant cons to detract from their

optimized performance and low total cost of ownership (TCO). However, this asset will

investigate the benefits of the cloud model with concrete data from several research

papers, and will present the true picture without biases.

State of the SaaS Contact Center Industry in the US

The cloud-based contact center model is also referred to as CCaaS. According to

Gartner’s “Forecast: Contact Center as a Service Market, North America, 2009-2014

study, by 2014,” the market for the technology is 850 million dollars strong. More than 700


thousand customer care and call center representatives use CCaaS daily from industries

as diverse as healthcare, utilities, consumer manufacturing, and transportation.

Fact-based research group Aberdeen conducted a survey between March and July of

2012. It polled 487 contact center executives and questioned them about their views on

the CCaaS phenomenon, their understanding of how it can affect business growth, and

their plans for the future regarding deployment. The findings are listed below:

Thus, by 2013, 6 out of 10 contact centers were virtualized. The numbers have increased

significantly over the past year, and now the CCaaS is the norm rather than the exception,

allowing even SMBs to thrive and conduct international business with a professional

presence.

Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center

Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

This is a major thumbs-up in favor of the virtual contact centers. However, it isn’t the only

(or even the most important) consideration, and businesses should remember early on to

take a more holistic view of cloud-based contact centers rather than focus exclusively on

the prices.

Have CCaaS34%

Plan to deploy in 12 months

28%

No plans 38%

THE ABERDEEN GROUP RESEARCH RESULTS


As can be seen from the architecture of a typical SaaS contact center, the entire setup,

including hardware and required software solutions, is hosted and maintained by a third

party known as the vendor or the service provider. This vendor has its own encrypted

database, servers, and other equipment and ensures that the reliability of the offered

service is high. The buyers or the clients are leased the use of the setup and database for

a monthly fee. Accessibility to the infrastructure is granted through a small application that

can be installed on the desktop or any smart device. The employees who use the contact

center regularly simply click on the icon and log into the system with secure credentials.

The computer accessories, like the camera and either in-built or external speakers,

microphones, and headsets, allow them to conduct their activities without disruption or the

need to buy separate peripherals.

It is clear from the model that the businesses that go cloud do NOT:

purchase on-premise equipment or software

engage additional IT personnel to take care of and maintain the setup

need to experience downtime during upgrades

According to Genesys,

because of the low TCO

of CCaaS models, the

year-on-year growth of

the cloud-based

contact center market

is estimated to be 11%.


need to invest in costly technology that is likely to become obsolete within a few years just to keep up with the contact center market and its fluctuations

Thus, the rate of ROI recovery is phenomenal. The only recurring cost is the monthly

subscription based on the number of users and the features being used. With the CCaaS

model, the total cost of ownership amounts to the operational cost of having a functional

contact center in place.

Unparalleled Scalability

A scalable system is agile and can be modified rapidly to comply with and accommodate

changes in the business. As a general rule, all legacy systems are sprawling and clunky.

They do not scale very easily. Such systems may require complete re-wiring, or

purchasing of costly on-premise equipment to allow an expanding workforce to use it.

The CCaaS model, on the other hand, is virtual. It has no messy extensions or equipment

in the office. Allowing a larger number of users to access it is simply a matter of purchasing

extra licenses. In fact, cancelling licenses is also very convenient. The SaaS contact

center allows businesses to hire part-time remote workers to share the load with full-time

reps using ordinary laptops (or desktops) and temporarily activated licenses. Once the

crunch time of unusually heavy traffic passes, these part-time remote workers are

released from their contracts, thus eliminating the need to add permanent members to the

team and spend additional money on their salary, benefits, and upkeep.

Not only is this flexibility very desirable during holidays and peak seasons, but it also

improves the rate of call attendance and issue resolution. The part-time call center

representatives add their muscle to the resource pool of the business and ensure that the

increased call volume and enquiries are received and given due attention. Customer

service never suffers, and the brand value of the company goes up thanks to the display

of professionalism.

Mobility / BYOD

These days, most businesses rely on remote workers and sales representatives to thrive

and capture a larger market. An estimated 80% of contact centers use remote agents in

some capacity.


