TMCnews Featured Article
July 19, 2011
The Benefits of the Cloud Come to the Call Center
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor
The call center serves a unique function for the enterprise. It not only is the place to receive calls from customers who want to buy something, ask a question or gain support for a product you supply; it is also the place offering the perfect opportunity to connect with customers when you have something to sell.
This concept is explored further in this Contactual (News - Alert) blog, highlighting the importance of delivering optimal service through the call center to ensure customers are not only happy, but that they will also buy from you once again. It is important to ensure a positive experience for your call center and your customers, or risk offering a customers over to the competition.
In the call center, it really is all about the relationship. The overall success of the call center relies heavily on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to help to facilitate healthy relationships that grow stronger over time. The cloud-based call center is often the preferred platform as it offers a way to incorporate and integrate your CRM applications quickly and easily.
This integration allows for a single sign-on to bring your agents a 360-degree view of the customers to which they are connected, regardless of the channel. The agent will instantly know who is calling, that they have purchased, and what issues may be still pending or issues that were recently resolved. The knowledge and deep integration afforded to the call center agent will ensure all calls can be handled quickly and efficiently.
Regardless of your feelings surrounding cloud computing, the reality is that it is in your future. Gartner (News 
- Alert) analysts have put cloud computing as No.1 on their Top 10 Strategic Technology Areas for Growth in 2010. This placement ranks cloud computing with where e-business was just 10 years earlier.
Those who have embraced cloud computing in the call center have already been exposed to its benefits. When compared with landlocked rivals, call center software applications delivered on an SaaS (News - Alert) (software-as-a-service) platform deliver such benefits as a click-to-dial capability from directly within the CRM app; customer record pops to provide agents information directly on their computer screen; increased operational efficiency as a result of prioritizing and routing calls according to data stored in the CRM system; and seamless integration between CRM apps and call center software to enable agents to toggle between the two quickly and easily.
Such benefits ad more help to enhance the productivity of the call center agent, as well as decrease customer frustration. The end result is improved satisfaction for the customer, and a healthy bottom line.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
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