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The Cloud – Debunking the myth

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Cloud technology is not just for big business. While the costs, including implementation, may have pushed cloud solutions out of the investment scope of many small to medium sized companies in the past, that is no longer the case. Cloud technologies are now ubiquitous and affordable.

The flexibility and cost model provides businesses of any size with a chance to compete on a level playing field against even the biggest competition. Plus, by removing reliance on often ageing in house systems, companies can both achieve essential resilience and take advantage of the latest in innovative technology, including real-time data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

Yet these mid-sized businesses are also head down, wrestling with constantly evolving operational challenges, from skills shortages to supply chain delays and raging inflation. Management teams lack the time and often confidence to explore technology innovation and, as a result, too many companies are missing vital opportunities to cut costs, boost efficiency and reach new customers.

The cloud is now an essential foundation of successful business operations and, as Guy Parry- Williams, Managing Director, Imedia8 explains, it’s time to talk to a trusted partner that can demystify the cloud and create a one stop shop business focused solution that delivers immediate operational benefits.

Digital Ubiquity

Every business is, to a greater or lesser degree, digital in 2022. Even the smallest companies have moved to online accounting packages such as Sage or Xero. Companies have web mail services and Office 365 or Google Docs. Many rely on online marketplace platforms to buy stock or make sales. These solutions are all in the cloud – and yet far too many mid-sized organisations still feel excluded from access to the cloud technologies that have transformed operations for the vast majority of their larger – and often smaller – competitors.

In many ways, these organisations – the medium sized SMEs – have been overlooked by cloud services providers. Ten years ago, the largest businesses were wooed by Amazon, Microsoft and Google; they were helped to create a cloud strategy and embarked upon a transition away from on premise systems. The big providers then moved to the next tier of companies, those employing hundreds or thousands of staff. More recently, the smallest businesses that were previously running nothing more complicated than a few PCs have found it easy to sign up to subscription services.

But this still leaves a significant proportion of mid-sized companies that have been totally ignored by the market. Companies that are still wrestling with aged on-premise systems; that have never explored powerful machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools or gained access to real time data analytics. Companies that risk being left far behind the competition.

Trusted Advice

For companies without an IT Director, all the talk about digital transformation and embracing the cloud can appear either daunting or completely irrelevant to the business. What is the cloud? Where is the business’ data located? What is the difference between Software as a Service (SaaS) and subscription software? Does it have any relevance to a company managing food distribution or an NGO providing healthcare to individuals across the world?

Despite the confusing language, this is a far simpler approach to buying and running essential technology systems and services. The cloud is just a giant data centre – a massive location full of racks and racks of servers. There is no essential difference to the on-premise computer room that companies have had for years – it’s just bigger. The real benefit is that the time and resources required to ensure the IT infrastructure is up and running is handled by someone else on the business’ behalf, to specific levels of high availability performance.

And that, as every business discovered during the pandemic, is an increasingly important benefit. However immature a company’s digital evolution, every business relies on technology. From tracking deliveries to allowing customers to place orders, system failure adds cost and stress. Business interruption is recognised as a serious operational risk – which is one of the reasons that mid-tier organisations are now realising they have missed out on the cloud benefits for too long.

Open Discussion

While the cloud is now affordable and accessible, this is a significant strategic change. Companies should never make an investment in new technology without first considering their strategic direction. Cloud transformations can be complex and, unless well executed properly, can lead to serious operational inefficiencies and data leakage. It is vital to consider how and where the cloud can support business needs – rather than focusing just on technology change.

A trusted provider that can host, manage and support the entire infrastructure – while also acting as an outsourced IT Director, and developing custom software – can ensure the transition is both smooth and targeted.  Furthermore, it can ensure that while the priority is to rapidly migrate to the cloud to gain efficiencies and cost benefits, the business does not overlook opportunities for innovation.

For many business owners, taking the step to have an open, honest conversation that focuses on operational goals rather that the details of cloud technology can be an eye opener. Like the logistics company based at Heathrow which was astonished to discover that live flight data could be integrated into its systems. Using this information within automated systems – such as updating delivery information to customers – and providing new levels of data insight and analysis saved the business £100,000s every year, providing ROI within months.

Conclusion

Every business will have a different priority – from fears of power blackouts that could take the entire operation offline to the need to respond to an agile competitor muscling in on a key customer base or attracting top talent by offering flexible working. The adoption of cloud technologies, from accounting to customer relational management, can deliver immediate benefits that reflect key business goals, from revenue growth to improved resilience, reduced costs to improved mobility.

