Highlights
- Next-gen cloud contact centers take customer contact platforms to the next level by incorporating advanced data integration and analytics, as well as new-age technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
- Deploying a next-gen cloud contact center is a critical process that requires the right approach, technology, training, and alignment.
- Self-service, data security, infrastructure, key performance indicators, and automation are integral aspects of implementing the next-generation cloud contact center.
The recent boom in cloud services has led to remarkable revolutions in almost every business segment, and contact centers are no exception. Before the cloud, contact centers were often slow, chaotic, and inflexible. Now, cloud technology has transformed these contact centers into innovative, agile, and flexible departments that can handle customer inquiries and issues with greater speed, convenience, and accuracy.
Next-gen cloud contact centers take cloud contact platforms to the next level by incorporating advanced data integration and analytics, as well as new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable seamless customer-agent interaction and problem-solving. Instead of simply relying on telephone land lines and on-premises servers, your support staff can use online platforms that give them the flexibility to work from any location and access all the data they need to solve customer issues effectively.
⭐ Take your contact center to a whole new level ⭐
Next-Gen Cloud Contact Centers for Dummies®, RingCentral Special Edition eBook
Deploying a next-gen cloud contact center is a critical process that requires the right approach, technology, training, and alignment. If you do it right, you can transform the customer service experience you offer and achieve maximum ROI.
Here are five actionable insights for implementing next-gen cloud contact centers for the best results.
- Prioritizing self-service
- Enhancing security
- Strengthening design, speed, and storage capabilities
- Developing the right KPIs
- Investing in automation
1. Prioritizing self-service
We are living in a fast-paced world where customers demand instant gratification for products and services. Buyers want to pick up their smartphones, choose what they want, order, and receive their items in as little time as possible. For businesses, a significant part of the solution is enabling customers to handle most processes along the supply chain themselves through seamless, intuitive self-service platforms.
Self-service options are essential for today’s contact centers. Similar to online shopping apps, self-service in contact centers significantly reduces the time it takes to resolve an issue, while freeing up support agents to address only the issues that require human intervention.
A next-gen cloud contact center offers self-service through integrated voice response (IVR) systems and more recently, AI-supported chatbots. These solutions deflect call volumes and reduce agent engagement while ensuring customer problems are solved with minimal wait times. Moreover, bots collect customer data and present it to the agent handling a customer inquiry for a more personalized experience.
The chatbot has proved to be a very useful tool, especially when integrated to the company’s social media pages, bulk SMS API , and the website. Juniper Research projects that by 2022, chatbots will create annual savings of $8 billion in customer support costs for the businesses that use them.
2. Enhancing security
Security is a top priority for all cloud-based software. According to a recent report on U.S. annual data breaches, over one hundred and fifty-five million users’ data was exposed in cyber-criminal activity in 2020.
A next-generation cloud contact center must ensure maximum security for enterprise data. The first step toward implementing a secure cloud contact center is ensuring it is ISO/IEC 27001 certified. The certification indicates specific physical security components are in place, and network systems are secured with next-gen firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and other technical security controls.
Furthermore, captured and stored data must be encrypted to make it difficult for intruders to view or access it. Lastly, endpoints, including call networks in the physical facilities, need to be secured with antivirus and intrusion detection systems.
3. Strengthening design, speed, and storage capabilities
One of the most remarkable benefits of a next-generation cloud contact center is its scalability. As customers continue to engage with the contact center, the database grows in size. With a properly designed cloud contact center software, you can accommodate the expanding database and manage scaling costs effectively.
The storage capabilities of a cloud plan affect the speed of communication between agents and the customer. It is, therefore, important to ensure that your company purchases adequate cloud storage space.
Additionally, the cloud architecture enables your organization to deploy its cloud contact center flexibly and make changes to the setup without having to change the code. As a result, you can easily integrate your contact center software with third-party software like Customer Relational Modules (CRM).
Finally, with the pandemic-fueled remote-working revolution well underway, enterprises need to take appropriate measures to ensure employees can comfortably carry out their respective tasks within and outside office walls. Next-generation cloud contact centers must be implemented with a plan that prioritizes standardizing remote and on-site customer interaction to ensure customers get the same quality of service, regardless of an agent’s location.
4. Developing the right KPIs
A contact center is an integral instrument for realizing and achieving business Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While KPIs may differ from one company to another, customer retention rate is typically an important metric to consider. High customer satisfaction and retention translate directly to revenue growth and a solid market reputation in the long run.
For your next-generation cloud contact center to support the achievement of business performance objectives, you need to give it KPIs of its own. First contact resolution, average hold time, and average handle time are a few examples of effective contact center KPIs that will set your support staff in the right direction.
5. Investing in automation
Cloud contact centers rely significantly on data. When customers call with an issue, they expect the agent to know precisely what is going on and offer solutions immediately. Without the right data, agents waste precious support time asking questions before they can zero in on the best course of action. Consequently, resolutions take longer and more customers go unanswered, resulting in higher churn rate and revenue loss.
Today, data systems have advanced enough to facilitate the automation required to deliver the right information to the right service agents at the right time. With AI-enabled filtering and analytics, cloud data platforms can instantly present an agent with all the information related to a particular customer when they reach out with a request.
Moreover, next-level cloud-based contact center solutions capture real-time information such as a caller’s talking rate and aggressive words used during customer-agent interactions. This data can then be converted into metrics that indicate how well a conversation is going, enabling an agent to change the flow and tone accordingly and maintain customer satisfaction or enabling a supervisor to step in when needed to de-escalate a potentially negative customer experience.
Make RingCentral your trusted partner for a next-generation cloud contact center
Next-gen cloud contact centers are the future of customer service execution. If you have not yet migrated your contact center to the cloud, you are missing out on significant business benefits.
RingCentral is the global leader in cloud contact center solutions. Download the RingCentral special edition eBook: Next-Gen Cloud Contact Centers for Dummies to learn how RingCentral can help you implement the right cloud contact center for your enterprise.
Originally published Feb 01, 2022, updated Dec 30, 2022
