Cloud-based contact center concept is gaining popularity thanks to the infrastructure and cost benefits it delivers to businesses. The hosted model is especially beneficial to small and medium businesses as it gives them the flexibility and scalability to accommodate their requirements.
A recent research from Aberdeen (News - Alert) Group finds that cloud-based contact centers are far more likely than in-house contact centers to implement and monitor crucial processes and technologies that drive improved performance.
Based on the survey conducted on 101 contact center executives, Aberdeen Group estimates 34 percent of businesses use a cloud-based contact center today and a further 28 percent plan to do so by the end of 2013.
As companies focus on utilizing business processes and technologies, cloud-based contact center require more IT staff time in order to successfully implement and support those activities, according to Aberdeen Group.
The key differentiators that drive the implementation of cloud based contact centers include creating customized reports on contact center activity results; providing agents with weekly updates on performance results; segmenting and recording contact center actions to a central repository; and creating a backup of contact center data to remote location(s).
“The ability to generate tailored reports that provide granular insights and specific activity results helps companies determine the sources of inefficiencies as well as other general trends that impact the contact center activities,” Aberdeen Group says.
Custom reports help analyze historical and recent customer traffic information to determine patterns that influence customer traffic across numerous channels as well as predict future agent demand. The report estimates 65 percent of cloud-based contact centers deploy this process, compared to only 35 percent of traditional, internal contact centers.
With custom reports, companies can also track and measure agent performance and provide agents with visibility into their performance for coaching and training purposes.
Cloud-based contact centers also experience 36 percent less downtime and as a result greater customer responsiveness than their counterparts. This is due to their “laser focus on ensuring security and business continuity,” the report said. “Cloud-based contact centers are far more likely to have a formal process to regularly backup contacts into data to remote locations compared to other businesses.”
Edited by Alisen Downey