The dos and Don’ts of Hosted Contact Center Implementations
As the economy recovers and businesses prepare for retrenchment in consumer spending, enterprises have changed the way they invest in customer service technologies. Today, technology investments in customer service must be vendor-agnostic, flexible, and achieve RoI within six months. This has increased the number of hosted or “in the cloud” deployments.
Over the past two years, under extreme pressure to retain customers, increase customer loyalty, and reduce overhead costs, enterprises have been forced to rethink their customer care strategies to strike the right balance between effectiveness and efficiency. The contact center is at the heart of this strategy. Because of shrinking budgets and limited in-house expertise, enterprises are increasingly investing in hosted contact center services to reduce capital outlay and to access a wide range of technology options. This enables enterprises to develop new business processes and create more flexible staffing plans.
Over the past two years, under extreme pressure to retain customers, increase customer loyalty, and reduce overhead costs, enterprises have been forced to rethink their customer care strategies to strike the right balance between effectiveness and efficiency. The contact center is at the heart of this strategy. Because of shrinking budgets and limited in-house expertise, enterprises are increasingly investing in hosted contact center services to reduce capital outlay and to access a wide range of technology options. This enables enterprises to develop new business processes and create more flexible staffing plans.
Executive summary
In a nutshell
Ovum view
Market pressures create the need for the hosted contact center
How technology complements strategy
Ten best practices for implementing a hosted contact center
Summary
1. Start with a clean slate
2. Understand the technology and resources that you already have in place
3. Link front- and back-office functions to improve the overall customer experience
4. Understand security implications of a hosted contact center
5. Think about contact center staffing more flexibly
6. Look into new products and features that will improve your business results
7. Focus more on the customer and less on the infrastructure
8. Think about monitoring and analyzing your business more frequently and in different ways
9. Plan well to make future possibilities a reality
10. Use the hosting provider’s contact center experience to help guide you
Conclusion
Making changes without disrupting process
Definitions
Hosted contact center
In a nutshell
Ovum view
Market pressures create the need for the hosted contact center
How technology complements strategy
Ten best practices for implementing a hosted contact center
Summary
1. Start with a clean slate
2. Understand the technology and resources that you already have in place
3. Link front- and back-office functions to improve the overall customer experience
4. Understand security implications of a hosted contact center
5. Think about contact center staffing more flexibly
6. Look into new products and features that will improve your business results
7. Focus more on the customer and less on the infrastructure
8. Think about monitoring and analyzing your business more frequently and in different ways
9. Plan well to make future possibilities a reality
10. Use the hosting provider’s contact center experience to help guide you
Conclusion
Making changes without disrupting process
Definitions
Hosted contact center
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Channel preferences across demographics
Figure 1: Channel preferences across demographics
