The reliability of the call center is an important element if you want to succeed in the marketplace. This is often the only touchpoint between you and your customer base. Any failure within the call center can mean a failure in strategy and the market, putting your long-term revenue goals at risk. Fortunately, there are call center solutions available that can streamline the process so you’re better equipped in the long run.
VoltDelta (News - Alert), a call center solutions provider, recently posted a video, “5 Takeaways in 5 Minutes on Cloud Contact Center Reliability,” featuring Steve Cirokas, VP of Marketing. This short glimpse into the ideal call center offers viewers insight for selecting the right cloud provider and how to create the ideal environment to get the results you need. Let’s take a look at what he had to share and how you can apply it within your own call center.
1. Redundant and Staffed Network Operations Center – a key area for reliability, you might be surprised to find that a significant number of cloud contact service providers outsource their operations center and even the staff that runs it. As a result, the reliability you count on for your cloud contact center is actually in the hands of someone who perhaps might not be familiar with the challenges posed by your environment. If you want the optimal experience, look for evidence of ownership with experienced technical staff and proven call center solutions.
2. Core Systems (News - Alert) Integration – most cloud contact center providers claim a range of services such as call distribution, outbound dialing, voice self-service and call recording, among others. To get the true value out of these call center solutions, you need to look at how well they integrate within your current system and with each other. Look for cloud contact center providers that can convert an outbound call into an inbound Interactive Voice Response (IVR) interaction to get a sense of performance. Look at partnerships that are being utilized by your prospective cloud contact center providers for core ACD and IVR call recording. Greater reliability issues tend to arise when there are too many partnerships in place for delivering these key resources.
3. Proven Call Volume – every cloud contact center makes reliability claims – it’s up to you to vet those claims. Smaller or less experienced cloud contact center vendors frequently do not have significant call volume stats to back their reliability claims, which should be considered a red flag. Look for cloud contact center vendors with monthly call volume experience measured in the tens to hundreds of millions of calls per month.
4. Dedicated Support Staff – cloud contact center providers’ technical teams are likely to be present during the sales process and through deployment but what happens after the system is in place? Some vendors simply do not have the capacity to dedicate engineers for ongoing tech support. Demand a technical team with an experienced engineer who is focused on customer support. Ask about the size of the team and skill sets represented. If one extremely capable individual seems to be the only true customer support resource, you’ll be in trouble when problems arise.
5. Call Volume Testing – your contact center may not answer a million calls per month but you do want to know if your cloud contact center infrastructure can scale to this level if growth is in your future. Look for vendors who have invested in test equipment that can prove reliability instead of relying on data extracted from a spreadsheet as proof point. Look for the five reliability indicators often to get a sense of how reliable your cloud contact center solution will be as you evaluate a vendor.
As you can see, there are a few important steps that you have to take if you want to be sure your call center is performing properly. These steps are critical before you enter an agreement with a provider. If you do your homework and vet accordingly, you’ll be better positioned for success.
Edited by Alisen Downey