Contact centers are rapidly moving into the cloud for ease of use, flexibility, and reliability. Paired with WebRTC APIs that provide real-time communication to any modern browser, contact centers can now speak to customers more quickly through a wide range of methods such as email, video, voice, chat, and more.

For organizations looking to streamline their contact center operations, moving to cloud-based solutions like SaaS or PaaS is a natural pivot away from on-premises locations. How do you choose which solution is right for your contact center? Let’s take a look.

Software as a service (SaaS) is one of the most popular methods for contact centers to take advantage of cloud software. Through SaaS, software is typically rented on a subscription basis from a cloud provider; this is the case for popular applications like Talkdesk and Freshdesk. SaaS should be considered an operating expenditure (OpEx) rather than a capital expenditure (CapEx) because of the ongoing software subscription cost.

Subscribing to a SaaS contact center model can reduce the overall cost of ownership, requiring fewer technical staff members to manage and install software and cutting back on the number of software licenses needing to be purchased. SaaS updates take place automatically and can be deployed across all machines at once. Compared with an on-premise contact center, this enables operations to start up almost immediately by simply launching an app that’s already configured to work.

SaaS applications are accessed through the web browser rather than the user’s machine. Software can be used on nearly any desktop, tablet, or mobile device. SaaS providers can also customize and scale the solution to fit your size and budget, ensuring the software meets your organization’s specific needs. Through API integration, most SaaS solutions can offer WebRTC monitoring and WebRTC analytics that work directly with other cloud-based applications.

Many companies choose SaaS contact centers for their out-of-the-box ease of installation, use, and maintenance. For contact center employees, SaaS also enables them to work remotely, offering 24/7 customer service. SaaS is often the best option for startups and organizations looking to quickly launch software applications that can be accessed anywhere, anytime.

For a more customizable solution, a platform as a service (PaaS) provider offers a set of components, frameworks, and cloud-based services to build out your own contact center. With the foundation of a software platform in place, PaaS opens up more ways to scale up and develop unique applications that take advantage of the cloud’s storage, networking, and virtualization capabilities. Popular PaaS options include Twilio and Amazon Connect.

While building a PaaS-based call center can be more time-consuming and expensive, it also offers more control and customization over the entire user experience. Rather than investing in unnecessary hardware or underutilized software components, the PaaS can be scaled upward based on your growth and needs without the necessity of investing in expenses like physical servers and networking. PaaS users can also work from home remotely, saving costs on physical office space and equipment.

PaaS software platforms combine the benefits of stable, cloud-maintained software with custom coding solutions to help any call center achieve their specific goals. For companies looking for a custom-tailored option mixed with cloud reliability, a PaaS-based solution is a strong choice.

On-Premises

On-Premises contact centers are exactly what they sound like, and they require office space, physical equipment, and staff. Often provided by vendors like Cisco or Pexip, on-premise contact centers do offer full control of the experience. However, they remain costly, time-intensive investments that don’t allow for much flexibility. Software updates and hardware upgrades need to be licensed and deployed manually, adding significant cost to scale. Deployment can often take several months or years. Because all of the hardware and software will have to be located on-premises, contact center employees will also be required to work on-site.

Though contact centers were previously limited to the on-premise model, many are choosing to move away from the on-premises model because of the drawbacks of cost and inflexible infrastructure. When saddled with thousands of dollars in legacy equipment, it’s difficult to keep software and hardware up to date for users and customers.

Businesses are choosing instead to rely on cloud-based contact centers, whether SaaS or PaaS, to offer superior experiences to customers and agents. The ease of installation and support, low cost of maintenance, and API integrations for WebRTC solutions, point to contact centers in the cloud as a safe and smart investment.

Interested in learning about WebRTC monitoring for contact centers? Check out our resources for contact centers.