The Cloud is In Your Future

DMG’s worldwide survey of 169 enterprise, contact center, IT, operations, sales and marketing executives, managers and leaders in organizations of all sizes, found that 62.4% of respondents were already using cloud-based (also known as hosted) systems and applications in their contact center or customer service departments. There were close to 45 types of systems and applications used in contact centers, all of which are now available from vendors on-premise using the traditional licensing model, or in the cloud. (A growing number of vendors also provide a managed service offering, but that is a different discussion.)

At a fundamental level, the cloud is simply an alternative acquisition or delivery model for contact center or customer service systems and applications. However, in the world of contact center and customer service technologies and systems, the cloud has been a game changer. It is playing a major role in revitalizing a mature technology sector. It has helped to transform and enhance the competitive landscape for contact center and customer service applications by making it easier for new vendors to enter the market. End-user organizations have more choices and flexibility than at any time in the past. This also presents prospects with a few challenges, as there are now dozens of companies in many IT sectors vying for their business. When the inevitable happens and cloud-based markets shake out over the next 5 years, many of these vendors will be out of business. This study is intended to help enterprise, contact center, customer service and IT leaders gain an appreciation of the benefits and challenges of using cloud-based systems and applications in their service environment. It also clearly points out some of the pitfalls to avoid when working with these vendors.

This benchmark study analyzes three highly interrelated topics:

1. Contact center initiatives and investment priorities for 2014
2. Contact center applications and challenges
3. Cloud solution drivers, concerns and satisfaction

The study also revisits the status of social customer care, a topic that DMG analyzed in a benchmark report in November 2011, to determine if companies are making progress in handling these types of posts and inquiries.

This study presents DMG’s survey results and discusses the significance of these findings for companies as they relate to 2014 investment plans and priorities, systems and servicing channels. The study also assists companies in determining how to best acquire the solutions they need to deliver an outstanding customer experience throughout every step of each customer’s journey. It analyzes the leadership characteristics of