8x8 White Papers and Demos

Traditional contact centers are built to be operated on-premises using proprietary hardware and software. In the late nineties first-generation hosted contact center applications were released. However, these solutions did not offer comparable technology, cost, features and flexibility and therefore failed to gain acceptance in the contact center market. The inability of early hosted applications to deliver feasible solutions for contact center users created a number of myths, reinforcing the perception that on-premises solutions were superior. Second-generation cloud-based contact center applications not only overcome their predecessors’ weaknesses with advanced technology, they also deliver clear advantages over on-premises systems in terms of cost, flexibility, and reliability. It is time to debunk the myths.

On-premises contact centers were once the only reliable choice for the enterprise, a necessary investment with no real alternatives. With the advent of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), this is no longer true. SaaS vendors have proven their ability to deliver measurable value, causing a permanent and fundamental shift in the way technology is delivered and managed.

You have already decided that a cloud-based contact center solution is right for your company; now you have to evaluate the available contact center technology alternatives. Beyond the must-have features to meet your current and future business needs, there are several critical technology criteria to evaluate.

As the role of the contact center evolves, the transactions performed in such an environment can expand to include responding to marketing campaign promotions and increased interactions with customers. Now more than ever, the contact center is a major component of the customer lifecycle, ranging from opportunity identification to solutions and ongoing management through acquisitions and divestiture.