With CCaaS, a provider hosts and runs the contact center software on infrastructure it manages, and you pay a recurring fee to use it. With an on-premises contact center, the software runs on servers in your own building and your team operates them. The difference shows up in who maintains the system, what unit you pay in, how agents sign in and who repairs it when calls stop.
\n","summary":"With CCaaS a provider hosts and runs the contact center software on infrastructure it manages, for a recurring fee. On premises, the software runs on your own servers and your team operates them. That changes who maintains the system, what unit you pay in, how agents sign in and who repairs it during an outage.","publishedAt":"2026-07-07T03:57:02.794","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-10-10T02:36:53.912","nextReviewDueAt":"2026-12-14T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["CCaaS vs on-premises contact center","Cloud contact center vs on-premise contact center","What is the difference between CCaaS and an on-prem contact center?","Is CCaaS cheaper than an on-premises contact center?","On-premises contact center vs contact center as a service","Should we move our contact center to the cloud?"],"confidenceScore":78,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":null,"contributorPerson":null,"sections":[{"id":"be18db89-a2ad-4648-83b9-9ecb2ed4418a","sectionKey":"who_runs_the_platform","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Who keeps the platform running","introMarkdown":"Genesys defines CCaaS as [a cloud-based delivery model](https://www.genesys.com/definitions/what-is-contact-center-as-a-service) that provides the software, infrastructure and tools for handling customer contacts. The provider installs the updates and looks after the hardware. Atlantech's [contact center service](https://www.atlantech.net/solutions/voice/atlantech-ccaas), which runs on the Xima platform, puts the arrangement in one line: \"Cloud-based delivery means we keep an eye on your contact center platform and provide maintenance remotely.\" A hosted service also starts without buying contact center servers, and Atlantech aims to finish implementation 30 to 45 days after a quote is approved. We describe the service model more fully in [what CCaaS is](https://www.answerstack.io/q/what-is-ccaas-contact-center-as-a-service).\n\nOn premises, that work belongs to your IT staff or a support partner you hire. They patch the servers and plan the upgrades, and capacity for the busiest season has to be bought in advance. In return, you decide when changes happen and what the system connects to. NICE sells a cloud platform, and its [own comparison of the two models](https://www.nice.com/faq/contact-center-basics-faqs/on-premise-vs-cloud-contact-center-how-to-choose-the-right-model) still credits on-premises systems with \"greater control over infrastructure and security\" and with custom integrations to older or proprietary software.\n\nRunning the servers doesn't give you the whole calendar, though. The vendor still decides how its software is sold and for how long each release is supported. Cisco [ended the sale of perpetual licenses](https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/unified-communications/hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/unified-contact-center-enterprise-eol.html) for Unified Contact Center Enterprise on August 1, 2022, and set July 31, 2024 as the last date of support for those licenses. The product continued under Cisco's Flex subscription, and customers who needed more licenses or renewed support were sent there. So an on-premises system can carry a subscription too, and its support dates belong in the plan from the first day.","introHtml":"Genesys defines CCaaS as a cloud-based delivery model that provides the software, infrastructure and tools for handling customer contacts. The provider installs the updates and looks after the hardware. Atlantech's contact center service, which runs on the Xima platform, puts the arrangement in one line: "Cloud-based delivery means we keep an eye on your contact center platform and provide maintenance remotely." A hosted service also starts without buying contact center servers, and Atlantech aims to finish implementation 30 to 45 days after a quote is approved. We describe the service model more fully in what CCaaS is.
\nOn premises, that work belongs to your IT staff or a support partner you hire. They patch the servers and plan the upgrades, and capacity for the busiest season has to be bought in advance. In return, you decide when changes happen and what the system connects to. NICE sells a cloud platform, and its own comparison of the two models still credits on-premises systems with "greater control over infrastructure and security" and with custom integrations to older or proprietary software.
