CCaaS – the obvious solution to cope with operational change and an uncertain financial climate

The current global economic challenges are well documented. The 2020 pandemic certainly played a significant role in this and in the process kick-started a seismic shift in how businesses operate. Hybrid working is arguably the “new normal,” but for many organisations – specifically those within the Contact Centre industry – switching to this model required an instant makeover to their IT infrastructure and opting to migrate to the cloud.

In this article, we discuss the benefits of a Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) cloud-based customer experience solution and the switch to an OpEX financing model, when facing a struggling economy, with reference to a compelling webinar given by David Myron, where he discusses the benefits of migrating to a CCaaS solution, you can register for the full webinar here.

Overnight change to become a permanent fixture?

“A move to cloud operations and digital channel implementation plans originally scheduled for five to eight years in the future were by necessity accomplished in a few days to a week,” is how David Myron, Omdia’s principal analyst for business platforms, recalls the speed of change adopted by the Contact Centre industry. However, the necessity for change was key, as Omdia research conducted in 2020 estimated that 75% of contact centre agents were required to work from home during the pandemic, at a time when remote working wasn’t really a viable option for many Contact Centres.

The knock-on impact – and whether agents will ever return to an office environment full time – is regularly analysed and discussed. “Hybrid work offers greater flexibility for many employees and allows organisations to reconsider how they utilise their office space, plus how and where work gets done,” said Myron. Indeed, according to Omdia, organisations expect 34% of their workforce to continue working from home once the post-pandemic world begins – if, of course, it hasn’t already started.

The sudden rise in CCaaS investment

From lower upfront IT costs and reduced staffing, to having instant access to software updates, the arguments around why you should move to the cloud have been readily talked about for a number of years.

And Omdia data indicates more and more businesses have – or soon will – start to see these benefits moving forward. Hosted agent positions are expected to see a compounded annual growth rate of 11.4% – in contrast to the 5.9% annual decline expected to on-premise seats between 2019 and 2025. Furthermore, five million contact centre agents are expected to be using global hosted solutions in 2025, a figure that is likely to surpass the number of global on-premise data positions.

The flexibility that cloud offers in today’s working environment is crucial, as Myron observes: “One of the reasons why contact center as a service (CCaaS) investments have soared recently is because agents can use it anywhere – in the office, at home, or a hybrid work environment.”

Cloud migration – a different way of financing

Running a Contact Centre and the associated costs that comes with it would usually fall into the Capital Expenditure (CapEx) category. Pre-pandemic, when agents were full time employees within a physical office environment, it is understandable why this approach was taken. However, it’s a model that generates financial challenges; significant upfront payments for hardware and server, software upgrades and unexpected maintenance costs, before having to purchase it all over again in the next cycle refresh.

Switching to cloud allows you to swap to a more flexible Operational Expenditure (OpEX) model, thanks to a pay-as-you-go financing arrangement. This allows you to replace the one-off enormous expenses, with a guaranteed monthly, quarterly or annual cost, which are known in advance and allows companies to take advantage of solutions that were previously unaffordable.     

Arguably, the main benefit of cloud is the agility it offers, as you can scale up – or down – your solution infrastructure whenever it is needed, to deal with demand as required. All of which can be done in just a matter of clicks, rather than having to purchase and install the necessary equipment to service on-premise solutions.

Time to get your head – and Contact Centre – in the cloud…

Is your Contact Centre IT infrastructure looking to:

• Only pay for what you use – when you use it?
• Have a clear understanding of expenditure to enable better financial planning and cash flow management?
• Eliminate the risk of running and updating on-premise equipment?

If it is, then contact us now to begin your migration to CCaaS. Call +44 (0)20 3668 0444 or email info@4sightcomms.com