3 min read
Everyone knows that the technology supporting call centers is complex. To operate in modern times, you need to have systems for voice, for digital, for scheduling, planning, payroll, operations… the list goes on.
A key challenge for IT teams is in making sure all these systems are well integrated. By that we mean: these systems are able to “talk” to another in a smart way, without manual intervention.
The whole point of these massive tech systems is to make the human experience more efficient and enjoyable—but too often the opposite happens. Data is captured in one place and sent around, but critical areas of the business are left out. Someone has to copy the data by hand, usually rearrange it, and plug it into something else.
The room for mistakes is huge:
- Someone might just forget to do it
- Only a few people know how to do it, and most have left the company
- Someone does it but makes a small mistake that crashes everything
- And among the most common: no one actually does it or thinks to do it, and the organization suffers as a result
For call centers that have not moved to a cloud platform, or are only offered a private cloud system, a lack of integration has started to truly drag down performance compared to competitors.
Common challenges
- Staffing, scheduling, and reporting challenges. Call centers create tons of actionable data every minute. But poorly integrated systems trap all that data in silos. You need to wait for analysts to dig in, do work, and report results. This can take weeks (or months). But scheduling, staffing, and reporting decisions can have timelines as short as days.
- Routing limitations. Without good integration, systems can’t automatically send incoming tasks or calls to the most efficient agents. You need live data and a good set of employee attributes and proficiencies at the ready, and an algorithm working to make a match. Otherwise, stuff tends to get sorted based on whoever’s available. That is the opposite of efficient.
- Reporting and terminology inconsistencies with multiple vendors. Larger organizations often work with resellers, partner vendors, and other third parties in order to do business. If each stakeholder in the hierarchy uses a different system, then smooth communication and integration is virtually impossible. Emails and shared spreadsheets tend to be the primary methods of “data transfer” between entities. Again: not efficient.
Solving integration problems like these requires a strong tech foundation in the first place. And you can’t expect to do it in a vacuum: perfecting your system isn’t enough when you’re also required to interface with other stakeholders’ systems.
The modern approach to developing this foundation is to run a call center on a secure, public cloud infrastructure.
On-premise vs private cloud vs public cloud
On-premise means the technology is literally on site—physical servers in the building do the work. This is the oldest and riskiest system. It is hard to upgrade, standardization has likely eroded into custom setups, and you need highly specialized resources to maintain it. It doesn’t not talk to anything easily.
Private cloud isn’t much better. The tech is not on site, but with no way to seamlessly connect to the outside world of third-party applications and systems, private cloud systems can fall behind as fast as on-prem platforms.
The modern solution is a secure, public cloud infrastructure. The risk and maintenance burden is spread over a large network of providers. Integration is fast and simple, because the network thrives on creating standardized methodologies.
GTS specializes in helping empathically migrate organizations to these secure, public cloud systems, which dramatically improves both customer and employee experiences. Get in touch today!
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