Hosting means top-class systems for even the smallest contact centre

Small to medium-sized businesses are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of the new Verto Supreme hosted contact centre solution from Vox Orion, says MD Jacques du Toit.

“We have partnered with Inovo, a supplier of the hosted Avaya solution, to provide the hardware, and Presence Technology to provide the software component of Verto Supreme,” says Du Toit. “These are the best in the business. Ordinarily, a contact centre of fewer than 100 seats couldn't afford Avaya; with hosting, we can offer this to operations with as few as five seats. Being small doesn't mean you can't afford the best.”

Hosted solutions are increasingly preferred because they offer great flexibility and very little financial risk, says Du Toit. “There are minimal upfront capital costs involved - all the client pays for is handsets, integration and some training. This means that if the service doesn't offer what they need, they can simply switch it off without facing any real loss.”

Increased efficiency is another bonus, he adds. “For contact centres that do a lot of outbound dialling, managing call costs is a critical part of the business. Preview dialling and progressive dialling, intelligent call routing and scripting, can all help to reduce call times - and for smaller call centres that are currently running off Excel spreadsheets, the efficiency gains can be dramatic.”

Intelligent routing can have a direct impact on revenue, he says. “In one particular case, one client will automatically route every customer with an outstanding balance to the debtors' department,” he says. “They can't place a new order until they've paid for the last one. That has a huge impact on cash flow.”

Verto Supreme is a modular system that means clients can add and subtract elements as they need them, says Du Toit. “Different teams and different campaigns will need different modules. Some people will only take calls, for example, others might also do instant messaging and remote troubleshooting. And for anyone who is doing financial transactions, recording is absolutely essential - not only voice recording, but keystrokes as well.”