Pay-As-You-Go, Cancel, Upgrade and More with a Cloud-Based Solution

You are looking for a solution that works fast, and offers flexibility. You want a solution that gives you options, but doesn’t tie you down. You want a solution that lets you scale as you wish, either upgrading or downgrading at will. That solution is cloud-based. You are already very familiar with the advantages of the cloud, and what the cloud offers that traditional call-center setups do not. Here, we will explore the ease-of-use aspect of a cloud-based solution, and look at some numbers to back it all up.

Ease-of-use

SaaS packages are typically already configured, which means less work for you during initial setup. You can mold the software to your company needs, but you don’t need to purchase and install various, different components (all of which come with a price-tag). Also, the scalability factor is too great to ignore. Traditionally, a call-center or static customer service site cannot be moved, altered, upgraded or downgraded without a hassle or a lot of money. Further, as your SaaS package is a subscription, updates are taken care of for you as well (one less thing to worry about). You can pay-as-you-go, rather than invest one large, up-front sum. The best part of this is that you have the power to cancel if it does not work for you. If you do cancel, you are not left with a failed investment. That’s what is so great about all of this – with a subscription, less weight falls on your shoulders if things don’t work out. Cloud-based solutions for customer service are almost always risk-free; try it, and if you don’t like it, simply unsubscribe. Tapping into a shared, already-built interface means you save time and money while getting the same or greater benefits.

The proof

Many others, including those already using traditional contact center models, see the above benefits demonstrated on a daily basis. That’s why, according to recent research from DMG Consulting, the number of cloud-users will continue to progressively and steadily climb through 2020. We see the numbers of cloud users in this sense rapidly increasing on a daily basis, from the SMB to the large corporation. Further, sustainability and environmental impact are issues that are important for many of us today. This includes your customers. How does this have anything to do with the ease-of-use of cloud-based solutions? Again, we will look at the numbers.

A study by Nielsen shows us that 66% of consumers are willing to pay more and lean towards companies that take the environment and sustainability seriously. As we’ve seen, cloud-based solutions emphasize virtual locations as opposed to static, physical ones. The very nature of any type of cloud computing is more environmentally friendly. This is mainly due to lower power usage and demands (when compared to locally installed software packages) as well. So, if your customers take this issue seriously, you must too. Align with your customer’s values to retain their business. This is a natural fit for the cloud; the two go hand-in-hand.

As we see from the SMB Group, very few SMB’s (19%), retain a fully-staffed IT department. This is mostly due to the financial and resource costs necessary to do so. Any small business owner will be familiar with the difficult balancing act that comes with running an SMB. This poses a difficult problem, and adds yet another “piece of the puzzle” that you need to figure out. Again here, we see how the ease-of-use of the cloud enables us to address the above statistic. SaaS packages reduce or eliminate the need for an extensive, fully staffed IT department, in many cases. Since you are dealing with ready-to-use software that does not rely on your local conditions, there is naturally less need for time-consuming IT work.

The takeaway

Since the cloud is already set up for you, everything is faster from the get-go. This includes logging in and getting started, integrating your software, and upgrading if you decide to do so. Upgrading can be done from anywhere and a cloud-based solution works well for employing more remote agents. These agents do not require a work space, as they are using their own home, room, etc. What this means is less cost for your company as well. More importantly, it offers your company flexibility, and thus more options. With that too, we also circle back to the environmentally friendly traits of the cloud. Remote agents or employees are no longer going to commute to a physical location, which is an environmentally friendly scenario. The many values of a cloud-based solution, especially for the SMB or start-up, are obvious. It is your best choice because you save time and money just by the nature of a SaaS cloud-based solution, but you still retain the benefits we see in traditional call center models and software set-ups.