Many companies are finding that, at least in the contact center, aging equipment and solutions are getting in the way of their customer support goals. Today’s buzzword is “omnichannel,” which means the integration of all channels, including telephone, Web, e-mail, mobile app and even social media, but yesterday’s solutions simply aren’t supporting these goals. Unfortunately, technology budgets are still tight and few companies have the wherewithal to strip their contact centers and start over from the ground up.

For many companies, these limitations have made cloud-based solutions that can be paid for out of operating expenses rather than capital expenses more attractive. According to a recent blog post by Five9’s (News - Alert) Liz Osborn, there are a number of compelling financial reasons to move the contact center to the cloud, and paying month-to-month out of the operating budget is only one of them. Many companies are finding that with cloud-based solutions, they can cut down on IT expenses, as well.

“Cloud contact center solutions deliver all the functionality you’ve come to expect from premise-based systems, without the hassle or the hardware,” wrote Osborn. “The system is accessed by a standard Web browser, which eliminates the need to purchase expensive hardware and software. You can focus on your contact center – not your infrastructure – and add functionality for inbound calls, including IVR with speech recognition, ACD, and CTI (News - Alert) screen pop, as well as outbound dialing or blended call processing, with options for multichannel, CRM integrations and management applications.”

But the cost savings can go even beyond that. With a fully cloud-based contact centers, companies can shut down expensive physical premises and allow agents to work from other offices or even from home, which removes another enormous capital expenditure: real estate, taxes, utilities, maintenance and more. This not only saves on cost, but allows you to extend business hours and take advantage of larger geographies when it comes to hiring.

“You can establish a work-at-home agent program, expand into new geographies, or open up a much larger pool of qualified agents. It’s easy when you move your contact center to the cloud,” wrote Osborn.

Added to all of this is the less costly and more convenient nature of upgrades and maintenance, and it’s not much of a wonder that the growth of cloud-based contact center solutions has reached explosive levels of growth that are expected to continue for years ahead.