Solving the Contact Center Puzzle:
Embracing the Hybrid Services Model
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................... 2
Premise-based contact centers.................................. 2
Hosted contact centers ............................................ 3
Premise-based vs hosted business model.................... 3
Functionality of hosted services................................. 6
Matching needs to hosted services............................. 7
Conclusion ............................................................. 9
A CIRCUMFERENCE WHITE PAPER
JANUARY 2008
2
www.circumference.ca
INTRODUCTION
Rapidly evolving information technologies (IT) are changing the face of business.
Developments such as robust and pervasive Internet-based communications
have lowered the cost of business activities including product and service
delivery, support, business to business transactions, and others. To remain
competitive in this landscape of rapid technical development, contact center
operators benefit from opportunities to adapt, embrace, and innovate to satisfy
heightened customer expectations and achieve the agility to take advantage of
rapidly changing business landscapes.
Hosted solutions, available from providers as Internet-based services, have
addressed many of these needs by improving productivity, reducing business
exposure, and increasing agility to innovate and meet changing demands. Yet
the move to a hosted solution is not straightforward. Companies with existing
premise-based operations must seek partnerships that protect existing
investments with strategies to extend their functionality with hosted offerings
and strong professional services. New business entrants benefit from much
lower financial and logistical barriers to establishing a contact center and gain
the flexibility to easily scale up or down in step with business fluctuations.
This paper will explore premise-based and hosted models, survey the hosted
functionality currently available, and discuss selection criteria for a third model,
hybrid, which combines aspects of both premise-based and hosted models by
selecting matching business objectives with service offerings.
PREMISE-BASED CONTACT CENTERS
In a premise-based contact center, equipment such as private branch exchanges
(PBX), automatic call distributors (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR)
systems, fax systems and predictive dialers are all owned, operated and
maintained by the contact center organization. Any additional systems, such as
databases, security, disaster recovery and the business software that adds value
to these core systems, and the associated support staffing, are also the contact
center owner’s responsibility.
PBX
A PBX is a telephone
system that serves a
particular organization,
as opposed to one that
a telephone company
operates. PBXs make
connections among the
internal phones of the
private organization and
also connect them to
the public switched
telephone network
(PSTN – the network of
the world’s public
circuit-switched
telephone networks) via
trunk lines.
ACD
A device that routes
incoming calls to a
specific group of
terminals that front line
representatives in a
contact center use.
IVR
Phone technology that
allows a computer to
detect voice and touch
tones using a normal
phone call. The IVR
system can respond
with pre-recorded or
dynamically-generated
audio to further direct
callers on how to
proceed. IVR systems
can be used to control
almost any function
where the interface can
be broken down into a
series of simple menu
choices.
Figure 1: Premise-
based contact
center
environment
Premise-based
In a premise-based
environment, an
organization owns
the infrastructure.
It is responsible for
installation,
maintenance, and
upgrades to the
system(s).
