How To Make The Transition From On-Premise To A Cloud Contact Centre

November 24, 2020

With the advent of ever faster and more reliable cloud technologies, it’s no secret that cloud contact centres are the clearly superior choice when compared with an on-premise system.

And for your organisation to remain competitive it’s inevitably crucial for you to make the transition from an on-premise to cloud contact centre.

In this post, we’ll cover the six main challenges you will face when transitioning to a cloud contact centre, how to overcome them, and why Cytrack software is your best partner choice.

Challenge #1 — Traditional IT Structure

For most organisations, IT roles are still very much siloed. Network engineers, system admins, and database architects take independent charge of networks, hardware systems, and organisational repositories respectively.

The problem then is each of the different IT personnel are very much focused on their own tasks within their own silos. They’re not looking at the bigger picture of how IT can create value for the entire organisation.

Focus on how can IT create value for the entire organisation

Challenge #2 — Overcoming The “Silo Mindset”

Making the move from a traditional IT structure is not just about how to restructure the IT department. There’s typically an entrenched mindset that silos are perfectly acceptable.

Overcoming that mindset is best achieved through building a business case for a cloud contact centre.

Here’s what to focus on…

Current Technology

On-premise systems usually have a relatively short period of time where they’re at the forefront of the latest features providing the best in customer experience. Replacing this technology is usually too expensive to do frequently.

Scaling To Business Requirements

It’s hard to expand an on-premise system, whereas a cloud scales up or down easily.

Cost Structure

Moving from a capital cost structure to an operational one allows organisations to effectively budget in a consistent manner.

Agility And Speed

Cloud technologies provide agility and speed, so contact centre agents can quickly and accurately answer customers’ questions.

Challenge #3 — Choosing The Right Cloud Contact Centre Technology

Once an organisational decision is made to move to the cloud, the concern is to ensure the best-suited cloud contact centre technology is chosen.

The usual way to go about selecting the appropriate cloud vendor is to assess your current contact centre, so you end up with the features and capabilities your organisation needs.

Typical questions to ask would include the following:

Do you want omnichannel capabilities, so that customers can reach you through text, chat, social media, and phone?
Which applications do you want to integrate into the cloud contact centre platform?
Do you need analytics to gauge agent performance?
Will reporting capabilities enable you to make better choices?
Would it enhance your contact centre if you were able to route customers to agents based on experience and availability?
Do you need the ability to minimize downtime and long hold times for customers?
Is there a need for supervisor access tools, so you can course-correct agents when they’re interacting with customers?
Do your customers want self-service capabilities?

Why Cytrack software enables easier ongoing change to match organisational requirements

Unlike other vendors with fixed systems, with Cytrack it’s not critical you get the answers 100% correct first time out.

And that’s because Cytrack software is not only cutting edge in each of these areas but because our software is modular it’s simple to add or remove features and capabilities as you need them.

Also, we have a plethora of out-of-the-box integrations and a robust API. This means with Cytrack you can have a cloud contact centre customised to your exact organisational processes without the usual astronomical costs.

Challenge #4 — Understanding The Customer Journey

With an on-premise system, you and your customers may be used to having a fixed customer journey. It’s usually far from ideal, making customers go through a series of steps before their issue is resolved.

For example, a customer may be forced to start with self-service and then end up needing assistance from a live agent to get their query answered to their satisfaction.

To ensure your customers have a good experience as you transition to the cloud, it’s important to develop a deep understanding of the customer journey, so you can take advantage of the nimbleness of the cloud and make the appropriate adjustments.

At Cytrack, our professional services team can help you identify “sticking points” in the customer journey and make the necessary changes to your contact centre.

The ultimate result is happier customers and happier staff.

A cloud contact centre from Cytrack means easy adaptation for your customer journeys

Challenge #5 — Understanding What Success Looks Like

Creating a successful future roadmap, you will need to align the measurement of KPIs with your overall organisational objectives. This will allow you to see the improvements the cloud contact centre brings to your organisation.

The answer lies in choosing the right metrics. For example, you might not want to cut down on average-time-per-call if you’re trying to upsell services.

On the other hand, there are some metrics that make sense for contact centres in a variety of industries, such as:

Average speed of answer
Average wait time
Service level response time
First contact resolution
Abandoned calls/contacts
Conversion rate
Customer satisfaction rate

Read more in this post on 9 Call Centre KPIs To Track For Customer Experience Success

Challenge #6 — Clear Communication Of Change

As you’re transitioning to a cloud contact centre, it’s crucial to keep everyone in your organisation up-to-date on what steps you’re taking (and in turn, what they need to do).

Clear, frequent communication with everyone who’s involved in the contact centre is vital. It ensures that nothing falls through the cracks. When everyone knows what’s happening next and what their role is in this new contact centre, there’s a much greater chance of success.

External communication matters, too. You don’t want to confuse your customers as you introduce a new contact centre model. Explain to them what to expect and when.

Once you implement your cloud contact centre solution, there’s still work to be done. You have to make sure your agents are fully trained to use the solution, and you must also educate your customers about the new contact centre (especially how much easier it is to connect with you, and how much faster it will be to serve them).

If you’d like to discover how Cytrack software and services can more easily help you overcome these challenges, we’ll be delighted to show you.

Get in touch with our friendly team using your preferred contact method below…