True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 1 True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 1
True Benefits of a
Cloud-Based
Contact Center
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 2
Contents
Call Center vs. Contact Center ......................................................................................................... 3
Cloud-Based, Hosted, On-Premise .................................................................................................. 4
Cloud-Based ................................................................................................................................. 4
Hybrid .......................................................................................................................................... 4
On-Premise .................................................................................................................................. 5
Cloud-Based Contact Center or CCaaS ............................................................................................ 5
State of the SaaS Contact Center Industry in the US ................................................................... 5
Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center ...................................................................................... 6
Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) ............................................................................................ 6
Unparalleled Scalability ............................................................................................................... 8
Mobility / BYOD ........................................................................................................................... 8
Unified Communication and Integration ..................................................................................... 9
Low Downtime........................................................................................................................... 10
More Advanced Features .......................................................................................................... 10
Reduced Customer Churn Rate ................................................................................................. 11
Case Study ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 12
References ..................................................................................................................................... 13
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 3
Call Center vs. Contact Center
Clear communication delivered with lightning-fast efficiency is THE cornerstone of
customer satisfaction. It goes without saying that keeping buyers in a responsive and
receptive state of mind is one of the biggest responsibilities of a brand. This is achieved
through quick problem solving and by providing the desired information at the right time
without lags or delays.
A recent American Express survey shows that an annual 59% churn rate of buyers is
experienced in the United States because of under-performing customer support teams
and unrewarding interactions with brands.
Today, the foundation of robust customer service is
a contact center that facilitates the “to and fro” of
information between brands and buyers. There is
some confusion around the term, however, and
many do not know how to distinguish between a call
center and a contact center.
The definition and scope of a call center is quite
restricting. It refers to a setup of hardware (equipment) and software, through which
incoming voice calls are received and issues are resolved by trained representatives.
A contact center, on the other hand, is the one-stop touch point with prospects and
customers. It uses voice calls, text chats, video conferences, and even web interface
monitoring to ensure that buyers and potential clients get targeted information about the
brand (and its offerings), solve their problems by either getting in touch with a
troubleshooter or by consuming content in the self-service model, and become a part of
the brand community with easy accessibility to company resources. Hence, a contact
center unifies various communication channels on a single platform, in accordance with
the Unified Communication or UC concept.
More and more enterprises are shifting away from the one-channel approach of a call
center and embracing the holistic approach of a contact center.
“A call center may not
always be part of a
contact center. But the
contact center always
involves a call center to
entertain voice calls.”
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 4
Cloud-Based, Hosted, On-Premise
Since a contact center is so vitally important, it is natural that there is a lot of speculation
around the different architectures and models that can offer the convenience of attending
to customers and prospects in a professional and organized manner.
Contact centers can be purely cloud-based, hybrid, or static (on-premise).
Cloud-Based
A contact center in the cloud is a convenience many companies have adopted with a sigh
of relief. In this model, there is no need to purchase costly hardware and software solutions
to be deployed at the office site. The entire infrastructure required to maintain a contact
center is the responsibility of the service provider. The client only needs a fast and reliable
broadband connection and a 10-digit telephone number. Based on the number of
representatives in the enterprise, licenses are purchased from the vendor. The contact
center setup is bundled as an application that is installed and accessed via a shortcut on
the desktop. Hence, the contact center becomes an operational cost instead of being a
large up-front investment. inContact offers cloud-based contact center solutions, which
are also known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) contact centers.
Hybrid
The middle ground between cloud-based and on-premise solutions is a hybrid contact
center, which can be good for businesses that are not comfortable with a completely virtual
deployment. Many companies, due to the sensitive nature of the work they do, can’t store
data at a foreign location (the database or server of the vendor in a SaaS model) and for
them, the hybrid setup represents the best of both worlds. It involves the introduction of a
gateway or portal between the office equipment and the service provider’s infrastructure
in the cloud. It also allows the client to retain existing equipment and migrate to the cloud
at its own pace, while enjoying the faster speeds and greater workforce productivity that
come with the SaaS system. Genesys is a popular hybrid service provider.
