[November 03, 2016]

New Research Shows the Inevitability of Cloud in Contact Centers with Three Quarters of Companies Having Adopted or Planning to Adopt Cloud-based Systems

8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT), the leading provider of global Enterprise Communications (News - Alert) as a Service (ECaaS), today released the findings of a survey, conducted in partnership with the CCNG Contact Center & Customer Care Industry Professional Network, that suggests cloud-based contact center technologies are gaining strong momentum. The survey further suggests that the industry has reached a tipping point in cloud-based technology adoption among companies of all sizes. The report, titled "Cloud Contact Centers Gaining Share," suggests three quarters of companies have recognized the value of the cloud, with 25 percent of contact centers having fully deployed cloud today and another 28 percent partially transitioned -- either migrated some functionality or moved a subset of their agents to the cloud. In addition, 21 percent have plans to migrate within the next year.

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New Research Shows the Inevitability of Cloud in Contact Centers with Three Quarters of Companies Having Adopted or Planning to Adopt Cloud-based Systems (Photo: Business Wire)

Additional trends highlighted in the survey include the importance of analytics in contact center success; the increase in remote working and challenges created by this; and the integration of more non-voice channels into the contact center. According to IDC¹, the overall contact center market, which includes on-premises and public cloud solutions, is forecasted to reach US$9.8 billion by 2020.

"The adoption of cloud-based communications and contact centers are key to the future of work, especially with an increasingly mobile, global and remote workforce," said Enzo Signore, CMO, 8x8 (News - Alert). "However, to usher in today's new era of business communications and collaboration, organizations must also be willing to fully integrate powerful new technologie like quality management and analytics. This will enable companies to enhance agent performance, staffing efficiency and customer service while also controlling costs."

Tightly integrating quality management with contact centers optimizes agent performance and supports companies in their quest to delight customers. Demonstrating the value contact centers place on increasing agent performance and overall customer satisfaction, 52 percent of respondents said they use quality management software, while 47 percent said they use survey tools. A further 25 percent stated using customer journey metrics.

The days of a contact center limited to voice calls are passing into history. Increasingly customers are integrating multi-channel into their environments. Respondents cited email as the most widely adopted non-voice channel at 85 percent. Next came website-based communication, used by 50 percent of respondents, followed by chat at 46 percent. In fourth place was the broad category of social media, used by 37 percent of respondents.

The report also revealed:

• Companies are moving their contact centers to the cloud for three main reasons, in roughly equal importance: business continuity, scalability and lower cost. A fourth significant reason is to enable remote agents.
• While analytics play an important role in managing contact center success, many are still relying on outmoded tools and methods to measure and improve agent performance. 59 percent of respondents cited spreadsheets and notes as the top tools used closely followed by informal discussions at 44 percent.
• While remote working among contact center staff is common - 59 percent of respondents said they accommodate some remote agents on their team - managing remote workers continues to be a challenge. Approximately 40 percent cited management issues as the leading problem with remote agents, followed by technology issues at 38 percent and accessibility challenges at 29 percent.
• Companies have plans to integrate more non-voice channels into their contact centers. The most popular non-voice channels cited for future adoption was chat at 37 percent, mobile applications at 25 percent, and SMS (text messages), also at 25 percent.

The survey was conducted in September and October 2016, and responses were gathered from 154 respondents in the US and UK.

To read the full report and see how your contact center compares to others in the industry, click here. Also, tune in to the 8x8 podcast with Nancy Jamison of Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) where she talks customer experience and trends in the contact center market.

About 8x8, Inc.
8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) is the trusted provider of secure and reliable enterprise cloud communications solutions to more than 47,000 businesses operating in over 100 countries across six continents. 8x8's out-of-the-box cloud solutions replace traditional on-premises PBX hardware and software-based systems with a flexible and scalable Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) alternative, encompassing cloud business phone service, contact center solutions, and conferencing. For additional information, visit www.8x8.com, www.8x8.com/UK or connect with 8x8 on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

About CCNG International Inc.
Founded in 1992, CCNG International Inc., CCNG is a member Professional Peer Network (PPN) for Contact Center, Customer Experience and Customer Service Executives, Managers, and Leaders. By joining the CCNG Member Network, experienced industry professionals: Connect - interact and engage with your peers; Collaborate - discuss best practices and problem solve; Contribute - share your own experiences and expertise.

All Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Care, Customer Service, and Customer Experience Professionals are invited to participate in the CCNG Member Network. For more information about the CCNG Member Network, please visit CCNG.com, "Like" us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) - @CCNGNetwork.

¹ IDC "Worldwide CRM Applications Software Forecast, 2016-2020: Cloud-Based Applications Increase in Penetration Mix," August 2016, by Mary Wardley

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