Using CaaS to Enhance Call Center Operations

“Communications as a Service” or CaaS solutions are now being used by several companies to improve their business prospects especially through call centers. Call centers serve to link a company with customers directly. Whether to handle complaints or promote a product or solution it is the call center executives who handle end user queries.

But call centers generally face problems like high turnover, increased expenses, continuous training requirements and the necessity of the quick adoption of new technologies, which are cost prohibitive.

It is imperative for businesses to enhance customer interactions, but at minimum cost. The solution does not remain in trying to derive more functionality with existing technology. Also, older technology solutions may not be effective in responding to changing business and customer service requirements.

In order to improve functionality and enhance call center operations businesses are increasingly adopting CaaS solutions.

Advantages of CaaS implementation

CaaS solutions not only help reduce the capital expense of setting up a business call center, but they also minimize operating costs. They also enable high flexibility in the dynamic business environment.

For any business the two parameters – Total Cost of Ownership and Return on Investment – are vital for the sustainability and survivability of the business. In case of a premise-based contact center solution the total costs in- clude those of software, hardware, data center infrastructure, implementation, energy expenses, system maintenance, IT staff salaries, constant upgrades and monthly subscriptions.

Research reports show that hosted contact center solu- tions are more cost effective as they help over ride staffing, implementation, m a i n t e n a n c e and upgrade costs. The CaaS model is found to be more effective than any premisebased solution, according to studies by Frost & Sullivan.

Premise-based solutions need more hardware, middleware and complex integrations and will require longer periods of time to implement. But CaaS solutions can be deployed in weeks and the business has to pay only for the capacity and functionality they use as a monthly subscription. CaaS vendors also offer the IT resources needed to manage system integration, configuration, administration, support and upgrades. So clients need to spend only on the parts of the CaaS package they use and when they use it.

Also, CaaS enables significant savings in staff numbers and the space required to house the staff and hardware including furniture, power, etc. Constant training of call center agents and other staff is minimized, which is an important factor keeping in mind the high attrition rates in this industry and shortage of experienced staff.

CaaS is being offered through various technologies like IP -based LA N, WAN and MPLS networks. This allows companies to expand their contact center setups by upgrading to the next technology instead of expanding in terms of staff numbers and buildings. Also, such technologies allow staff to work from any remote location if they satisfy other requirements. This also benefits highly skilled workers who do not like traditional call center setups. They can work flexibly via a networked deployment and avoid traveling too.

A CaaS-based, fully integrated, workforce-management solution can help schedule call center agents by forecasting need based on historical data. Such solutions also help monitor agents to see if they are strictly following the schedules drawn according to staff availability and skills.

A fully-integrated CaaS routing application can be used, which will improve agent utilization and route multichannel interactions effectively. Customer experience is enhanced as their interaction can be routed quickly and accurately. Outbound dialing from a call center can also be optimised in order to maintain the productivity of agents. Predictive dialing helps avoid time in dialing and waiting. It also schedules outbound calls when incoming calls are expected to be low. Telemarketing campaigns covering several customers can be attempted using CaaS-based outbound dialing solutions.

Quality monitoring leverages supervisor-client interfaces to provide real-time details regarding various aspects of call center agent responsiveness. This can be used to impart training to agents on how to handle certain calls. Also, automatic multichannel recording saves voice files of all customer interactions, which can be used in the future.

While deploying a CaaS solution, the existing network and telephony architecture can itself be leveraged, this eliminates the need for costly purchases and implementations. Some of the CaaS models used widely are Time Division Multiplexing (TDM ), networked voiceover IP or a combination of both.

How to Select a CaaS Solution

The CaaS deployment model depends on the existing PBX or onsite phone system with advanced services. Replacing or adding a new solution may alter the onsite hardware or software deployment. If an IP -based solution is preferred then it is important to check if the existing network that is LA N or WAN can run VoIP or not.

The type of CaaS solution also depends on whether the contact center operations are centralized or distributed and also on the time available for the implementation. Arrangements have to be made in case call recordings and call detail records are needed.

Migrating to a new system not only costs money, but there will be time concerns as well. Both have to be kept at a minimum while catering to the call volume. The CaaS system allows the business to scale to a larger call volume if required. Based on general conditions, the call center may have arrangements for a small number of agents with basic call routing and call recording facilities. In case an increase in calls is expected owing to a new product launch or advertising campaign then the call center capacity can easily be increased by adding more agents or introducing Interactive Voice Recording or IVR facilities.

Contact center managers may be desirous of implementing a new CaaS solution. To test its efficacy, he can just try it on a small group of agents with the service provider making the necessary investments. The business manager needs to add the feature on a monthly fee basis. But in a traditional setup, such trials can be made only with the purchase of a server and the procurement of other hardware and software licenses.

Another flexible option offered by CaaS implementations is that if a business manager does not prefer the new solution he can move to a premise-based solution any time. They can also use the hardware such as IP phones bought for a CaaS solution again.

CaaS in Asia

The Asia-Pacific region is a lucrative market for CaaS solutions as call centers throng the region. Interaction management software packages have fast replaced traditional telecommunications and compute telephony integration solutions. Applications include multimedia routing and queuing, IVR, screen pop, Internet text chat and unified messaging to name a few. Interactive Intelligence Inc. operates through resellers in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan.

In Thailand Computer Telephony Asia is a distributor of communications solutions. CT Asia also implements call center systems in South East Asia apart from Thailand. CT Asia provides Enterprise Interaction software to call enters, enterprises and service providers with the flexibility to use phone, fax, e-mail, etc., without requiring multiple devices. The EI C itself works as a PBX, IVR, fax server and Web server.

Datacraft India, a subsidiary of IT services company Datacraft Asia, provides software for IP telephony, contact center automation, unified communications and customer self-service. Its Customer Interaction Center and Enterprise Interaction Center have been adopted on a large scale by Indian companies and that of other SAA RC nations. Datacraft also provides implementation services.

The solutions have been so designed that they help organizations migrate to IP slowly without much disturbance. In Asian countries there is a marked increase in productivity-enhancing customer interaction and IP convergence solutions which form part of CaaS implementations.

The spurt in this demand for IP telephony solutions in the Asia-Pacific region witnessed some years back was due to a desire to replace old PA BX systems. Gartner Inc. researchers predicted then that voice service installations will become predominant in this region, which has been found to be correct as there is a greater need to increase productivity and improve call center interactions now.

Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore are major markets for CaaS based solutions. A Forrester Consulting study conducted in 2009 on 900 small and medium businesses commissioned by HP in nine countries across the world found that there is a great demand for six types of CaaS services.

The study also included countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The six types of services included self-service interactive voice response (IVR), IP contact center, Unified Communications, video surveillance, PC back-up and recovery and multimedia conferencing.

Also, studies conducted by Gartner Inc. reveal that more users will adopt CaaS from 2009 onwards as it promises predictable costs for telecoms. Companies will also find this a suitable solution as CaaS enables shifting technology risk to the service provider. Technology obsolescence can also be managed by a scalable third party, according to Gartner sources.

As the markets rebounded, CaaS also grew gradually from 2008 through 2009. A significant growth trend will be witnessed between 2010 and 2011 and the market is expected to grow from $1.2 billion to $2.3 billion.

CaaS, like Software as a Service (SaaS), allows technology organizations to acquire software resources. Here, communications technology is housed in a data center of a communications service provider and is managed by the provider as a multi-tenant infrastructure. Small and medium-sized businesses requiring enterprise-class communications services will benefit a lot from these services that are offered to customers on a pay-per-minute or payper- subscription basis as they may lack the resources to own a full system.