Back in the day, companies may have contracted with old-school answering services to take calls after hours, logging messages that would be addressed during the next business day. Today, answering services have evolved to serve specialized functions for narrow verticals, such as routing incoming calls to a medical practice or handling time-sensitive issues, both of which often occur during business hours, not just after closing time.

Call centers have evolved as well. They not only handle incoming customer inquiries or outbound telemarketing calls, but also incorporate chatbots, text messaging, e-mail and other communications to address customer service issues beyond sales transactions.

Benefits of Hybrid Cloud-Based Call Center Operations

As mentioned above, today’s call centers must do more than simply process incoming calls or initiate contact with potential sales leads. The label “customer relationship management“ (CRM) software more accurately conveys the demands made on call center software by both companies and an increasingly tech-savvy customer base.

A well-designed, robust call center operation is able to maximize customer satisfaction through a combination of artificial intelligence and well-trained human call center agents. For example, AI chatbots can handle initial inquiries and simple issues, while providing valuable details for communications that are ultimately routed to an agent.

Once customers are connected with an agent, that agent is better equipped to handle their concerns efficiently and effectively. Call center software can also route calls from a company’s most valued clients to its highest skilled agents. Call center software can also perform workforce optimization (WFO) functions, such as evaluating average time per call, upsell rates, case categories and similar aspects for individual agents and on an aggregate level for an entire department.

Flexibility in Cloud-Based Call Center Platforms

As a secure, flexible cloud-based platform, Aspect Via call center software gives your company the agility to evolve and scale to meet growing business demands. It’s a best-of-breed call center application that addresses existing business challenges, with additional contact center and workforce optimization capabilities ready to deal with additional challenges as they arise.

At the enterprise level, businesses are increasingly turning to hybrid cloud-based operations not only for increased capacity, but as a means of handling an increasingly complex array of communication and information transmission methods, including mobile based. Globalization has also introduced a new level of competition that demands a level of scalability and flexibility that only a hybrid cloud-based operation can deliver.

Aspect Via cloud-based call center software offers the agility that enterprise-level operations require to meet an ever-changing set of customer demands. Specifically, Via offers:

• Support for interaction management, WFO and self-service applications
• Shared real-time and historical reporting across all capabilities
• Personalized, role-based UX for agents, team leads and administrators
• A rich set of APIs for external integrations, including dashboard widgets and CRM systems
• Cloud neutrality — compatible with cloud, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and hosted environments

Employing Next-Gen Call Center Capabilities at the Enterprise Level

Especially at the enterprise level, companies have long since moved past employing old-school after-hours answering services. Today’s call center software platforms must handle both inbound and outbound communications, often in a hybrid cloud-based environment. Along with handling calls, call centers employ chatbots and other AI-based technology to increase efficiency and enable scalability in an increasingly competitive environment.

Call center software also performs valuable WFO functions, including routing the most important calls to your company’s most skilled call center agents, and evaluating performance of individual agents and of entire call center departments. As a best-in-breed cloud-based hybrid call center platform, Aspect Via provides enterprise operations with the flexibility and scalability to meet an ever-changing, globalized business environment.