\nRunning the servers doesn't give you the whole calendar, though. The vendor still decides how its software is sold and for how long each release is supported. Cisco ended the sale of perpetual licenses for Unified Contact Center Enterprise on August 1, 2022, and set July 31, 2024 as the last date of support for those licenses. The product continued under Cisco's Flex subscription, and customers who needed more licenses or renewed support were sent there. So an on-premises system can carry a subscription too, and its support dates belong in the plan from the first day.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"855d910e-d5d9-4ae7-88ad-020eb9018e93","sectionKey":"cost_and_pricing_unit","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What you pay for, and in what unit","introMarkdown":"Traditionally, an on-premises system was a purchase. You paid for hardware and perpetual licenses up front, then for a support contract and the staff time to run the system. Some vendors now sell on-premises software by subscription, as the Cisco example shows, so the up-front share varies. The servers and the people who run them remain your cost either way.\n\nCCaaS is a recurring fee, and the unit of that fee changes from one provider to the next. [Genesys Cloud](https://www.genesys.com/pricing) lists four plans from $75 to $240 per named user per month, billed annually, and offers concurrent and hourly licenses as well. [Five9](https://www.five9.com/products/pricing) lists its Core plan at $159 per concurrent seat per month with a 50-seat minimum. [Amazon Connect](https://aws.amazon.com/connect/pricing/) charges $0.038 per voice minute plus telephony, with no minimums and no seat licenses.\n\nAtlantech doesn't publish a price. It builds a quote after a 15-to-30-minute discovery call, for a service whose page lists voice and web chat licenses, skills-based routing, an IVR, queue callback, real-time wallboards, historical reporting and CRM integrations. A hosted quote covers a specific set of features like that one, and [the features of a modern contact center](https://www.answerstack.io/q/what-are-the-essential-features-of-a-modern-contact-center) sorts out which ones belong in yours.\n\nThe unit decides who pays for idle time. A named-user license belongs to one person and costs the same whether that agent talks for six hours or one. A concurrent license counts the users logged in at the same time, so agents on shifts that don't overlap can work under the same count. Per-minute pricing charges only for time on a call.\n\nSuppose a desk is comparing Genesys Cloud CX 2 at $115 per named user per month with Amazon Connect at $0.038 a minute. The Genesys seat costs $1,380 a year. At Amazon's rate, $1,380 buys about 36,300 voice minutes, which is 145 minutes on each of 250 working days. On those two listed platform charges alone, the break-even is about 145 minutes of talk time per agent per day. Amazon bills telephony separately and the two products include different features, so the figure shows how the two units behave and stops short of a total cost.","introHtml":"Traditionally, an on-premises system was a purchase. You paid for hardware and perpetual licenses up front, then for a support contract and the staff time to run the system. Some vendors now sell on-premises software by subscription, as the Cisco example shows, so the up-front share varies. The servers and the people who run them remain your cost either way.
\nCCaaS is a recurring fee, and the unit of that fee changes from one provider to the next. Genesys Cloud lists four plans from $75 to $240 per named user per month, billed annually, and offers concurrent and hourly licenses as well. Five9 lists its Core plan at $159 per concurrent seat per month with a 50-seat minimum. Amazon Connect charges $0.038 per voice minute plus telephony, with no minimums and no seat licenses.
\nAtlantech doesn't publish a price. It builds a quote after a 15-to-30-minute discovery call, for a service whose page lists voice and web chat licenses, skills-based routing, an IVR, queue callback, real-time wallboards, historical reporting and CRM integrations. A hosted quote covers a specific set of features like that one, and the features of a modern contact center sorts out which ones belong in yours.
\nThe unit decides who pays for idle time. A named-user license belongs to one person and costs the same whether that agent talks for six hours or one. A concurrent license counts the users logged in at the same time, so agents on shifts that don't overlap can work under the same count. Per-minute pricing charges only for time on a call.
