Moving away from tradition can sometimes be a good thing. In the case of a contact center, this can be especially true when making the switch to a hosted or on-demand solution. A hosted solution provides organizations of all sizes with reduced cost and risk, better management and more choices when compared to traditional onpremise solutions.
Deciding if the switch is a wise one for your organization means recognizing these benefits and understanding the basics.
To get some more information on the basics and to uncover some of the key benefits a hosted contact center solution provides, I asked Dan Arengo, senior industry consultant with Cincom (http://www.cincom.com), (news - alert) a provider of hosted contact center solutions, to answer a few questions on the topic.
SV: It seems as though the hosted model is increasingly becoming a preferred choice; why do you believe this is so?
DA: The hosted model lets small and mid-sized organizations access some really powerful software capabilities that they would not be able to afford or internally support if on-premise was the only option. So this market segment is gravitating to hosted because it allows them to compete with much larger organizations without investing in the software, hardware and internal resources. Bottom line – the hosted model simplifies the acquisition of technology and that is very appealing.
SV: What benefits can a company realize from choosing the hosted model?
DA: Generally you can expect a fairly rapid return on investment because you don’t have to recover the capital investments in hardware and upfront software licensing. Instead, monthly hosting fees are typically an operational expense so the productivity, efficiency and revenue gains from the hosted solution can immediately impact ROI. In addition, the implementation of a hosted solution is typically much shorter, sometimes only weeks, because the vendor’s hosting infrastructure is already in place.
SV: How does a hosted contact center provide ROI for companies, and why is this an important factor?
DA: The ROI for a hosted contact center can take many different forms depending on each unique business. In general, there are typically some “hard returns” or quantifiable returns like increased revenues and lower costs, as well as “soft returns,” which are more difficult to measure but may be as important or even more important to a business. The soft returns might be improved customer experience and agent satisfaction. ROI is critical to any technology purchase so it is important to work with your vendor to clearly identify and measure the areas where you can expect to see improvements and then set up the appropriate measurements to ensure that you are meeting expectations.
SV: Are there different types of hosted models? If so, can you briefly explain the differences?
DA: There are essentially three major categories of hosted services available to contact centers:
Hosted network services. With this model, the vendor/service provider offers voice and data network services such as IVR, ACD/queuing and routing of calls to your location. While you provide your own on-premise applications or use a separate non-integrated hosted CRM application.
Managed service provider. Here the vendor provisions and operates your telecom and/or IT infrastructure for you on your behalf.
“Software as a service” (SaaS) contact center model. This is where the vendor/ hosting service provider delivers a browser-based integrated interaction management (telephony, e-mail, fax, chat) and contact center CRM application via the Internet. You pay for this comprehensive “contact center application service” on a per-user/per-month basis.
SV: What are some of the risks/complexities associated with a traditional system that a hosted one resolves?
DA: A hosted solution essentially transfers all of the hardware, software and support issues from the user’s premise to the vendor or hosting partner. Issues of redundancy, security and upgrades, for example, fall on your partner instead of adding additional complexity and responsibilities to what is probably already an overbooked IT department. That said, your staff will need to be accessible to the partner to ensure a successful implementation and ongoing performance.
SV: In what ways can agent productivity and usage be increased by choosing the hosted model?
DA: The hosted model enables agents to work from anywhere. This capability can deliver a great deal of flexibility to an organization. For example, agents can work from home or extended geographies, greatly expanding your labor pool and increasing agent satisfaction. In addition, it provides business continuity when agents can’t get to the center due to outages or emergencies. This is particularly important to small contact centers that typically don’t have comprehensive disaster recovery plans in place.
SV: What are some of the security issues associated with a hosted contact center? How are they handled?
DA: Some people argue that security is an issue for a hosted solution because it uses the Internet and possibly VoIP (voice over Internet protocol). In reality, however, if the solution has been architected from the ground up with security as a priority, it should surpass the most stringent security standards. Discuss security with your provider using these topics as an outline:
- Security priority and experience;
- Application security;
- Secure data transmission;
- Customer data privacy;
- Physical data security; and
- Security policies and procedures.
SV: Is the hosted solution an option for all, or is it more beneficial to companies of a certain size?
DA: There are no size constraints as most hosted solutions can scale to an unlimited number of users. Hosting is especially appealing to small to midsized organizations that need sophisticated technology but don’t have the internal resources or budget to purchase it outright. Large enterprises with IT resources and adequate budget often undergo a buy versus host exercise.
SV: For those looking to a hosted contact center solution, how easy is it to set up? Are there fees and commitments involved?
DA: A hosted contact center is going to be easier to implement than an onpremise solution because the hosting center already has all of the components in place. The complexity of the implementation itself will depend upon the needs of the organization. Generally, an existing contact center with legacy systems and more complex procedures will be a longer implementation while a newer center with simpler needs can be implemented in weeks. In general, you can expect monthly usage fees based on the number of agents in your center and the functionality used. For example, one contact center may implement all customer channels — voice, e-mail, Web and chat — plus an agent desktop that unifies all of the information and resources the agents need to interact — plus reporting and analytics. The perseat price will be higher for this scenario than the organization that just needs the agent desktop plus e-mail and fax.
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