Rarely is there a division inside a company that can change as rapidly as the call center. With so many variables playing a part on customer service expectations, call center management has to be ready to switch gears on a dime and respond accordingly. Add to that the changing technological landscape and it only makes sense to deploy the call center on demand to ensure the necessary flexibility.

Recently, call center on demand solutions provider, Five9 (News - Alert) has been blogging on this particular topic. In a series of posts, the company has examined key trends that are impacting today’s call center and how management can respond accordingly. Today, we’ll look at two of these trends and why the On Demand approach to call center technology makes sense moving forward.

Live Calls

The live call is really the foundation of the call center. Agents were given desks, phones and scripts so as to properly interact with the live customer. For years, strategies were developed around the live call and how best to deliver resolution. With advancements in technology and the changing competitive landscape in this space, however, the popularity of the live call is declining.

The bigger focus for the call center agent will be on more complex interactions. Consumers, for the most part, can handle the simple transactions, find answers to their questions and even report problems without ever talking to a live agent. Web portals have gotten more sophisticated and social media is playing a key part in interactions. As such, those agents kept in the call center on demand to handle interactions will have to be highly skilled and trained to deal with greater complexity in requests and manage multiple channels at a time.

Work at Home Agents

The trend of the work at home agent has gotten attention for years, but now that the strategy has proven success, more companies are jumping on board. The call center on demand makes this an easier strategy to deploy as the tools needed to manage agents in the cloud are already available. With 53 percent of contact centers already leveraging this strategy successfully, according to the National Association of Call Centers, continued growth is expected. Plus, companies can better secure the highly educated and skilled agents they need if they are no longer limited to their geographic areas.

As changes continue to emerge in the call center space, agility and flexibility will be key competitive advantages for the company leveraging the call center in the cloud.