Workforce Management Featured Article
Critical Distinctions Among Cloud, Hosted and On-Premise Contact Center Solutions
There once was a time when companies had a few choices for their call or contact center solutions, but they all required an investment in expensive equipment that would be installed on premises. That equipment required skilled management and maintenance and was generally cumbersome and difficult to operate and maintain.
Those days are long gone, and organizations have a huge choice when it comes to choosing their contact center solutions. Offerings generally fall into three categories, however, and may be grouped as on-premise, cloud or hosted. The criteria for choosing an offering from one of these categories is pretty broad, but a recent whitepaper from Monet Software (News - Alert) offers insights on the nuances of each category of contact center solution.
The company, which specializes in cloud-based workforce optimization for contact centers, breaks down the basic differences among the three contact center solution delivery methods to give customers an idea of which type of offering will best meet their needs. On-premise is clearly the most traditional type of solution, requiring that all hardware and software reside in the contact center. That includes installation, deployment and maintenance, with all equipment purchased upfront as a capital expenditure. On-premises offerings are usually suitable for larger enterprises that have the resources and space to accommodate a large and high-maintenance solution.
Clearly, cost is a major factor when opting for an on-premise solution, and in addition to upfront expenditures, companies will need to pay for ongoing costs like electricity, equipment replacement and skilled personnel to manage and maintain systems. They will also need to account for downtime and outages and the cost their business will incur in the event of an issue.
Hosted contact center solutions involve a service provider, who is responsible for purchasing, installing and maintaining equipment and software. Solutions reside on either physical or virtual servers that may be owned outright or leased by a business. While this setup may be similar to an on-premise offering, customers aren’t required to pay for hardware up front and generally pay an initial provisioning fee as well as a subscription or usage-based fee for equipment and personnel.
The cloud is becoming a popular choice for all types of applications and the contact center is no exception. Cloud solutions are offered as a service, with pricing based on subscription or usage. The cloud is scalable, flexible and low maintenance from a customer perspective, with all the heavy lifting being done by the service provider. Management, maintenance and updates all happen transparently, behind the scenes and can be accomplished quite easily thanks to a multi-tenant, virtualized delivery model.
Cloud contact center solutions clearly offer numerous advantages in the way of cost, flexibility and maintenance. Another major factor is security, and while cloud offerings were previously perceived as insecure compared to on-premise solutions, that is no longer the case. Cloud providers typically specialize in securing their very specific offerings, and can also provide added assurances in the way of disaster recover and backup measures.
Finally, workforce flexibility is a consideration when determining whether an on-premise, hosted or cloud contact center solution is best for your company. Cloud offerings facilitate workforce optimization and flexibility since they easily enable BYOD and remote work. These types of solutions also typically facilitate collaboration and sharing, which benefits workers, organizations, customers and partners.
Obviously, business size, budget and resources will all be important factors when determining which contact center solution is the best fit for your organization. But the cloud clearly offers myriad advantages, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. If your business needs flexibility, scalability, security, a host of collaborative features and guaranteed levels of service, a cloud-based contact center solution might be the best fit for your needs.
To find out more and check out the whitepaper in full, visit: Cost and Benefit Comparison: Cloud vs. Premise vs. HostedEdited by Stefania Viscusi