9 Reasons Cloud-based is Better than On-Prem for Contact Centers
by Gayathri Krishnamurthy, AVP of Product Marketing for RingCentral MVP
Advancements in digital technologies and a shift to remote work have made cloud-based contact centers more prevalent in recent years. Cloud-based solutions come with many benefits, including less overhead, less IT dependence, and more features than on-prem options. Finding the right cloud-based contact center solution can help you make a smooth transition to the cloud.
Could your contact center use a shift from an on-premises environment to a cloud-based model?
With digital technology rapidly advancing, contact centers have more options than ever before. Cloud-based software can provide contact centers with the tools needed to reduce costs and overhead while providing customers with impeccable service and support.
Here are some of the reasons cloud-based is superior to on-prem for contact centers.
On-premises vs. cloud-based contact centers
On-premises contact centers refer to the more traditional, hardware-based settings. All communication infrastructure, including hardware and software, stay onsite.
Because of their infrastructure, on-prem contact centers typically need maintenance and upgrades frequently. This can be very expensive and can cause detrimental interruptions to the contact center’s customer interactions.
The operations of a cloud-based contact center, on the other hand, take place in the cloud rather than on-site. This makes communicating with customers accessible from anywhere. Any inbound or outbound calls, emails, and social media contacts are facilitated via the cloud, which means agents can be located anywhere while carrying out their job.
To ensure uninterrupted communications, cloud-based contact centers provide robust internet access with plenty of bandwidth. As customers increasingly turn to digital channels to engage with contact centers, cloud-based solutions are an excellent way to provide a satisfactory customer experience.
Here are some reasons cloud-based software is growing in popularity when compared to on-prem options.
1. Better ROI
A cloud-based solution has the distinct advantage of better ROI in the long term in terms of reduced overall contact center costs in buying and maintaining data centers. Cloud-based contact centers use innovative technology to facilitate communications with customers without all the upfront capital expense that a traditional on-premises center needs. They deliver larger benefits in terms of increased agility and impact to contact centers.
With a cloud-based solution, agents just need an internet connection, computer, and headset to do their jobs.
2. Better integration
Cloud-based contact center software allows for quick and simple integration with a variety of business applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and many social media-based applications.
Cloud-based contact centers are also better able to integrate with self-service platforms, including chatbots that allow customers to initiate a process that may resolve their issues or answer their questions without a live agent.
3. Less dependency on technical staff
Cloud-based solutions are typically easy to use. Even those who may not be tech-savvy may find cloud-based software user-friendly compared to the more complex infrastructure involved in a traditional contact center. Cloud-based systems also provide all the required support built right into the software, reducing the need for on-site technical staff.
4. Speed of implementation
It can take a long time to set up infrastructure in conventional contact centers, including installing applications and configurations and testing the new installation. Instead, a cloud-based solution means the contact center can be up and running in a fraction of the time. Moving from days to hours!
5. Easier to scale
It’s much easier to upsize or downsize a contact center with a cloud-based solution compared to a traditional on-premises environment. During busier times, cloud-based platforms make it easy to increase the number of agents, and vice versa during slower times.
On the other hand, it can be much more difficult to scale quickly with on-prem contact centers. If there are times when the contact center needs to either beef up or scale down staff, the process of scaling accordingly can be much less challenging with a cloud-based system.
6. More efficient analytics
Analytics plays a key role in a contact center’s ability to assess what’s working and what isn’t, and cloud-based solutions can provide contact centers with valuable insight. With cloud-based software, contact center management can keep tabs on incoming and outgoing calls, gather data on-call times, and assess how well agents are performing on the job.
7. Easy access to global talent
With a cloud-based platform, agents can reach customers — and vice versa — from anywhere in the world. A remote staff gives contact centers the opportunity to expand their reach for hiring agents. Rather than just searching locally for staff, contact centers can expand their range across the country or even the world when looking to hire new agents.
8. More reliable technology
The call quality of on-premises contact centers relies heavily on its hardware. While such technology may be robust, it can also be quite vulnerable to a host of issues. Instead, cloud-based contact centers that use strong internet connections can be more reliable.
9. More features
On-premises call centers have traditional features, such as call holding, wait music, call transfers, and call conferencing. Although cloud-based contact centers use many of the same types of features, they use more advanced technologies to include features such as click-to-call, live call monitoring, and smart IVR, among others.
We’re all about options
TeleSwitch offers cloud-based solutions that are designed to help optimize remote contact center settings. With the right digital tools in place, contact centers can see an improvement in agent efficiency, increase customer satisfaction, and minimize costs. With the power of digital technology, TeleSwitch’s Partner RingCentral has developed a modern solution for today’s contact centers that integrates all aspects of control center operations.
Connect with our technology consultants to learn more about how TeleSwitch can make your transition to the cloud faster and without hassles. TeleSwitch and RingCentral bring you to cloud communications and collaboration solutions that are easy to implement, adopt and maintain while keeping your communications more secure.
TeleSwitch partners with RingCentral, offering unparalleled leading business-grade cloud communication and collaboration solutions that are easy to adopt and simple to use, allowing you to connect and communicate with your employees and clients while having a successful digital transformation of your business.
You can find the original source and some additional information by visiting RingCentral website