In any industry, the most important aspect is making sure that its customers are satisfied, whether it is for a retail service, contact center or VoIP provider. This is especially important users operating a mobile device, as it seems to become an essential part of both our home life and workplace, thanks to BYOD. And because of this, the once “traditional” functions of customer relationship management (CRM) have changed dramatically over the past years, creating new functions that require specific software to run and store space, along with monitoring and analyzing systems. 

By moving CRM software to a cloud-based infrastructure, companies only need one single application to operate, with benefits that lifts a weight off of their shoulders. In effort to create a solution that combines the cloud and CRM, NICE Systems (News - Alert) has launched its first Workforce Optimization (WFO) Suite.  

NICE, a provider of intent-based solutions is known for its cross-channel and multi-sensor analytics that are used to improve businesses performance, increase operational efficiency, secure a business’s finances and provide high levels of security and safety.

According to DMG Consulting’s 2012-2013 Cloud-Based Contact Center Infrastructure Market Report, the number of cloud-based contact center seats increased by 80.2 percent in 2011, following a 42.4 percent increase in 2010. With the new trends and higher demands for cloud-based solutions, the report predicts that in the next few years more contact center seats will be delivered by cloud-based contact center infrastructure providers.

NICEs’ latest product, the WFO suite, is the first to offer full capabilities for recording, quality management, analytics, workforce management, performance management, incentive compensation management and voice of the customer, ­­which are all deployed in the cloud.

“We are proud to deliver the market’s first comprehensive cloud-based WFO suite,” said Yochai Rozenblat, president of the NICE Enterprise Group, in a statement. “We focus on delivering value to our clients by helping them leverage customer interaction data for improved operations and sales. Cloud-based deployment makes it easier and more cost effective for our clients to implement a complete set of advanced WFO solutions.”

WFO offers businesses cloud deployment for contact centers, back offices and retail that is fast and inexpensive, and can easily accesses updates to the software. The cloud suite also supports hybrid integrations of on-premise and cloud-based applications, which allows businesses to combine any of the prior software they purchased with the cloud.

NICEs’ new product, while it offers businesses increased WFO solutions, it also shows how the industry is moving to a cloud-based setting. As cloud-based solutions become incorporated into businesses infrastructures and daily operations, it seems that the future of CRM lies within the cloud.