According to a Markets and Markets report, the cloud-based call market, currently estimated at $4.15 billion, is expected to rise to $10.9 billion in 2019. This growth spans a wide variety of industries as companies and organizations are overcoming their concerns about control over their communications system to a third party.
The report defines a cloud based contact/call center as a “network based service in which a provider owns and operates call center technology and provides its services remotely to businesses on a pay per usage model.”
Other reports predict similar growth to what Markets and Markets described. DMG reported that the adoption rate of cloud-based call centers was only 2.2 percent in 2008, but expects that number to be 18.1 percent in 2015. Frost and Sullivan predicted that revenues from hosted and cloud solutions would exceed premises-based installations sometime this year.
Several factors have contributed to the growth of cloud-based call centers. The recession that began six years ago limited the capital that businesses could spend on equipment purchases. Cloud-based technology gave decision makers a communications system that spared them many of these costs while still delivering the functionality of a traditional premises-based PBX (News - Alert).
Some might argue that the cloud has provided even more than that. Not only is the cloud a more than adequate replacement for premises-based PBX systems, it also saves on labor and hardware costs while providing better management tools.
Companies and organizations no longer have to pay the labor and upgrade costs of hardware installations. Adding or removing users is easy, since it does not require addition physical wiring installed or removed. Software apps make it easy to change configurations, control call distribution and manage call queues.
Because of these many benefits, it comes as no surprise that cloud-based call centers are positioned for rapid growth the next five years. Premises-based PBX systems still outnumber the cloud-based systems, but that’s more a sign of an untapped market than it is of the business world’s preferences.
Edited by Alisen Downey