5 Advantages Of A Cloud-based Inbound Call Center

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Thinking about switching to a Cloud-based inbound call center?

You’re not alone.

Many savvy managers of premised-based call centers are.

But it’s a tough decision to make.

Switching to a Cloud-based call center offers numerous advantages. It’s why more and companies are doing it—even high profile ones like British Telecom.

BT recently launched a Cloud-based call center in Spain. This center scales from 50 seats to 1000 seats, delivers intelligent routing to 190 countries and integrates multiple communication channels—voice, e-mail, Web chat, and so on.

But switching to a Cloud-based call center entails risk—especially to your data. And while some of that risk is more perceived than real, it’s a big risk. Losing data can devastate your company.

Below we take a quick look at the benefits and risks of a Cloud-based inbound call center. Hopefully, the information makes your decision easier.

Benefits Of A Cloud-based Call Center

In addition to providing a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), a Cloud-based inbound call center provides four key benefits:

  • Increased flexibility: This includes things like adding/contracting user counts, easier access to new functionality, and ease of adding users in new locations. It also includes the ability to try new applications.
  • Accelerated deployment: The time it takes to get up and running with a Cloud-based center is considerably shortened. That’s because the entire back-end structure is already in place. Often, it takes only a few weeks to do.
  • Reduced IT requirements: Your IT staff won’t give up all responsibility for the call center. But it will delegate day-to-day management and administration to the service provider. This not only reduces cost but also increases productivity and frees IT to work on more critical projects.
  • Lowered costs: A Cloud-based call center enables you to deploy state-of-the-art technology with a minimal upfront capital expense. This capability is a key reason why so many firms switched to the Cloud over the past few years.

A Cloud-based inbound call center also provides some hidden “benefits.” These differ for each business. One that many companies see is a true vision into total call volume.

Risks Of Cloud-based Solutions

Cloud-based call centers are not without risk. Security is typically the biggest risk. Anytime your data sits on the site of another company, the risk is a concern—especially if it includes customers’ personal information.

But sometimes the risk is more perceived than real. For example, many managers find security at Cloud-based vendors more robust than elsewhere. Vendors know the risk is a major concern, so they bolster security systems and practices.

Plus, they often adopt best practices from many other companies. That means they can select the best of the best when implementing security.

Still, you should check a vendor’s security measures carefully. Look especially for SAS70 and SSAE16 certifications. They’re the most robust.

Also, depending on the nature of your transactions, look for PCI-DSS capabilities. It provides an actionable framework for developing a robust payment card data security process.

Mitigating Risk In-house

In addition to checking the vendor’s security, you can also do things to mitigate risk in-house. Make sure

  • The media traffic is encrypted and that recordings are stored in an encrypted format. Some companies overlook this best practice.
  • Workers follow security protocols. While the company has ultimate responsibility for data, it shares that with workers.
  • Workers understand they’ll be held accountable if anything happens.

Other risks you face with a Cloud-based call center are reduced control over data, a potential loss of functionality, and the challenge of returning to a premised-based system if business needs change.

You can substantially reduce, or even eliminate, Cloud-based risks by selecting the right vendor.

Deciding to switch to a Cloud-based inbound call center solution isn’t cut and dry. Often, the benefits outweigh the risks.

However, a cloud-based system may not be suitable for everyone. Ultimately, you might discover that upgrading your premises-based systems is a more optimal solution, or that outsourcing your inbound call center to an outsource IT help desk company is the right choice for your business.

Whatever you do, make sure your choice meets your needs and provides customers with high-valued customer experiences.

Let us put our proven experience in providing tech support for small and medium-size companies to work for you. Request a quote from our sales team.



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