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 5
On-Premise
Also known as a legacy system, this variant requires a large up-front investment in
hardware and software, as well as skilled IT personnel to maintain and upgrade the
technology according to the market trends. Though it is losing popularity because of the
cloud and hybrid models, the on-premise contact center still makes sense for businesses
that deliver bespoke services, and require heavily customized systems that may not be
possible with the SaaS platforms. Siemens is one of the market leaders of legacy contact
centers.
In the end, the decision to go for a particular deployment model depends upon:
The size of the business
The agility required in terms of IT solutions
The scalability requirements (Will the business experience sudden growth, or is it
in its cash cow stage?)
The sensitivity of the information being stored and exchanged through the contact
center (and associated national compliance laws)
The needs of the business in terms of services
Cloud-Based Contact Center or CCaaS
At a glance, SaaS contact centers do not have any significant cons to detract from their
optimized performance and low total cost of ownership (TCO). However, this asset will
investigate the benefits of the cloud model with concrete data from several research
papers, and will present the true picture without biases.
State of the SaaS Contact Center Industry in the US
The cloud-based contact center model is also referred to as CCaaS. According to
Gartner’s “Forecast: Contact Center as a Service Market, North America, 2009-2014
study, by 2014,” the market for the technology is 850 million dollars strong. More than 700
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 6
thousand customer care and call center representatives use CCaaS daily from industries
as diverse as healthcare, utilities, consumer manufacturing, and transportation.
Fact-based research group Aberdeen conducted a survey between March and July of
2012. It polled 487 contact center executives and questioned them about their views on
the CCaaS phenomenon, their understanding of how it can affect business growth, and
their plans for the future regarding deployment. The findings are listed below:
Thus, by 2013, 6 out of 10 contact centers were virtualized. The numbers have increased
significantly over the past year, and now the CCaaS is the norm rather than the exception,
allowing even SMBs to thrive and conduct international business with a professional
presence.
Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center
Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
This is a major thumbs-up in favor of the virtual contact centers. However, it isn’t the only
(or even the most important) consideration, and businesses should remember early on to
take a more holistic view of cloud-based contact centers rather than focus exclusively on
the prices.
Have CCaaS34%
Plan to deploy in 12 months
28%
No plans 38%
THE ABERDEEN GROUP RESEARCH RESULTS
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 7
As can be seen from the architecture of a typical SaaS contact center, the entire setup,
including hardware and required software solutions, is hosted and maintained by a third
party known as the vendor or the service provider. This vendor has its own encrypted
database, servers, and other equipment and ensures that the reliability of the offered
service is high. The buyers or the clients are leased the use of the setup and database for
a monthly fee. Accessibility to the infrastructure is granted through a small application that
can be installed on the desktop or any smart device. The employees who use the contact
center regularly simply click on the icon and log into the system with secure credentials.
The computer accessories, like the camera and either in-built or external speakers,
microphones, and headsets, allow them to conduct their activities without disruption or the
need to buy separate peripherals.
It is clear from the model that the businesses that go cloud do NOT:
purchase on-premise equipment or software
engage additional IT personnel to take care of and maintain the setup
need to experience downtime during upgrades
According to Genesys,
because of the low TCO
of CCaaS models, the
year-on-year growth of
the cloud-based
contact center market
is estimated to be 11%.
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 8
need to invest in costly technology that is likely to become obsolete within a few years just to keep up with the contact center market and its fluctuations
Thus, the rate of ROI recovery is phenomenal. The only recurring cost is the monthly
subscription based on the number of users and the features being used. With the CCaaS
model, the total cost of ownership amounts to the operational cost of having a functional
contact center in place.
Unparalleled Scalability
A scalable system is agile and can be modified rapidly to comply with and accommodate
changes in the business. As a general rule, all legacy systems are sprawling and clunky.
They do not scale very easily. Such systems may require complete re-wiring, or
purchasing of costly on-premise equipment to allow an expanding workforce to use it.
