In-House Contact Center Technology is Not Your Only Option

Contact Center On-Demand™ Can Save You Time and Money

CosmoCom's IP contact center technology is available on-premises and on-demand from a service provider. The benefits of an on-demand deployment strategy are summarized here.

Capital Expenditure Avoidance

Instead of making large upfront purchases of capital equipment, enterprises can pay for their actual usage by the agent or by the minute without long term commitments.

Focus on Core Business, not on Running a Phone Company

Deployment and maintenance of call center equipment is complex and labor intensive, and large telecom and IT departments are required for the task. The complexity of running a large call center operation is comparable to that of running a telephone company. And with qualified telecom and IT personnel always hard to find, managing this mission critical function effectively is ever more challenging. Businesses should focus on what they do best, not on building and running their own phone company.

Call Centers Becoming Multi-Channel “Contact Centers”

There is major change in the way customers are contacting the companies they do business with. Telephone calls are only one of many methods available now, including web-based chat, e-mail, SMS and even voice and video over IP. This means that call centers in enterprises all over the world are rethinking the way they handle customer contacts, and about how they're going to enhance existing systems and when they should replace their legacy systems. In short, they need to make major changes anyway, so why not consider CCOD?

Capacity Management

One of the strongest benefits of CCOD is in the area of capacity management, especially as it applies to these new contact methods. Enterprises don't know what the new mix of contact methods will be. No one knows yet. Phone calls vs. web chat vs. e-mail vs. VoIP vs. video vs. voice mail-no one knows the right amount of capital equipment to buy in these areas. With CCOD, customers can simply pay for the capacity they actually use, when they use it. 

Many call centers also have capacity needs that vary seasonally, or with promotional campaigns. One big Internet promotion could push the need for Internet-capable agents from 40 to 400 in a couple of weeks, and back to 40 again a month later. Only a CCOD service can provide this kind of flexible capacity management in a cost effective way.

Multi-Site Call Centers

CCOD inherently virtualizes call centers, creating a single system image for the whole enterprise regardless of the number of sites and the locations of agents. Virtualization increases agent efficiency and reduces complexity. Multiple sites with layered, independent queues and separate administrative interfaces are not only inefficient, but also difficult to manage. In a traditional, non-virtual, multi-site environment, a few simple adjustments often means coordinating changes to ten different systems from six different vendors at eight different sites in three different time zones with a team of five people proficient in just four of the platforms. CCOD provides a single point of access from any PC to create and change IVR scripts and recordings, call flows, agent skills, group assignments, quality of service targets, etc.

Call Centers for Small Businesses

CCOD inherently virtualizes call centers, creating a single system image for the whole enterprise regardless of the number of sites and the locations of agents. Virtualization increases agent efficiency and reduces complexity. Multiple sites with layered, independent queues and separate administrative interfaces are not only inefficient, but also difficult to manage. In a traditional, non-virtual, multi-site environment, a few simple adjustments often means coordinating changes to ten different systems from six different vendors at eight different sites in three different time zones with a team of five people proficient in just four of the platforms. CCOD provides a single point of access from any PC to create and change IVR scripts and recordings, call flows, agent skills, group assignments, quality of service targets, etc.

IP Delivery of Phone Calls

One of the highest costs in a typical call center is the cost of the calls themselves. A domestic toll-free circuit switched 800 call in the U.S., typically delivered over T1 or E1 lines, can cost anywhere from $0.05 to $0.10 per minute or more. Outside of the US, the costs are often much higher. The same toll-free 800 calls be delivered to CCOD agents in the IP domain for much less-as little as $0.02 to $0.04 per minute. Even a penny per minute in savings can be a very significant cost reduction.