The ‘Cloud’ Contact Center has been the number one IT buzzword of the past two decades, proving the concept is no passing fad. It arguably represents the most fundamental adjustment in Contact Center practices in recent years. But what is it, how is it different from an on-premise call center, and what does it mean for your business?
Cloud is running software and services on the internet, on a server run by the cloud provider, instead of on an on-site or local server. Domestic examples include global brands such as Netflix and Dropbox. In the business sector, you have the likes of Salesforce or Microsoft Azure. In both instances, Cloud services increasingly form an integral part of our lives.
Contact center operations worldwide are moving to cloud platforms, with an estimated 75-80% of organizations having already completed their migrations as of early 2025. As you join them, you’ll demand speed, data privacy and security, reliability, and return on investment.
By optimizing your migration project with powerful third-party cloud contact center software, you’ll be several steps closer to meeting delivery timelines and reassuring your stakeholders that goals are being met without any loss of productivity.
In this article, we’ll look at what you need to consider during the migration process from an on-premise to cloud contact center, from planning to maintaining the infrastructure once you’ve gone live.
What is a Cloud Contact Center?
A cloud contact center is a modern cloud, web-based solution that handles customer communications and interactions across multiple channels, such as phone, email, chat, and social media — all managed off-site by third-party service provider hosts. Instead of relying on physical servers and hardware located on your premises, using cloud contact centers allows agents to operate remotely, typically on a pay-as-you-go pricing model.
One of the biggest advantages of a cloud-based solution is its agility. With minimal center equipment and physical infrastructure to set up, deployment is often swift and disruption-free, allowing businesses to get up and running quickly. This makes it ideal for fast-scaling companies or organizations looking to expand their modern customer service solution capabilities without the high costs and lengthy timelines associated with on-premise systems.
Additionally, cloud contact centers are built for integration. They can seamlessly work alongside other cloud-based tools and CRMs, providing a unified platform where customer data and service workflows live in one central, easily accessible place. This interconnected cloud environment can improve visibility, efficiency, and overall responsiveness to customer needs.
Security, once a common concern for cloud technologies, has become a key strength. Most cloud contact center providers offer enterprise-grade data security and privacy protection, built-in redundancy, and 24/7 monitoring — ensuring not just compliance, but resilience in the face of outages or cyber threats.
Crucially, cloud contact centers offer businesses a gateway to advanced technologies. Features like AI-powered chatbots, real-time analytics dashboards, automated call routing, and omnichannel engagement are not just nice-to-haves; they’re built into many leading platforms. These innovations make it easier to personalize interactions, track performance, and adapt to ever-changing service expectations — ultimately improving customer experience.
What is an On-Premise Contact Center?
An on-premise contact center is a traditional model where all hardware and software, as well as infrastructure, are located and managed on-site — typically within a company’s physical facilities or data centers. This model requires a significant initial investment in telephony equipment, servers, storage, and networking components, not to mention a skilled IT team to maintain it all.
While this approach involves higher setup and maintenance costs, some organizations opt for on-premise models due to the level of control over data security and customization it provides. Businesses that operate in industries with strict compliance requirements — such as finance, healthcare, or government — often choose on-premise contact centers because they offer full ownership over data security and privacy protocols.
Another key benefit is the ability to customize the software to highly specific workflows or changing business needs. With full access to the infrastructure, businesses can fine-tune performance, tweak user permissions, or build bespoke solutions that wouldn’t be possible (or practical) in many cloud contact center solutions.
However, there are some clear limitations. On-premise contact centers can be more rigid when it comes to scaling. Adding new agents or capabilities typically requires additional physical hardware, licenses, and configuration — all of which can slow down growth and increase operational overhead.
Upgrades and maintenance also fall squarely on your internal teams. This means more downtime when applying patches or resolving technical issues, and higher costs when center equipment ages out or software becomes outdated. In contrast to cloud systems that automatically deliver new contact center features and enhancements, on-premise solutions can lag behind without proactive investment.
Ultimately, while on-premise contact centers may appeal to organizations with specific compliance or customization needs, they require a deeper commitment in terms of infrastructure, budget, and ongoing IT support.
The Key Differences Between Cloud Based Contact Centers vs On-Premises Contact Center
While both on-premise and cloud contact center solutions are viable options, how do you decide which one’s better for you? Here are the key differences between these two options to help you make an informed decision that aligns with your business needs, operational goals, and customer service strategies.
