Virtual Call Center

Many companies are considering setting up an on-demand contact center, and with good reason. Distributed workforces offer many advantages compared to on-premise operations. But, an on-demand contact center isn’t for every company, and success relies on adopting best practices rather than jumping in with both feet before becoming educated.

 

In its white paper, On-Demand Contact Center Solutions: The Six Myths, virtual call center solutions company Contactual (News - Alert) addresses a half dozen common misperceptions surrounding on-demand contact centers.

 

The first myth, Contactual says, is that on-premise contact centers cost less over the long run, because on-demand solutions require ongoing subscription fees or software licenses. The problem with this logic is that the maintenance costs associated with on-premise contact centers can very easily outstrip the on-demand alternative.

 

Companies also tend to believe that on-demand solutions might be great, but they can’t be integrated with other applications. However, Contactual disputes this claim by saying that the advent of robust APIs make it possible to easily integrate on-demand solutions with back-end systems, CRM databases, workforce management tools and other business applications.

 

A third concern expressed by companies considering on-demand solutions is that going the virtual route might result in reduced security. This might seem on the surface to be a reasonable concern, Contactual says, but the facts don’t bear it out. Data can be securely encrypted, and further security is provided by 24/7 monitoring in the data center. By contrast, physical infrastructure at brick-and-morter call centers is not monitored at all times and so is vulnerable to tampering.

 

For companies seeking to provide the best possible customer service, features are a major consideration when choosing a solution. There is a misperception, Contactual says in its white paper, that on-premise solutions are more features-rich than on-demand offerings. That might have been true at one point, but not any longer.

 

On a somewhat related note, many companies think that on-demand solutions are best suited for small contact centers, while large ones must go with on-premise to meet their goals. Again, this might have been true in the past, but not anymore. Contactual noted that its OnDemand Contact Center solution has been deployed for call centers with 500 or more agents.

 

Finally, there’s the myth that on-demand contact center solutions are best suited as stop-gap, temporary measures until there is money in the budget for an on-premise solution. But, the benefits of on-demand solutions—no capital investment, minimal operating costs, low monthly fees, integration capabilities and enterprise-level features—make on-demand solutions very well suited for long-term use.

 

To learn more about the benefits of on-demand contact center solutions, please visit the Virtual Call Center channel on TMCnet.com, brought to you by Contactual.