Regardless of the industry your organization works in and serves, there’s a good chance the word “cloud” has come up in discussions, whether about budgeting, business plans or innovation. Benefits such as scalability, flexibility, low cost, security and on-demand access are fueling the growth of the cloud, and contact centers in particular are taking note. An Aberdeen (News - Alert) Group study found that 34 percent of businesses use a cloud-based contact center, and 28 percent of organizations plan to deploy a similar infrastructure – by the end of 2013, six out of 10 contact centers plan to have cloud-based deployment.

Cloud-based contact centers are driven by the improvement in customer experience; 45 percent of organizations choose the cloud for their contact centers to improve customer experience, followed by 32 percent to improve agent productivity, 26 percent to reduce IT and other maintenance costs and increase profitability, and 26 percent to improve business flexibility through scaling contact center activities.

The cloud eliminates the need for businesses to invest in complex, and often costly, on-premises installations and hardware. Applications delivered over the Internet enable real-time access to data, which means improved customer service by being able to serve customers the information they want, when they want it. Customers are happy because they’re getting the information they need on-demand, agents are productive because they can serve these real-time requests, and organizations boost efficiency and customer satisfaction.

With the growth of the cloud only predicted to continue, it’s important for organizations to know how to optimize their infrastructure and business results.

In an upcoming webinar, 8x8’s (News - Alert) Mike Reinhart, senior product marketing manager, and Josh Varela, sales engineer, will discuss the benefits of the cloud contact center model, proven strategies for deploying a cloud contact center in 14 days or less, what kind of ROI to expect from a cloud contact center, and how to unite agents in multiple locations into one virtual call center.

If you are an internal or external server department manager, SMB owner, contact center system integrator or consultant, or just someone interested in learning more about how the cloud can improve overall contact center operations, register for the webinar today. Time’s running out – the webinar takes place today, Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. PDT.