Hosting expands technology choices for contact centers - Hosted Call Center Software

The new generation of hosted offerings provides most of the systems and applications needed to operate and manage a world-class contact center, says Donna Fluss in her latest column. Learn more about hosted call center offerings and how they are expanding call center options in this column.

Hosted applications have opened a new frontier for contact center managers, beyond expensive premise-based systems. Functionally rich on-demand solutions eliminate the need for large up-front investments and are available on a monthly basis with relatively little risk. The new generation of hosted offerings provides most of the systems and applications needed to operate and manage a world-class contact center. Hosted options extend into contact center infrastructure, dialing, recording, quality management, speech analytics, surveying, coaching, e-learning, workforce management, e-service suites, email response management, knowledge management, customer service and support and more. These offerings will have a major impact on market dynamics and the decision-making process for contact center investments. DMG Consulting LLC predicts that by the end of 2007, 20% to 30% of all new contact center seats will be hosted.

Pros and cons of hosted contact center applications
Contact center managers considering purchasing a new system should certainly explore the hosted option, but they must be aware of the trade-offs. There are both pros and cons to on-demand contact centers.

The pros include:

1. Low start-up cost, small initial cash outlay.
2. Generally lower total cost of ownership.
3. Relatively small monthly payments that come out of the operating budget instead of the capital budget.
4. Vendors are responsible for system installation, implementation and ongoing maintenance.
5. Rapid start-up; users are generally up and running quickly with full-featured implementation.
6. Cost-effective and feature-rich support for small to midsized businesses (SMBs).
7. Many browser-based offerings that require little on-site technology.
8. Provides investment protection -- vendors are responsible for keeping their solutions up-to-date. (The vendor assumes the risk.)
9. Ongoing technology updates are done without forklift replacements or a major disruption to the operating environment.
10. . Few in-house technical resources are required to support the applications.
11. Ease of scaling up and down.
12. No network costs or application expertise required to support multiple sites, branch offices or at-home agents.
13. Standardized functionality and best practices are easily implemented across departments or the entire enterprise.
14. The option to combine premise-based and hosted offerings.
15. Ease of transition to a premise-based implementation, with minimal financial or system impact.
16. Simplification of contingency planning requirements.
17. Ability to walk away from implementation without a big financial write-off.

Some cons to consider are:

1. Hosting for an extended period of time, approximately three to four years, is likely to cost more than purchasing the technology outright. (However, if the cost of a system upgrade is added, it alters the financial trade-off.)
2. It may be costly to terminate a long-term contract before it expires.
3. The client depends completely upon the vendor to provide a high level of service reliability.
4. Not all of the applications are as functionally rich as the leading premise-based offerings.
5. Prospects must find a service provider who is capable of meeting the organization's requirements.
6. Quality of service, per-seat cost and speed of enhancements are subject to changes in the hosting vendor's financial position or business strategy.
7. The service provider may not be as responsive as an in-house team, and it may take days to make simple changes.
8. The hosting vendor may not have the depth of technology expertise needed to "push the technology envelope" into new value-added areas in order to maintain a competitive service advantage.
9. The client depends on the vendor to implement new features as needed.
10. The hosting vendor may not be willing to support unique requirements.
11. It may be challenging to integrate the hosted solution into the existing operating environment.
12. Data security and backup are no longer under the client enterprise's direct control.

Final thoughts
Hosting, also known as on-demand or Software as a Service (SaaS), represents a cost-effective alternative to premise-based offerings. Hosting has been available to contact centers for more than 20 years, since the days of CENTREX. But today, end users who choose hosted solutions or are forced to host by financial constraints do not have to sacrifice service quality or functionality. Over the next five years, expect to see many new entrants into the hosted market. Some will be stand-alone vendors, but many premise-based solution providers will also realize that they need a hosted offering to protect their customer and revenue base. The great news is that hosting has expanded the competitive field, giving end users a wide selection of compelling options at affordable prices.

Promero's Oracle Contact Center Anywhere is a highly scalable, multichannel contact center solution that enables organizations to communicate more effectively with their customers. This includes queuing and routing of traditional phone calls in addition to email, chat, fax and web callback requests. It also provides blended predictive and preview dialing, IVR and call recording for a completely unified inbound and outbound solution.

The Multiple Users Capacity of the Oracle Contact Center Anywhere Software from Promero

Promero is what is known as a Hosted Call Center Solution Provider, and one of the key call center software products that it offers to call centers is the Oracle Contact Center Anywhere Software. Basically, a Hosted Call Center Solution Provider will absorb all the headaches that come with installation and use of call center software by client call centers. That means that, if you buy your Oracle Contact Center Anywhere Software from Promero, they will not only install it for you but they will also help you with any problems or issues that crop up. Although the Oracle call center software will help you create a virtual call center environment for your call center system to use, this does not mean that you do not need help installing it anymore.

By letting Promero handle virtual call center issues (which are common with multiple-user environments), your call center will find it easier to cope with your normal customer relationship management problems. Some things are best left to the experts to handle (unless your organization intends to become an expert at this call center technology as well.) But that may entail your organization becoming an Oracle Certified Partner (like Promero is now) rather than just simply knowing how to use the call center technology.