\nSuppose a desk is comparing Genesys Cloud CX 2 at $115 per named user per month with Amazon Connect at $0.038 a minute. The Genesys seat costs $1,380 a year. At Amazon's rate, $1,380 buys about 36,300 voice minutes, which is 145 minutes on each of 250 working days. On those two listed platform charges alone, the break-even is about 145 minutes of talk time per agent per day. Amazon bills telephony separately and the two products include different features, so the figure shows how the two units behave and stops short of a total cost.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"545fd20f-eab0-4806-92d5-83484a9fc80e","sectionKey":"agent_access_and_remote_work","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How agents reach the system","introMarkdown":"A cloud platform is reached over the internet, so an agent's location becomes a login detail. Xima's [agent client](https://guide.xima.cloud/docs/ccac-overview) runs in a web browser and needs no installation. An agent signs in at the organization's login page and takes calls on a phone built into that page.\n\nOn-premises systems can support remote agents too, and each vendor does it in its own way. Cisco's [Mobile Agent feature](https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cust_contact/contact_center/icm_enterprise/icm_enterprise_15_0_1/ucce_b_1501_features-guide/rcct_m_1501_mobile-agent.html) is one documented approach. It lets an agent take contact center calls on any outside phone, including a home line or a mobile. Cisco's guide says the call processing for those agents \"uses more server resources and therefore reduces the maximum number of supported agents,\" and it lists features they don't get, such as Web Callback. On that system, a remote team draws on capacity the company has already bought.","introHtml":"A cloud platform is reached over the internet, so an agent's location becomes a login detail. Xima's agent client runs in a web browser and needs no installation. An agent signs in at the organization's login page and takes calls on a phone built into that page.
\nOn-premises systems can support remote agents too, and each vendor does it in its own way. Cisco's Mobile Agent feature is one documented approach. It lets an agent take contact center calls on any outside phone, including a home line or a mobile. Cisco's guide says the call processing for those agents "uses more server resources and therefore reduces the maximum number of supported agents," and it lists features they don't get, such as Web Callback. On that system, a remote team draws on capacity the company has already bought.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"535b28c6-cfce-4e7b-b7ae-38f15ffc5f33","sectionKey":"outages_and_responsibility","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What happens when calls stop","introMarkdown":"With CCaaS, a platform outage is the provider's to fix, and the contract says what you can get back. Amazon Connect's [service level agreement](https://aws.amazon.com/connect/sla/) targets 99.99% monthly uptime in each region. If uptime falls short, the customer can claim a service credit under the agreement's conditions, and the agreement calls that credit the customer's \"sole and exclusive remedy.\" So the contract can refund part of the bill, and the calls that went unanswered stay your loss.\n\nA cloud contact center also depends on the connection between your agents and the provider. If the office internet goes down, the platform keeps running, but the agents in that office can't reach it until a backup connection takes over or they log in from another location. Genesys used to cover this gap with equipment at the customer's site. It [ended support for that feature](https://help.genesys.cloud/announcements/deprecation-byoc-premises-edge-remote-survivability/), called remote survivability, on June 30, 2025. Since then, a Genesys premises site that loses its internet connection no longer plays stored IVR menus or routes queue calls to agents. Atlantech sells business fiber and [phone service](https://www.atlantech.net/solutions/voice/phone) alongside its contact center service, so one company can be responsible for the circuit, the phone numbers and the platform.\n\nOn premises, the repair runs through your own staff and whatever support contracts you hold for the hardware, the software and the carrier circuit. How fast it goes depends on those contracts and on the spare parts and skills you keep on hand.","introHtml":"With CCaaS, a platform outage is the provider's to fix, and the contract says what you can get back. Amazon Connect's service level agreement targets 99.99% monthly uptime in each region. If uptime falls short, the customer can claim a service credit under the agreement's conditions, and the agreement calls that credit the customer's "sole and exclusive remedy." So the contract can refund part of the bill, and the calls that went unanswered stay your loss.
\nA cloud contact center also depends on the connection between your agents and the provider. If the office internet goes down, the platform keeps running, but the agents in that office can't reach it until a backup connection takes over or they log in from another location. Genesys used to cover this gap with equipment at the customer's site. It ended support for that feature, called remote survivability, on June 30, 2025. Since then, a Genesys premises site that loses its internet connection no longer plays stored IVR menus or routes queue calls to agents. Atlantech sells business fiber and phone service alongside its contact center service, so one company can be responsible for the circuit, the phone numbers and the platform.
