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From the Premises to the Cloud: The Transition to a Hosted Contact Center

by Carl Noblitt, VP Account Management, AireSpring - December 31, 2014

From the Premises to the Cloud: The Transition to a Hosted Contact Center

While contact centers have typically relied on premises-based solutions, the advantages of moving to the cloud are encouraging a rapid transition. When they choose to go with a premises-based solution, companies are making a huge investment on a phone system that quickly depreciates and requires another investment to upgrade or replace. Essentially, businesses are taking a gamble that the system will last long enough to provide an adequate return on the investment. However, more often than not, companies find themselves falling behind competitors as what was once a state-of-the-art phone system cannot keep up the latest developments in telephony.

In contrast, a cloud hosted contact center provides flexibility and future-proofing alongside substantial cost savings. Cloud services can be set up using a company’s existing Internet connection, which means a quick deployment and no large capital investment upfront. The ongoing operational costs are also vastly reduced, because there is no onsite hardware to manage and no need to hire staff to support the system. This is a benefit for any business, but especially for small to mid-sized businesses, where the requirement of dedicated IT staff is a major burden.

Additionally, updates and improvements to the contact center software can be delivered instantly through the cloud to ensure that the platform doesn’t fall behind. Unlike premises-based solutions, a cloud hosted contact center is not a fixed solution, but one that continues to develop as new advancements are made. This is especially important as call centers are evolving beyond phone support to also handle customer interactions via chat, email, SMS, and social media. While the need for customer support via Facebook or Twitter may not be immediately apparent to all companies, a cloud solution means the option is always there without requiring an additional software purchase.

Despite its benefits, some contact centers may be reluctant to move to the cloud due to concerns about call reliability and security. These problems can be made worse by disagreements between the cloud contact center provider and the Internet service provider over who exactly is at fault. AireContact avoids this issue by delivering the complete package from a single provider. The platform is supported by AireSpring’s end-to-end managed IP network and can be delivered over MPLS for an added level of security. This means companies get the reliability of a carrier-class network with the savings and flexibility of a cloud solution all from a single vendor.

Though some contact centers continue to rely on premises-based solutions, the advantages of the cloud hosted model in terms of flexibility, reliability, and future-proofing make it an obvious choice as companies look to replace their legacy software.



Carl Noblitt
VP Account Management
AireSpring
carl.noblitt@airespring.com

 
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