Setting up a call center is a big investment that comes with a big risk. Increasingly, companies are choosing to offset operational costs by employing virtual call centers. With more employees working from home these days, a cloud call center makes sense. Other companies choose to use internet technologies in an on-premises call center.
Either way, these newer models are quite different from traditional call centers. Behind the scenes, technology processes are different. How does this affect your staff and customers? What’s the best internet business phone system to use? For organizations considering this, we have 10 things you should consider when designing and building out your cloud call center.
10 Considerations for Your Cloud Call Center
The days of the large on-site call center are ending, if not over. Small Business Trends reports that 70% of companies now have their entire contact center technology in the cloud or are planning to move there soon. With that said, existing call center infrastructures don’t have to be dismantled to benefit from the reduced telephony costs that come from a cloud call center.
While the cost savings are high no matter your service configuration, the continued scalability of cloud architectures ensures that call centers can quickly scale up and down without the hassles inherent in physical infrastructures. However, before your organization decides to move your call center operations to the internet, there are some questions you must ask:
- Will a non-managed or managed cloud call center help your business? You have the option of working with an internet business phone system provider to design and implement your call center operations. The only caveat, if you go it alone, is that you’ll need to have a complete understanding of the configuration of your cloud call center infrastructure.
- Which phone numbers will you need? How will these numbers roll over? Working with an internet business phone system provider will help you map which numbers belong to your employees and how these configurations will ensure the most efficient routing of customer calls.
- Are you sure you understand all of the technical requirements of your organization? You’ll want to be sure the bandwidth is appropriate to handle the increase in voice calls. The same holds true for your remote employees. Consider the type of relationship you have with your cloud service providers and the underlying infrastructure to be sure all of your technical needs are met. This is one area where an integrated cloud communications provider like Infinite Connect can help.
- What levels of access will you need? Governance of your cloud call center is tricky, as is determining what kinds of features each end-user will need. For example, think about the features your managers will need versus the average employee. Then consider features by function; your sales team may need features that your customer service team will not. Also, give some thought to who will be able to access all of the system administrator functions in this configuration?
- How will you use call routing? This is a big consideration because it will impact how your customers experience your brand. Map out your call requirements to handle calls from the customer perspective. Consider what your customer will experience with call routing plan A versus B versus something else that your internet business phone system company can likely configure.
- What integrations do you require? Will you need the platform to integrate with your customer relationship management (CRM) system? Will you have traditional landlines involved as well as cloud phone services? Imagine how your teams will take notes or communicate with customers beyond voice. Where will the call be documented? How can all of your communication tools work together to make your teams more efficient?
- What standard cloud call center features do you need? Some companies take advantage of interactive voice response (IVR) but how does this affect your callers? Cloud call centers offer IVR and customizations that make an interactive phone menu less complex and more user friendly. However, we recommend thinking through these features from the perspective of your clients to help create a better experience for your callers.
- How will you handle reporting? Cloud call centers offer the best of digital software systems that can compile a variety of real-time reports for your organization. There is a lot of data compiled within these systems and your managers can access all of it, slice and dice it in different ways, and use it to make decisions that improve your business. From marketing metrics to the number of customers each call center agent handles to customer retention and satisfaction—the choices are massive and can help improve your performance.
- What kind of training on these systems will you need? One of the benefits of digital software is that these platforms are typically known for their user-friendliness. But that doesn’t mean that training won’t need to occur. Your internet business phone system provider can offer initial training during the platform rollout, but what about as you add more employees? Investing time in training your teams on all the features of your internet business phone system will ensure your ROI.
- What ongoing support you will need to maintain your cloud call center? Most providers of these services offer ongoing technical support as part of the equipment purchase. In these cases, it’s almost always better to assume you’ll need ongoing service, but the reality is that there are very few issues with these types of internet telephony systems over time.
Ready to Choose an Internet Business Phone System?
Designing a cloud call center requires research and road mapping, technology, implementation, training, and measurement. Whether you’re setting up or migrating a call center or customer service department, or a reservation center on-premise, or you are breaking new ground with at-home call center staffers, Infinite Connect has a variety of solutions to help you achieve your goals. Talk with our team about what you’re envisioning and we can help. Contact us to find out more today.