\nOn premises, the repair runs through your own staff and whatever support contracts you hold for the hardware, the software and the carrier circuit. How fast it goes depends on those contracts and on the spare parts and skills you keep on hand.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"628ccb52-0e20-476e-b2ff-292b1f8d6005","sectionKey":"differences_table","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"The differences side by side","introMarkdown":null,"introHtml":null,"outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Where the software runs","Servers in your building","Infrastructure the provider manages"]},{"cells":["Who maintains it","Your IT staff or support partner, within the vendor's support dates","The provider"]},{"cells":["What you pay","Traditionally hardware and perpetual licenses up front, then support and staff time; some vendors now sell subscriptions","A recurring fee per user, per seat or per minute"]},{"cells":["A platform outage","Repaired by your staff and your support contracts","Repaired by the provider, with a bill credit you can claim under the contract"]}],"columns":["What changes","On premises","CCaaS"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"644d36ba-3be2-4511-9e82-3c726b40b2fb","sectionKey":"when_owned_system_fits","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"When keeping an owned system makes sense","introMarkdown":"A system on a perpetual license that still receives support and security updates has already been paid for, and it may connect to older software that a cloud platform would need custom work to reach. Those are sound reasons to keep it. The case weakens as the release nears its last date of support, because a forced upgrade then belongs on the owned side of the comparison. At that point, compare the upgrade quote with a hosted quote for the same agents and features, and convert both to the same unit before you read the totals.","introHtml":"A system on a perpetual license that still receives support and security updates has already been paid for, and it may connect to older software that a cloud platform would need custom work to reach. Those are sound reasons to keep it. The case weakens as the release nears its last date of support, because a forced upgrade then belongs on the owned side of the comparison. At that point, compare the upgrade quote with a hosted quote for the same agents and features, and convert both to the same unit before you read the totals.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60}],"citations":[{"title":"What is Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)?","url":"https://www.genesys.com/definitions/what-is-contact-center-as-a-service","excerpt":"Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is a cloud-based delivery model that provides the software, infrastructure and tools needed to manage customer interactions across channels.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor definition page (Genesys sells CCaaS): CCaaS is a cloud-based delivery model providing the software, infrastructure and tools to manage customer interactions across channels, and replaces maintenance and hardware with a subscription-based model.","domain":"genesys.com","publisherName":"Genesys"},{"title":"On-Premise vs. Cloud Contact Center: How to Choose the Right Model","url":"https://www.nice.com/faq/contact-center-basics-faqs/on-premise-vs-cloud-contact-center-how-to-choose-the-right-model","excerpt":"On-premise: hosted and maintained in your own data centers... Greater control over infrastructure and security... Custom integrations with legacy or proprietary systems.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor comparison (NICE sells CXone, a cloud platform): on-premise is hosted and maintained in your own data centers with high upfront capital expenditure, greater control over infrastructure and security, and custom integrations with legacy or proprietary systems; cloud is delivered as a service wi","domain":"nice.com","publisherName":"NICE"},{"title":"Genesys Cloud pricing","url":"https://www.genesys.com/pricing","excerpt":"Genesys Cloud CX 2 $115 USD per user/month, billed annually.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor-published list pricing: Genesys Cloud CX 1 $75, CX 2 $115, CX 3 $155 (adds workforce engagement forecasting and scheduling) and CX 4 $240 per named user per month billed annually; concurrent licensing at a premium; hourly option billed only for interaction handling time; 250 named or 350 conc","domain":"genesys.com","publisherName":"Genesys"},{"title":"Five9 pricing","url":"https://www.five9.com/pricing","excerpt":"Prices above are per concurrent user and usage-based pricing may apply, with a minimum of 50 seats.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor-published list pricing: Digital $119 and Core $159 monthly per seat, priced per concurrent user with a minimum of 50 seats and usage-based charges that may apply; CRM adapters for Salesforce, ServiceNow, Dynamics, Zendesk and Oracle plus UC integrations included; WEM sold in the Pro and Enter","domain":"five9.com","publisherName":"Five9"},{"title":"Talkdesk pricing","url":"https://www.talkdesk.com/pricing/","excerpt":"$165USD Per user, Per month (omnichannel and WFM).","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor-published list pricing: $85 per user per month for digital, $105 for voice, $165 for the omnichannel and WFM tier, and $225 for industry-specific packages.","domain":"talkdesk.com","publisherName":"Talkdesk"},{"title":"Amazon Connect Pricing","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/connect/pricing/","excerpt":"$0.038 per voice min (standard telephony rates apply)... No minimums, no long-term contracts, pay for what you need.