What is a cloud contact center, and how does it work?

These days, good isn’t enough when it comes to customer service. Customers have sky-high expectations for quality customer support, and they want it fast. In fact, 49% of customers have left a brand due to poor customer service.

Cloud contact centers are well-equipped to handle the largest priorities in modern customer service. They offer all the features companies expect from contact centers, including customer relationship management (CRM) integrations, dashboard reporting, data security, and automation.

Let’s review the basics of a cloud-based contact center, its advantages over on-premises contact centers, and how it can help an organization handle all inbound and outbound customer communications easily and efficiently.

What is a cloud contact center?

A cloud contact center is a customer service solution that stores data in the cloud. A company can gather, store, and access all customer information and communication threads in the cloud, eliminating the need for most on-premises hardware and software. All agents need is a computer and an internet connection — everything else will be hosted in the cloud.

Cloud contact center software allows organizations to equip their distributed workforce and monitor agent performance, whether their team is across town, in a different region of the country, or on the opposite side of the globe.

How does a cloud contact center improve on the on-premises contact center model?

While some organizations make do with on-premises contact centers, they’ve never been the perfect solution. They’re expensive to maintain and upgrade, rely on investing in hardware and software that can quickly become outdated, and aren’t particularly flexible or suited for scaling—and their shortcomings are only more obvious as the world becomes increasingly digital.

Cloud contact center as a service (CCaaS) are an increasingly popular solution. These platforms are hosted or built in the cloud and enable companies to pay for what they need, introducing a new level of flexibility and allowing companies to scale up or down quickly.

At the same time, cloud contact centers add new benefits on top of all the features that make on-premises contact centers the go-to solution for some organizations. Unlike on-premises solutions, companies with cloud solutions get easy, streamlined access to the latest updates and features, including smart tools built with AI.

What should cloud contact center software offer?

High-quality cloud contact center software is the foundation for a successful cloud contact center and, by extension, customer service that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations.

To see the best results and deliver exceptional customer experiences, a cloud contact center solution should have flexible deployment, flexible scalability, pre-built integrations, an AI-driven self-service solution, and customer experience analytics. Here’s why.

Flexible deployment preserves infrastructure during a cloud transition.

Transitioning to a cloud model from an on-premises solution, or from a traditional call center model, can feel like a big step. That’s why it’s important to find a solution that minimizes friction during that transition process, with flexible deployment options that keep teams engaged.

Suppose a company opts for a cloud-based contact center with flexible deployment options to preserve its business infrastructure during the transition. In that case, the company can reap all the benefits of its new cloud contact center solution without sacrificing its existing telephony infrastructure or carrier relationships. Essentially, the company will get the best of both worlds.

Customers with on-premises systems can seamlessly integrate flexible cloud contact center services without sacrificing their existing setup and investments. They can continue to use trusted business infrastructure such as their telephone system while unlocking the benefits of the cloud. And if for security or regulatory reasons they need to keep data in house, they can opt for a hybrid cloud deployment in which the applications are run in the cloud, but the data remains on-premises. Providing both agility and adherence to industry standards.

Scalability leaves room for growth.

Growing with an on-premises contact center isn’t easy. On top of regularly upgrading hardware and software, organizations will have to purchase new assets with every expansion. Not only will costs quickly add up, but they may also find themselves dedicating a lot of time toward planning infrastructure expansions and upgrades. Plus, there’s no easy way to undo an expansion.

On the other hand, cloud contact centers were made for flexible growth. They allow organizations to hit the ground running soon after set up without the additional installation, provisioning, configuration, and deployment processes that on-premises centers require. Users can also easily add new agents to their existing team within minutes.

This flexible scalability is ideal for organizations large and small. Whether a company needs to scale up during peak seasons or down during slower periods, the cloud provides the agility to adjust resources quickly and cost-effectively. It also allows for seamless updates and feature rollouts, ensuring that contact center technology is always up-to-date without disrupting operations. This level of flexibility empowers organizations to roll with changing business needs and market conditions.

Pre-built integrations and custom tools allow for tailored solutions.

Pre-built integrations can take a cloud contact center to the next level. When organizations use a platform featuring out-of-the-box integrations, they will be able to connect their contact center software with vital CRM software. For example, contact center software might integrate with Salesforce, a project management tool, or other industry applications, ensuring agents can easily access the information they need.

AI for self-service ensures faster answers.

Cloud contact center software that features AI-driven self-service solutions makes it easy for customers to instantly get help for common questions and issues without waiting for an agent to become available, whether it’s peak operating hours or the middle of the night.

There’s no need to sacrifice quality, thanks to how advanced artificial intelligence has become. Whether an organization opts for a voice or a digital bot, they can count on their AI-driven self-service solution to quickly understand customers’ questions and respond with accurate information in a highly natural way. Some cloud-based contact center solutions will even automatically and seamlessly transition customers to live agents and pass along all the necessary information when they require human assistance.

What’s more, generative AI can improve cloud contact center efficiency. Beyond enabling efficient customer self-service and freeing agents to focus on more complicated issues, generative AI can also reduce after-contact work and provide agents with concise answers, accelerating handle times. It can even capture, analyze, and summarize customer interactions, giving valuable insights into key trends and allowing organizations to optimize their entire workforce.

Customer experience analytics equip companies with deep customer insights.

Much like on-premises contact centers, cloud contact center software offers customer experience analytics, giving companies valuable customer insights. Instead of taking a stab in the dark at understanding customer pain points, organizations can count on their cloud contact center solution to glean insights from contact center interaction data automatically.

Some solutions may even present customized dashboards that allow users to see their real-time performance against key metrics and SLAs at a glance. They can then use this information to improve their corporate operations and help agents make future customer interactions more pleasant and efficient.

Build a resilient cloud contact center.

Cloud contact centers can transform customer engagement by offering scalability, flexibility, and access to the latest technology without the high costs associated with maintaining physical infrastructure.

Leverage the power of the cloud to facilitate seamless customer communication across channels, and agent coordination across locations. Plus, equip your team with all the latest contact center features, from deep analytics to AI-driven tools. If your company is serious about customer experience, a cloud contact center may be the solution you need.

Ready to experience everything cloud contact centers have to offer for yourself? Explore Talkdesk cloud contact center software.