Thus, the idea of a contact center representative

being confined to the desk is laughable.

Representatives should be equipped with the

ability to receive calls in transit, access important

customer information, set up and attend video

conferences, and call up sensitive data at the

touch of a button. This is why most cloud-based

contact centers allow users to download

streamlined mobile applications that can allow

representatives to leverage all the benefits of the

cloud from a smart device. Mobility improves

resource utilization. Call center features like “group hunt” and “seek and deliver” allow

callers in the queue to resolve their issues by speaking to an available agent as quickly

as possible. Sometimes this routing is also skill-based. With mobility now very much a part

of the contact center experience, free representatives who are outside the office can also

be tapped. This obviously reduces on-hold time in the queue by optimally using the

company’s employees, and encourages the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) culture.

Unified Communication and Integration

UC, or Unified Communication, is one of the dominant trends of 2015. A cloud-based

contact center is the truest implementation of the concept. It allows employees to switch

between platforms at the click of a button without jumping from one browser to another or

one dashboard to another. In a unified ecosystem, a help desk representative resolving a

caller issue may be hosting a video chat with

the customer while simultaneously receiving

troubleshooting instructions from an IT expert

via instant messaging to guide the client.

Cloud contact centers also lend themselves

to integrations through open APIs. A contact

center database may be integrated with the

CRM system to allow callers to access customer data so that problems can be tackled

efficiently without having to ask busy customers too many questions regarding information

that should already be in the system. Further integrations create richer, more customized

A cloud-based contact

center, on average,

improves resource

utilization by 32% by

connecting calls to even

those agents who are

not at their work station.

Aberdeen Group

92% of contact center

leaders see high value in

sharing metrics in real time

with front-line agents.

Saddletree Research Paper


performance reports for customer service managers, and thus help businesses make

better informed decisions.

Low Downtime

Contact center downtime is one of the biggest obstacles in the path of professional

customer service and high resolution rates. If clients call the support platform or help desk

and do not get through, the impact on the brand image is immeasurable. After all, just one

negative experience requires a series of 12 positive ones to mitigate it.

The most common reasons for downtime are:

unusually heavy traffic

disaster or any other unforeseen event

maintenance and upgrades

With a cloud-based contact center:

Part-time remote workers take care of

seasonal traffic spikes.

Disaster recovery and regular backups are the responsibility of the vendor.

Maintenance and upgrades are rolled out and service providers have server

galaxies, thereby ensuring 99.9% up time.

Thus, the downtime of a CCaaS platform is significantly lower than that of a legacy system.

In fact, compared to a traditional model, it is 36% lower.

More Advanced Features

Cloud-based contact centers allow businesses to choose from a list of advanced features

that utilize VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to deliver targeted skills-based routing,

intelligent virtual assistant, and self-service facilities at a fraction of the cost of a legacy

system. In fact, some provisions can never be activated in a traditional contact center –

one that doesn’t leverage the power of the internet. Despite the bells and whistles, the

features are “pay as you go,” meaning they can be cancelled at a moment’s notice, just

like the additional licenses.

31% of cloud-based

contact centers update

their disaster recovery

plan on a quarterly

basis, compared to 15%

of legacy platforms.

Aberdeen Group


Reduced Customer Churn Rate

The White House Office of Consumer Affairs says that it is six to seven times more

expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one. And, the most

dominant influence on a buyer’s decision to renew, purchase, or upgrade is the interaction

with the company and consumer satisfaction. The CCaaS model shifts the way a business

operates, providing it with resource utilization, mobility, flexibility, and a stunning array of

features to ensure all buyer needs are met promptly and efficiently. Thus, the rate of client

churn or attrition decreases and retention improves. This is often referred to as the “hidden

benefit” of a SaaS contact center.

According to the research by Aberdeen Group, a contact center receives around 2.5

million touches annually from existing clients and prospects. On average, out of every 10

callers who abandon a call because of long hold time or other irritants, one is lost to the

company forever. If the baseline customer value is taken to be a conservative $10,000,

the cumulative loss is a whopping $112.5 million dollars. A SaaS contact center can

gradually bring this number down and start returning more than its cost of ownership in a

relatively short period of time.