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor-published usage pricing: $0.038 per voice minute with standard telephony rates applying on top, $0.010 per chat message, $0.080 per email, and no minimums, no long-term contracts and no seat-based licensing requirements.","domain":"aws.amazon.com","publisherName":"Amazon Web Services"},{"title":"Amazon Connect Service Level Agreement","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/connect/sla/","excerpt":"Your sole and exclusive remedy for any unavailability or non-performance or other failure by us to provide Amazon Connect Customer is the receipt of Service Credits.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor SLA: commitment of at least 99.99% Monthly Uptime Percentage per AWS region, service credits of 5%, 15% and 100% at stated uptime bands, and service credits as the sole and exclusive remedy for unavailability or non-performance.","domain":"aws.amazon.com","publisherName":"Amazon Web Services"},{"title":"Shared Responsibility Model","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/shared-responsibility-model/","excerpt":"AWS is responsible for protecting the infrastructure that runs all of the services offered in the AWS Cloud... Customer responsibility will be determined by the AWS Cloud services that a customer selects.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Provider documentation: AWS is responsible for protecting the infrastructure that runs its services, while customer responsibility is determined by the services selected and includes managing data and encryption options, classifying assets and applying access permissions.","domain":"aws.amazon.com","publisherName":"Amazon Web Services"},{"title":"AWS regions for Genesys Cloud","url":"https://help.genesys.cloud/articles/aws-regions-for-genesys-cloud-deployment/","excerpt":"When a Genesys Cloud organization is created, it is deployed in a core region based on the organization's location.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Product documentation: a Genesys Cloud organization is deployed in a core region based on its location, with 18 core AWS regions listed; satellite regions provide media service including support for storing call recordings; the European Sovereign Region in Brandenburg is designed to help meet Europe","domain":"help.genesys.cloud","publisherName":"Genesys Cloud Resource Center"},{"title":"Deprecation: BYOC Premises Edge Remote Survivability","url":"https://help.genesys.cloud/announcements/deprecation-byoc-premises-edge-remote-survivability/","excerpt":"consumption of cached IVR flows and the ability to route ACD calls to active agents. Also AI features that require real-time media processing will be unavailable.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Product announcement: as of June 30, 2025 Genesys no longer supports consumption of cached IVR flows or routing ACD calls to active agents when BYOC Premises Edges lose the internet connection, AI features requiring real-time media processing become unavailable, and Genesys recommends a fully cloud ","domain":"help.genesys.cloud","publisherName":"Genesys Cloud Resource Center"},{"title":"End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Perpetual Licensing for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise, Packaged Contact Center Enterprise, Customer Voice Portal, and HCS for Contact Center","url":"https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/unified-communications/hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/unified-contact-center-enterprise-eol.html","excerpt":"Customers who need additional licensing and / or to renew software support should move to FLEX Contact Center.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor lifecycle notice: announced January 31, 2022, last day to order August 1, 2022, last date of support July 31, 2024; customers needing additional licensing or renewed software support should move to Flex Contact Center; multiyear software support attachment ended at the order cutoff; covers on","domain":"cisco.com","publisherName":"Cisco"},{"title":"Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide, Release 15.0(1): Mobile Agent","url":"https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cust_contact/contact_center/icm_enterprise/icm_enterprise_15_0_1/ucce_b_1501_features-guide/rcct_m_1501_mobile-agent.html","excerpt":"Mobile Agent enables an agent to use any PSTN phone... Mobile Agent call processing uses more server resources and therefore reduces the maximum number of supported agents.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Product documentation: Unified Mobile Agent enables an agent to use any PSTN phone, including an analog or mobile phone at home, in call-by-call or nailed-connection mode; Mobile Agent call processing uses more server resources and reduces the maximum number of supported agents on Unified CM and the","domain":"cisco.com","publisherName":"Cisco"},{"title":"Avaya Product Lifecycle Policy (Document 100081098, 20 June 2025)","url":"https://support.avaya.com/css/public/documents/100081098","excerpt":"no new fixes or security updates will be made available... After this event, no Hardware parts replacement will be available.