Business VoIP – Hosted call center solutions

Hosted call center solutions

Maintaining a fully-staffed and fully-equipped call center for a large organization requires a lot of careful planning, trained personnel, and good equipment. In the end however, the return on investment is evident. An efficient call center delivers significant returns in terms of increased sales.

Regardless of the size of your call center operation, hosted technologies can contribute significantly to cost reduction, and towards streamlining the operation. A hosted call center, together with technologies that include hosted VoIP and a hosted PBX, bring tremendous power and flexibility to an organization. The hosted call center solution can connect agents anywhere in the world, allowing you to employ call center staff who work on a telecommuting basis from their homes, or even overseas. The hosted VoIP element of the call center allows for long distance fees to be kept to a minimum, including international calling. The hosted PBX adds several advanced functions as well that makes the creation of a "virtual" call center possible. With the hosted PBX for example, calls coming into the main number can be routed out to remote locations transparently; and each remote location can function as a virtual extension to the main exchange.

The hosted PBX allows for both outbound and inbound call center connectivity, making it possible to create a widely dispersed virtual call center that functions the same as if everyone were in the same office.

Hosted Solutions

Hosted technology in the call center eliminates the need for on-premises hardware and software, yet provides the same functionality as an on-site implementation.

There are numerous advantages. A hosted PBX for example, will allow for a very rapid implementation, letting you get up and running the same day. Setup is typically very straightforward, and adding new virtual extensions can be done on the fly without having to wait for a physical truck roll. In addition, the advantage of the hosted option (hosted PBX with hosted VoIP) minimizes capital expenditures, with most hosted call center solutions offering monthly fee structures or hourly rates that are quite affordable—with very little in terms of setup costs. And of course, without having to physically maintain equipment, operating expenses are also kept to a minimum since IT staff will not have to dedicate precious time to maintenance.

It is of course, very possible to create a virtual call center using on-premises equipment, although the maintenance overhead would be significant; therefore most organizations opt for deploying hosted PBX with a hosted VoIP solution as a more affordable alternative.

For smaller organizations, the advantage of the hosted option is evident because it allows even SOHO players to appear to be much larger than they really are, and helps to create a positive, professional image. And like any on-premises solution, the hosted PBX option will still allow for call queuing to ensure that calls are distributed between remote agents appropriately, based on availability and individual skills. Skill-based routing is particularly important in a hosted call center that deals with tech support; this feature allows callers to go directly to the agent that is most capable of helping them. And of course, hosted call center options still allow the call center supervisor to maintain control and insight into the entire operation at a glance.

Submit a VoIP quote request today for your business and save up to 80% on your monthly phone bills.