Cloud computing is proving its worth.
- 88% of respondents pointed to cost savings
- 56% agreed that it boosted profits
- 62% are reinvesting those savings back into the business to increase headcount and wages, and drive new product innovation
The CTO of Rackspace summarized the results of the survey: "The bottom line is cloud saves companies money and increases their profits."
According to CDW (and common sense), the services or applications that organizations are moving to the cloud largely depend on company size and industry. For example, almost half of small businesses and one-third of mid-sized businesses use cloud storage.
So what about putting the contact center in the cloud? Is it time to put your sales and customer service agents on a cloud platform?
Here are some salient facts to consider:
- Cloud contact centers first appeared about ten years ago. Like many first-generation products, they were found lacking and only enjoyed marginal success in limited markets.
- Contact center technology has pretty much run in ten-year lifecycles.
- ServicePattern(TM) is the first (and so far only) next-gen cloud platform, written from the ground up with all of the features you need to migrate safely (including scalability, resilience, etc.).
- The primary obstacle to effectiveness and efficiency in the contact center is when agents lack easy access to the information they need. With five or more screens open, all to different applications, and with islands of information that they cannot easily penetrate, who can blame them (and you customers) for being frustrated.
- This, too, is addressed in the next generation platform.
If IT is building your company's cloud roadmap, they are probably not giving priority to the contact center because 1) they are not aware of the room for gain, 2) they are not aware of the new solutions, and 3) they are probably unaware of how well new technology handles the blending of voice and applications.
That's why it is incumbent on you--as the owner of the telemarketing, sales , or customer service call center--to drive the change. There is no way to reach your goals with your current infrastructure. Change IS needed. The solution is available.