What is on the horizon for resellers selling call management in the cloud
Increasing demand for call management for hosted telephony
There is increasing market demand for call management applications for hosted/cloud telephony that are easy to deploy and offer the same level of analytics and overall functionality as on premise solutions. There is also big demand for call management apps on mobile devices.
We are also seeing a significant increase in enquiries from customers reviewing business processes and existing communications strategies as they consider migrating to cloud based offerings. We see that the evolution and availability of business intelligence solutions, with the same level of functionality that is present in premise-based offerings as one of the key factors behind the adoption of cloud telephony services.
The impact of the cloud on call management
The impact of Cloud technology has been disruptive, creating a major shift in the industry, away from complexity and towards business value. The Cloud is empowering customers to make decisions without risk, who can now pay for what they use, switch solutions if they don’t see the value and monitor performance of their chosen technology. Customers can now demand working pilots before committing to a company-wide roll-out so the supplier takes all the risk, as well as having to prove a return on investment before adoption. Once the customer contract is signed, the supplier has the same vested interest as the customer to monitor usage and drive business value.
How the channel needs to adapt
The channel needs to adapt to the move to cloud services to remain competitive and focus on the business value of every solution that they sell. Understanding customer requirements is imperative, so they can deliver the most appropriate solution for any customer.
The Cloud has created opportunities for all tiers of channel partner to sell a wider range of solutions that add value to their product portfolio. Partners can choose to create their own Cloud, offer services hosted in their supplier’s Cloud or simply to offer Software as a Service without the risk or cost of maintaining their own.
The channel should focus on integrated call management to any business
In selling integrated call management solutions via the cloud, resellers gain competitive advantage over those not solution selling and customers gain competitive advantage through improved customer service. Although customer requirements vary from simple but accurate business communications data to extensive analytics of ‘informal’ customer facing teams, improving customer interactions is essential to every business.
With services now available in the cloud, gone are the days when such systems were deployed solely in large enterprises. This means that these solutions are now accessible to not just large corporates, but to a huge SME market. Cost effective call recording together with innovation in call management solutions with Unified Communications and CRM integration has meant that this market is now taking advantage of powerful cloud solutions that deliver real business intelligence.
Resellers now have the opportunity to sell a ‘solution’ that every business can benefit from and deliver a return on their telecoms investment. The Channel must become more innovative in its sale of call recording and management solutions and use these solutions together with their telecoms offerings to help in delivering real customer outcomes thus creating a real point of differentiation from competitors.
Adding margin-rich solutions to the offering not only adds value to the sale and differentiates one reseller over another, but most importantly increases revenue.
Resellers are missing out on a huge opportunity by selling call management only when requested. Our most successful resellers are those that sell 100% of systems integrated with call management and sell the solution before they sell the PBX. Selling call management using the cost-justification model gives solution partners the advantage, differentiating them from those strictly meeting a list of requirements within a specific budget.
The benefits of hosted call management to the channel
Hosted call management delivers valuable analytics to resellers and service providers across multiple customers, providing valuable insight which was not readily available through premise-based solutions. It is quick and easy to provision, support and manage with no on-site installation. The Cloud means you can on-board customers in seconds.
These applications empower Service Providers by adding value to their hosted voice offering and is key in the way their customers can measure and justify real return on investment and to improving customer service.
Customers benefit from 24/7 access to call analytics from anywhere on any device. The latest features are automatically made available so there is no requirement for involvement from IT departments.
The very latest web technologies enable recordings to be played, flagged, tagged and evaluated within the application, providing users with a single analytics portal for a unified user experience. Call analytics integrated with call recording is a powerful combination, enhancing call performance monitoring, staff training, call compliance and dispute resolution through the graphical representation of information.