Call Center On Demand Featured Article

Lower TCO Helping to Drive Adoption of Call Center on Demand Model

By Susan J. Campbell
TMCnet Contributing Editor

The pervasiveness of the Internet has introduced new dynamics into the way in which companies conduct business. Interactions that once demanded worldwide travel can now be conducted through Web conferencing, multi-million dollar companies can operate and support hundreds of employees with no physical location, and call centers can deliver full interactive experiences on a shoestring budget.

More specifically, changes in the call center space are a result of the proliferation of IP telephony, a technology integration that has changed the market landscape in terms of global reach, economics, resource availability and ubiquity of service. Size and budget no longer determine features and functionality, leveling the playing field and brining more sophisticated IP-based solutions to even the smallest operation.

With the call center on demand, companies can now enjoy a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), a higher return on investment, improved customer service and reduced operating costs. A recent Five9 (News - Alert) white paper explored these benefits according to Yankee Group (News - Alert) research. The key point to this research – lower TCO and the availability of VoIP will drive adoption.

In today’s market, it is no longer sufficient for a company to provide quality service. Today’s call center agent must be flexible, responsive and proactive in his or her approach to customer care. To support these efforts, the call center must offer a cost-effective infrastructure with seamless integration into key platforms to ensure ready access to transaction history and other customer data.

At the same time, companies seeking a competitive edge in their approach to customer care are demanding increased effectiveness and efficiency from the call center operation as a whole. The call center on demand offers a unique approach to seamless integration and high levels of interaction between multiple communication channels to ensure efficiency as well as a satisfying experience for the customer.

Any call center on demand provider can offer a full range of case studies to support the benefits of migrating to this deployment strategy, but the best proof of demonstrated benefits exist in third party research. Yankee Group has determined that significant advancements in efficiency and hard dollar savings exist with the cloud-based approach, presenting a strong value proposition in terms of TCO.

The research firm suggests that the 3-year TCO savings found in the call center on demand can be significant enough for the enterprise to consider rapid migration. Even a small center with 25 agents can realize $100,000 in savings. A larger center with 400 agents can enjoy as much as $2 million in cost reduction over three years.

While the cost savings are impressive, Yankee Group believes a number of key trends will continue to drive the adoption of the call center on demand: the transition from circuit-switched voice to packet; the increased demand for integrated suites instead of best-of-breed components; and the TCO shift to on-demand technology instead of upfront investments. Likewise, as technology options in this space continue to evolve, so will each company’s ability to meet customer expectations.