Even if you are currently running a thriving call center, chances are you have heard of the urgency and importance of integrating a cloud-based software to it.
Before we dive into the benefits this new technology could bring to your business, let’s first answer the simple question:
What is a Cloud-Based Software?
Simply put, cloud-based software is a giant infrastructure of software that uses applications to help you accomplish different tasks and duties.
These are the tasks that develop as a consequence of you running a successful business. You do not need much to log into the cloud.
All you need is a mobile device or laptop, and a steady Internet connection, and you are good to go.
Cloud-based software is a revelation for those with Small and Medium Business Enterprises (SMEs), as it gives them access to the best software applications at only a fraction of the cost.
You can survey the options, opt for the one that suits you the best, and pay for that only. You can also add or subtract other partners and associations linked to your business as they come and go.
A call center is a powerhouse of intracellular communication. The primary utility of a call center is the provision of the augmented product, more commonly known as the after-sales service.
This two-way communication gives companies their much-needed unfiltered feedback and the customers a chance to be heard. However, even with the most receptive call centers, problems may arise.
Here are some surefire signs that your call center needs to become cloud-based.
1. Your Hardware Costs Are Too High
Call centers run on people, and these people need the proper equipment to run well.
This means every agent will need a company-provided set of earphones, furniture, computers, a fast Internet connection, ventilation, ACs, and a backup generator in case of unexpected power failures.
The installation cost is high, and it is not a one-time investment. Regular maintenance is also required to keep the office running like a well-oiled machine.
How can Cloud-Based Software Keep Hardware Costs Low?
The office may also grow too large and buying and maintaining hardware may exceed expected costs.
Upgrading to a cloud-based phone system means that the vendors will have to do all the purchasing of hardware instead of you. You will have to bear none of the setup and maintenance costs.
These resources can be acquired efficiently without breaking the bank.
The only thing you will have to redirect and focus your financial resources on is a strong and stable Internet connection.
2. Your Call Center is Not Managing Call Traffic Well
While there are periods when the incoming caller traffic is weak, an average call center agent has to attend hundreds of calls daily, and these exclude the ones they miss.
Call center reporting can become arduous as the manager is mainly occupied with call agent licensing and hardware updates.
According to a survey done by Microsoft, 61% of customers cease transactions with a business if they had a poor customer service experience.
This means call centers need to focus more on the frequency and quality of the calls attended than the recurrent software and hardware updates.
In call center reporting, lost business, directly and indirectly, translates into dissatisfied customers and lower profits.
How can Cloud-Computing Help Manage a Call Center Better?
Interaction with human beings is not formulaic, and there is no one proper method of communication.
It also brings a lot of variety with it. To a large extent, you cannot control the emotions of your employees or of the customers calling in.
However, you can streamline other processes to better focus on the human aspect of running a call center.
Switching to a cloud-based phone system can leave the software and hardware updates to the cloud itself. On-premise IT costs also shrink because of this choice.
The manager’s time is freed to focus on other prospects, such as day-to-day call traffic management.
3. Your Business Isn’t Growing the Way It Should
The costs of setting up and maintaining an on-premise call center reporting are high, especially for small businesses with limited capital.
These costs only accrue over time, and it becomes difficult to stick to the profit and growth plan that you had sketched out for your business. In some instances, the company may even have to shrink.
Smaller businesses find it challenging to compete with more financially well-endowed competitors and can even go under. To be able to expand the company, you must first be able to save up accordingly.
How Can a Cloud-based Phone System Help?
As most of the hardware in a cloud-based phone system is already backed up and up to date, the overall costs of managing the business are small and easily manageable.
The only recurrent expenditure is the Internet subscription, and this, too, has many outstanding monthly and annual bulk subscriptions available for cheap.
With the usage of optimized cloud-based software, the cloud-based call center can also be notified of sunk costs and failed investments, and how they will affect the business in the long run.
These types of software provide the added benefit of error-free charts and graphs that can be seen and analyzed in real-time.
This can help you measure the productivity of your employees and your business.
This reduction in cost helps scale your small business to new, unprecedented heights.
This reduction in cost helps scale your small business to new, unprecedented heights. With a cloud-based phone system, the setup and hardware installation cost are low, and can run smoothly without the danger of loss or layoffs.
4. Your Call Agents Are Not Diverse Enough
The world is a global village. Companies, as they expand, want to go multinational with branches and franchises all over the globe.
Not only is this expansion a vast financial undertaking, but it also marks a significant shift in the cultural and business landscapes.
This shift means that the customer service now has to deal with a new strain of customers.
These customers may have a different dialect, respond better to a different tone, or speak another language altogether.
Call center reporting can become quite a task if they have to train already hired employees.
To international clients, available agents who receive their call but cannot comprehend the language or dialect may reflect incompetence.
How Can A Cloud-Based Website or App Help My Call Center?