The CCaaS model, on the other hand, is virtual. It has no messy extensions or equipment
in the office. Allowing a larger number of users to access it is simply a matter of purchasing
extra licenses. In fact, cancelling licenses is also very convenient. The SaaS contact
center allows businesses to hire part-time remote workers to share the load with full-time
reps using ordinary laptops (or desktops) and temporarily activated licenses. Once the
crunch time of unusually heavy traffic passes, these part-time remote workers are
released from their contracts, thus eliminating the need to add permanent members to the
team and spend additional money on their salary, benefits, and upkeep.
Not only is this flexibility very desirable during holidays and peak seasons, but it also
improves the rate of call attendance and issue resolution. The part-time call center
representatives add their muscle to the resource pool of the business and ensure that the
increased call volume and enquiries are received and given due attention. Customer
service never suffers, and the brand value of the company goes up thanks to the display
of professionalism.
Mobility / BYOD
These days, most businesses rely on remote workers and sales representatives to thrive
and capture a larger market. An estimated 80% of contact centers use remote agents in
some capacity.
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 9
Thus, the idea of a contact center representative
being confined to the desk is laughable.
Representatives should be equipped with the
ability to receive calls in transit, access important
customer information, set up and attend video
conferences, and call up sensitive data at the
touch of a button. This is why most cloud-based
contact centers allow users to download
streamlined mobile applications that can allow
representatives to leverage all the benefits of the
cloud from a smart device. Mobility improves
resource utilization. Call center features like “group hunt” and “seek and deliver” allow
callers in the queue to resolve their issues by speaking to an available agent as quickly
as possible. Sometimes this routing is also skill-based. With mobility now very much a part
of the contact center experience, free representatives who are outside the office can also
be tapped. This obviously reduces on-hold time in the queue by optimally using the
company’s employees, and encourages the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) culture.
Unified Communication and Integration
UC, or Unified Communication, is one of the dominant trends of 2015. A cloud-based
contact center is the truest implementation of the concept. It allows employees to switch
between platforms at the click of a button without jumping from one browser to another or
one dashboard to another. In a unified ecosystem, a help desk representative resolving a
caller issue may be hosting a video chat with
the customer while simultaneously receiving
troubleshooting instructions from an IT expert
via instant messaging to guide the client.
Cloud contact centers also lend themselves
to integrations through open APIs. A contact
center database may be integrated with the
CRM system to allow callers to access customer data so that problems can be tackled
efficiently without having to ask busy customers too many questions regarding information
that should already be in the system. Further integrations create richer, more customized
A cloud-based contact
center, on average,
improves resource
utilization by 32% by
connecting calls to even
those agents who are
not at their work station.
Aberdeen Group
92% of contact center
leaders see high value in
sharing metrics in real time
with front-line agents.
Saddletree Research Paper
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 10
performance reports for customer service managers, and thus help businesses make
better informed decisions.
Low Downtime
Contact center downtime is one of the biggest obstacles in the path of professional
customer service and high resolution rates. If clients call the support platform or help desk
and do not get through, the impact on the brand image is immeasurable. After all, just one
negative experience requires a series of 12 positive ones to mitigate it.
The most common reasons for downtime are:
unusually heavy traffic
disaster or any other unforeseen event
maintenance and upgrades
With a cloud-based contact center:
Part-time remote workers take care of
seasonal traffic spikes.
Disaster recovery and regular backups are the responsibility of the vendor.
Maintenance and upgrades are rolled out and service providers have server
galaxies, thereby ensuring 99.9% up time.
Thus, the downtime of a CCaaS platform is significantly lower than that of a legacy system.
In fact, compared to a traditional model, it is 36% lower.
More Advanced Features
Cloud-based contact centers allow businesses to choose from a list of advanced features
that utilize VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to deliver targeted skills-based routing,
intelligent virtual assistant, and self-service facilities at a fraction of the cost of a legacy
system. In fact, some provisions can never be activated in a traditional contact center –
one that doesn’t leverage the power of the internet. Despite the bells and whistles, the
features are “pay as you go,” meaning they can be cancelled at a moment’s notice, just
like the additional licenses.
