Cloud contact centre solutions
Help every customer reach the right person
When customer calls are spread across teams and locations, a basic phone system can leave people waiting, repeating information or giving up. Stratiis helps Scottish organisations design cloud contact centres with clearer routing, useful reporting and the right tools for employees and supervisors. The result is a service built around the customer journey, with technology your teams can manage.
What is a cloud contact centre?
A cloud contact centre is an online platform for managing customer conversations. It brings together call queues, routing, agent tools, supervisor views and reporting, and may also support email, web chat, SMS or other channels. Employees can handle enquiries from approved locations while managers see how demand is changing. The right platform and licence depend on the volume, complexity and importance of your customer contact.
Business outcomes
Make customer contact easier to handle and improve
Good contact-centre design helps customers get an answer and gives teams a clearer way to manage busy periods.
Fewer missed calls
Use queues, call-backs and overflow rules to give callers another route when a team is busy.
Better routing
Send enquiries to people with the right skills and information, with fewer unnecessary transfers.
Useful visibility
See waiting times, abandoned calls and repeat issues so managers can act on service problems.
Flexible teams
Bring office, remote and multi-site employees into one managed customer-contact service.
Choose the right platform
When do you need a contact centre rather than a phone system?
A small team can need contact-centre tools if enquiries are complex or time sensitive. Equally, a well-configured business phone system may be enough when call handling is straightforward. The decision should follow the customer journey, not only the number of employees.
| Need | Business phone system may suit | Contact centre becomes useful |
|---|---|---|
| Call handling | Direct calls, simple auto-attendants and basic queues. | Several queues, skills-based routing, call-backs and complex opening hours. |
| Supervision | Basic call logs and occasional reports. | Live queue visibility, quality reviews and detailed service trends. |
| Customer context | Employees look up records in separate systems. | CRM or case-system information can be shown within the call workflow. |
| Channels | Telephone is the main customer route. | Teams need to manage calls alongside email, chat or messaging. |
Stratiis can compare a dedicated contact centre with Hosted Voice and Microsoft Teams Phone before you commit to new licences.
Platform capabilities
What can a cloud contact centre include?
Features vary by supplier and licence. Select the ones that solve a real customer or employee problem, then test them with the calls you actually receive.
Queues and call routing
Direct calls by number, opening hours, customer choice, employee availability or specialist skills.
Call-backs and overflow
Offer a return call or move work to another team when demand rises or a queue cannot answer.
Supervisor dashboards
Show what is happening across queues now and track trends over time.
Customer-system integration
Connect calls with relevant CRM or case records to reduce searching and repeated questions.
Recording and quality
Review selected calls for service improvement, subject to clear recording, access and retention rules.
Digital channels and AI
Some services add email, chat, SMS, transcription or summaries. Each channel needs ownership and every automated output needs suitable review.
For wider messaging and mobile options, explore Business Communications & Connectivity.
Customer journey
How do calls reach the right team?
Start with the reasons customers call and the answer they need. A short, clear menu can route repairs, appointments or support enquiries to the right queue. Skills-based rules can then offer the call to employees qualified to help.
During normal service
Use simple announcements, sensible queue limits and a route to a person when a caller is unsure which option to choose. Call-back can help when waiting is unavoidable, provided customers know when to expect it.
When demand changes
Set overflow rules for busy periods, absences and out-of-hours contact. Route urgent calls deliberately and test what happens when no employee is available. The best call flow is one the customer can understand and the team can maintain.
Reporting that leads to action
Which contact-centre measures matter?
No single metric describes the customer experience. Choose a small set that explains demand, access and resolution, then review the calls or processes behind a change in the numbers.
| Measure | What it can reveal | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Calls offered and answered | How demand compares with available capacity. | Are the busiest periods staffed appropriately? |
| Waiting and abandonment | Where callers wait too long or leave the queue. | Would routing, staffing or call-backs help? |
| Transfers and repeat contact | Whether customers reach the right team and get a useful answer. | What makes people call or explain the issue again? |
| Resolution and feedback | Whether the service solves the customer's need. | Are improvements visible to customers, not just the dashboard? |
Average handling time can help with capacity planning, but it should not encourage employees to rush a conversation or create more repeat calls.
Connected Stratiis services
Bring telephony, recording and connectivity into one plan
A contact centre depends on the voice service, network, devices and customer systems around it. Stratiis can review those dependencies together.
Microsoft Teams Phone
Compare native calling and queue features with a Teams-integrated contact-centre platform when more advanced routing or supervision is needed.
Hosted Voice
For simpler teams, hosted telephony may already provide the call handling they need. Review both options before adding complexity.
Call recording and analytics
Connect recording, quality review and call insight to clear privacy, access and retention rules.
Business connectivity
Assess internet, Wi-Fi, remote connections and failover before moving important calls onto a cloud platform.
Secure and workable
How do you support remote teams and protect customer data?
Office and home-based employees should be able to follow the same customer process. That means suitable connectivity, approved devices, reliable headsets and access to the customer information they need.
Security and privacy
Use strong identity controls, appropriate permissions, secure devices and a clear process for starters, leavers and role changes. Know where recordings, chat transcripts and customer records are stored, who can access them and when they are removed.
