The move to the cloud for customer service technology (CCaaS) has been considered slow compared to many other industries. We believe 2020 will prove to be the largest shift to date away from traditional premises-based solution deployments to cloud-based ones. For customer care leaders who are beginning to explore today’s CCaaS solutions, making the right decision can seem overwhelming.
The issues you need to consider are all dependent upon your objectives. These might be improved customer experiences, enhanced operational efficiencies, or even realistic cost savings and reduced reliance on internal technical or 3rd party staff. Regardless of your objectives, everyone who is looking to migrate to the cloud needs a little guidance along the way. Below we give you some high-level pointers to consider as you move forward on your customer care cloud transformation journey.
We always find a good starting point is to establish your goals. Then, determine what you can and what you cannot do today with your current customer care platform. Next, compare this to what you could do with a cloud-based solution to better meet your goals and objectives.
Cloud Benefits
The cloud delivers benefits regardless of your industry. These include low, upfront and predictable costs, ease of deployment, and more effective and simplified management. In customer care and contact center applications, there are several specific capabilities that the cloud allows you to leverage for improved customer experiences.
Reliability & Flexibility
Cloud contact center technology that utilizes the leading hypercloud platforms such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft ensures your contact center is available where and when your customers need it. These infrastructure providers deliver consistent availability and overall performance with high redundancy and low latency. You need to make sure the CCaaS vendor you are considering gives you the freedom to be in one or all of these or other cloud infrastructure providers, so you have the flexibility and reliability to ensure enhanced customer experiences.
Security
A decade ago, security was the top reason companies did not pursue moving to the cloud. Fear of a customer data breach and customer churn due to this far outweighed any perceived value of moving to the cloud. Today, many organizations understand security in the cloud can be even more secure than for a premises-based deployment. As an example, the Department of Defense just inked a $10 Billion contract with Microsoft for a secure cloud to handle the most sensitive military information. Since many industries that use contact center technology have protected customer data including health and payment information, some leading CCaaS vendors have architected to include the most advanced security measures and technology. In fact, some have even taken this a step further to commission and undergo intensive third-party audits to ensure verification of key security measures such as HIPAA, HITRUST, SOC-2, GDPR, etc. This means as a CCaaS customer, with the right platform you can benefit from the same stringent security and audits a large enterprise undertakes, regardless of the size of your business when you leverage a modern CCaaS solution. It is important to ask your potential CCaaS providers whether their security certifications are self-attested or verified by a third-party audit.
Improved Customer Experiences & Happier Customers
Cloud contact centers can help you deliver exceptional customer service by letting you support your customers through their preferred channels such as voice, chat, SMS, email, and social. Modern CCaaS platforms unify these disparate communication modalities that limit premises deployments. In the end, this allows agents to smoothly handle all interaction channels and provide customers a seamless experience throughout their life cycle with your company.
Your Call to Action
It is time enterprises leverage the cloud to solve the traditional barriers to exceptional CX with new innovations that provide groundbreaking advantages. This is Thrio’s passion and position in the CCaaS market. Are you are looking for the right cloud contact center provider to partner with? We’d love to share with you our practical insights, hear about your plans, and explore the possibility of helping you transition to the cloud.