Hosted contact center

A modern contact center is designed to be agile and efficient. But what is the best call center software architecture to achieve this?

That’s exactly what we’re going to be talking about today. Hosted contact center solutions have proven popular in recent years thanks to their relative affordability and ease of deployment when compared to traditional on-premises contact center solutions.

But what if we told you there could be something even better?

We’re catapulting all of that tedious contact center hardware into the ether. Because up in the skies there’s a browser-accessible communication platform that’s changing the way our contact centers work, for good.

Both outbound and inbound contact centers are today accessing synchronicity via the cloud.

Cloud service providers like Dialpad are now offering Ai-powered, very flexible contact center solutions with reduced operational costs and instant scalability that can be implemented in minutes.

What is a hosted contact center, exactly?

In a hosted contact center, your contact center software isn’t installed on-premises. Instead, it’s installed and hosted on a remote off-site server provided by an industry solution provider (which typically also provides the hosted VoIP service required to have phone calls with customers).

Typically hosted contact centers are referred to as “single-tenant,” while cloud contact centers are “multi-tenant.” We’ll get more into this later.

How does a hosted contact center work?

As a user, all you have to do to manage a hosted contact center is connect to the remote server over a network connection. In recent years, this was a popular option for startups and businesses looking to update their legacy hardware.

But, contact center technology has come a long way since then, and hosted call center software still lacks agility and flexibility in a few ways. (More on that in just a bit.)

If you’ve come across the term “CCaaS,” or Contact Center as a Service, that typically refers to cloud contact centers—not hosted contact centers—so make sure not to confuse the two! (Most contact center vendors today are cloud-based.)

What are the benefits of a hosted contact center? 

A hosted contact center offers several advantages over traditional on-premise solutions, particularly in terms of flexibility, cost, and operational efficiency:

1. Scalability: Hosted contact centers make it easier than on-prem systems to scale up or down based on demand (but aren’t necessarily the most scalable option).

2. Cost efficiency: This also means that you pay only for the services you use, eliminating the costs associated with maintaining on-premise equipment, such as servers and software.

3. Advanced features: Hosted solutions often come with advanced features like analytics, Ai-driven insights, omnichannel support, and automatic call distribution.

4. Easy maintenance and updates: Your provider would handle all updates, maintenance, and security patches, which reduces the burden on your internal IT team.

5. Faster implementation: Hosted contact centers can be deployed quickly, with minimal setup time, so you can get up and running faster than traditional on-premises solutions.

Who should consider a hosted contact center?

Generally, a hosted contact center is best for businesses that need flexible, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. Hosted contact centers are especially useful for businesses with remote or distributed teams, since they let agents and supervisors work from anywhere.

Why hosted contact centers aren’t always the best option

Even though hosted contact center software is a step up from maintaining traditional on-premises solutions, it’s still not quite as good as cloud contact centers.

Quick note: Hosted call center systems do require less maintenance than a traditional on-premises server because that’s handled by your service provider. It’s more affordable. But to be honest, that’s a pretty low bar considering how exorbitant the prices of on-premises contact centers can be.

What’s more, cloud contact centers are easy to set up and very cost-effective. The initial capital outlay is relatively low and most operational costs are absorbed by the provider. With Dialpad's contact center solution, for example, you can easily set up new agents and add phone numbers with just a few clicks:

Ultimately, this means that you can focus on things like providing great customer service, managing your team and generally running your business.

Things to consider if you’re thinking of a hosted contact center

1. Hosted contact centers aren’t easily scalable

Although hosted call center solutions are a step up from on-premises solutions, they’re still not super scaleable compared to true cloud-based alternatives. This is important because contact centers, especially those in industries with lots of seasonal fluctuations, may need to quickly scale up—or down—their capabilities, call capacity, and number of agents.

2. Hosted contact centers cost more (than cloud solutions)

Again, if you’re comparing hosted contact centers to on-premises options, you’d be saving money because the service provider is maintaining their data center, equipment and connections, so you don’t have to. 

Hosted contact center pricing is cheaper in this context—but you’re not saving as much as you would with cloud contact center software. One of the biggest benefits of going with the cloud is that it eliminates any aspect of the data center management, including the people and expenses required.

3. Hosted contact centers give you maximum control

As we mentioned earlier, a hosted approach can give you control over your implementation of the software and isolate your data, allowing you to do things like implement special workflows or code customizations of your own design. But this can be a double-edged sword because it also makes it much harder to maintain and upgrade a system over time because it differs from a standard implementation.

A better alternative to hosted contact software? Digging deeper into cloud contact centers

Cloud contact centers are a step up from their hosted counterparts and offer the best alternative to traditional on-premises hardware and phone systems.

What are the benefits of  a cloud contact center?

A cloud contact center is a solution that facilitates processing, data, and all of the call handling logic online. Because of that, cloud contact centers are incredibly flexible and scalable.

A cloud contact center can be accessed from anywhere, on any desktop or mobile device connected to the Internet. In the office, at home, on the road—you name it. As long as you have an internet connection, you can interact with your contact center as an agent or as a manager, wherever you go.

Because of this, businesses with cloud-based contact center solutions are able to cut back on their physical office space, computing and telephony infrastructure, saving time and money on everything from equipment to utility bills.

After all, with agents able to work remotely, there’s no need for so large of a footprint on the ground. Plus, since most cloud services work on a subscription-based pricing model, there’s zero upfront capital investment required.

The big benefit of the cloud is that it offers instant flexibility. You can scale up—or down—much more quickly with a cloud contact center compared to a hosted or on-premises contact center.

Other benefits of going with a cloud contact center:

• You can deploy new call queues and groups of agents in just minutes or days (not months):

• You have access from anywhere—great for establishing a virtual call center in another location or to meet sudden demand.

• No expensive setup costs for facilities or call center hosting technology.

• Lower operational costs (and total cost of ownership) since everything happens faster, and managers have visibility into contact center operations and people around the world.

• Easier scalability to add phone lines, people, and support queues anywhere in the world.

• Zero maintenance, with automatic upgrades provided by the software vendor and applied instantly to all users of the contact center software.

• System, data, and network security provided as part of the service.

• Reduced downtime, with automatic failover and low latency connections.

All of this allows you and your agents to focus on the valuable work: facilitating customer interactions and boosting the customer experience—not the administration and maintenance of your tools.

How to choose a cloud contact center platform

When you’re choosing a cloud contact center platform, look for features that can help you improve customer satisfaction and also your agents’ workflows.

For example: real-time support for your agents and managers, configurable IVR (interactive voice response) and other customer self-service options, ACD (automatic call distribution), agent skills-based and intelligent call routing, customer callback capabilities (when no agent is available), an automated outbound dialer, and both screen and voice call recording.