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor lifecycle policy: after End of Sale, support contract renewals are limited to one-year terms and the support list price increases; after End of Manufacturer Support no new fixes or security updates are made available, though existing service packs remain available under a valid support contra","domain":"support.avaya.com","publisherName":"Avaya"},{"title":"Genesys Products and Components EOL Life Cycle Table","url":"https://all.docs.genesys.com/System/EOL","excerpt":"CIM Platform 8.0, 8.1, 8.5 - End of support: April 30, 2025.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor lifecycle table for Genesys Engage on-premises components: CIM Platform 8.0, 8.1 and 8.5 last order April 22, 2024 and end of support April 30, 2025; Genesys Administrator last order April 30, 2024 and end of support October 30, 2025.","domain":"all.docs.genesys.com","publisherName":"Genesys"},{"title":"Are audio/voice recordings permitted to contain sensitive authentication data? (FAQ 1210)","url":"https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/faqs/1210/","excerpt":"Storage of card validation codes or values... in any form of digital audio recording - for example, .wav or .mp3 files - after authorization is therefore a violation of this requirement.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Standards body guidance: PCI DSS Requirement 3.3.1 prohibits storage of sensitive authentication data after authorization, and storing card validation codes (CAV2, CVC2, CVV2 or CID) in any form of digital audio recording such as .wav or .mp3 files after authorization violates that requirement; wher","domain":"pcisecuritystandards.org","publisherName":"PCI Security Standards Council"},{"title":"45 CFR 164.308, Administrative safeguards","url":"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/164.308","excerpt":"A covered entity may permit a business associate to create, receive, maintain, or transmit electronic protected health information on the covered entity's behalf only if the covered entity obtains satisfactory assurances... that the business associate will appropriately safeguard the information.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"US regulation (HIPAA Security Rule): a covered entity may permit a business associate to create, receive, maintain or transmit electronic protected health information on its behalf only if it obtains satisfactory assurances that the business associate will appropriately safeguard the information, do","domain":"law.cornell.edu","publisherName":"Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (reproducing the Code of Federal Regulations)"},{"title":"2025 Leader in CCaaS Magic Quadrant - Gartner","url":"https://www.genesys.com/resources/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-contact-center-as-a-service","excerpt":"This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Genesys.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor-hosted analyst reprint: the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant graphic is published behind an email form with Gartner's note that it was published as part of a larger research document available on request from Genesys, which is why the full analyst comparison is not open evidence a reader can check","domain":"genesys.com","publisherName":"Genesys"}],"revisions":[{"revisedAt":"2026-07-18T03:57:02.794+00:00","versionLabel":"Originally published","note":"","reviewedBy":null}],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"792e8892-6e9f-4474-8f8f-def71b0f1d61","slug":"what-is-an-acd-automatic-call-distributor","question":"What is an ACD (automatic call distributor)?","publishedAt":"2026-08-14T14:40:01.956","confidenceScore":80,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"ccaas","label":"CCaaS","description":"Contact center as a service: cloud contact center features, routing, and how it differs from UCaaS and on-prem.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"An automatic call distributor is the part of a phone system that decides which agent answers each incoming call and holds callers in a queue when nobody is free. It first works out which agents are allowed to take a call, then picks one of them with a method such as longest idle, rotation or highest skill. On cloud platforms such as Genesys Cloud, the same engine distributes chats, emails and texts.","url":"/q/what-is-an-acd-automatic-call-distributor"},{"id":"a981f9a5-b2c7-4d7b-b400-2338b61b1da1","slug":"what-is-ai-powered-agent-assist","question":"What is AI-powered agent assist?","publishedAt":"2026-07-18T14:40:04.127","confidenceScore":88,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"ccaas","label":"CCaaS","description":"Contact center as a service: cloud contact center features, routing, and how it differs from UCaaS and on-prem.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"AI-powered agent assist follows a live customer conversation and gives the human agent suggested replies, source articles, checklists and a draft summary. The suggestions go to the agent, who decides what to send. It differs from a virtual agent that talks to the customer and from analytics that run after the call.","url":"/q/what-is-ai-powered-agent-assist"},{"id":"e5128424-99f2-42e8-97ac-06e1d5c984c4","slug":"what-is-routing-in-a-contact-center","question":"What is routing in a contact center?","publishedAt":"2026-07-18T14:39:59.776","confidenceScore":84,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"ccaas","label":"CCaaS","description":"Contact center as a service: cloud contact center features, routing, and how it differs from UCaaS and on-prem.