31% of cloud-based
contact centers update
their disaster recovery
plan on a quarterly
basis, compared to 15%
of legacy platforms.
Aberdeen Group
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 11
Reduced Customer Churn Rate
The White House Office of Consumer Affairs says that it is six to seven times more
expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one. And, the most
dominant influence on a buyer’s decision to renew, purchase, or upgrade is the interaction
with the company and consumer satisfaction. The CCaaS model shifts the way a business
operates, providing it with resource utilization, mobility, flexibility, and a stunning array of
features to ensure all buyer needs are met promptly and efficiently. Thus, the rate of client
churn or attrition decreases and retention improves. This is often referred to as the “hidden
benefit” of a SaaS contact center.
According to the research by Aberdeen Group, a contact center receives around 2.5
million touches annually from existing clients and prospects. On average, out of every 10
callers who abandon a call because of long hold time or other irritants, one is lost to the
company forever. If the baseline customer value is taken to be a conservative $10,000,
the cumulative loss is a whopping $112.5 million dollars. A SaaS contact center can
gradually bring this number down and start returning more than its cost of ownership in a
relatively short period of time.
As a summary, the following graph based on the findings of the December 2012 research
conducted by the Aberdeen Group is a visual representation of how contact centers
operation and maintenance improved when using a SaaS platform.
45%
32%
26% 26%
Improved customerexperience
Improved agentproductivity
Reduced IT hassles Improved businessflexibility
Improvement in Percentage Points for 101 Respondents
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 12
Case Study
CarSafe is a company that offers extended warranties on car models in order to safeguard
the interest of buyers. Its contact center is a very critical part of its business operations.
Since it is a small enterprise, the sales division is obviously an important artery that feeds
revenue to the expanding company.
When the sales division of the contact center lost its internet connectivity, the
representatives immediately travelled to the call center designated for customer service
agents, using the terminals to log into their SaaS system and continue with business as
usual.
This was possible because CarSafe uses a CCaaS solution from inContact.
This case study is a genuine account of how convenient a cloud-based contact (or call)
center can be. The fact that CarSafe is a SMB shows that virtual communication platforms
can realize quick ROI and provide a distraction-free work environment for businesses of
all sizes and from all niches.
Conclusion
A contact center in the cloud is a must-have for all businesses that need to be flexible,
agile, and equipped to face the challenges of a post-PSTN (Public Switched Telephone
Network) world.
By properly evaluating company needs, the vendor reputation, and the clauses of the
SLAs (Service Level Agreements), enterprises can realize ROI and streamline operations
without hassles or a horde of IT personnel.
True Benefits of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Compare Business Products © 2015 13
References
Top 5 Benefits of Cloud Hosted Contact Centers, Digital Service Cloud, Accessed on
03/02/2015:
http://www.digitalservicecloud.com/insights/top-5-benefits-cloud-hosted-contact-
centers.html,
Call Center In The Cloud: Cheaper And Simpler, Network Computing, written by
Robert Mullins, Accessed on 03/02/2015:
http://www.networkcomputing.com/unified-communications/call-center-in-the-cloud-
cheaper-and-simpler/d/d-id/1098485?
The Hidden ROI of a Cloud-Based Contact Center, Aberdeen Group, Accessed on
03/02/15:
http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/aberdeen-roi-cloud-contactcctr-
1902159.pdf,
What are the benefits of moving the call center to the cloud? Fonality, Accessed on
03/02/15:
http://www.fonality.com/industry-news/what_are_the_benefits_of_moving_the,
Cloud-based contact centers: Pros, cons and practical advice, MyCustomer,
Accessed on 03/02/15:
http://www.mycustomer.com/feature/experience/cloud-based-contact-centres-pros-cons-
and-practical-advice/165697
Contact Center-as-a-Service: Elevate Customer Service, Cisco, Accessed on
03/02/15:
http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/customer-collaboration/unified-
contact-center-enterprise/ccaaasbrochure.pdf,
75 Customer Service Stats, Quotes and Statistics, Help Scout, Accessed on 03/02/15: http://www.helpscout.net/75-customer-service-facts-quotes-statistics/