Technological advancements have made it easier to do business, communicate and grow faster and more efficiently compared to any other point in history. Utilizing new business technologies, small and midsized businesses (SMBs) are becoming formidable players in the global market. The topic of "Understanding why midsized companies moved their call centers to the cloud first" foreshadows the great shift we see in today's market toward contact centers as a service (CCaaS).
Why are Call Center Managed Services Moving So Fast?
Starting out, small businesses usually have someone in the organization that is in charge of IT along with their other duties. But once the business has expanded beyond just a couple of computers and a router, it’s time to think about a professional solution. Midsize companies had already started to shift their call centers to the cloud, but now add COVID, and all organizations regardless of size were thinking less about "when" and more about HOW DO WE DO IT to just stay alive. Long after COVID, these managed services offerings will help businesses reduce IT operational costs while providing higher IT service levels businesses, and free-up personnel to focus on more strategic business issues.
Will the Work-From-Home Shift Be More Expensive?
Midsize companies are perfect for the shift to the cloud and don't have the legacy and history of a large Fortune 500 organization. IT Business Edge shared, "With the bulk of employees working from home, they are encountering issues ranging from lost passwords to problems with virtual private networks (VPNs) with greater frequency." Now consider the compounding needs of a call center employee with voice and collaboration tools; not just Teams and Slack, but the tools to handle customer conversations both on the phone and through click-to chat. The WFH shift is forcing every size of business, to change and the costs may seem expensive at first, but each organization must outweigh the cost with the changing workforce and infrastructure needs.
Will Adding Predictive Analytics Help a Midsize Business?
A recent ET CIO article stated, "Another [predictive analytics] ability is data on the end-to-end customer journey. This enables us to use analytics for operations improvement and marketing optimizations responding to the changing ecosystem within time." These "big-boy" toys of yesterday are now in the cloud and ready for the midsize business. Midsize companies leveraged CCaaS as the catalyst to go predictive and proactive first. As larger companies move to the cloud for their call center needs, EVERYONE will benefit. These analytics tools should find their way downstream and consumption models with low overhead are changing the game.
How can Group Elite Help Your Business (of any size)?
If you're sitting there in your work-from-home space now looking out on your hybrid approach to COVID and wondering what to do next, have no fear. Group Elite is uniquely positioned between several cloud options, many strong technology providers, and will continue to deliver on business outcomes. Cloud or not. Home or not. COVID or not. Your organization will continue to be challenged with improving self-service, lowering customer effort, and answering calls. Don't just be ready for what's next - flourish in it.