Choosing the Right Contact Center: Cloud Contact Centers vs On-Premise Solutions
Deployment and Infrastructure
On-premise contact centers require a significant upfront investment in hardware and software, which are hosted and managed on-site. You, as the owner, are responsible for the maintenance, upgrades, and overall management of these contact center systems.
On the other hand, cloud contact centers are hosted by contact center service providers and offer a subscription-based model. They require minimal initial investment and can be deployed quickly.
Costs
While the initial setup costs are high, ongoing expenses may be lower since there are no recurring subscription fees for an on-premises call center. However, you must budget for maintenance, updates, and potential hardware replacements.
Cloud contact centers provide lower upfront costs but involve ongoing subscription fees. The pricing model is often based on usage, which can be advantageous if your business has fluctuating demand.
Scalability
Scaling an on-premise contact center can be challenging and costly, as it often requires purchasing additional hardware and software licenses.
Cloud solutions inherently offer more scalability. Businesses can quickly adjust their capacity to match demand without the need for significant infrastructure changes or investments.
Control and Customization
One of the main advantages of on-premise solutions is the high level of control they offer. Businesses can customize their systems to meet specific needs and have direct oversight over data security and compliance. Cloud systems might not be able to offer that level of customisation.
Flexibility and Accessibility
Cloud solutions are highly flexible and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. They support remote work and can easily integrate with other cloud-based tools and services. On-premise centers, on the other hand, are not remotely accessible.
Choosing the Right Contact Center: Cloud Contact Centers vs On-Premise Solutions
Deployment and Infrastructure
On-premise contact centers require a significant upfront investment in hardware and software, which are hosted and managed on-site. You, as the owner, are responsible for the maintenance, upgrades, and overall management of these contact center systems.
On the other hand, cloud contact centers are hosted by contact center service providers and offer a subscription-based model. They require minimal initial investment and can be deployed quickly.
Costs
While the initial setup costs are high, ongoing expenses may be lower since there are no recurring subscription fees for an on-premises call center. However, you must budget for maintenance, updates, and potential hardware replacements.
Cloud contact centers provide lower upfront costs but involve ongoing subscription fees. The pricing model is often based on usage, which can be advantageous if your business has fluctuating demand.
Scalability
Scaling an on-premise contact center can be challenging and costly, as it often requires purchasing additional hardware and software licenses.
Cloud solutions inherently offer more scalability. Businesses can quickly adjust their capacity to match demand without the need for significant infrastructure changes or investments.
Control and Customization
One of the main advantages of on-premise solutions is the high level of control they offer. Businesses can customize their systems to meet specific needs and have direct oversight over data security and compliance. Cloud systems might not be able to offer that level of customisation.
Flexibility and Accessibility
Cloud solutions are highly flexible and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. They support remote work and can easily integrate with other cloud-based tools and services. On-premise centers, on the other hand, are not remotely accessible.
Updates and Maintenance
The cloud service provider handles updates, maintenance, and security, reducing the business’s IT burden. This ensures the contact center is always up-to-date with the latest features and security protocols.
If you opt for an on-premise system, you’re responsible for maintaining and updating the call center software and infrastructure.
Why Move From an On-Premise Contact Center to a Cloud-Based One?
Companies that use cloud center services enjoy:
- Centralized phone-based customer communications and engagements on a digital ai-powered platform
- Speed of deployment
- Typically, no hardware installation investment required
- Easy, low-cost maintenance
- Cloud-based call center software updates (including security) are all handled by your cloud supplier
- Calls scheduled and assigned based on a specific company’s configuration.
- Reduced need for landline networks and manual phone operation, supporting remote work.
- Streamlined call center operations – employees and resources are free to focus on other areas in the business
- Increased reliability and scalability
- Quick and straightforward scaling
- Taking advantage of Artificial Intelligence – to support AI-powered chatbots in basic data collection or handling simple enquiries to enable more effective modelling
What Are the Challenges of Moving From an On-Premise to Cloud Contact Center?
It’s natural and common to experience resistance to the adoption of new technologies. Staff anticipate increased workloads when moving to a new cloud infrastructure. For the migration from on-premise to cloud to be embraced, clear and empathetic presentation of the benefits is vital.
Your managers need to demonstrate how the new environment will streamline business operations, reduce costs, improve workflows and improve the customer experience compared to the traditional on-premise call center.
