Discovering the Right Contact Center Solutions for Your Business

There aren’t many businesses that would deny the value of customers. It’s simple, without a target audience to purchase the products or services being offered, business would simply cease to exist.

Despite the almost universally recognized importance of customer service, there are many organizations that fail to do much more for their customers than pay them lip service. Consider, for example, those customers who, for whatever reason, attempt to get into contact with a company. So, they pick up a phone, send out an email, post to social media, etc., and they have what may be their first one-on-one interaction with an authorized representative of the company in question.

And far too often, that interaction is also the last that they have with the company, because the authorized company representative that they encounter on the other end is unknowledgable, impatient, or simply unable to communicate in a way that is accessible to the customer. And that’s assuming that the initial contact even goes through; which, given the variety of platforms and contact methods used by today’s customers, might be a different problem altogether.

Managing contacts as they connect with your business is vital to promoting customer satisfaction. As such, you need to be able to maintain, organize, track, and satisfactorily respond to any and all incoming customer communication. Of course, depending upon the scope of your business, this task may be a bit too daunting to be handled without help. Which is why contact centers are becoming so valuable.

Advantages of Cloud-Based Contact Centers

A contact center is a virtual ‘hub’ through which all customer contacts are managed. Operating as part of a company’s existing customer relationship management (CRM) solution, contact centers generally take the form of software that has been integrated into the various contact media used by customers, such as email, online inquiries, call centers, and live chat.

This makes it possible for all contacts to be given the attention and respect that they expect, without fear of being lost in the shuffle. Any organization that respects its clientele, and that wants to provide them with a positive contact experience, would do well to consider contact center solutions as essential. And, if you make it a point to focus on cloud-based contact center solutions, then you’ll have advantages over those who do not.

High performing teams are 5.1x more likely to use mostly cloud solutions, but cloud usage is expected to grow significantly for underperformers and moderate performers over the next two years (source)

What Are Contact Centers?

The cloud is a phenomenon that has recently begun to play a very significant role in the way data is stored and shared. Where once it was common practice for individuals and organizations to keep the majority of their digital information in onsite servers and computers, the modern digital landscape now allows for data to be stored remotely, and accessed across a secure online connection. These new hosted contact center solutions offer several benefits over the more traditional variations, four of which we would like to address here:

1. Remote Access:

Even for small businesses, today’s customers are seldom relegated to single, clearly defined locations. The modern ‘Mom and Pop’ store now has the ability to do business digitally with clients on the other side of the world, so it is even more important that medium and large organizations adopt cloud-based contact center solutions that can be easily accessible by clients, no matter where those clients are located, or at what time of day or night.

2. Easy integration:

Competitive cost: Why pay for something you don’t need? Cloud-based contact centers often offer ‘pay-as-you-go’ options, which mean that you’ll only be billed for what you use. Additionally, given the digital nature of cloud-based solutions, you’ll be able to save significantly on installation costs.

3. Customized Customer Service:

Your customers are unique individuals facing unique issues, so forcing them to all adhere to the same services seems counter intuitive. Cloud solutions allow you to tailor your services to meet the specific needs of your customers, and can be customized using demographic data, profile information, or other variables.

Cloud usage is expected to grow 66% for high performers and 108% for moderate performers.

Ensuring Contact Center Success

Contact centers exist to provide quick-yet-viable solutions to client pain points. As such, the most important factor in contact center success is the ability to satisfy customers. This means that your agents should be friendly, knowledgeable, and able to communicate well. But beyond these obvious points, the effectiveness of your contact center will also depend upon the software that is being used.

The three most important features of any contact center software are flexibility, scalability, and compatibility with existing CRM tools. In essence, you need something that can be adapted to fit your business, rather than something that forces you to adapt your business to it. Familiarize yourself with contact center reviews, so that you can see what other adopters have had to say about specific solutions before you commit.

Committing to Your Contact Center Solution

Even if you manage to find a contact center solution that is a perfect fit for your business, you may still fail to provide your customers with exceptional contact service if your organization refuses to fully commit. By refusing to adopt new practises, taking only partial advantage of available services, or by using services in ways other than they were intended, companies can end up wasting the almost limitless potential offered by contact center solutions. Before you do commit, make sure that your organization is committed as well. Otherwise, you might find yourself with a contact center solution that works, but a call center team that doesn’t.