Cloud-based innovation has led to a great many companies improving their performance beyond measure. The advantages that the cloud delivers are profound and numerous, especially in the contact center arena. We'll go through what moving your contact center to the cloud can do for your operation and see how your customers will thank you for it.

What do we mean by cloud-based?

In the past, it was invariably the case that a contact center consisted of a bunch of agents sitting in the same office space, all connected to a physical phone system. This phone system, usually what was known as a PBX (private branch exchange) consisted of a phone line coming into the building into a box of wiring.

This box then sent out connections, again via physical lines, into phone handsets all over the building. A lot of wire, a lot of things to go wrong, and a whole lot of bother to upgrade when the time came.

Cloud-based contact centers are very different in that the exchange is situated not in a room full of wires but on the internet. This carries huge advantages for a contact center, for both staff and customers.

Advantages for contact center staff

Staff can access from anywhere

Using cloud contact center solutions means that staff aren't tied to the office. They can work from home or wherever they're able to connect to the internet. Such are the advances in security provision now that it's possible to maintain confidentiality wherever in the world you're calling from.

Easily Installed

When the system is set up, it doesn't take lots of moving in of heavy equipment, drills, cabling, etc. It just takes a good internet connection. Then the system downloads and is ready in a matter of hours. Often before.

Once the system's working, training is quick, easy, and convenient, on-screen.

Upgrade easily

When your business grows and you find that you need different call center software requirements with increased features, you can organize this with your cloud contact center provider and have improvements in place in very short order. Should you then find that demand slows, you can revert to your previous service level agreement. Flexibility is the name of the game.

Repair easily

Most repairs to the system can be done online and remotely by engineers who will not need to arrange intrusive, obstructive, and downright inconvenient access. Chances are, you won't see a single physical tool or have to make a single cup of coffee.

Call handling

Most cloud contact center solutions have IVR. What's this? It's an automated service that can handle customer interactions, assess the nature of their need and make sure that they get routed to the right member of staff. This means that calls are resolved successfully and speedily, enhancing the efficiency of the contact center and maximizing agent productivity.

Advantages for contact center customers

Better coverage

If a center has geographically spread staff, there can be better service available to a wider spread of customers. If you have staff all over the US, you have all those time zones covered without any staff needing to show up for work painfully early or inconveniently late.

Better quality calls

One of the most immediate developments in cloud contact center provision was the improvement in acoustics. It was soon apparent that digital channels were able to give call quality that the old copper wire phones could only dream of. This means that misapprehensions are kept to a minimum, and customers don't find themselves having to repeat things too often.

Right person, right data

It's always hugely annoying for a customer to be put through to the wrong person, only then to be put through another agent and have to explain the situation all over again. With cloud solutions, the customer can be confident of being connected with the most pertinent agent.

Moreover, that agent will have access to all relevant information that pertains to that customer's relationship with the business, including a customer 360° view. What this does for customer experience and customer success is hugely significant.

Better trained staff

One of the advantages delivered by a cloud contact center platform is the assistance it gives to staff improvement. Contact center supervisors are able to monitor, in real-time, customer interactions and be sure that correct and up-to-date information is being issued at all times.

Advanced analytics can show up possible deficiencies, and, where appropriate, supervisors can act on apparent shortcomings by scheduling some coaching time via the cloud contact center software.

It's a huge benefit to customer satisfaction to have better-trained contact center agents performing optimally due to organizationally agile methods and frameworks. It's this kind of experience that will have customers happy to continue buying from your business.

Bring on the cloud

We've really only just scratched the surface of what cloud-based contact center solutions can do and it's important to remember that there are many factors that can improve your business. However, what remains outstanding about cloud-based solutions is that by improving agent experiences and customer care, it's possible to deliver that rarest of outcomes: a win for everyone. So, the forecast? Cloudy for all.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Austin Guanzon - Tier 1 Support Manager, Dialpad

Austin Guanzon is the Tier 1 Support Manager for Dialpad, best VoIP router and leading AI-powered customer intelligence platform. He is a customer retention and technical support expert, with experience at some of the largest tech service companies in the US. Austin is also the co-founder of the California based Infinity Martial Arts and has served as an instructor in the sport. You can find him on LinkedIn.