The short answer is outsourcing. If your company wants to go global and be a success story and not an elegy, outsourcing is the most comprehensive solution.
The best way to understand clients from a particular geographical location is to hire agents who can flawlessly communicate with them.
This also gives your augmented product a personal touch and makes locals trust an international firm better.
With a cloud-based phone system, you can easily hold interviews with prospective employees worldwide, analyze their credentials, and recruit them to your team. You could also use a multilingual interface to choose the language they want to communicate.
By using a website or an app, users can self-serve their customer service needs. This means that they log on, file a query or a complaint, and get real-time answers from FAQs, AI chatbots, and real call center agents sitting behind a computer screen.
Another benefit of outsourcing includes a realistic 24-hour operation. When you sleep, employees on the other side of the globe wake up, smoothly being transferred, the proverbial torch.
5. The Volume of Your Data Is Rising Exponentially
As your company grows, so will the amount of data it collects, stores, and analyzes.
This data includes information of employees recruited, trained, and paid. It also holds documents related to administration, such as benefits provided and availed, and employee interviews, and feedback.
Not only this, but the feedback provided to the company by the clients and customers is also invaluable. This can stream the process of call center reporting.
All of the collected data will be used further by the finance department to expect and circumvent losses, the marketing team to plan their next promotion strategy, and the HR department to figure out what kind of skills the company might need in the forthcoming years.
To say that the data collected is essential would be a gross understatement.
This data will only grow, and none of it can be disposed of as unimportant. This means the handling and storage becomes a primary managerial concern.
Loss in data can drastically change the way the financial statements of the year turn out to look like.
How Can Cloud-Based Phone System Help Me Manage My Data?
The incredible volume of data that call centers collect needs an equally robust and reliable storage infrastructure. To mechanically back up, data would make the cost run in the millions.
This is where a cloud-based phone system comes as a lifesaver. The concept of cloud data backup or remote data backup is simple.
All your files are uploaded to a remote server safely and securely.
This data is password-protected and can only be accessed by authorized personnel.
The data can also be easily retrieved when needed. This backup can help us minimize or even eradicate losses due to catastrophes such as fires, floods, and, more recently, a pandemic.
All your data can be securely and privately backed up on the cloud without any hassle or unbearable costs.
This data can then be analyzed via software to identify the target demographics and the best way to reach them. It gives you a new level of insight that was previously missing from your data analysis.
6. The Age of Corona and On-Premise Call Centersy
The most orthodox amongst us say that the Internet is unreliable.
One significant electricity outage can eradicate all the information stored on the servers.
They like to say the only real storage units are the ones we can feel physically- papers, and ink, and cabinets. These people boast about an era where the transmission of information was not dependent on screens, or at least they used to.
The pandemic came as a shock to some and a debilitating loss to most.
Shops, business, conglomerates, and entire economies collapsed within a span of a few months.
The one thing we relied on always- human contact, has now become a life-threatening taboo. Everything went online. From shopping to schooling to managing a business, everything became dependent on the Internet and a screen.
In such a situation, running an office-based business and on-premise can seem impossible. But the business must be run, because how else will the company stay afloat?
On-premise call center reporting looks like an impossibility This is where cloud-based phone systems and Internet-based businesses were most successful in surviving a pandemic.
Are Cloud-Based Call Centers the New Normal?
Yes! On-premise businesses that were the quickest to adapt to an online form of functioning were also the ones who managed to minimize losses and downsizing.
Due to the pandemic, the call volume received per day ballooned.
This was partly due to the free time customers had during the lockdown, mostly due to the fear and anxiety in people who were unsure of what would happen next.
In such trying times, it is imperative to have a streamlined, flawless channel of communication that can satisfy as many customers as possible.
However, there was a catch.
The call agents could not physically come to their offices, and neither could the management.
Digitization, and fast digitization, was the only solution.
Some call centers were quick on their feet and developed websites and cell phone applications that could handle massive traffic.
Then they introduced chatbots, which reduced the cost per call, and also dealt with the influx of calls better.
Next were the voice verification channels to help recognize the customer that was calling in. Call center reporting of this kind was mainly done at bank and insurance companies, where the risk of fraudulent behavior is always high.
Both of these measures successfully showed that on-site jobs have become redundant to some extent.
It also showed that the same quality of work, if not better, can be done by integrating the Internet into the businesses we run.
The gradual shift in technology and the recent global catastrophes have shown us that for data storage and analysis woes, the Internet is the answer. The bad news is that gone are the days when desks would be lined up in a cramped hall, with headsets, a list of phone numbers, and a greetings cheat-sheet.
The good news is that human beings are not becoming redundant and are just as relevant as ever before.
Their needs are just as important and should be addressed just as swiftly. The sanctity of interaction has not changed; only the methods have.
Choose the best for your business. Contact us now and request a demo.