Customer Conversations With Cloud Contact Center Solutions

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is a cloud-based customer engagement solution, which enables omnichannel conversations through a contact centre provider’s software.

CCaaS is increasingly becoming the go-to option for contact centres as it provides scalability and flexibility to only pay for technology required, thereby reducing the need for internal IT resources. 

What Is CCaaS?

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is a software deployment model that enables companies to only purchase the technology they need and is commonly operated by a vendor to reduce IT, integration, and support costs. CCaaS solutions are most commonly deployed as a cloud-based CX solution in contact centres, but in some instances, an on-premise CCaaS software solution is more ideal.

It's difficult for call centres to quickly deploy new features, functions, and channels without the help of an advanced Contact Center as a Service.

Using a CCaas model can provide: 

• Omni-channel customer engagement 
• Data analytics and reporting insights 
• Customisable self-service capabilities 
• Increased first contact resolution 
• Reduced operational costs 
• Skills-based routing 
• Improved contact center performance 

A CCaaS model allows businesses across every vertical – finance, retail, on-demand, and more – to communicate with their customers on their preferred channel, at the right time. It simplifies the contact centre technology to meet business objectives and provide great customer experiences.

Adopting An Omnichannel Approach 

A Case Study

A study from Invoca on the state of consumer banking and post from BanklessTimes highlights heightened consumer expectations when shopping for banking products. In short, consumers are shopping around and won’t tolerate a bad pre-sale experience. If a bank doesn’t integrate all of their channels from phone to branch to web, then consumers will go to the bank that does.

More than ever banks need to maintain a complete and up-to-date picture of every customer and expect customers will contact them via several channels. Every time a customer contacts a bank, regardless of channel, the agent needs to see the entire history of a person’s conversations thus far. Only with this complete picture with the customer feel valued and confident in bringing their business to a bank.

The Solution

Banks can’t, and shouldn’t, trust just anyone with connecting their systems to communications tools. It’s essential that solutions are secure, firewalled, and adaptable. Banks need to integrate email, web, push, chat, SMS, and voice into their communications mix as plug-and-play units. Each component needs to be connected to central systems and customer care and support tools.

Omnichannel Vs Multichannel

The terms multichannel and omnichannel are often confused. Many companies say they offer omnichannel communications when what they really have is a multichannel approach. In fact, delivering an omnichannel communication experience was ranked as the second biggest challenge businesses face in their contact centres in a recent consumer communications report.

Companies that connect with customers in their contact center via multiple channels – such as email, social media, webchat, and telephone – have a multichannel contact centre. However, just because customers connect with your contact centre via multiple channels does not mean that their experience is seamless.

An agent who connects with a customer in a multichannel contact centre by phone may not have any information about that customer’s previous interactions on another channel. Often in a multichannel contact center channels are siloed — agents can’t see the context from interactions customers had on other channels on their contact centre dashboard, which limits the level of service they can provide.

Giving your customers the ability to seamlessly switch between channels is what takes your customer journey to a whole new level. The omnichannel experience lets agents follow a customer conversation wherever it goes, without being boxed into one channel or spread across dozens of tabs. For example, when your customer can begin with a chat session on your website and then roll that chat into a video co-browse session or voice call with your agent, that customer is receiving personalised, quality service. This kind of seamless interaction across technologies is the key to great omnichannel experiences.