There are many myths in the contact center industry. Some of these myths center around the hosted contact center solution. Unfortunately, these myths have caused some organizations to shy away from the hosted contact center model, despite the benefits that such a platform can deliver.
For vendors operating in the hosted contact center space, the good news is that hosted contact center software is gaining mainstream validity and recognition as more organizations are finding these myths to be untrue.
One of the myths that made contact centers reluctant to consider a hosted solution was the assumption that all services cost the same amount of money. Organizations have more than one option when it comes to hosted contact center software. In fact, those vendors that are offering VoIP
technology are gaining ground as this technology has improved remarkably.
VoIP technology has gotten to the point that voice quality not only sounds as good as the regular telephone, but the majority of large telecom companies now transport much of their traffic over the Internet as well. Given the extreme low cost of VoIP technology and the calls that are made on such a platform, any hosted contact center vendor not running the majority of their customers on a VoIP platform should be avoided.
Organizations also falsely believed that hosted contact center services were unreliable. In reality, the reliability of the hosted contact center is the same as any networked service – it depends on the infrastructure of the vendor offering the virtual service. In nearly every situation, hosted contact center solutions are set up with a redundant system to ensure service integrity.
A third myth regarding hosted contact centers was the belief that all technology platforms were created equal. Given that no two contact centers are exactly alike, a vendor would be effectively “shooting themselves in the foot” by building the service from the ground up and creating what is essentially an old premise-based system.
A truly hosted system enables agents, supervisors and administrators to control every aspect of setting up a contact center system. As such, customers have total campaign and call control so they are not reliant on the vendor for basic operational functions.
Those organizations that needed complex features were often under the impression that hosted services could not accommodate this demand. In reality, hosted contact center software offers such features as intelligent call routing
, FTC/FCC (News - Alert) compliant Predictive Dialing, and even Call Blending.
Finally, one of the biggest myths in the hosted contact center arena was that hosted services cost more in the long run. As many hosted services are based on pure VoIP, the need for voice T1/E1 is eliminated. Customers using a hosted VoIP
contact center service actually save more than just the savings of equipment and software.
Hosted contact center software is gaining in acceptance and adoption throughout the world as these common myths are being exposed and contradicted with factual evidence by real-world hosted contact center software users. As results continue to be produced, this market will continue to experience strong growth.
For more, check out the Hosted Contact Center channel on TMCnet.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
Voice over IP (VoIP) | X |
A real-time communications system that converts voice into digital packets containing media and signaling data that travel over networks using Internet Protocol....more |
Routing | X |
There are many often too many explanation of routing. Here�s one:
Hop-by-Hop Routing - IP Routing
- Distributes routing to routers
- Networks look/act like trees
- Data can traverse many routers ...more |
Hosted VoIP | X |
The primary benefit HIPT-Hosted Internet Protocol Telephony is an outsourced hosted solution like a hosted website of IP voice telephony with dynamic data. This is often referred to as "everything is...more |