Moving to “The Cloud” is responsible for many companies’ improved performance lately, contact centers included. As a result, big and small contact centers have set their eyes on the prospect of migrating their call tools to the cloud.
This post will discuss how you can finally move your contact center to the cloud. Several advantages (think of them as motives) will also help you pitch the idea to all company stakeholders.
Sure, the technical bits of the migration process would make for a more comprehensive article. However, we’ll limit the scope a bit. This way readers looking to absorb as much information about running a sizable contact center in the cloud get the most out.
With that said, we’ll start by reviewing some benefits associated with making the move to the cloud.
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5 Benefits Of Moving To The Cloud
Traditionally you’ll find all the computing resources a company requires in a server room. The cloud is a rather new computing concept that de-localizes storage and processing power from where the site of use.
Think of the cloud as that same server room (on steroids), moved to data centers accessible through the internet.
From the definition, 4 advantages of moving a contact center to the cloud emerge:
- Call tools accessible remotely – this means you can attract and use call center agents from all over the world. The more languages your agents are capable of, along with a wider time band your call center is online, improve your chances of improving customer satisfaction.
- The cloud presents multiple integration opportunities – using APIs, you can connect your call tools to serve customers quicker. If you end up using services from different vendors, yet all connected for your company’s instance in the cloud, it should improve your customer satisfaction metric right away.
- Contact center wage bill reduction – inherent with the ability to hire remote teams is the vast savings companies stand to make. Hiring abroad removes the need to rent physical call center space. The talent pool at your disposal is also reputable for corporate loyalty. All this at lower pay rates. A threefold victory!
- 99.999% Enterprise uptime SLA – the elusive and coveted consistent availability of all cloud-hosted call tools makes sure your customers never have to settle for poor service. With less than an hour of downtime per year, you can guarantee world-class service when pitching new deals on the sales front.
- The cloud saves money – in the long run, your contact center will only pay for the actual resources used in the cloud. Nothing more. This becomes more true and useful when you scale the contact center.
How To Get Started With Cloud Migration
The easiest way to get all the benefits described above, along with a lot more, is to be in the cloud.
A big deterrent for most companies is over complicating the process. Just as overthinking slows production, trying to get everything working in one fell swoop can backfire. Gradually taking components of your contact center is the way to go.
This is best done through phases. A fully-fledged contact center can comprise any of the following systems;
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM),
- Dialler,
- An IVR system,
- A call management system, and
- Several computers to manage support online and.
With these, a small team of agents can assist customers out of the cloud.
Let’s discuss how some of them can migrate to the cloud. Yes, they can use the internet to communicate with customers, but still not be in the cloud. However, that’s a topic for an entirely different article.
Taking A CRM To The Cloud
The easiest way to get this stage done and dusted is to opt into a provider hosting their services in the cloud. However, adopting a cloud service provider, then making an instance to host your CRM is better.
Your communication with customers is best-kept secret. That said, owning the cloud infrastructure layer helps improve security. For this reason, you might need to dedicate an administrator specifically in charge of making sure the CRM is live at all times.
The Dialer
Most CRMs now come fitted with a dialler. There is no need to worry if your preferred choice doesn’t. This is where integration comes into play. Take the SIP phone by babelforce for instance.
Say you’re using Zendesk to manage customer information. You can integrate Zendesk with babelforce and make calls over the internet with it. The best part about the specified instance is how you’ll not need to code any new modules at all.
An IVR In The Cloud
Assuming you took the advice we gave above (Zendesk + babelforce), plugging an IVR system into the mix becomes even simpler. No code integration and automation of the call acceptance process will boost your customer experience in the long run.
A Call Management System In The Cloud
The advice we’ve discussed so far should have the basic tools already accessible from anywhere in the world. Obviously, you’ll need the right credentials and an internet connection.
Migrating an entire call management system side to side with the other tools is next on our list. It also completes the migration project. At which point, the rest of the machines on the floor will access all tools in the cloud.
With this knowledge in hand, you ought to be well on your way to discovering the various cloud hosting services providers available. As a quick recap, consider that even the most complex of call centers can migrate to the cloud. Be sure to get all stakeholders on board before looking into the actual migration.
The best way to ace the digital (cloud) transformation will be to take each tool migration as though it was an entire project. Each task will get more attention to detail. Which improves your chances of successfully implementing your contact center in the cloud.
About Babelforce
Babelforce is a global cloud communications platform focused on No-Code integration and automation. It allows non-technical people to build even the most complex integrated processes for customer-facing teams, particularly in the call center.
If you are interested in even more technology-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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