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Routing is the set of rules a contact center uses to send each call, chat, email or text to the right place. It decides where each contact goes, which can be a menu, a queue, an agent or an outside destination, and for queued contacts it decides which agent takes them and which waiting customer is answered next. The rules start with the number dialed, the schedule and the IVR menu, and they can loosen the skill match as a customer's wait grows.","url":"/q/what-is-routing-in-a-contact-center"},{"id":"c4ee74a3-74c8-4ef5-a33b-ac978554c881","slug":"what-is-the-difference-between-ccaas-ucaas-and-cpaas","question":"What is the difference between CCaaS, UCaaS, and CPaaS?","publishedAt":"2026-07-18T03:57:36.086","confidenceScore":90,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"ccaas","label":"CCaaS","description":"Contact center as a service: cloud contact center features, routing, and how it differs from UCaaS and on-prem.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Two of the three are finished applications and the third is a set of parts. UCaaS is the calling, meeting and messaging system employees use every day, licensed per user. CCaaS is the application a customer service team uses to queue contacts and route them to agents. CPaaS is a set of programmable capabilities, mostly APIs, that developers assemble into their own software and pay for mostly by usage. The categories overlap, and many companies use more than one.","url":"/q/what-is-the-difference-between-ccaas-ucaas-and-cpaas"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":149,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"How does CCaaS differ from an on-premises contact center?","text":"How does CCaaS differ from an on-premises contact center?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/how-does-ccaas-differ-from-an-on-premises-contact-center","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-07-07T03:57:02.794","about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"CCaaS"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Telecommunications"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"With CCaaS, a provider hosts and runs the contact center software on infrastructure it manages, and you pay a recurring fee to use it. With an on-premises contact center, the software runs on servers in your own building and your team operates them. The difference shows up in who maintains the system, what unit you pay in, how agents sign in and who repairs it when calls stop.","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/how-does-ccaas-differ-from-an-on-premises-contact-center","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-07-07T03:57:02.794","dateModified":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"What is Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)?","url":"https://www.genesys.com/definitions/what-is-contact-center-as-a-service"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"On-Premise vs. Cloud Contact Center: How to Choose the Right Model","url":"https://www.nice.com/faq/contact-center-basics-faqs/on-premise-vs-cloud-contact-center-how-to-choose-the-right-model"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Genesys Cloud pricing","url":"https://www.genesys.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Five9 pricing","url":"https://www.five9.com/pricing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Talkdesk pricing","url":"https://www.talkdesk.com/pricing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Amazon Connect Pricing","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/connect/pricing/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Amazon Connect Service Level Agreement","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/connect/sla/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Shared Responsibility Model","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/shared-responsibility-model/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"AWS regions for Genesys Cloud","url":"https://help.genesys.cloud/articles/aws-regions-for-genesys-cloud-deployment/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Deprecation: BYOC Premises Edge Remote Survivability","url":"https://help.genesys.cloud/announcements/deprecation-byoc-premises-edge-remote-survivability/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Perpetual Licensing for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise, Packaged Contact Center Enterprise, Customer Voice Portal, and HCS for Contact Center","url":"https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/unified-communications/hosted-collaboration-solution-contact-center/unified-contact-center-enterprise-eol.html"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide, Release 15.0(1): Mobile Agent","url":"https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cust_contact/contact_center/icm_enterprise/icm_enterprise_15_0_1/ucce_b_1501_features-guide/rcct_m_1501_mobile-agent.html"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Avaya Product Lifecycle Policy (Document 100081098, 20 June 2025)","url":"https://support.avaya.com/css/public/documents/100081098"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Genesys Products and Components EOL Life Cycle Table","url":"https://all.docs.genesys.com/System/EOL"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Are audio/voice recordings permitted to contain sensitive authentication data? 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