Preparing for the inevitable challenges will be a key part of gaining trust. You can address this positively by showing how cloud migration will allow the contact center to be more innovative when delivering new products and services. You can also reassure your teams by explaining that you’ll be carrying out extensive load testing as part of the migration process.
Read more about the benefits and ROI of a Cloud Contact Center.
4 Key Steps to Take When Migrating to a Cloud Contact Center
Step 1 – Making a business case for a cloud-based contact center
Firstly, you’ll need to conduct a benchmark and risk analysis study. This will help you understand your business requirements and consult stakeholders on drawbacks and benefits. This will also help you gain buy-in, as you’ll have tangible evidence of your migration strategy.
Next, you’ll need to build your business case, which will have to include an ROI forecast, as well as a clear outline of the following benefits:
- Universal queue and desktop application– making it much easier for your contact center agents to handle multichannel interactions
- Customizable reports and real-time dashboards– enabling the tracking of different departments’ performance on a site, team and individual agent level
- Scalability– you can start out with a few agent seats and add more when required.
Step 2 – Choosing your software vendor
You need to find out from potential cloud software vendors about
- The functional capabilities of the software–what it actually will do for your operation
- How professional and reliable their service is
- The scope and effectiveness of the service & support team
- How successful they have been with their clients–look for reviews and testimonials
- Cloud Contact Centre Gartner Research–have they been recognized in the Magic Quadrant by Gartner as the leader for Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS)
You should also be carrying a technical evaluation of potential vendors, to check:
- If you need to provide high-speed internet
- If the vendor has reliable deployment strategies
- If their telephony migration policy meets your requirements
- How they will test the new infrastructure prior to deployment
- If the various channels (especially phone) all integrate and migrate to the cloud solution
Step 3 – Operational changes to consider
Migrating to the Cloud may mean changes to how your people work. You’ll need to consider which elements of the infrastructure should be moved and in what order. You may not move everything at once, initially leaving certain elements on-premise.
When implementing your cloud contact centre platform, focus on your people. They will be key to successful software migration. Departments such as security, operations, workforce management, or finance, for example, all play a key role. The new cloud applications and infrastructure assets may necessitate the introduction of new roles.
Make sure you keep everyone involved. You’ll need to create a strong and clear communications plan. Without bringing your people with you on the migration journey, technology alone will only get you so far.
When migrating to the cloud, avoid the temptation to simply transfer your processes from your old system to the new one. Instead, prioritize your most important departments, functions, and processes. These should be the first to migrate to the cloud.
Step 4 – Keep your customer front of mind
Throughout the entire migration, it’s vital to keep focused on your customer and their needs. This is the most direct route to the Holy Grail of customer satisfaction. It’s also why constant testing during migration is so critical.
A cloud vendor’s professional team can provide guidance on customer needs. They’ll provide you with best practice advice on leveraging channels and integrating with omnichannel expectations.
One example might be predictive behavioral routing. Cloud contact centre technology software can identify the preferred paths of communication depending on which customer you are speaking to. Your customers can be categorized into different profiles. ‘Awake subscribers’, let’s say, are your most reliable customers. They’ve bought from you before and can be routed to agents who are skilled at upselling.
Alternatively, the system might pick up on keywords such as ‘anniversary’ and ‘special occasion’ during the call, prompting the agent to offer the customer a one-time deal discount on their next purchase as well as a free thoughtful gift to say ‘congratulations’.
Further reading
These and the other benefits of cloud technology can all be explored in the all-important testing phase. Read more here about Contact Center Cloud Migration Testing.
Also, find out more here about the Features and Capabilities for Migrating to a Cloud Contact Center.
Cloud migration validation testing – bringing long-term savings
Our service demonstrates time and again its ability to provide such a swift and effective testing system.
- The Occam Razor tool reduces average deployment times by three months, thus releasing cloud advantages and savings sooner.
- To exceed the cost of our service, on average fewer than 10 customers would need to be adversely affected by a defect.
- We offer the fastest route to deployment in the market whilst offering a significant ROI against other validation platforms.
Test automation progression
Stay focused on the goal
Unit
Feature or focused testing on individual component
Integration
Systems communicate with one-another
Regression
You’ve added or updated a new feature, has it impacted any old features?
Performance
Did anything you do change how it scales? Are there non- linear bottlenecks?
Monitoring
Post deployment ‘day 2’, Ops ensure patches or config changes have not impacted CX
Find out more for yourself about the benefits of the Occam Razor. We are a Genesys Appfoundry partner as well as compatible with all major vendors. Book a demo call today.
