Call Center Management Featured Article
June 02, 2010
Cloud-based Call Center Solutions: 'Not Just for the Little Guys'
A recent study from DMG Consulting, sponsored by Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert), dispels some of the myths and misconceptions about software-as-a-service or 'cloud'-based call center applications.
Although the study focuses on all-in-one systems, where all core call center applications are integrated on a shared platform, the same advantages apply to standalone applications, such as workforce management, when they are delivered via the SaaS (News - Alert) or cloud model.
First, just a quick side note about the increasing popularity of workforce management systems in the call center: Recent research from DMG shows that about 75 percent of call centers are now using workforce management solutions to manage agent scheduling. Of the 200-some-odd call center managers surveyed for the study, about 84 percent said they regarded their workforce management system to be 'mission critical' to their call center operations.
What many call center managers are not yet convinced of, however, are the advantages SaaS or Cloud-based systems have over traditional on-premises systems. They still see certain 'risks' with migrating to the cloud-model which may not really exist.
Some of these misconceptions stem from the fact that the hosted models of late 1990s and early 2000s left a lot to be desired. The things is, many of the problems that used to plague vendors delivering software via the old ASP (application service provider) or 'hosted' model of yesteryear have been largely addressed and 'smoothed out.'
For example, 'hosted' used to always mean 'client side software' - in other words, the customer still had to have a gateway and server on premises in order for the system to work properly and be secure. That meant users could only access the software internally, on the company network. In contrast today's SaaS or cloud-based systems require no client-side software and can be accessed from any computer with a high speed connection.
One of the top 'misconceptions' listed in the white paper is that SaaS or cloud-based systems are generally geared for smaller companies with smaller call centers. While its true that the cloud model makes it many times simpler and less expensive for a small business to deploy, say, a workforce management solution, that doesn't mean a larger organization wouldn't benefit from using a cloud version as well: For example, today's cloud-based workforce management systems deliver extreme scalability, which makes them particularly beneficial to larger-sized businesses that see massive peaks and valleys in their call volume and sales cycles.
This scalability is particularly advantageous to companies that see volume fluctuate based on seasonal sales cycles. For one thing, they can add or remove seats on an as-needed basis, thus giving them greater ability to control the cost of the cloud-based service (most of which, by the way, are offered on a monthly or annual subscription basis, also based on the number of seats). What's more, the company doesn't have to invest in a large number of software licenses, up to three quarters of which it won't use during periods of low volume, or extra hardware.
Also driving larger organizations to consider the cloud-based model of delivery, as opposed to on-premises, is the fact that they in effect end up outsourcing some IT to the vendor - in other words the vendor takes on all responsibility for application performance, including monitoring and maintaining network performance and related equipment. This, in turn, helps relieve the strain on internal IT departments.
Also attracting larger organizations to the SaaS or cloud-based model is the fact that they get all software upgrades and patches automatically via the service. That means organizations are always using the latest and most feature-laden versions of the software, which can sometimes translate into operational advantages over competitors using traditional systems.
'Hosting vendors have given small and mid-sized enterprises new servicing capabilities that do not require them to compromise on functionality,' the DMG Consulting report states. 'DMG research shows that the typical buyers of these solutions are mid-sized customers; the majority of purchases are to replace an existing premise-based contact center solution that no longer meets the organization's needs.'
There is some irony in the fact that, when it comes to cloud-based call center solutions, larger organizations are now 'catching up' with smaller organizations which have been using cloud-based applications for years. It used to be the case that larger organizations always had the more expensive 'Cadillac' versions of the software running on-premises -- and the smaller companies always dreamed of having access to those advanced features and capabilities, but simply couldn't afford it. But smaller companies have been rapidly migrating to cloud-based solutions for the past two years now - due to the fact that they are so fast and affordable to deploy - while larger businesses have largely ignored the many advantages the cloud-model can bring to their organizations. Now, that is starting to change.
