The contact centre market is undergoing a transformation as traditional on-premise contact centres are displaced by cloud contact centre models.[1] Cloud contact centres can offer significant financial benefits, such as a usage-based pricing model and lower costs, but many businesses are embracing the greater agility that cloud contact centres can bring to an organisation.
Customer demands and market conditions are driving an increase in cloud-based solutions.
Follow our five steps to successfully move your contact centre to the cloud:
1. Clearly define your business drivers
This may sound obvious, but it is amazing how many businesses start to evaluate new technology platforms simply because their current platform is out of life/ maintenance contract. Cloud will be mentioned and suddenly the business will be mired in evaluating vendors on cost and features alone rather than defining what the business needs the technology to deliver.
2. The benefit of real-time control of your contact centre
One of the most unique and least understood benefits of cloud contact centre applications is the ability for the people that run the contact centre to control the technology directly via a secure web browser (which can be accessed from any device).
The real-time control means there is no need to send requests for adding agents, changing IVR flows or campaign scripts to internal IT teams or expensive third-party vendors. Instead, Contact Centre Managers can make all the changes themselves – within minutes – through an easy to use web interface. This direct control not only saves time and money, but it means that businesses can scale their operations in real-time to cope with unexpected peaks in demand. So, no customer should ever hear a busy signal and all calls will be managed in real-time.
3. Rapid technology innovation
A widely unrecognised benefit of cloud software is its ability to deliver continued innovation. Whilst traditional on-premise solutions can go months, even years without upgrades, cloud contact solutions will include the implementation of a regular stream of technology innovation.
4. Consider a phased hybrid cloud model
Cloud is not the right solution for all Contact Centres. Contact Centres with no need for rapid changes, real-time control, usage-based pricing or scalability can sometimes be better off sticking with traditional on-premise technology.
But it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing migration. Certain elements of any business may have a greater need for Cloud. Many of Telkom Telstra’s clients who are powered by ipSCAPE run 50-150 seats of Cloud Contact Centre software in parallel with a more traditional technology solution.
5. What are the risks of staying on the current system?
By its very nature, any Cloud Contact Centre business case will focus on the risks of change and migration. But a successful business case will also examine the opportunity costs and risks of not migrating to a new technology platform. Don’t wait for an incident or disaster to force the change. Key elements that should be considered include:
- What’s the FULL future cost of the existing technology?
- Does the existing technology meet all our future needs? What’s the roadmap release programme
- Can we continue to fund IT or third parties to manage technology for us?
- Will our competitors gain a competitive edge through Cloud?
To find out how you can successfully move to the cloud, contact ipSCAPE today on 1300 477 277 or contact us.
[1] Australian Contact Centre Market 2015, Frost and Sullivan, July 2015