Employees and AI
Explain any live monitoring, recording and quality review to employees. If the platform creates transcripts, summaries or sentiment indicators, test accuracy and keep a person responsible for decisions and official records.
Every new channel should have a named owner, staffing plan, response expectations and appropriate data handling. Adding chat or SMS without capacity to answer it can make the experience worse.
Service continuity
What happens if the internet or contact-centre platform fails?
Cloud calling depends on the network and provider. A continuity plan should explain where calls go when a site loses connectivity, staff cannot reach the platform or a supplier has an outage.
Keep a way to answer
Depending on the service, options may include backup connectivity, mobile working, alternate sites, overflow teams, emergency announcements and number redirection. The chosen route should match the importance of the calls.
Test the real journey
Check incoming numbers, queues, recording, CRM access and out-of-hours routing during a planned failover test. Make sure employees know who changes a message, who receives diverted calls and how the normal service is restored.
Designed for your organisation
Which teams benefit from a cloud contact centre?
A contact centre is useful wherever customer access, case handling or service continuity has become hard to manage with a basic phone system.
Housing associations
Route repairs, rent and support enquiries clearly while keeping routes accessible for tenants who need a person.
Charities and helplines
Support remote staff and volunteers, changing demand and callers who may need careful, sensitive handling.
Professional services
Connect reception, specialist teams and client records across offices and remote locations.
Customer-service teams
Bring queues, supervision, quality review and reporting together where call volumes and workflows are more complex.
Costs and provider choice
What affects the cost of a cloud contact centre?
Pricing depends on the number and type of users, call volumes, telephone numbers, platform licences and the features required. A proposal should separate essential capabilities from options so you can compare the full cost of running the service.
| Cost area | What to clarify |
|---|---|
| Users and telephony | Agent and supervisor licences, calling, numbers and any porting work. |
| Features | Queues, recording, reporting, digital channels, AI and storage included in each licence. |
| Integration | CRM or case-system connections, Microsoft Teams and any custom workflow. |
| Delivery and support | Call-flow design, migration, training, changes, support and business continuity. |
Look for a provider that maps real customer journeys, explains the licensing clearly and tests the full call path before go-live.
How Stratiis works
A practical route from call problems to better service
We review the current experience, design around the calls that matter and support the transition after the platform goes live.
Discover
Understand call volumes, customer reasons for contact, teams, locations and existing systems.
Audit
Find missed calls, long waits, poor routing, reporting gaps and network risks.
Design
Choose the right platform, licences, call flows, integrations and continuity approach.
Build
Configure numbers, queues, users, announcements, dashboards and approved channels.
Test
Check incoming and outgoing calls, routing, recording, remote users and failover.
Improve
Train staff, support go-live and review service measures as customer needs change.
Frequently asked questions
Cloud contact centres explained
How much does a cloud contact centre cost?
Cost depends on licences, users, calling, recording, reporting, channels, integration and support. A useful quote shows the full recurring cost and the one-off work to design, migrate and train the service.
Is a contact centre suitable for a small team?
Yes, when several people share a busy service, calls need routing or managers need better visibility. Team size alone does not determine the need; a simple hosted phone system may also be sufficient.
What is the difference between a call centre and a contact centre?
A call centre focuses on telephone conversations. A contact centre can manage calls and, depending on the platform, other channels such as email, chat and messaging in a coordinated customer workflow.
Can a contact centre work with Microsoft Teams?
Some platforms integrate with Microsoft Teams, while Teams Phone has its own calling and queue features. The right design depends on your required routing, reporting, recording and licences.
Can we keep our existing phone numbers?
Often, yes. Number porting depends on the current provider, number type and proposed service. Confirm feasibility, timescales and a fallback plan before a migration date is agreed.
Can employees work from home?
Yes, if the platform supports remote access and employees have suitable connectivity, devices, headsets, customer-system access and a secure working process.
Can calls be recorded and reviewed?
Many platforms support recording and quality review. Your organisation needs to decide which calls are captured, how people are informed, who can access recordings and how long they are kept.
What is skills-based routing?
Skills-based routing directs a call to an available employee or team with the knowledge or permissions needed for that enquiry. It should include a clear fallback when the preferred team is unavailable.
What is IVR?
Interactive Voice Response, or IVR, lets callers choose a route using keypad or voice prompts. Short, clear options work best, with a way to reach a person if the choices do not fit.
Can the platform connect to our CRM?
Many contact-centre services offer CRM or case-system integrations. What is possible depends on both systems and the workflow you want; it should be scoped and tested rather than assumed.
What happens if our internet connection fails?
That depends on your continuity design. Calls may be diverted to another site, remote team, mobile route or answering service. Test the plan and keep customer announcements current.
How long does implementation take?
Timescales depend on number porting, call-flow complexity, integrations, security review, training and testing. Stratiis can set a realistic plan after reviewing the current service and required changes.
Give customers a better way to reach you
Review your customer-contact service
Talk to Stratiis about the calls you miss, the queues customers wait in and the information your employees need. We can help you decide whether a cloud contact centre is the right fit and plan the platform, connectivity and support around it.
Book a Contact Centre ReviewExplore Hosted Voice
Call 0141 348 7960 or email sales@stratiis.com.
