Klaas van der Leest, Managing Director, Intelecom UK Ltd, explains how CCaaS can support the ups and downs of a seasonal business
Summer has arrived and the long school holidays are on the horizon, therefore businesses with seasonal peaks and troughs in demand need to prepare for a potential increase or decrease in the number of enquiries into the contact centre.
However, with the advent of cloud-based technology, creating a highly flexible and agile contact centre to support changes in demand and a seasonal business is now easier than ever before.
Here are six benefits of using CCaaS to tackle those tricky seasonal periods whenever they may be:
Location independence
The latest cloud-based contact centres are no longer hindered by the constraints of traditional premise-based technology such as the number of lines coming into the building. Today’s CCaaS deployments are totally location, software and hardware independent meaning callers never receive an engaged tone due to increased capacity and are presented to the first available agent. What is more, agents and administrators have the freedom to log-on from any location using a simple phone line and Internet connection. This means that organisations can ramp up resource as and when required. Multiple departments and additional sites can be linked to handle overflow calls when the contact centre is busy. Plus homeworkers can be scheduled to help out as needed, allowing for work/life balance during long school holidays.
Flexibility, Scalability and Business Agility
Seasonal business contact centres need to scale, grow (or contract) to cost effectively react to market changes. Cloud-based contact centres offer a building block approach which means additional functionality can be turned on as and when required. New agents can also be added instantly without the need for additional licenses or the renegotiation of contract terms providing the perfect solution for seasonal peaks in demand and during holiday periods.
Maximising talent and human resources
No longer restricted by a physical location, organisations using CCaaS can look further afield to attract the best people for their contact centres. Geographic boundaries are removed and special talents such as different language skills can be sourced where they are most apparent (for example the pool of native Welsh speakers is highest in Wales but the contact centre could be based in London). This capability is ideal for organisations offering specialist seasonal holidays or events in different regions.
Easier home working
It’s every contact centre manager’s dream to have flexible schedules which mean agents are available to answer customer calls at periods of high demand but are not sitting around waiting for calls at other times. This can be difficult to achieve with on-site operations, it makes perfect sense to make the most of home-workers who can simply log on and off as required, even doing multiple shorter shifts in a single day and potentially reducing overtime payments along the way. At the same time, employee satisfaction is known to increase when flexibility is offered.
No need for onsite IT people
Modern cloud-based contact centre solutions can stand alone or sit on top of existing infrastructure removing the need to replace equipment and helping to rationalise and even consolidate technology. What is more, because ongoing maintenance, upgrades and software roll-outs can be administered in the cloud, there is no need to have a large in-house IT department on call 24 hours a day or be concerned about the lack of holiday cover.
Save money – no upfront capital investment and Pay As You Go pricing
Last but by no means least, with CCaaS there is no heavy upfront capital expenditure investment. The CCaaS Pay As You Go pricing model means organisations are only charged for the resource and/or service used on a monthly basis this is of particular advantage to seasonal businesses.
Maximising the potential of cloud-based contact centre solutions guarantees organisations are best placed to respond rapidly to fluctuating seasonal business patterns, nimbly and cost-effectively. It’s time to relax, chill out and enjoy a care-free summer with CCaaS technology.
For additional information see Intelecom’s Company Profile
