By using ever-evolving phone answering service software, answering services are more than holding their own in a virtualized business world.
Cloud-based technology–delivering and using software as a service, storing data, managing applications and sharing resources online–has gone from specialized to common practice. We see it in the consumer market, with people storing their music, movies, books and other media online, on remote servers. Apple, Google and Amazon.com are competing with their own versions of cloud services for the average consumer.
This use of the cloud is even more pronounced in the business sector. Virtual offices are beginning to replace their physical counterparts. Instead of working at a stationary desktop, many office workers rely on smartphones, laptops and tablets to access and share documents and files.
Paul Maritz, CEO of VMware, put it best when he described office workers as “dealing with streams of information that will be coming at them in much smaller chunks and much larger numbers. We’re moving into a new post-document era, and we will need different solutions.”
Answering services recognize this new ecology of shared information, and they’re evolving accordingly. Contact centers use cloud-based software to fully integrate with their partner companies, resulting in streamlined, efficient and highly personalized service.
By sharing software with their clients, answering services can relay messages over multiple platforms and update information in real-time. Contact centers not bound by a fixed location–a traditional office building–typically emit less carbon, use less electricity and are less vulnerable to natural disasters and technical failures. Increased reliability and efficiency equals better customer service for the consumer and increased productivity for the business.
Any company hoping to become (or remain) competitive must make sure their products and services keep pace with current technology. Answering services are no exception.
