Top Three Contact Center Challenges Solved in the Cloud

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1 WHITE PAPER Top Three Contact Center Challenges Solved in the Cloud And 8 tips for moving to the cloud

2 Organizations of all sizes are increasingly embracing hosted and cloud options for the contact center. Spending for cloud-based contact centers surpassed spending for onpremises contact centers in 2012, Frost & Sullivan reported in Cloud Momentum Boosts Trends in the Contact Center. The firm forecasts the hosted contact center market to grow at 12.1% rate through Additionally, Communications Today reports, Contact center organizations of all sizes see compelling reasons for adopting cloud-based solutions and are moving rapidly to avail themselves of these offerings. 2 So what s driving contact centers to the cloud? Like their on-premises counterparts, cloudbased contact center solutions deliver a powerful range of services, including call routing, queue management, interactive voice response (IVR), and analytics and reporting. Yet these types of features, for the most part, are table stakes. You can t be in the game if you don t deliver. It is what cloud-based solutions offer above and beyond functionality that is turning contact centers on to them. Instead of adding to the burden of day-to-day contact center management, a cloud solution helps alleviate some of the toughest challenges that executives face, including market, operational, and financial challenges. 2

3 A terminology note Cloud-based deployment models are operated by a service provider using infrastructure that can be anywhere. The services can be delivered on demand, anytime, anywhere, to contact centers and to their branches and agents, who can also be anywhere. You ll often see hosted and cloud used interchangeably. Actually, there s a subtle difference in hosted solutions and cloud-based solutions, also known as Contact center as a service (CCaaS). According to Gartner, CCaaS solutions differ from hosted contact center services in that CCaaS solutions are provided on multi-tenant and multiinstance platforms using system partitioning capabilities or virtual contact center processes to segregate user groups, while hosted solutions use infrastructure dedicated to individual clients. 1. The market challenge: How can we pave the way for superior customer experiences? In a study of cloud-based contact centers, Aberdeen Group found that delivering customer delight outweighs other key objectives, such as increased agent productivity and reduced IT costs when it comes to why contact centers invest in a cloud-based infrastructure. Clearly, contact center executives are struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving customer preferences. Customers want effortless service, possibly over more than one communication channel during a single interaction. In a 2014 report, Aberdeen noted, Customer needs, wants and behaviors change almost with the blink of an eye in today s always-on, alwaysconnected world. Multiple touch-points to interact with current and potential buyers is no longer a key differentiator it s a requirement. 3 What does this mean to contact centers? It means: Serving customers and prospects on their preferred channels. These can include phone, social networks, , web applications, live chat, text messaging, self-service portals, video conferencing, and mobile modalities for web and application touch-points. Training super agents who have the skills to handle customer interactions on multiple channels. Achieving a true 360-degree view of the customer s journey through multiple touch-points an often -stated but frequently unmet goal. Customer needs, wants and behaviors change almost with the blink of an eye in today s always-on, always-connected world. Multiple touch-points to interact with current and potential buyers is no longer a key differentiator it s a requirement. 3 3

4 How cloud solutions help overcome this challenge: Leading contact center solutions whether hosted/ cloud, or on-premises offer key capabilities focused on improving the customer experience. For example, skill-based routing, automatic caller recognition and call-back options will shorten hold time. IVR, too, assists in getting inbound contacts directed, if necessary, to agents best equipped to handle the inquiry. Since cloud and in-house solutions offer similar features, it may seem that there s little to favor one approach over the other. Looking closer, though, you ll find that cloud solutions have distinct advantages for improving customer experiences. Cloud solutions enable you to: Increase your speed to market. The entire infrastructure of a cloud solution is already in place. With no hardware installation, user provisioning, or software issues to worry about, contact center managers can deploy capabilities in a more rapid timeframe. That means the time it takes to get a center up and running is substantially shortened. In many cases, new clients can be operational within a few weeks. And new agents can be added quickly whether on site or in a remote or home office. By giving contact centers turnkey access to all the infrastructure they need, cloud solutions make technology an ally instead of an obstacle to delivering the rich capabilities that make superior service possible. Get to know your customers from every angle. Aberdeen researchers found that contact centers using cloud solutions are 27% more likely than their peers to be integrated with a CRM system. 4 This enables you to keep a running history of customer interactions. Many cloudbased solutions have built-in tools for multiple engagement channels and integration with other enterprise applications, giving users a headstart in achieving the elusive 360-degree view of customer interactions. For agents and their managers, such knowledge is power: the power to improve performance, to respond to emerging trends across multiple touch points, to balance resources with demand, and to excel in delivering the experiences empowered customers expect. In addition, TMCnet points out, cloud-based solutions provide an extra edge in two other areas: 5 Intelligent call monitoring. Cumbersome monitoring and alerts on in-house systems can delay managers from solving emerging problems. Real time monitoring enables your managers to adjust to changes on the fly. As an example, supervisors can become agents when calls in queue exceed defined thresholds. Recording calls. Cloud systems make call recording and storage more flexible to meet training and compliance needs. Did you know? 29% 60% The adoption of social media by contact centers grew four-fold between 2010 and Percent of businesses that use live chat but 37% of companies plan to adopt live chat as a new touchpoint in Percent of contact centers that still don t have a unified view of the customer interaction history. 8 4