Next week we'll look at another misconception, 'hosted contact center solutions are functionally inadequate.'
First, just a quick side note about the increasing popularity of workforce management systems in the call center: Recent research from DMG shows that about 75 percent of call centers are now using workforce management solutions to manage agent scheduling. Of the 200-some-odd call center managers surveyed for the study, about 84 percent said they regarded their workforce management system to be 'mission critical' to their call center operations.
What many call center managers are not yet convinced of, however, are the advantages SaaS or Cloud-based systems have over traditional on-premises systems. They still see certain 'risks' with migrating to the cloud-model which may not really exist.
Some of these misconceptions stem from the fact that the hosted models of late 1990s and early 2000s left a lot to be desired. The things is, many of the problems that used to plague vendors delivering software via the old ASP (application service provider) or 'hosted' model of yesteryear have been largely addressed and 'smoothed out.'
For example, 'hosted' used to always mean 'client side software' - in other words, the customer still had to have a gateway and server on premises in order for the system to work properly and be secure. That meant users could only access the software internally, on the company network. In contrast today's SaaS or cloud-based systems require no client-side software and can be accessed from any computer with a high speed connection.
One of the top 'misconceptions' listed in the white paper is that SaaS or cloud-based systems are generally geared for smaller companies with smaller call centers. While its true that the cloud model makes it many times simpler and less expensive for a small business to deploy, say, a workforce management solution, that doesn't mean a larger organization wouldn't benefit from using a cloud version as well: For example, today's cloud-based workforce management systems deliver extreme scalability, which makes them particularly beneficial to larger-sized businesses that see massive peaks and valleys in their call volume and sales cycles.
This scalability is particularly advantageous to companies that see volume fluctuate based on seasonal sales cycles. For one thing, they can add or remove seats on an as-needed basis, thus giving them greater ability to control the cost of the cloud-based service (most of which, by the way, are offered on a monthly or annual subscription basis, also based on the number of seats). What's more, the company doesn't have to invest in a large number of software licenses, up to three quarters of which it won't use during periods of low volume, or extra hardware.
Also driving larger organizations to consider the cloud-based model of delivery, as opposed to on-premises, is the fact that they in effect end up outsourcing some IT to the vendor - in other words the vendor takes on all responsibility for application performance, including monitoring and maintaining network performance and related equipment. This, in turn, helps relieve the strain on internal IT departments.
Also attracting larger organizations to the SaaS or cloud-based model is the fact that they get all software upgrades and patches automatically via the service. That means organizations are always using the latest and most feature-laden versions of the software, which can sometimes translate into operational advantages over competitors using traditional systems.
'Hosting vendors have given small and mid-sized enterprises new servicing capabilities that do not require them to compromise on functionality,' the DMG Consulting report states. 'DMG research shows that the typical buyers of these solutions are mid-sized customers; the majority of purchases are to replace an existing premise-based contact center solution that no longer meets the organization's needs.'
There is some irony in the fact that, when it comes to cloud-based call center solutions, larger organizations are now 'catching up' with smaller organizations which have been using cloud-based applications for years. It used to be the case that larger organizations always had the more expensive 'Cadillac' versions of the software running on-premises -- and the smaller companies always dreamed of having access to those advanced features and capabilities, but simply couldn't afford it. But smaller companies have been rapidly migrating to cloud-based solutions for the past two years now - due to the fact that they are so fast and affordable to deploy - while larger businesses have largely ignored the many advantages the cloud-model can bring to their organizations. Now, that is starting to change.
Next week we'll look at another misconception, 'hosted contact center solutions are functionally inadequate.'
Patrick Barnard is a senior Web editor for TMCnet, covering call and contact center technologies. He also compiles and regularly contributes to TMCnet e-Newsletters in the areas of robotics, IT, M2M, OCS and customer interaction solutions. To read more of Patrick's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Patrick Barnard