Modernize your contact center—move to the cloud

What does moving your Contact Center to the cloud mean to the customer? Are there benefits? Calling into a contact center is never a favorite task of anyone. We know that a number of us hang up in frustration when we call in and either get put in a queue waiting until an agent is available or even worse, enter into a seemingly endless series of menu choices while trying to solve our issue. Could a move to the cloud alleviate some of the problems in an overwhelmed contact center?

We suggest that yes, the solution to some of the problems in your contact center is to move it to the cloud. We know that this migration can save money. Can it also actually improve your customer experience? A recent study by the Aberdeen Group indicates that customers are more pleased with their service when dealing with an efficient cloud contact center. In fact, it showed abandonment rates were significantly lower in cloud contact centers compared with traditional call centers, with just 4.5% of calls abandoned.

Why do customers hang up?

As previously mentioned, customers often don’t want to be calling into a contact center in the first place so there is already a bit of frustration. Add in long hold times or being transferred from agent to agent, having to explain your reason for calling over and over again and its even more obvious why there are so many lost calls.
Maintaining a dated contact center solution can be a costly error in judgement. Products or services won’t make up for bad customer service. Damage to your business might not show right away but according to accepted industry research, it’s 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one.

Why do customers like a contact center in the cloud?

Clever Call Routing
Adding cloud computing to your call centers allows you to improve the way your calls are not only routed, but also handled. You can prioritize calls while making sure customers are getting to the right agents who are actually able to help solve their problems.

Taken even further, with clever call routing you can design the system so that your best customers are being helped by the most senior agents ensuring they remain loyal and satisfied. Or you can even prioritize customers whose contracts might be coming up for renewal, making sure that their service is beyond stellar, and thereby locking in the next year’s contract.

Efficient Service
Because cloud based contact centers are scalable, they are automatically more efficient. You can expand or scale down depending on demand. With cloud technology, it is not necessary to maintain an office to house agents. If you’re bursting at the seams with calls, your agents can work from home simply by connecting to the server via the cloud.

Having the ability to adapt on demand ensures that there are always plenty of agents to take calls, which means reduced hold times and happy customers.

Helpful Messages
Helpful messages are those handy tips that a customer hears as he/she waits on hold. With cloud technology, very specific messages can be targeted to customers, allowing for a selling opportunity while waiting. Generic is out, personalized is in! These messages will use previous data about the customer and tailor it for the interests of the waiting customer.

All in all – cloud based contact centers have the ability to keep both customers and businesses happy. So, what are you waiting for? Invest in the installing your contact center in the cloud. Contact Waterfield today and ask us how we can help you migrate your contact center to the cloud.