Cloud best practices, Contact Center, On-premises environments
What Is Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)?
Every contact center wants to operate efficiently to best serve customers – and is usually under extreme scrutiny and pressure to do so. Contact centers are expected to contribute to revenue, deliver on customer expectations, and reduce costs. Many leading brands are turning to innovative technology to meet these demands – namely, Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS). By employing this model, your contact center can meet the challenge of delivering exceptional customer experiences.
But what exactly is CCaaS?
CCaaS is a cloud-based customer experience platform, built on contact center software. In this model, you’ll have the technology you need to delight customers, while reducing on-site costs and easing the demands on internal IT staff.
CCaaS vs. Traditional Applications
Traditional on-premise systems are cumbersome to operate – and deceptively expensive to own. Those who associate an on-prem system with cost savings often forget about: the utility costs required to run it; the structured cabling required to connect it; the additional space required to house it; and the technical staff required to configure and manage it. This all adds up, and in the end, cloud alternatives offer a lower cost of ownership with no sacrifice in functionality. On-premise systems can also take months to deploy, whereas with CCaaS you can be can be up and running in only a few days. With a cloud solution, users also enjoy real-time updates and constant feature enhancements.
Critical Features of CCaaS
You’ll enjoy high reliability, continuous support, and an extensive suite of features with CCaaS for your contact center. Your customer service team will have the ability to deliver consistent, high-quality service that can lead to quicker resolutions.
Customizable Call Flows for Optimized Interactions
Using CCaaS architecture provides you the opportunity to customize call flows, which can improve interactions between contact center staff and customers.
These improved interactions can be achieved through skill-based routing, an approach that routes inquiries to the most suitable agent and powers faster resolutions. Routing can be further enhanced by tagging “preferred” agents, who can take the lead on complex cases so that callers aren’t constantly transferred and frustrated.
In addition, you can leverage “callbacks,” which offer callers the opportunity to keep their place in queue without waiting on hold. When it’s their turn to be helped, the customers receive a callback with an agent ready and able to solve the issue.
Monitor, Gather Data, and Create Reports
Reporting and analytics are foundational to measuring contact center performance and adhering to service levels. Real-time dashboards help you manage in the moment, while historical data powers smarter decision-making for future operations.
Individual customers also benefit, thanks to the concept of the customer journey: a record of all touchpoints for a given customer. Any agent who works with a given customer gains quick access to that customer’s previous interactions. No customer wants to repeat their story to multiple agents; they simply want a fair and efficient resolution.
Most CCaaS platforms offer multiple preconfigured reports relating to metrics, such as: call distribution; service level compliance; unanswered calls; post-call surveys; and more. Custom reporting designed to meet your specific needs is also available.
Centralize Operations
When you adopt CCaaS, you’ll have the capacity to support multiple sites. If you have contact centers in various physical locations, they’ll all be connected and centrally managed via one portal – accessible anywhere you have an internet connection. Consider how this key feature could improve operations and oversight!
An Omnichannel Approach
CCaaS also integrates all customer communication channels. This consolidation can immediately improve processes: voice, chats, emails, and SMS are now on one platform. With this newfound transparency, you can track the multiple ways a customer might contact your company. Queues are no longer just for voice calls; customers in the modern world expect to be able to contact you across all channels, and CCaaS makes this a reality.
Engagement Features
Take customer service to a new level with audience engagement features, which let you use your CCaaS platform for outbound calling and outreach campaigns. Being proactive with service can ensure that customers remain loyal and get timely resolutions to any challenges. Employ dynamic notifications to extend your reach while also being considerate of audience preferences.
To gauge customer satisfaction, you can also send out post-call surveys. With this automated function, you’ll be able to gather additional data about customer perceptions.
Is CCaaS Right for You?
Making the shift to CCaaS involves many considerations. If your contact center is underperforming or your current system is too costly, then it makes sense to upgrade. If you need better reporting and insight, or the ability for customers to reach you via multiple channels, there’s another argument for CCaaS. Plus, CCaaS allows you to scale as your business grows, so it’s an ideal choice if you’re looking to expand.
Intermedia Contact Center is the cloud-based solution designed to scale from the smallest single-channel informal contact center, to the most sophisticated omni-channel environment. Our solution gives businesses the power to create efficient interactions, meaningful insights, productive teams, and an overall superior customer experience. Get started by downloading our product overview.
