“Unified communications” (UC) was, until relatively recently, something available only to those large enterprise businesses that had the resources (IT personnel, servers, infrastructure, etc.) to support it. But over the past several years, the development of Internet and standardization of technology have led to the emergence of cloud services, enabling businesses with fewer resources to utilize advanced web-based solutions (database management and contact center software) and support their own UC strategy at a fraction of the cost. In fact, more than 50% of today’s businesses are actively investing in cloud contact center solutions, and 76% plan to do so within the next eighteen months (Call Center IQ). And as businesses of all sizes continue to migrate more of their critical operational components to the cloud, these services will become a mainstay within the IT industry. But what are some of the main benefits of cloud specifically as it relates to contact centers, and why should business transition to a cloud alternative?
1) Cheaper/Easier to Implement and Maintain: Rather than invest in expensive infrastructure (hardware, servers, etc.) and pay for excessive capacity and resources long before they are needed, cloud call center solutions enable users to pay only for what they need, exactly when they need it. Solution providers also take on the burden of managing servers, maintenance, and upgrades, thereby significantly reducing a business’ operational costs, and allowing them to focus more on their core competencies.
2) Enhanced Business Continuity: Unlike premise-based systems, cloud and SaaS solutions can quickly and cost effectively be integrated with other platforms used within an organization. Not only does this help facilitate the consistency, accuracy, and accessibility of data, but it has also been shown to enhance business continuity across an organization's various departmental siloes.
3) Improved Uptime and Reliability: When compared to hosted and on-premise solutions, which typically house data in a single centralized location, true cloud platforms distribute the workload across multiple data centers, removing bandwidth bottlenecks and capacity constraints to create a more fault-tolerant and redundant system with enhanced reliability.
4) Greater Business Flexibility/Scalability: With limitless access to IT resources, cloud contact center solutions hosted on large public cloud platforms (Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, Microsoft Azure) enable their clients to scale as quickly as customer needs dictate, something on-premise and hosted solutions are unable to do quickly and cost effectively. And with enhanced customizability through APIs, businesses can mold their cloud contact center solution to work with existing processes and solutions.