Yet too many mid-sized businesses are still missing out due to a lack of cloud knowledge and support – and a cloud market that takes a tech-first approach that can be both confusing and irrelevant. It is the business led focus that is key. Investing in technology, including the cloud, is just one more business decision. Get it right, and it will repay the investment quickly. It should not be daunting: working with a supplier that can quickly demystify the cloud can both transform the cost base and unlock unimagined opportunities.

Making the move to cloud in contact centres: 3 key questions to ask

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As organisations look to future-proof customer experience they are reviewing their contact centrestrategies with many turning to cloud-based technology for all-round agility. Magnus Geverts, VP Product Marketing and Management at Calabrio, shares his top tips for a smooth and successful transition to a cloud-first approach…  

As economies recover following the Coronavirus Pandemic cloud-based contact centres will become standard – that’s the verdict of over 300 contact centre professionals when asked about the future of their industry. Even before anyone had heard of COVID-19, the shift was happening but the acute pressures of managing virtualised home-working teams while meeting rising customer expectations have accelerated the rate of change. The statistics are revealing: one in ten contact centres is now fully cloud-based, eight in ten are ramping up deployment of cloud-based software and an astonishing 39% either plan to invest further in the technology or take the final leap into the cloud, if they haven’t already done so.

These results reflect what our own customers have witnessed throughout the pandemic. Organisations which have relied on an on-premise solution have often struggled to cope with the dual lockdown pressures of increased customer demand and a new working from home (WFH) workplace culture.

3 key questions to ask

With greater demand for remote working and employee flexibility there is no better time to adopt cloud-based contact centre technology, however, here are three things to consider:

Why move to the cloud in the first place?

Cloud-based communications systems offer far more flexibility, resilience and security than traditional on-premises solutions, without the need to hire additional IT staff or invest in expensive hardware. Strengthening your business case for cloud should start with people, the bedrock of great customer service. Cloud-based workforce management (WFM) solutions offer far more flexibility than traditional on-premise solutions. Agent autonomy and self-service including shift trades, booking time off and obtaining overtime shifts are made easy using a mobile app or secure staff portal. Wherever agents, planners or mangers are based they benefit from access to WFM for greater control of often tricky WFH environments.

The latest cloud solutions scale up and down flexibly, making it easy to add new channels, services and users in an instant, thereby boosting productivity, customer loyalty and longer-term profitability.

Finally, as customer expectations rise exponentially, organisations are seeking new ways to differentiate themselves through customer service. Now is the perfect time to combine the cloud with advanced, omnichannel Voice of the Customer (VoC) analytics. The cloud facilitates fast and simple integration between these sophisticated tools and other important applications, including CRM, to capture vital intelligence inside and outside the contact centre and add context to customer conversations. When agents know why a customer is contacting them in the first place, can understand their mood and have sight of their complete conversation history, they are empowered to deliver a far richer, relevant and satisfying customer experience. After all, brands that go beyond the simple ‘what happened?’ to ‘why did it happen? will be the outright winners.

What should I look for?

As contact centres prioritise moving to the cloud and investment pours into the marketplace, organisations are spoilt for choice. Big names and well-established vendors jostle alongside the new disruptive kids on the block such as Amazon Connect, who are introducing exciting new developments. Choice is undoubtedly good, but it can be confusing for cloud novices. The best technology vendors offer a blend of rich features and functionality with a strong service mentality and long-term vision.

When choosing a new vendor, be guided by a checklist of key qualities. One of the essential ‘must-haves’ is a cloud first value proposition. This means one single platform that is purpose-built for the cloud rather than adapted from a legacy system and is designed to deliver a single unified experience. A good technology partner must enable a flexible transition to the cloud while maintaining business as usual (BAU) operations. Meanwhile, opt for a solution set that scales readily with changing customer and business requirements and delivers quick win features to maximize ROI.

What could go wrong and how to avoid the pitfalls?

One of the main motivating factors for moving to the cloud is it simplifies contact centre operations while reducing IT and administration costs. However, choosing the wrong technology and aligning with the wrong partner can do more harm than good. Unwise choices merely increase the time and number of headaches associated with manually integrating standalone systems and trouble-shooting end-user issues. Avoid the pitfalls of choosing the wrong supplier. Look for a partner with an innovative outlook, proven experience and technology that is customisable, but comes with basic out-of-the-box contactcentre functionality as standard, is quick to deploy, easy to use and even easier to maintain.

Take the final leap into the cloud to enjoy the benefits of improved workforce flexibility, enhanced agent engagement and performance while gaining valuable insights across the contact centre and the overall business.

For more guidance, ideas and information about planning your shift to the cloud, download our “Making the Move to the Cloud” Ebook.