As a summary, the following graph based on the findings of the December 2012 research

conducted by the Aberdeen Group is a visual representation of how contact centers

operation and maintenance improved when using a SaaS platform.

45%

32%

26% 26%

Improved customerexperience

Improved agentproductivity

Reduced IT hassles Improved businessflexibility

Improvement in Percentage Points for 101 Respondents


Case Study

CarSafe is a company that offers extended warranties on car models in order to safeguard

the interest of buyers. Its contact center is a very critical part of its business operations.

Since it is a small enterprise, the sales division is obviously an important artery that feeds

revenue to the expanding company.

When the sales division of the contact center lost its internet connectivity, the

representatives immediately travelled to the call center designated for customer service

agents, using the terminals to log into their SaaS system and continue with business as

usual.

This was possible because CarSafe uses a CCaaS solution from inContact.

This case study is a genuine account of how convenient a cloud-based contact (or call)

center can be. The fact that CarSafe is a SMB shows that virtual communication platforms

can realize quick ROI and provide a distraction-free work environment for businesses of

all sizes and from all niches.

Conclusion

A contact center in the cloud is a must-have for all businesses that need to be flexible,

agile, and equipped to face the challenges of a post-PSTN (Public Switched Telephone

Network) world.

By properly evaluating company needs, the vendor reputation, and the clauses of the

SLAs (Service Level Agreements), enterprises can realize ROI and streamline operations

without hassles or a horde of IT personnel.


References

Top 5 Benefits of Cloud Hosted Contact Centers, Digital Service Cloud, Accessed on

03/02/2015:

http://www.digitalservicecloud.com/insights/top-5-benefits-cloud-hosted-contact-

centers.html,

Call Center In The Cloud: Cheaper And Simpler, Network Computing, written by

Robert Mullins, Accessed on 03/02/2015:

http://www.networkcomputing.com/unified-communications/call-center-in-the-cloud-

cheaper-and-simpler/d/d-id/1098485?

The Hidden ROI of a Cloud-Based Contact Center, Aberdeen Group, Accessed on

03/02/15:

http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/aberdeen-roi-cloud-contactcctr-

1902159.pdf,

What are the benefits of moving the call center to the cloud? Fonality, Accessed on

03/02/15:

http://www.fonality.com/industry-news/what_are_the_benefits_of_moving_the,

Cloud-based contact centers: Pros, cons and practical advice, MyCustomer,

Accessed on 03/02/15:

http://www.mycustomer.com/feature/experience/cloud-based-contact-centres-pros-cons-

and-practical-advice/165697

Contact Center-as-a-Service: Elevate Customer Service, Cisco, Accessed on

03/02/15:

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/customer-collaboration/unified-

contact-center-enterprise/ccaaasbrochure.pdf,

75 Customer Service Stats, Quotes and Statistics, Help Scout, Accessed on 03/02/15: http://www.helpscout.net/75-customer-service-facts-quotes-statistics/

http://www.digitalservicecloud.com/insights/top-5-benefits-cloud-hosted-contact-centers.html

http://www.digitalservicecloud.com/insights/top-5-benefits-cloud-hosted-contact-centers.html

http://www.networkcomputing.com/unified-communications/call-center-in-the-cloud-cheaper-and-simpler/d/d-id/1098485

http://www.networkcomputing.com/unified-communications/call-center-in-the-cloud-cheaper-and-simpler/d/d-id/1098485

http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/aberdeen-roi-cloud-contactcctr-1902159.pdf

http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/aberdeen-roi-cloud-contactcctr-1902159.pdf

http://www.fonality.com/industry-news/what_are_the_benefits_of_moving_the

http://www.mycustomer.com/feature/experience/cloud-based-contact-centres-pros-cons-and-practical-advice/165697

http://www.mycustomer.com/feature/experience/cloud-based-contact-centres-pros-cons-and-practical-advice/165697

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/ccaaasbrochure.pdf

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/ccaaasbrochure.pdf

http://www.helpscout.net/75-customer-service-facts-quotes-statistics/

true benefits of a cloud based call center

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