To survive in the fast changing technological world and declining economy, business must deliver efficient and reliable services to their customers in order to retain them as well as acquire new ones. It’s all the more important for customer-centric businesses to put emphasis on the quality of services delivered through call centers.

Traditionally the role of call centers was to allow customers to communicate with a company if an issue arose, however they weren’t built to draw in a customer with the intention of retaining them or using the service to bring in more customers. Agents were provided with training so they could develop the skills to deliver prompt and courteous service over the phone, however they have been riddled with human error and have been used in limited capacity.

However, call centers today are moving in a different direction, as they view strategic customer engagement as an important tool to foster relationships with customers. In order to stay ahead of the competitive environment, businesses need to combat the growing customer demands, optimize their existing infrastructure and come up with technology that can offer seamless customer experience. Thus, having the latest call center technology has become crucial as it allows organizations to deliver faster and more effective customer service at a lower cost.

This has made organizations to turn to “cloud” based virtual call center solutions over traditional on-premise or “hardware-based” systems. Cloud call center are hosted in the cloud by a business server, which is the hub of the company and handles all communications and interactions with the customers. As the set up is cloud based, it enables interaction with customers, both inbound and outbound communication access from everywhere. It is also available to customers 24/7 and hence manages business calls round the clock.

There are several advantages of Cloud-based versus On-Premises Call Centers:

Operational and Ownership Costs

The cost of On-premise call center is relatively high as the call center infrastructure is made up of phone systems, hardware, web servers, routing technologies, IT specialists. This requires a big capital investment as well a hefty amount in the maintenance of the system. On the other hand, the modern call center solution can be installed on cloud so no investment is necessary in hardware. This substantially decreases the capital investment. As the call center solutions are software and require less hardware such as wirings, it would also bring down the maintenance cost. The only cost that these systems require is a strong internet connection.

Flexibility

Once set up, on site call centers are difficult to customize them, in terms of the purchase of hardware and the number of agents. Customer agents do not have the option of working remotely, which hinders the in providing 24/7 customer service, resulting in the loss of valuable customers. Cloud based systems allow agents to work remotely, thus offering a reliable customer support, irrespective of their geographical location. Moreover, as there is no constraint of physical space and hardware equipments, organizations can hire agents as per their requirement.

Scalability

As the call center grows, it becomes necessary to scale the workforce. This scalability requires further investment in hardware and infrastructure and thus can be sluggish. The cloud based system offers scalable software where adjustments can be made depending on data servers. This is no external investment on new hardware systems.

Advanced call distribution

Cloud contact centers are equipped with advanced features to distribute calls, in order to combat queued up calls to ensure higher customer satisfaction. The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) handles the calls smartly by directing the customers to reach the right department.

Integrations

Integrating on-premises call center software with other services requires licensing and installation which are time taking for the best IT professionals. Service providers of cloud-based call center software have designed their products to integrate with other services to enhance customer support. Minavo’s VAgent helps to integrate customer calls with tools like CRM, ERP, Help-Desk software, apps and webs to unify all customer information in order to provide better services to your customers.

If you are looking for an adaptable and intuitive Web and App Solution for Call & Business Management, you need to look no further than Minavo’s VAgent. It stays available to your customers for 24*7 and has the ability to track and record calls to maintain a superior customer experience and service. For a seamless service, look no further than Minavo’sVAgent!