A modern contact center is a synergy of human expertise and digital solutions aimed at efficiently handling various business tasks. Call centers have always relied heavily on technology as quality telephony is indispensable for managing and processing calls. However, the digital platform of today’s contact center far surpasses its past counterpart in terms of capabilities. Therefore, businesses must continuously optimize solutions to maintain a technological advantage in the market.
In the past decade, digital processes in the contact center industry have significantly increased in complexity. Many companies are already utilizing advanced inbound contact distribution functionality, intelligent Interactive Voice Response (IVR), automated dialers, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and more. However, some businesses still rely on outdated contact center software, limiting their employees’ and businesses’ potential. To address this, we, based on our experience, have decided to outline the necessary functionality of a modern contact center digital platform through a series of articles. This platform is now a “must-have” for companies looking to stay competitive.
Global Bilgi’s Experience with Digital Contact Center Platforms
Since 2008, Global Bilgi has been a leading provider of outsourced contact center services in Ukraine. Over the years, we have utilized 7 different contact center platforms. These software solutions were deployed on our company’s own server infrastructure (on-premises) or were used as Software as a Service (SaaS). The latter is often referred to as a cloud contact center, where the software is hosted on remote servers (“in the cloud”). This model eliminates the need for customers to invest in expensive server equipment for software deployment. Currently, the SaaS model is the most popular and cost-effective option for operating digital platforms in contact centers. However, some companies still rely on on-premises solutions due to specific circumstances and limitations.
The Cost of a Contact Center Platform and its Impact on Quality
Having operated in the call and contact center platform market for several years, we’ve come to learn that there is no direct correlation between the quality of software and its price. Both “cheaper” and “more expensive” platforms have their drawbacks. Therefore, to establish a high-quality contact center, it is essential to find a “golden mean”.
Cheap Contact Center Platforms
In general, cheap platforms often lack reliability as they operate on a single server and cannot guarantee uninterrupted service. Any power outage or internet disruption can lead to significant operational failure in such contact centers. Moreover, they seldom offer easy integration with corporate domains and other systems, which makes it challenging to create and manage accounts for employees. Cheap solutions also lack quality statistics and analytics.
Average Price Segment of Contact Center Solutions
Contact center platforms within the “average” price range have two significant disadvantages. Firstly, it’s usually necessary to install software on the user’s computer or purchase a physical IP phone with a handset, which is inconvenient in this era of remote work and mobility. Secondly, these platforms often have an outdated appearance and user interface, which is counterproductive.
Expensive Contact Center Digital Platforms
Expensive solutions come with their challenges, such as additional modifications requiring technical support from the vendor, which could be complex and pricey. Enterprise platforms, in particular, can be quite expensive.
Conclusions
Choosing a suitable software product for your contact center can be challenging. However, the Global Bilgi team is available to assist. In our upcoming articles on optimizing contact centers using digital technologies, we will discuss:
- What a modern IVR should entail, and why it should not be confused with the “auto attendant” function.
- Reducing the contact center’s load by correctly distributing calls in queues.
- ACD (Automatic Call Distribution), its importance, and how it can improve your contact center.
- Automated customer calling: modern dialers for your business.
- Chat and email management in the contact center: ensuring a high level of customer service and convenience.
- And much more.
Stay tuned for more articles from the Global Bilgi Digest.
