Why is Cloud Call Center Superior to On-Premise Call Center?
The landscape of customer engagement is changing, and so are the dynamics of contact centers. Cloud call center solutions are more important than ever with rising consumer expectations and decreasing time. Technology enables businesses and agents to provide omnichannel customer service and allows customers to handle most of their queries via self-service.
To achieve high levels of omnichannel engagement, communication must be streamlined across voice, email, and other digital channels.
According to the Digital Journal, 90 percent of enterprises will use cloud technology by 2021 – and call centers are no exception. As the COVID-19 emergency rages on, cloud call centers are emerging as critical tools for ensuring business continuity and resilience by integrating agents and customers into the cloud world.
According to Statista, cloud telephony will be one of the market’s fastest-growing segments, with 8.9 percent growth in 2020 and 17.8 percent growth in 2021. The following sections will discuss call centers and the benefits of cloud call centers over on-premise call centers.
What exactly is an On-premise Call Center?
An on-premise call center is a common configuration for call center infrastructure. It is also known as an on-site call center because it uses physical equipment such as desk phones and servers that are kept at the company’s location. However, because of the complexity of setup, process, maintenance cost, and effort, an increasing number of businesses are moving away from on-premise call centers.
The local IT team of the business is responsible for the installation and maintenance of software in on-premise call centers. Everything from exchange servers to wires/cables to software support is managed internally.
On-premise call centers are traditional and hardware-based, necessitating upgrades every few years, making them an expensive option. With an on-premise call center, your communication hardware, software, and infrastructure remain on-site at your organization, with dedicated communication servers. As a result, your IT team is in charge of installing, maintaining, and supporting everything from servers to headsets to integration support.
What exactly is a Cloud Call Center?
A cloud call center is a comprehensive set of voice communication tools and applications that can be accessed via the internet without needing a local installation. It enables brands to access cutting-edge capabilities and connect agents with customers across borders.
Users can manage call centers and their inbound and outbound call center operations from anywhere using secure access with cloud-based call centers. By integrating it with a contact center solution, you can even manage other communication channels, such as email, social media, live chat, WhatsApp, and Google’s Business Messages.
The cloud call center is hosted on internet-based servers to engage customers, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and accelerate omnichannel customer engagement deployment.
When using cloud-based services, agents can communicate with customers virtually from any internet-connected device. By providing better customer experiences and employee empowerment, cloud call centers can reduce costs, optimize agent efficiency, and increase ROI.
Cloud Vs. On-Premise
Here are some key distinctions between the two technologies that can help your call center.
| Differentiators | On-premise Call Center | Cloud Call Center |
| Features | On-premise call centers have traditional features such as call transferring and holding, call logging, music while waiting for an agent, and conferences. | Cloud call centers have similar features to on-premise call centers, but they can adopt new technologies and features more quickly. These features can also be accessed remotely via the cloud. |
| Setup and Cost | Purchasing licenses and hardware, setting up the infrastructure, and finding the most compatible software can all take several months when implementing an on-premise call center. On-premise call centers necessitate upfront costs for equipment, licenses, and on-site server housing. |
Installing an app on a computer that works out of the box without any hardware setup is required to set up cloud-based call centers. On the other hand, Cloud call centers do not require significant upfront hardware or infrastructure costs as long as the organization has a strong internet connection and adequate bandwidth. |
| Agent Productivity | On-premise call center solutions are typically less compatible with remote operations. In today’s world, where agents must work from home via mobile devices, an on-premise call center may struggle with agent productivity. | Cloud call center solutions are easily integrated with remote operations. They can use AI to boost agent productivity by providing advanced features such as a predictive dialer, voice bot, and more. It aids in lowering AHT and increasing agent productivity. |
| Scalability | The on-premise setup lacks scalability because agents are limited to working and resolving customer queries at specific locations. Scaling up the hardware during high-demand/seasonal business is one of the most challenging aspects of on-premise centers. | Cloud call center solutions allow employees to collaborate across the organization and interact with customers regardless of their physical location. Cloud-based solutions are more adaptable than on-premises solutions. |
| Reliability | On-premise call centers rely on local servers, which creates a single point of failure and increases the risk of downtime. They are also vulnerable to hardware and infrastructure issues. | Cloud-based call centers have a strong and consistent internet connection, which results in high call quality. Cloud call center solutions provide excellent resiliency and reliability at a lower cost than many company-specific on-premises solutions. |
The Advantages of Cloud Call Centers
Cloud-based call centers require no upfront capital investment and can be up and running in a matter of hours. They enable businesses to better adapt to changing customer needs by addressing customer calls with better adaption while providing metrics that improve agent performance.
The following are the primary advantages of a cloud call center:
- Added/reduced: user counts, easier access to new functionality, and ease of adding users in recent locations are all examples of increased flexibility. It can also experiment with new applications.
- Accelerated deployment: On-premise call center implementations can take 6 to 12 months or more, whereas cloud call center deployments can be completed in weeks because no hardware is required.
- CRM integration to provide an omnichannel experience: Cloud-based call centers enable seamless CTI integration with leading CRMs, leveraging data for improved customer service and an exceptional customer experience.
- Reduced costs: A cloud-based call center allows you to deploy cutting-edge technology with minimal upfront capital investment. This capability is a major reason why many businesses have moved to the cloud in recent years.
- Improve reporting and analytics: Another advantage of cloud call centers is that they provide managers with improved reporting and analysis capabilities by supplying detailed data about the agent-customer conversation. To monitor the agent’s performance, cloud call centers provide analytics dashboards with advanced speech analytics.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, investing in call center technology is a significant decision that must be made with the future in mind. Numerous differences between on-premise and cloud call centers provide a clear vision and outweigh cloud-based call centers.
Because of the reduced reliance on IT and the pay-as-you-go model, cloud call center solutions are more cost-effective, scalable, and reliable, especially in uncertain times when working from a workplace is impossible and employees work remotely. We can see that remote working is not going away anytime soon and that investing in cloud contact centers can help businesses generate more ROI.
Amit Singh - Founder & CEO
Amit has over two decades of expertise in product development, team building and scaling, and leading software architecture and operations. Amit had firsthand experience with IT pain and frustration while running his prior business and was determined to solve it with ACMA. In developing solutions, he is steadfastly dedicated to establishing a culture based on diversity, inclusion, and ethics. He promotes critical thinking from all walks of life and viewpoints.
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