Integration with existing business tools, the biggest blocker to improving Call Centre Operations

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By Frédéric Durand (pictured), Founder & CEO Diabolocom

In a live survey being run by Diabolocom, 67% of respondents have shared that the biggest barrier they for-see in 2021 to improving call centre operations is the need to integrate with existing business tools. When asked about their organisations planned investments for 2021, 80% indicated that they would be expanding video-conferencing capability and a further 63% would be exploring the integration of AI into their platforms.

So, in a world of cloud and AI, why is integrating with existing business tools perceived to be the biggest barrier for organisations? The answer is complex, many organisations have legacy enterprise tools that require weeks of development time to make changes. API’s have been added, bespoke work-arounds created and development coded into their systems. In some cases, organisations may have not or are not able to migrate to cloud systems as of today, and others do not want the disruptive change to their businesses. Underneath the shiny websites though, organisations can have complex and cumbersome IT ecosystems that can make technology improvements difficult to implement.

With all this being said, organisations must evolve to survive and thrive. A post Covid-19 world is the test case to prove this statement. Throughout 2020, organisations have had to turn into an almost fully remote workforce, with the demand for technology that can support this fundamental shift in ways of working increasing ten-fold. Customer behaviours have also changed. When budgets are tight, pressure to deliver greater than ever, and in an always digitally on mindset, it can be argued that customer communication and the tools required to support this needs to change also.

How then, can contact centre operatives pivot and thrive in this rapidly changing environment? The answer – a flexible and tailorable platform that is already set up to integrate rapidly with existing tools such as your CRM, can be accessed from anywhere, regardless of where in the world your workforce is, and has a simple and intuitive user interface that ensures the enhanced value to your operations almost immediately.

The argument for a platform such as Diabolocom is compelling for improving contact centre operations. A completely omni-channel platform that integrates seamlessly with existing business tools and can be deployed rapidly through the cloud overcomes many challenges to improving operational excellence. With built in integrations with the likes of Zendesk, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and ServiceNow, the platform provides your agents with all of the information they need to continue thriving in a new contact centre world. Multi-channel and flexible to your needs, your agents and customers can communicate in more than ways than ever before, all captured and recorded using your existing CRM.

To feed into the live survey and share your insights into the contact centre industry, follow the link here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/diabolocom

To find out more about Diabolocom and why it might be the right tool for you to overcome barriers to operational success, visit www.diabolocom.com/en.

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: Infobip global cloud communications

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Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected customer experiences across all stages of the customer journey at scale, with easy and contextualized interactions over customers’ preferred channels.

Accessed through a single platform, Infobip’s omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication, security and contact center solutions help clients and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications, grow their business and increase loyalty– all in a fast, secure and reliable way.

www.infobip.com

Meet with Diabolocom at the Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit!

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There’s only a few weeks left until the Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit!

Let’s take advantage of this virtual event to enhance your customer interactions!

Diabolocom‘s 100% cloud software can be integrated to your CRM in only a few minutes.

Self-service, personalized messages, post-call workflows, …

Are you ready to set up the best strategies in order to increase sales while improving customer satisfaction?

Free Demo Here https://www.diabolocom.com/en/free-demo

Five reasons contact centres are moving to the cloud right now (or should if they aren’t already)

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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By Martin Taylor, Deputy CEO at Content Guru

We are on the precipice of another great cloud migration. It’s something we’ve seen with data storage, software and consumer services and over the next few years, we will witness the same journey in the contact centre industry – from the on-premises contact centre of old, to completely cloud-based, omnichannel contact-centre-as-a-service (CCaaS) infrastructure. It’s a move that is long overdue, which has become all too clear in the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic, as businesses worldwide scrabble to implement safe and efficient remote-working solutions for their agents.

The contact centre in particular has historically been seen as a place where organisations can save money. This has led to narrow performance metrics and a general desire to reduce headcount. However, with the colossal shift across industries to a focus on customer experience as the key business differentiator, it is time for businesses to realise that a cloud contact centre model is now the only one that makes sense.

Here are my five reasons why, if they haven’t done so already, it is high time for organisations in the contact centre industry – as one of the largest employers in the UK – to make the move to the cloud.

1. Employee health and wellbeing is more important than ever

Among the UK government’s latest guidance on lockdown regulations was the update that those who cannot work from home are now encouraged to return to work if possible. What does this mean for the contact centre industry?

Even throughout the strictest lockdown period, many non-essential contact centres still had employees working in their offices on a daily basis. Research since the outbreak began, undertaken by the University of Strathclyde and conducted among 2,750 UK contact centre workers, suggests only a third of contact centres now have social distancing measures in place. More worrying still, a further three-quarters said that social distancing when moving around the building was either ‘hazardous’ or ‘very hazardous’, and half are still working face-to-face.

