5 Reasons Businesses Should Tap Cloud to Power CX

Even before the pandemic hit, traditional contact centers (riddled with manual dependencies and hosted primarily on-premise) were struggling. Now add on the challenges of the pandemic, and you have an extremely complicated picture. Today, most companies are operating at a reduced capacity, even as customer’s expectations from their products/service providers are sky-high. 

So, how can customer-facing businesses like e-commerce firms equip customer service representatives working from home with the tools necessary to deliver a superior CX? How can they keep up with volume flux without scalability and agility? And, most importantly, how can small-to-mid-sized businesses (SMBs) – that are grappling with resource crunch – maintain contact center efficiency in this changed world? 

Cloud-based contact center platforms could offer an answer. 

Learn More: Contact Centers Have Become a Breeding Ground for Innovation in Lockdown Era  

5 Reasons Why SMBs Should Switch to Cloud Contact Centers  

Even in before-times, SMBs were acutely aware of the role of digitalization. An IDC surveyOpens a new window found that 84% of SMBs recognized the need to leverage digital technologies; 39% have already started their digital transformation journey while another 42% were planning to start very soon. Given the changes wrought by the pandemic, SMBs are aware that empowering customer service agents with the right tools and technologies can positively impact CX and the bottom line. 

One of the technologies that could prove game-changing for SMBs in 2020 is a contact center platform hosted on the cloud. Here’s why: 

1. It enables intelligent routing for WFH agents 

Intelligent call routing was always a priority for large enterprises with hundreds of agents – and now it is equally important for SMBs as well. Consider a small online furniture provider whose contact center staff has gone back home during the pandemic. It is likely that the team will be spread across the country, making it impossible for traditional routing systems to work. 

Intelligent routing automatically connects every customer with the right agent, based on each caller’s requirements and context. You can set up business rules to match caller attributes with the most appropriately skilled agent. Or, you could set up priority routing to move a select few customers up the queue (think Amazon Prime). 

Intelligent routing works across multiple channels, connecting your chat, SMS, and call support platforms. This provides a centralized view and control, regardless of where your employee is sitting. 

2. Security updates are provisioned in bulk 

In an uncertain economic climate, SMBs cannot afford a security breach that puts customer data at risk. This has become such a critical concern that one provider – PCI Pal(R) – recently launchedOpens a new window Opens a new window rel=”nofollow noopener” title=”Opens a new window” target=”_blank”> an online Summer School for contact center professionals who want to brush up on their data security skills. 

It can be difficult for IT to keep contact center systems up to date, with the majority of agents working remotely. Security updates are often rolled out in installments, leaving systems vulnerable. In contrast, contact center platforms are managed by a third-party provider who takes co-ownership of your security posture. Cloud-based platforms are even better, as the vendor can roll out frequent updates without interrupting agent workflows or requiring manual intervention from in-house IT. 

Cloud-based contact center platforms offer SMBs two levels of security assurance: 

• A secure hosting environment, with GCP, AWS, or any other provider continuously rolling out new security updates. 
• Low-upkeep but fully secure contact center systems, as a third-party vendor provisions security mechanisms on-time and in-bulk. 

Learn More: How AI Can Alleviate Call Center Stress Amid Business Disruptions 

3.  Embrace new channels of interaction 

A major impact of COVID-19 is the rise of the low-touch economy. Board of Innovation notedOpens a new window that the low-touch economy is here to stay, influencing customer demand and expectations for the foreseeable future. 

As customers view a business’ digital presence and omnichannel capabilities as a competitive differentiator, SMBs must diversify their contact centers to keep up. This means moving away from traditional systems like manual calling and IVR, towards platforms that require minimal effort from the customer. 

Cloud-based contact center platforms let you add on new channels with ease – it is as simple as leveraging the right API to connect the channel of your (or your customer’s) choice. A small business can scale up to multiple social channels, chat-based applications like WhatsApp, and online chatbots without delays. In fact, scalability – even outside of channel integration – is among the biggest reasons to use a contact center platform. 

4. Ensure scalability even in a crisis 

Depending on the nature of the business, an SMB might want to pivot or expand during the pandemic. For example, a local chain of restaurants would necessarily have to shift to takeaway and home delivery right now. This requires a sizable contact center team, ready to listen to customer queries, complaints, and suggestions. Or, a local e-commerce store might feel that this is a good opportunity to expand its delivery radius and go national. 

To achieve this without spending weeks and thousands of dollars on onboarding new agents, you can use a cloud-based contact center platform. This single interface would make it easier for new agents to learn the ropes, know more about the business’ requirements, and get in-app assistance from a manager or supervisor until they are ready to take the reins. 

A platform will also generate detailed analytics on agent performance and productivity, telling you who needs training. 

Learn More: Contact Center: Guide to Selecting the Right CCaaS Vendor (Post-Crisis) 

5. Improve efficiency and save costs 

It might seem like switching to a new system is too cost-intensive – particularly at a time when most SMBs are struggling with constrained budgets. But in the long-term, a centralized cloud-based contact center platform is far more time, cost, and effort-optimized than maintaining a traditional, on-premise set of loosely coupled systems. 

It’s no surprise that 62% plan on transitioning in the next 18 months, as per Cisco’s global contact center survey 2020Opens a new window . 

The cloud eliminates the need to maintain on-premise data centers, which is a blessing given that data centers require a large staff to work in close proximity to each other. SMBs leveraging the cloud will find it easier to maintain social distancing, even as they save on data center cooling costs, system integration efforts, and IT personnel. 

The Next Step: Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) 

CCaaS takes contact center platforms one step further, adding on support services, training, and value-adds (e.g., new APIs, on-demand channel integration, etc.) to the core platform offering. Advanced CCaaS requires only an endpoint device and an active internet connection for an agent to get started. This takes business agility for SMBs to a whole new level. 

Finally, in the long-term, a platform-based solution will open up new opportunities to transform the customer experience, which is at the heart of any contact center organization, small or big. Step one is embracing a platform on the cloud – step two will be to integrate technologies like AI and ML to augment existing capabilities beyond only crisis-proofing the business. 

Do you think it’s time for businesses to rethink CX? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!