2020 continues to be a year of unprecedented change for businesses globally. The last 7 months alone have produced more digital transformation than the last decade, with emerging trends like working-from-home finding themselves on an accelerated path into mainstream operational practices, and at scale.
And while most contact centers were able to quickly shift their agents to at-home setups using existing on-premise infrastructure, many view this as a short-term solution. The ultimate end-state for contact center leader today is in the cloud.
Has the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated your business’s digital transformation journey? Tweet me your experience, I’d love to hear it – @JeffMKnight
The pivot to cloud telephony from on-premise telephony can be daunting. The good news is that no matter where your contact center may find itself on the journey to digital transformation, industry-leading service providers like Genesys and Upland InGenius are here to help. With InGenius Connect, organizations can run both on premise and cloud telephony concurrently, allowing for a transition of underlying telephony while maintaining the same user experience for the agents. Our solutions are ready to meet you where you are and help you optimize your contact center operations.
Let’s Explore the Benefits of Cloud for your Contact Center
As industry-leading contact center technology providers like Genesys and InGenius look to support our mutual customers in their journeys to digital transformation, let’s take a look at some the key benefits of a cloud-based contact center environment.
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Flexibility
Cloud contact center infrastructure is flexible enough to meet businesses where they are in their digital transformation journey, whether that be completely cloud-based infrastructure, on-premise with some cloud components, or a hybrid cloud model. CTI solutions like Upland InGenius seamlessly integrate with on-premise solutions like Genesys Engage as well as hosted solutions like Genesys Cloud (stayed tuned for more information on this exciting integration!), meaning Genesys customers of all types will be able to enable their contact center employees to perform at their peak with CTI technology regardless of their telephony infrastructure.
On a more granular level, cloud-based contact center technology also has the flexibility to meet your agents where they are. Analyst firm Nemertes Research recently conducted a study of global businesses. The study found that 59% of companies had contact center agents working from home prior to COVID-19 and that number increased to 74% following global work-from-home measures. More interestingly, the Nemertes study found that across key verticals like retail (68%) and healthcare (70%), employers are planning to allow their employees to continue to work from home in a post-pandemic world.
Using cloud solutions, businesses are better equipped to meet dispersed workforces where they are. Learn more about how you can enable more productive remote contact center agents and measure performance using CTI technology.
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Security and Reliability
Data security, uptime, and reliability are of the utmost important in all contact center environments. It’s critical that your business aligns itself with technology partners that have the demonstrated technical expertise needed to maintain data integrity and security.
Here are a few questions to consider when evaluating the security and reliability of cloud contact center solutions…
- Are you able to keep your customer data behind your company firewalls and other existing safeguards? Some solution providers will ask you to open up firewalls via numerous ports and pose other data security risks.
- Does the provider own their complete technology solution stack? Some solution providers rely on OEM technology, which can result in heightened uptime risks, data latency, and slower development cycles as multiple technologies and technology providers are pulled into the picture.
- Are high-availability and data redundancy baked into the cloud systems architecture? Some cloud providers do not offer either, which leaves many businesses without the peace of mind afforded by enterprise-grade solutions.
Make sure you partner with contact center technology partners you can trust.
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Enhanced Customer Experience
Customer expectations have shifted dramatically in recent years, with the bar now set at personalized experiences tailored to the individual. These types of customer-centric experiences can be operationalized in the contact center with the right cloud-based technologies in place, like the upcoming InGenius Connect for Genesys Cloud. By using InGenius Connect with your Genesys Cloud telephony system, your agents can live and breath within Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud or Salesforce Financial Service Cloud. Features like CRM screen pops, screen transfers, call log templates and omni-channel support mean your agents are enabled with the best possible tools to handle customer calls in a personalized and efficient manner, at-scale.
Learn more about InGenius CTI features and benefits.
The Future of Contact Centers is in the Cloud
As cloud adoption continues to grow and you consider how cloud investments might benefit your contact center, InGenius is here to help. InGenius is committed to changing with the industry and with our customers, and our contact center CTI solutions are designed to meet you where you are on the road to digital transformation. Whether that means integrating your CRM with your on-premise PBX, hosted cloud solution, or hybrid model – our enterprise-proven CTI technology is ready to meet you where you are and facilitate your evolution.