Few business operations were more broadly impacted by the Covid-triggered transition to remote work than contact center operations. With dozens or hundreds of agents suddenly forced to work from home, they were initially hamstrung by unsuitable computing and telephone gear, poor Internet connections and inadequate security.
The Transition to Remote Contact Centers
The transition was markedly easier for the roughly 10 percent of organizations that were already using cloud-based Contact-Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS). However, even the vast majority of companies with on-premises contact centers were able to supplement their in-house infrastructure with a few key cloud communication services and remain functional.
The Issue of On-Premise Technology with Hybrid Contact Centers
Going on two years later, few organizations are rushing to return to fully staffed on-premises operations. Yet, a recent Deloitte survey finds that more than two-thirds remain wedded to their on-premises technology. Although most continue to leverage cloud solutions to refine and improve processes, resistance to full-on CCaaS adoption remains.
Why? Industry studies suggest there are three main reasons that some businesses haven’t fully adopted CCaaS:
- Organizations with recent investments in new or updated on-premises infrastructure fear a cloud migration will result in substantial waste.
- Many fear they will lose the ability to customize processes, routing rules and reporting.
- Companies remain apprehensive about exposing sensitive data in the cloud.
However, these are largely misconceptions. For example, CCaaS services can be deployed on top of existing on-premises contact center infrastructure, which augments your existing investment. CCaaS can also improve flexibility by enabling centralized management and greater customization. Finally, it is well established that leading cloud providers invest heavily in robust security measures with consistent upgrades and patching.
Be Prepared for CCaaS Adoption
In truth, CCaaS solutions from leading providers are secure, reliable, scalable, cost-efficient and feature-rich. With increased integration of natural-language processing, machine learning and other artificial intelligence technologies, they support omnichannel communications, customer self-service options and increased automation of many tasks.
Most important, a cloud-based contact center ensures remote agents can work with a high level of efficiency. When integrated properly with key business applications, CCaaS solutions empower agents with instant access to customer data and business knowledge to support more specific and personal customer care.
Planning Mitigates CCaaS Migration
When there are problems with a CCaaS migration, it is often the result of inadequate planning. Any project that involves moving, shifting or otherwise modifying mission-critical applications, services and workloads that affect the entire organization requires careful analysis, planning and execution.
Without a sound strategy, unexpected issues are far more likely to arise, increasing the risk of cost overruns, configuration issues, interoperability challenges and security gaps. According to Deloitte, nearly half of organizations without a well-developed cloud strategy experience unnecessary expenses related to integration with their legacy systems.
IPC’s Expert CCaaS Guidance
Few organizations have the time, manpower or expertise to effectively develop a CCaaS migration plan that addresses the needs and concerns of the entire organization. Working with a managed services provider with the experience, tools vendor relationships can help ensure that your CCaaS migration achieves your desired objectives.
For example, IPC Technologies has built a team with deep expertise in all cloud models and deployment strategies. We work closely with your IT team to understand your current environment, your desired improvements and how any changes will affect the larger organization.
We can help you identify the cloud providers most likely to meet your requirements. Because providers don’t always offer deployment services, we can create a migration roadmap that addresses your unique application integration and network connectivity requirements.
Additionally, our team pays particular attention to your likely future requirements. Technology and business objectives can change rapidly. We understand that your IT infrastructure must be flexible and scalable to meet evolving requirements. In addition to short-term implementation projects, we can work with you to develop three-year or five-year plans that help you avoid any growing pains.