On-premise vs cloud contact center: What’s the difference?

The ‘Cloud’ has been the number one IT buzzword of the past ten years, proving the concept is no passing fad. It arguably represents the most fundamental adjustment in IT practices in recent years. But what is it, how is it different from an on-premise call center, and what does it mean for your business?

The key differences between on-premises and cloud-based contact center

While both on-premise and cloud contact center solutions are viable options, how do you decide which one’s better for you? Here are the key differences between these two options to help you make an informed decision that aligns with your business needs, operational goals, and customer service strategies.

Cloud Contact Centers vs On-Premise Contact Centers

Deployment and Infrastructure

On-premise contact centers require a significant upfront investment in hardware and software, which are hosted and managed on-site. You, as the owner, are responsible for the maintenance, upgrades, and overall management of these systems.

On the other hand, cloud contact centers offer a subscription-based model and are hosted by third-party providers. They require minimal initial investment and can be deployed quickly.

Costs

While the initial setup costs are high, ongoing expenses may be lower since there are no recurring subscription fees for an on-premises call center. However, you must budget for maintenance, updates, and potential hardware replacements.

Cloud call centers typically have lower upfront costs but involve ongoing subscription fees. The pricing model is often based on usage, which can be advantageous if your business has fluctuating demand.

Scalability

Scaling an on-premise contact center can be challenging and costly, as it often requires purchasing additional hardware and software licenses.
Cloud solutions are inherently scalable. Businesses can quickly adjust their capacity to match demand without the need for significant infrastructure changes or investments.

Control and Customization

One of the main advantages of on-premise solutions is the high level of control they offer. Businesses can customize their systems to meet specific needs and have direct oversight over data security and compliance. Cloud systems might not be able to offer that level of customisation.

Flexibility and Accessibility

Cloud solutions are highly flexible and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. They support remote work and can easily integrate with other cloud-based tools and services. On-premise centers, on the other hand, are not remotely accessible.

Updates and Maintenance

The cloud service provider handles updates, maintenance, and security, reducing the business’s IT burden. This ensures the contact center is always up-to-date with the latest features and security protocols.

If you opt for an on-premise system, you’re responsible for maintaining and updating the call center software and infrastructure.

Why move from on-premise to a cloud-based call center?

Companies that use cloud center services enjoy:

1. Centralized phone-based customer communications and engagements on a digital platform
2. Speed of deployment
3. Typically, no hardware installation investment required
4. Easy, low-cost maintenance
5. Cloud-based call center software updates (including security) are all handled by your cloud supplier
6. Calls scheduled and assigned based on a specific company’s configuration.
7. Reduced need for landline networks and manual phone operation
8. Streamlined call center operations – employees and resources are free to focus on other areas in the business
9. Increased reliability
10. Quick and straightforward scaling
11. Taking advantage of Artificial Intelligence – to support chatbots in basic data collection or handling simple enquiries to enable more effective modelling

Find out more about why call center operations managers are investing in the cloud.

What are the challenges of moving from an on-premise to cloud contact center?

It’s natural and common to experience resistance to the adoption of new technologies. Staff anticipate increased workloads when moving to a new cloud infrastructure. For the migration from on-premise to cloud to be embraced, clear and empathetic presentation of the benefits is vital.

Your managers need to demonstrate how the new environment will streamline business operations, reduce costs, improve workflows and improve the customer experience compared to the traditional on-premise call center.

Preparing for the inevitable challenges will be a key part of gaining trust. You can address this positively by showing how cloud migration will allow the contact center to be more innovative when delivering new products and services. You can also reassure your teams by explaining that you’ll be carrying out extensive load testing as part of the migration process.

Read more about the benefits and ROI of a Cloud Contact Center.

4 key steps to take when migrating to a Cloud Contact Center

Step 1 – Making a business case for a cloud-based contact center

Firstly, you’ll need to conduct a benchmark and risk analysis study. This will help you understand the technical and resource requirements, drawbacks and benefits. This will also help you gain buy-in, as you’ll have tangible evidence of your migration strategy.

Next, you’ll need to build your business case, which will have to include an ROI forecast, as well as a clear outline of the following benefits:

• Universal queue and desktop application– making it much easier for your agents to handle multichannel interactionsŽ
• Customizable reports and real-time dashboards– enabling the tracking of different departments’ performance on a site, team and individual agent levelŽ
• Scalability– you can start out with a few agent seats and add more when required.

Step 2 – Choosing your software vendor

You need to find out from potential cloud software vendors about

• The functional capabilities of the software–what it actually will do for your operation
• How professional and reliable their service is
• The scope and effectiveness of the service & support team
• How successful they have been with their clients–look for reviews and testimonials
• Cloud Contact Centre Gartner Research–have they been recognized in the Magic Quadrant by Gartner as the leader for Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS)

You should also be carrying a technical evaluation of potential vendors, to check:

• If you need to provide high-speed internet
• If the vendor has reliable deployment startegies
• If their telephony migration policy meets your requirements
• How they will test the new infrastructure prior to deployment
• If the various channels (especially phone) all integrate and migrate to the cloud solution

Step 3 – Operational changes to consider

Migrating to the Cloud may mean changes to how your people work. You’ll need to consider which elements of the infrastructure should be moved and in what order. You may not move everything at once, initially leaving certain elements on-premise.

When implementing your cloud contact centre platform, focus on your people. They will be key to successful software migration. Departments such as security, operations or finance, for example, all play a key role. The new cloud applications and infrastructure assets may necessitate the introduction of new roles.

Make sure you keep everyone involved. You’ll need to create a strong and clear communications plan. Without bringing your people with you on the migration journey, technology alone will only get you so far.

When migrating to the cloud, avoid the temptation to simply transfer your processes from your old system to the new one. Instead, prioritize your most important departments, functions, and processes. These should be the first to migrate to the cloud.

Step 4 – Keep your customer front of mind

Throughout the entire migration, it’s vital to keep focused on your customer and their needs. This is the most direct route to the Holy Grail of customer satisfaction. It’s also why constant testing during migration is so critical.

A cloud vendor’s professional team can provide guidance on customer needs. They’ll provide you with best practice advice on leveraging channels and integrating with omnichannel expectations.

One example might be predictive behavioral routing. Cloud contact centre technology software can identify the preferred paths of communication depending on which customer you are speaking to. Your customers can be categorized into different profiles. ‘Awake subscribers’, let’s say, are your most reliable customers. They’ve bought from you before and can be routed to agents who are skilled at upselling.

Alternatively, the system might pick up on keywords such as ‘anniversary’ and ‘special occasion’ during the call, prompting the agent to offer the customer a one-time deal discount on their next purchase as well as a free thoughtful gift to say ‘congratulations’.

Cloud migration validation testing – bringing long-term savings

Our service demonstrates time and again its ability to provide such a swift and effective testing system.

• The Occam Razor Discovery tool reduces average deployment times by three months, thus releasing cloud advantages and savings sooner.
• To exceed the cost of our service, on average fewer than 10 customers would need to be adversely affected by a defect.
• We offer the fastest route to deployment in the market whilst offering a significant ROI against other validation platforms.