TMCnews Featured Article

Regardless of the buzz you hear about the cloud (ie. whether it’s gaining speed or is just noise), the contact center industry is certainly sporting some solid benefits from cloud migration. Seeing how the call center can sometimes be an organization’s biggest resource-drainer, the financial benefits of cloud-based strategies certainly are enough to perk some ears. The question on many call center managers’ minds lately has been: Is 2013 the year to make the move, and is this strategy right for all contact center environments?

For those looking to handle customer care without investing significant capital in the physical call center and supporting infrastructure, a move to the cloud offers a strong business case. Many managers are now leaning towards a complete migration of their contact center environment, as the benefits far outweigh the challenges presented in an alternative deployment strategy. As the markets remain a challenge, cloud-based call center vendors are tirelessly working to fulfill a need to secure a larger share of the market, benefitting the contact center overall.

One who has already invested considerable resources in their physical call center, however, can face some heavy obstacles when considering this migration. For example, a resistance to change could emerge within the organization, especially if the infrastructure in place is not at the end of its useful life. There are definitely some vital things to consider when making this move, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing so.

In light of this, a recent report highlights why 2013 is the year for moving the call center to the cloud.

For starters, the biggest driver has certainly been the recession of the past few years and its unfortunate impact on the U.S. and European markets. Due to its cost-effective advantages, companies seeking to establish or expand their contact center services tended to try cloud-based solutions for the short-term until financial resources returned to pre-recession levels. Today’s economic status, however, is making notably slow progress.

The maturing of the cloud-based call center market is also boding well for organizations that need more than the standard package. In the past, contact centers needed to cough up a premium for the extended capabilities that drive such efficiencies in their operations. Now, things like call routing, queuing and even performance measurements are considered regular commodities and are no longer priced as premium services. Needless to say, this only makes the cloud-based contact center even more appealing than it already was.

Furthermore, according to DMG, the market expanded by 42.4 percent in 2010 and 80.2 percent in 2011. Final growth figures were unavailable for 2012, but the evidence suggests no reversal in this trend, as organizations throughout the world are reaping the benefits associated with cloud-based operations – not to mention the fact that the cloud is explosive right now.

To meet this growing need for cloud-based solutions, companies such as 8x8 continue to develop leading edge technologies that allow companies to launch their customer service department without hardware expenses, software licensing fees, implementation or maintenance. Positioned as an industry leader in cloud-based call center software solutions, the company aims to fully understand the challenges plaguing the customer environment to design the right solution to meet these unique needs for 2013.

To learn more about all of 8x8’s (News - Alert) contact center offerings, visit www.8x8.com.

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