5 2. The operational challenge: How can we improve agent performance? Ideally, every contact center would love to hire and retain great agents who need minimal training and who will excel in delivering a fantastic customer experience, every time. But that s not how the real world works. Every day, contact center managers cope with cases of turnover, burnout, complacency, and skill gaps. Any of these issues can undermine not only agent productivity, but also customer experiences. A negative customer experience in the contact center (such as failing to achieve first call resolution ) has consequences beyond that particular interaction. The impacts most drastically, lost revenue and adverse publicity can ripple throughout the business. One of the biggest obstacles to productivity and performance has nothing to do with an agent s skills, knowledge, energy and motivation. Once again, it s a villain we saw in Challenge #1: disparate systems inhibit the agent s ability to get a full view of the customer s interactions. How cloud solutions help overcome this challenge: Because cloud solutions can be deployed rapidly and easily, cloud-based contact centers are more likely to actually use the full breadth of features contractually available to them. Whether it s a new system, a new channel, or a new feature, fast and agile deployments make technology better for users. And, better technology facilitates better agent performance. Extensive research by Aberdeen Group revealed that cloud-based contact centers are far more likely to implement and monitor crucial processes and technologies that drive improved performance, compared to their peers. Here are some of the features cloud solutions offer to make agents more productive quickly: 9 Uniform processes for better routing of calls across all agent locations. Pooling of agents, without regard to their geographic locations, into specialized teams for example, an account retention team or a team of multi-channel super agents. Smart routing, caller ID recognition, queue management, and other features that keep hold times short and give agents more time to focus on caller needs. 5

6 Staffing and the Cloud With a cloud-based system, staffing becomes highly flexible, especially when your business is seasonal in nature. You can easily and quickly expand the pool of agents qualified to handle your business. Geographical staffing limitations disappear in a cloud solution. Seasonal variation, expansions, and downsizing are easily managed. A cloud solution can support agents in Milwaukee, Memphis, Montreal, Madrid or anywhere else, with all sites easily linked if desired for summary reporting purposes. This makes employees with specific skill sets accessible and accountable wherever they may be. With a cloud, IP-based environment, your organization can be flexible in linking multiple sites and deploying agents at remote offices, without requiring agents to use the same device on one network. To increase agent retention, embrace work-at-home agent programs. This is a viable, increasingly popular option with a cloud solution, and appreciative agents will reward you with their efficiency and loyalty. More than half of all repeat calls by customers, experts say, are due to process deficiencies (especially siloed systems) or lack of agent training. Cloud solutions help on both fronts: Process improvements: Collectively, the measures above will increase First Call Resolution (FCR), the key metric contact centers use for measuring agent effectiveness. FCR indicates how well your agents, teams and contact centers are performing and pinpoints root causes of poor performance. By improving FCR, you will increase the quality of agent interactions, reduce costs, and improve agent satisfaction. Depending on which FCR measurement technique is best for your organization, FCR can also show you WHY customers contact you. Better-trained agents: With better features at their command and smoother workflows both of which are attributes of cloud solutions agents will learn more, learn faster, and be more effective. Moreover, they will likely be more satisfied with their jobs. All of these translate into higher revenue and lower agent turnover for the contact center. 6

7 3. The financial challenge: How can we afford the new technology we need to keep pace with the vast changes? Historically, contact centers have relied on onpremises IT staff to set up, equip and maintain call center applications. Upfront capital costs are necessary to build out the infrastructure. Then, there are ongoing costs for maintaining and upgrading software, replacing obsolete hardware, IT staffing, and overhead costs for such tasks as security monitoring and provisioning new users. These costs quickly add up, often to the point where vital modernization initiatives are prohibitively expensive because they fail to meet management s ROI thresholds. Contact centers earn their keep by responding to inquiries from current and prospective customers. If they operate effectively, they should achieve high First Call Response rates and low abandonment rates. However, contact center technology keeps changing with customers increasing expectations for superior service in a multi-channel environment. So today s contact center faces the classic technology dilemma: How can you meet critical and rapidly changing requirements with a rigid budget? How cloud solutions help overcome this challenge: Get more budget flexibility. With cloud solutions, small companies can deploy the same functionality as larger firms within the same affordable pricing structures. Moreover, uses can: Capitalize on flexible pricing structures tailored to their business needs and demand patterns. Add capacity or acquire new capabilities using pay-as-you go pricing as an operating expense instead of incurring capital expenditures, which usually carry an interest cost. Avoid over-provisioning of hardware for projected future needs. Displace some IT maintenance and management costs. Pay only for the capabilities you use. Contact centers that have wide swings in demand over any period are ideal candidates for the cloud. Managers can scale staffing and cloud resources up or down in response to any shift in customer traffic. Scalability has cascading benefits: with agent availability closely matched to demand, FCR rates raise and abandonment drops; ultimately, a resulting drop in customer churn generates hidden ROI [Aberdeen s term]. 7

