Key takeaways

  • Hosted call centers eliminate upfront infrastructure costs, reduce IT maintenance burdens, and offer a scalable, subscription-based model that adapts to business needs.
  • They support remote work, integrate seamlessly with CRM and business tools, and provide advanced features like automated call routing and real-time monitoring.
  • Hosted call centers cater to diverse industries, enhancing customer service, efficiency, and data security across retail, healthcare, finance, and more.

A call center is a centralized department that receives inbound calls from customers. Its purpose is to resolve issues, provide information on a service or product, and answer questions related to that product or service. This article will explore different types of call centers that a business can use to support its customers.

What is a hosted call center?

A hosted call center is a customer service function entirely managed by a hosted service provider, while the business using the hosted call center pays the service provider to maintain and support the customer service function through a subscription model. The entire hosted call center hardware and software is hosted by a service provider maintained on a cloud-based platform. Businesses using a hosted call center are not responsible for maintenance, support, or upgrades.

The difference between a hosted call center and an on-premises solution

An on-premises hosted call center is physically located at a business’ onsite data center and is managed and maintained by the business using the hosted call center services. Unlike a cloud-based hosted call center, the company using the on-premises services owns and is responsible for the infrastructure, including hardware, software, and maintenance.

Read more: Best VoIP for Small Business

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The benefits of hosted call centers

A cloud-based hosted call center offers tangible benefits that immediately improve an organization’s financial standing and business efficiency from a customer service perspective. The benefits include the following:

  • Cost-effectiveness: Businesses using a hosted call center eliminate the up-front cost of purchasing the hardware and software associated with a call center and move to a pay-as-you-go subscription plan.
  • Easy setup and lower maintenance: Hosted service providers are responsible for system updates and maintenance, which reduces the organization’s Information Technology (IT) burden. 
  • Remote workforce support: cloud-based hosted call centers allow agents to work from anywhere provided an internet connection exists.
  • Scalability: allows businesses to adjust the number of agents based on call volume quickly without major infrastructure changes.
  • Data security: cloud-based hosted call center systems provide robust security enhancements that protect sensitive customer information.
  • Integration with other applications: cloud-based hosted call centers can be integrated with customer relationship management (CRM) and other business applications.
  • Advanced features: provides enhanced features and functionalities such as automated call routing, real-time monitoring, and call recording.

How hosted call centers work

A cloud-based hosted call center uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology that converts audio into digital data packets and transports them using a Real-time Transport Protocol over the IP network. When the digital data packets reach their intended recipient, they are reassembled by the receiving device (i.e., mobile phone, computer, or any device capable of playing audio) back into the original data packet order. The receiving device contains a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) that converts data packets back into audio (analog sound waves) that a human can understand, allowing for a conversation. 

Read more: 6 Best Cloud Phone Systems

What is the difference between a hosted call center and a hosted contact center?

A hosted call center uses the phone for all customer interactions. In contrast, a hosted contact center handles multiple communication channels like phones, emails, chats, and social media, which is more comprehensive than a hosted call center. Hosted call centers are phone- or voice-focused, while contact centers must oversee and respond to multiple communication channels. Hosted contact centers offer more advanced features and integration options than hosted call centers.

How to decide if you need a hosted contact center solution

Both solutions are viewed as money-saving solutions when you don’t have to invest in infrastructure, maintenance, or personnel. Businesses providing specialized services like IT support, custom solutions, or integrating hardware or software systems to create a unified solution should consider using a hosted call center with expert agents specialized in receiving calls and providing over-the-phone assistance.

Conversely, businesses that generally sell or advertise a product or event should select a hosted contact center that allows them to maximize audience outreach and benefit from multiple forms of communication. They should consider using a hosted contact center to ensure audiences can be reached by email, social media, chats, or phones.

Both solutions allow for a remote workforce, reduced costs, improved customer experiences, and scalability.

Read more: Best Call Center Software

How different industries use hosted call center solutions

Various business industries use hosted call centers to improve some aspect of a business department or function. Here are some examples of how different business industries use hosted call centers:

  • Retail and e-commerce: Hosted call centers can provide customer support, process orders, and answer customer inquiries.
  • Transportation: A call center is a centralized platform that can provide proactive updates on changes or potential delays, resolve customer complaints promptly, coordinate deliveries, and use customer feedback to improve upon provided services.
  • Healthcare: A call center can assist with appointment scheduling, billing inquiries, and coordinating referrals to the appropriate specialist.
  • Improve customer service: A hosted call center can help businesses promptly respond to customers’ issues or inquiries, including personalized phone support.
  • Business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses: A call center can assist with customer interactions that improve the customer service experience, which leads to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
  • Finance: A hosted call center can provide 24/7 support, facilitate secure transactions, offer personalized services, and allow agents to upsell or cross-sell based on a customer’s profile.

Overall, hosted call centers reduce cost, scale seamlessly to meet changing demands, and provide analytics and reporting tools that give insight into agent’s performance and customer interactions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A cloud call center is a cloud-based customer service platform that lets businesses manage different omnichannel communication options, including voice, SMS text messaging, email, chat, and social media.

There are several types of call centers a business can select from that can help companies improve the customer experience. The most common types of call centers are inbound, outbound, and automated call centers.

  • Inbound call centers: Focus on handling incoming calls for customer support and use interactive voice response (IVR) systems that provide self-service options.
  • Outbound call centers: Used by sales and marketing organizations to communicate with potential customers.
  • Automated call centers: Use AI to complete specific actions, like scheduling appointments, without human involvement.

The other types of call centers are:

  • Virtual call center: Can process inbound, outbound calls, or both.
  • Blended call center: This type of call center works well for small businesses and allows agents to handle inbound and outbound call center activities. Inbound calls are emails, chats, or customer social media messages. Outbound calls are agents proactively presenting sales pitches, following up, or initiating customer support services to customers.
  • Omnichannel call center: Can manage multiple communication channels to address customer inquiries and concerns.
  • Offshore call center: This type of call center is located outside the United States, where operational costs are lower.
  • In-house call center: This in-house call center is owned and operated by the business using the call center.
  • Multichannel call center: Similar to an omnichannel call center, a multichannel call center manages different customer interactions across multiple communication channels.

A virtual call center allows agents to work remotely from any location with an internet connection, while a non-virtual call center operates from one physical location. Virtual call centers use cloud-based technology, and the non-virtual call center is an on-premises solution at the organization’s location.

The four types of customers are loyal, impulse, need-based, and discount.

  • Loyal customers: Repeat customers who have positive experiences with the company and are satisfied with the services provided.
  • Impulse customers: Are typically spontaneous and make quick decisions to take advantage of a promotion or an immediate need.
  • Need-based customers: Make purchases to address a particular need, replace a faulty product, or rectify an issue or problem.
  • Discount customers: Motivated by reduced prices and look for the best deals when discount prices are significantly lower than the regular price.
Don Hall Avatar
Don Hall
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Don Hall is a contributing writer to Technology Advice and Enterprise Storage Forum, where he covers data storage technology, storage hardware and software, and data networking. He worked for more than two decades as an IT Supervisor for the federal government and as IT Operations Supervisor for an IT Military Command managing programmers, cybersecurity staff, and infrastructure and networking personnel. Previously he worked as an application programmer. Don earned a B.S. in Business Information Systems from San Diego State University and has certificates in Technical Communication and web development with an emphasis in Java/Open Source. He has also had an active CompTIA Security + (ce) since 2011, and a Network +(ce) since 2015.