Modern and, mainly, the digitally oriented world brings higher demands to the performance and productivity of contact centers. More recently, changes in the working environment, such as the increased use of telecommuting and the increasing sophistication of customer queries, have rendered traditional call center support structures insufficient.
Cloud solutions have become the industry game changers, allowing contact centers to grow, enhance efficiency, and deliver exceptional customer experience. This article explores how cloud services revolutionize contact center productivity, specific use cases included.
Cloud Services for Contact Centers: The Basics
Cloud solutions concerning cloud contact center solutions are more adaptable and can accommodate large calls, provide better data analysis, and effectively automate processes. Cloud solutions do not entail significant upfront investments in equipment or applications compared to the on-premises models.
They do not have a fixed model where you pay a certain amount for a certain number of seats; instead, they offer contact centers the ability to subscribe to their services and get as much or as little as they need, depending on the traffic.
For contact centers, services include call routing and distribution, IVR, integrations with CRM, real-time analytics, and other similar tools. These services assist in increasing the agents’ efficiency, decreasing the customers’ response time, and giving them a personalized experience.
In the following sections, we will discuss examples of how cloud services can help contact centers penetrate the natural advantages they can gain using cloud services.
Increasing the Agility with a Remote Work Option
For instance, a substantial financial services company had to convert their contact center agents to work remotely due to the outbreak of COVID-19. They were using an on-premises system that could not accommodate remote working, which led them to adopt a contact center as a service. This transition allowed agents to have access to a single interface and the essential tools, irrespective of the location, to guarantee the continuity of communication with the customers.
The cloud solution also featured built-in security measures to protect sensitive customer information, addressing one of the main concerns for financial institutions when shifting to remote work.
After the switch, the company observed an increase in agent productivity due to the flexibility of remote work and saw a reduction in operational costs as they no longer needed to maintain an extensive on-site infrastructure. You can learn about similar success stories to see how cloud services streamline contact center efficiency with this additional information.
Increasing the productivity of agents through Real-time analytics
An instance is a contact center for a worldwide retail chain that was experiencing issues with handling so many calls, which impacted the response times and customer satisfaction.
They got real-time insights tracking parameters like average handling time, first call resolution rate, and agent utilization.
The real-time dashboards in the cloud solution helped the managers see that workflow issues needed to be addressed. There was also an advantage to agents in that they could access customer details and previous communications and respond more appropriately.
The retail chain contact center has recorded an overall increase of 20% in first-call resolution rates and a 15% decrease in average handling time within six months after adopting the cloud services. All these enhancements were beneficial not only to the enhancement of the agents’ efficiency but also to the aspect of the quality as measured by customer satisfaction metrics.
Enhancing Customer Experience with Enhanced IVR Systems
A telecom company faced the issues of high call abandonment rates as the customer was often made to wait for a long time – especially during the peak hours. To address this they implemented a cloud-based Interactive Voice Response otherwise known as IVR.
It was also able to transfer the customers to the right agents according to the kind of inquiry they had, thus distributing the workload in the contact center.
Also, the cloud IVR solution was linked to the company’s CRM where the agents could have full access to customer profiles and history. This integration was proven to cut down call handling time and also increase chances of personal touches.
After using the cloud IVR system the telecom company noticed reduced call abandonment by 30% and customer satisfaction ratings were up by 25% meaning that investment in sophisticated cloud services will translate to a better customer experience.
Final Thoughts
The cloud solutions are changing the face of contact centers, providing efficient and affordable options to manage growing customer expectations. Here, from actual use cases, we learn how Cloud-Based platforms can increase agent efficiency, facilitate work from home, and improve customer relations.
The integration of the cloud services in the contact centers can not only help to achieve operational efficiencies but also provide customer experience that is vital for success in today’s market.