8 In addition, there are operational benefits of moving to the cloud that can improve contact center responsiveness and efficiencies: Implement changes quickly and easily. Cloudbased contact centers can rapidly adapt staffing, functionality, reporting and analytics to fit almost any business scenario. Become less vulnerable to downtime. Outages can be devastating to the bottom line. The cost of downtime is more than just the cost of idle staff; there is also the opportunity cost of lost customers and revenue. Cloud-based contact centers enjoy 36% less downtime and as a result, greater customer responsiveness, according to Aberdeen. 10 Many organizations with a premisesbased contact center are adding cloud-based contact center seats as a backup for when an outage occurs on-premises. Cloud-as-a-backup is often the first step towards a fully cloud- based system as organizations prepare for when their premises-based systems reach end-of-life. Focus on agent performance, not system maintenance. Communications Today notes that many end users prefer cloud applications over internal alternatives because regular upgrades and ongoing innovation are available without geographical restrictions or any additional burden on internal IT resources. No longer having to worry about the operational and IT details of the technology they use, companies are better able to focus on differentiating the customer experience and reducing customer effort. Cloud-based contact centers enjoy 36% less downtime and as a result, greater customer responsiveness, according to Aberdeen. 10 8

9 Eight Tips For Moving To The Cloud 1 Assess your technology, resources, and processes to determine: what problems you are facing what new features and functions would be valuable what resources you have (agents, agent managers and IT staff) 2 Identify what will be needed in 18 months, two years, or three years. Don t forget to take into account how fast your market is growing, anticipated product launches or facility expansions, and new channels to marketing initiatives. 3 Keep an open mind as you set goals. Everything is eligible for change especially business processes that may have been dictated by technology constraints. For example, users will now be able to set up and modify routing strategies, call recording rules, and scaling policies without IT involvement. 4 Use checklists and a Total Cost of Ownership worksheet to show the CFO how you evaluated deployment alternatives. Don t overlook benefits that may not have calculable hard dollar returns, such as rapid start-up, business agility, higher job satisfaction among agents and their managers, automatic upgrades, and user control. 5 Design a roadmap to effectively reach your goals. Take into account your new choices and resources. Most administration and technical issues will now be handled by your cloud provider. You ll experience freed-up resources why not use them to experiment with the new features? 6 When choosing a cloud services partner, ensure they understand your business and can help you meet near-and long-term goals. Find out how they manage security and compliance issues. Seek out their advice and learn from the experiences they have had with other clients. 7 Choose a dedicated IT and Contact Center Manager knowledgeable about existing operations and practices to work directly with your cloud provider throughout deployment. 8 Don t let the change overwhelm you. Rest assured, switching to the cloud is easier than you think, and will save you time, money, and resources. 9

10 Are You Ready for the Cloud? Some contact centers have a mix of cloud and inhouse approaches. As Frost & Sullivan points out, the hybrid model works well for companies that want to experiment with cloud solutions on a trial basis before making a full commitment. Whether you are opening a new contact center or faced with upgrading an aging, on-premises infrastructure, take the time to consider your deployment options. EarthLink s solution EarthLink provides a cost-effective, straight-forward cloud-based approach to contact centers to take the headaches out of managing complex, on-premises technology. EarthLink s Hosted Contact Center captures all the advantages discussed in this paper. In just a few weeks, you can be delivering great service to your customers, regardless of staff location or method of contact. As an EarthLink customer, you ll have no need to make capital investments in hardware or software. EarthLink s approach solution integrates cloud-based contact center functionality with EarthLink s hosted voice platform, with guaranteed reliability and voice quality. In addition, new features and upgrades are automatically made by EarthLink. Ask EarthLink for a customized demonstration of how its Hosted Contact Center solution can support the goals of your business. SOURCES: 1 Cloud Momentum Boosts Trends in the Contact Center, Frost & Sullivan, published by Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., January 28, Contact Center Solutions: Realizing Lower TCO with On-Demand Cloud Model, Communications Today, January 21, Flash Forward: 2015 Customer Engagement Channels Adoption, Aberdeen Group, November The Hidden ROI of a Cloud-Based Contact Center, Aberdeen Group, January The Benefits of Cloud-Based Call Center Solutions Transcend Cost Savings, Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet, October 28, Do Your CEM Activities Have All the In Channels of 2015? Omer Minkara, CMO Essentials blog, Aberdeen Group, March 31, Do Your CEM Activities Have All the In Channels of 2015? Minkara. 8 Aberdeen Research: 3 Hot Contact Center Trends to Watch in 2015, Michele Masterson, Smart Customer Research, October 30, The Hidden ROI of a Cloud-Based Contact Center, Aberdeen Group, January The Hidden ROI of a Cloud-Based Contact Center Contact us at learnmore@elnk.com EarthLink. Trademarks are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved