By Vincent Deschamps
Hosted systems are increasingly becoming a popular option for contact centers and steadily replacing premise-based hardware contact center systems. Industry analysts estimate that 25 percent of contact center implementations will be via hosted solutions by 2007*.
Companies in the process of investigating and comparing hosted and premise-based solutions are faced with an ‘apples to oranges’ analysis. Complicating this process are vendor and media focus on product “features”, rather than a focus on how the various vendors satisfy different type of customer requirements. To make the decision process easier, executives must consider their decisions in light of their organization’s business needs.
For example, aligning IT with the rest of the organization means considering current and future customer demand, as well as corporate and product/service expansion plans, and balancing all these factors with the internal structure and resources and what impact these decisions have upon customer service and support levels.
In that vein, here’s a look at eight business-focused needs that aren’t well served by premise-based contact center hardware, which our customers that have moved from those solutions to our hosted model have told us:
1. Deploy rapidly
The integration of new system components and applications such as a CTI server, new IVR applications, and a quality monitoring system or a knowledgebase to the legacy environment is complicated and often underestimated. Integration with the desktops and training on all new systems adds to the cycle, which typically takes between six and nine months. Conversely, hosted systems, complete with customized capabilities, are typically operational within 60 days.
This accelerated "time to value" is an important benefit of working with a managed services provider when considering cost. By selecting managed contact center services, system integration, the most time-consuming step of the installation process is eliminated. All sub systems (PBX/ACD, CTI server, e-media servers, IVR and knowledgebase or case management system) required for solution delivery are already integrated at the hosting facility making the delivery of seamless applications possible.
2. Eliminate acquisition, maintenance and upgrade costs
The costs of constructing a multimedia contact center from the ground up can be quite an eye-opening experience. Buying, building, integrating and maintaining a service and support center with an industry standard functional baseline carries a considerable $2.8 million price tag, according to a November 1999 report by Deloitte and Touche and still applicable today.
Taking all costs into consideration, a hosted solution typically represents only a fraction (10 to 20 percent the first year) of the cost it takes to build and maintain a premise-based contact center solution. Comparing the costs over 3 to 5 years will still favor hosting, with the cost of IT personnel being a major differentiator.
More importantly, using a hosted provider that delivers a fully integrated platform of inbound and outbound contact center solutions on a "per user, per month" subscription basis ensures that you pay only for what you need.
3. Scale up or down on demand
The number of agents you need can change at any time. A special promotion, seasonal spikes or some other event could leave you with unacceptable customer delays, breakdowns in your customer service levels and an irreparably damage your reputation. You should have a solution that can help you stay in step with your continually changing business needs.
4. Eliminate over- and under-capacity
Once you buy a hardware-based contact center, you're locked in. Even if everything goes according to plan, you will have bought too much capacity at the beginning of your usage cycle, and be struggling with too little capacity at the end. With an on-demand hosted solution model, you receive exactly the capacity you need, exactly when you need it, every single day.
5. Lower overall TCO and increase ROI
TCO and ROI are critical to every contact center purchase decision. And nothing drives these metrics like scale and expertise. Since most hosted providers own and operate their own world-class data centers and manage the entire contact center infrastructure from their facilities, they provide you with cost, capability and reliability levels that no premise-based system can match.
6. Turn CAPEX into OPEX
Trying to fund a new premise-based contact center can incite a budgetary battle, particularly in uncertain times. By offering complete, end-to-end advanced contact center capabilities as a service, your hosted provider will eliminate the conflict over CAPEX, putting ongoing customer service costs back into OPEX where they belong. And, ensure that you have everything necessary to meet your business goals.
7. Add new features quickly and painlessly
Customer expectations and market conditions change. Contact center technologies advance. Shouldn't you be able to keep up without having to predict the future? Future-proof your contact center with the right choice of a hosted, on-demand solution. An appropriate service integration platform will give you the flexibility to add new features as easily as flipping a switch.
8. Guarantee performance and reliability
Choosing a premise-based solution largely means going it alone. Sure, your vendors have customer support numbers, but they're not promising anything. A hosted service provider should promise comprehensive "always on" performance and reliability guarantees for every portion of your fully-integrated, easy to manage solution.
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* See Saddletree Research's Jan. 16, 2006 article, The Hosted IP Contact Center Selection Process - One Size Does Not Fit All.
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Vincent Deschamps is CEO and chairman of the board at Echopass Corporation. Prior to Echopass, Deschamps successfully developed and carried out strategic business development and go-to-market plans as well as lead sales efforts at several of America’s leading telecommunications and hosted services companies, including Avaya (News - Alert) and AccessLine. Please visit Echopass at www.echopass.com.
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