Cloud-based contact centre market set to grow by half, suggests new research from Cloud Industry Forum
Aspect Software welcomes new research that indicates boom in use of cloud-based contact centres
The latest research from the Cloud Industry Forum has found that 46 per cent of UK-based organisations use cloud-based contact centres today, a figure that is expected to increase to 68 per cent over the next few years. For Aspect Software, the results confirm the value of cloud-based contact centres and their ability to transform customer service and engagement.
The research, which polled 250 UK IT decision-makers in late 2015, examined the ways in which organisations are using cloud and looked at how this may change in future. It found that the proportion of organisations operating a cloud-based contact centre has increased from 40 per cent at the start of the year, with a further 22 per cent expecting to move their contact centre to the cloud in future.
This growth can partly be attributed to the cloud’s ability to support customer engagement and customer service initiatives. Customer service continues to factor heavily in businesses’ decisions to move to cloud, with around a third (31 per cent) of businesses stating that improving customer service and support was one of the primary business objectives driving their investments in the delivery model.
Commenting on the findings, Keiron Dalton, Senior Director of Customer Strategy and Innovation at Aspect, said: “Cloud-based contact centres have taken off in a big way, owing to the fact that contact centres can operate much more efficiently on an OPEX, rather than CAPEX model. One of the biggest challenges with traditional contact centres is that it is difficult to cut waste and maintain a tight ship; you’ve got to over-provision to cope with demand when it is high, but that inevitably means that investments aren’t used when demand drops off. Modern contact centres need the flexibility and scalability to be able to respond quickly to changing business conditions. That is precisely what cloud allows them to do.
“But beyond that, cloud-based contact centres have the potential to transform customer experience and engagement. Cloud offers businesses of all sizes access to the latest advancements in enterprise-grade contact centre technology immediately, and without having to wait out the natural technology refresh cycle. This brings with it significant advantages for contact centre operators and their customers,” Dalton continued.
Alex Hilton, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum, added: “Customer service and engagement are areas that have benefitted greatly from the cloud computing revolution. Over a third of respondents in our latest research stated that they have seen their customer engagement improve as a result of their use of cloud, and 28 per cent have improved the service they provide their customers. The customer service world is increasingly omni-channel and cloud is the fasted way to providing a truly joined up experience.”
About Aspect
Aspect’s fully integrated solution unifies the three most important facets of modern contact centre management: customer interaction management, workforce optimisation, and back-office. Through a full suite of cloud, hosted and hybrid deployment options, we help the world’s most demanding contact centres seamlessly align their people, processes and touch points to deliver remarkable customer experiences. For more information, visit www.aspect.com/uk
