Contact centres still important in the digital age

Most people picture a contact centre as rows of staff sitting in an office answering calls. But that’s an archaic view. A contact centre should be a driving force of customer service, with call agents focused on consumer engagement.

Cloud technology has enabled many things for companies at every point on the business life cycle, and cloud contact centres are no exception. Here are three key reasons why organisations with a contact centre should look to implement a cloud solution.

Reduce costs

The primary benefit of the cloud-based solution is that it is incredibly easy to set up and requires minimal infrastructure, hardware and software. Cloud contact centres are decentralised and don’t require a specific location.

With 70% of Australia’s 2.1 million SMBs using cloud technology, but only 20% using paid services, there is a huge opportunity for SMBs to tap into this growth area and contact their customers more consistently and effectively.

Reduce and manage risks

One key benefit of using cloud-based technology is that the information isn’t stored in one place. This can help businesses to manage risk if something goes wrong and let people know about the situation instantly.

There’s nothing worse for a corporation than if there is disaster, such as a flood, or even something smaller, like a power outage or office move and your communication is down.

By having decentralised cloud storage, such as a cloud contact centre solution, you can access your database remotely and keep your customers informed in a timely manner and at a lower cost than a traditional solution.

Flexibility in adding agents

It’s no secret that business is unpredictable and planning for customer interaction is a difficult task, especially for businesses that have a seasonal sales cycle. Both underestimating and overestimating resources have their own implications and neither is efficient.

Underestimating resources can require increased workloads and potential for agitated customers due to significant wait times, while overestimating resources can result in unnecessary costs.

Cloud contact centre solutions give businesses the ability to scale up and down instantly, alleviating this issue.

This ability is an integral part of why a cloud contact centre is incredibly important in the digital age, as businesses rarely have complete line of sight in the modern dynamic business environment.

Many businesses have been slow to adopt cloud contact centres; however, in order to maintain premium customer service it is time for this to change.

Digital disruption is upon us, and businesses cannot afford to ignore solutions that will make them more efficient.

Through implementing a number of simple strategies, such as a cloud contact centre, a business can become more flexible in their customer service mix and help to encourage business growth.

John Palfreyman is CEO of ipSCAPE. Prior to that he was executive chairman of the board, and also sat on the board of Macquarie Telecom.

Image courtesy Rice Collection, Library of Virginia