The dangers of continuing to allow call agents to work onsite in potentially unsafe premises are evident. Now is the time for contact centres to implement a homeworking strategy that will help to protect the health and wellbeing of their employees. Cloud-based CCaaS technology can enable organisations to quickly deploy remote working capabilities. Organisations who have already made that move are demonstrating to the industry as a whole how they can continue to provide an excellent engagement experience for their customers under extremely strained circumstances, all while keeping employees safe.

2. The workplace is evolving for a modern-day workforce

Even before COVID-19, there was a widespread shifting focus to home working across all industries, which has only been accelerated by the current situation. According to research from the Office of National Statistics published prior to the pandemic, 50 per cent of UK employees were already set to work remotely in 2020. Remote working is a subject bound to divide opinion across small to large organisations in every sector, but nowhere more potently than in the contact centre industry. These concerns are perfectly understandable – the contact centre has always been a very physical workplace, with call agents hooked up to a legacy phone system, answering calls on multiple lines, in-sight of employers. Right now, permitting home working may simply be a case of survival as a business. However, in future, businesses will have a strong case to answer if they do not offer home working in some form.

Cloud-based CCaaS is browser-based so agents can access the system wherever they are, whenever they want. The ability to home work gives employees more flexibility and control over their working hours, making it easier to fit their career around busy schedules in a way that benefits both themselves and the organisation. Their working schedule can coincide more easily around family and home life, as they have the opportunity to log in while the children are at school, for example. This not only delivers something for the reward strategy of a contact centre, but increased satisfaction and happiness for the employee in a more flexible workplace landscape.

3. Omnichannel should now be seamless

In common with many other areas of today’s data-driven economy, solutions provided by cloud-based service providers are disrupting the way technology is applied in customer service environments. Businesses are making a strategic move away from traditional on-premise infrastructure and software platforms in favour of versatile ‘as-a-service’ options which broaden the functionality available while reducing the need for big ticket capex investment. Providers who can offer a holistic omnichannel solution are often better placed to meet the strategic and operational needs of customer service teams. Communications now need to be kept consistent across multiple channels, working together with no disparity, to provide a seamless customer experience. This is easily achieved using cloud-based CCaaS with a one-window view where communications are collated in one space, making it easier to navigate across multiple channels.

4. The need to scale-up and scale-out on demand is clear

Even for contact centres that are used to dealing with high volumes, handling spikes in demand can prove extremely difficult using traditional legacy infrastructure. As we have seen in the current pandemic, those working with cloud-based CCaaS across an omnichannel environment are ideally placed to deal with high levels of enquiries and can ensure strong service levels even when demand jumps. For example, screen-pops bring customer data and information on past interactions directly to agents, reducing customer frustration, as callers don’t have to repeat information they have already provided. Intelligent automation can be used to route enquiries to the most appropriate available agent or chatbot, who are also equipped with the right information to engage with the contact. This ensures that customer service is consistently best-in-class, even for contact centres with thousands of seats.

5. Long term cost savings are achievable

Traditionally, the contact centre has been viewed as an area of business in which to save on costs and resources. However, as a result of this oversight, staff turnover continues to be one of the greatest costs to the contact centre industry, which ‘enjoys’ a relatively low employee satisfaction rate and high churn. This is costly and time consuming for contact centre leads and their management teams, so finding ways of reversing this ratio is imperative. Employers should be researching and investing in technology that will make agents’ jobs more streamlined and more rewarding. Making a short-term investment in a CCaaS platform can massively reduce wider costs in the long term.

For example, the introduction and implementation of AI into the contact centre can have a massive impact on the day-to-day agent experience. Many simple enquiries won’t even reach a human agent thanks to AI-driven self-service, therefore automating tedious and mundane tasks, as well as reducing wait times and speed to resolution for customers. Augmenting agents’ ability with AI while reducing channel complexity with effective omni-channel capabilities will have a significant impact on churn if approached with the goal of empowering agents to better manage service enquiries.

A final word

In the midst of the confusion and upheaval caused by COVID-19, it is understandable that businesses may be hesitant about investing in new technology. However, it is clear to see that moving to the cloud is one step in a company’s digital transformation that makes perfect logical sense right now. For businesses operating in the contact centre space, it may turn out to be the make or break in maintaining relationships with their customers during these challenging times. Migrating to the cloud will help to meet the ever-changing demands of the modern business – and societal – landscape now, and into the future.

Find how to move your contact centre to the cloud, click here.