The Oracle Contact Center Anywhere call center software is classified as a hosted call center solution, meaning you allow Promero as the hosted call center solution provider to handle hosting for you so that your call center will only need to function using the Predictive Dialer call center technology and by using the simple hardware like a USB headset, Internet access, and a standard PC for your multiple users (or agents.) As you can see, this helps reduce overhead for your call center which would traditionally go towards real estate rental or construction; while allowing you to benefit from the Promero level of experience in management of the Oracle Contact Center Anywhere call center solution.

Actually, use of a call center software and hiring a hosted call center solution provider are very beneficial to management of a multiple-user contact center because they allow for your many company agents to focus on customer relationship management issues that are closely related to your product or service, rather than get bogged down in trying to figure out how the call center software and system work. You will find the assistance of the Promero technical support team to be invaluable especially since their techies are on call 24 hours a day, year round. Since it is already a tough job trying to handle multiple users in one call center, Promero can help make your call center job function better.

Hosted Software ? A brief introduction

The enhancement in the field of technology has lately kept everything entangled towards the computer and the internet. Every function viewed in the computer is a result of installing software. Depending on your requirement of business, software is available. One has to make a slow and wise choice in buying the required software. There are traditional software and hosted software available. Going through the details of both the software will enrich your knowledge in selecting the appropriate software. Recently, the hosted software is in great demand.

Traditional software is software developed by the programmers suitable to various companies. The programmers write codes and this is then transformed into a CD that can be used to install the software. This CD is then reproduced and packaged at a manufacturing plant. Once the software package is complete it is shipped to several stores through a network of distribution centers. This software can be purchased at any store and can be installed in the computer. Ultimately, this software can be used with comfort. This is a typical type of software where you do not have to think about various steps. You have to buy each step and buying the software off the shelf is expensive. The traditional software is a conventional type of software with no distinct variations.

Hosted software also involves writing code for programmers. This is a little different. Hosted software is creating software and getting it directly installed onto a server. A server takes specific task such as running software or a website for you. Using software that is run based on the server is identical to using a website. So hosted software is software operated on a special server that can be used from your computer. You can understand this better, by acquiring knowledge on the working system of computer software. The software that you view and use is known as the User Interface. It is considered to be the driving force; in fact it represents the steering wheel and pedals of a car. Software also has many pedals serving the same function. The interface of the user will take your input and make use of the software?s data as well as logic to perform the work for you. For instance, if you type ?2+4=? on the calculators user interface, the software applies its logic and data to prompt you the answer as 6.

The software you purchase from a store has both, the interface of the user and the logic and data running on your computer. The working system of the Hosted software is a little bit different. For instance when you use the internet, the user interface runs from your computer. In the hosted software, the user interface directly talks on the website instead of the data and logic of your computer. The information is kept safe in an encrypted form avoiding unwanted people from peeping at your data. In a nutshell, hosted software is used from the web browser and works like running software on your computer. Very soon noticing the benefits many companies may shift to hosted software.

The Difference between a Hosted Platform and an On-Premise Call Center Solution

When you are trying to decide between getting a hosted platform for your preferred call center solution, or an on-premise one, you may need to rely on a more structured set of parameters to determine just what exactly you are looking for in a call center software package and service.

Some contact center managers choose a call center solution based just on the cost to their company ? but that is not always the main determinant of what makes a good call center solution. You need the structured process of selection to come up with the appropriate call center solution for your needs. And to determine appropriateness, you have to factor in the business needs of your organization, the risks that your business faces with each product on your short list of candidates, and who are the stakeholders who would be affected by your preferred call center solution. With this outline, you can now try to consider whether to opt for a hosted platform or an on-premise call center solution for your call center.

An on-premise call center solution is one that has been set up in your company facilities and uses hardware that is housed within company facilities. So your on-premise call center system would use in-house servers for data storage, which is pretty secure if you have also invested in a multiple-level security system (such as that made up of 24/7 surveillance with video cameras, human security personnel, and biometric-technology-based passwords.) You need to keep your company facility very safe then and look out for risks that may hit it (because majority of the data in your servers belongs or concerns your clients.) Another advantage with an on-premise call center solution is that you can have the software package developer systematically customize the call center solution for the particular needs of your organization. There will also be some pre-existing systems in your company facility that could be merged with the on-premise call center solution of your choice.

It is believed that you can get lower investment outlay with a hosted solution (compared to the on-premise call center solution variety) inclusive of deployment and hardware capital used. But, though it is cheaper, your ROI (return on investment) should turn out to be better afterwards. Start up of the system should be pretty quick (sometimes requiring just days to be launched) so that you can take advantage of the IT resources provided and the software functionality you can get (even in the absence of IT consultants and systems integrators.)

Now, as to which one is better for your organization, only you and your colleagues can satisfy that question properly ? because what is perceived as better for one call center may not be appropriate for the others.

About Promero, Inc
Founded in 2001, Promero www.promero.com is a Certified Partner in the Oracle Partner Network and is a leading application service provider of Internet-based call center, CRM and lead management software. Promero’s products include Oracle’s Contact Center Anywhere [a hosted virtual call center/predictive dialer software], ProStar CRM, Smart8 Call Routing and ProStar Lead Manager.

Promero headquarters is located in Pompano, Florida.
Telephone: 954-935-8800.

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