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State of the Contact Center 2021: Cloud is Here. What's Next? Part 4.

By Ross Daniels June 02, 2021

Last week in Part 3, we discussed cloud adoption and its role in customer satisfaction. We learned how contact center managers are using workforce engagement tools to improve the agent experience.

What about lingering concerns? One of the most common concerns cited in cloud adoption conversations is security. But, that mindset is quickly changing as contact centers increasingly recognize the cloud offers more high-end security possibilities than legacy on-premises models.

Insight #4: Concerns about data loss overtake worries about security

With security technologies — and threats — growing more sophisticated every year, it’s becoming more difficult and costly for individual organizations to build and manage their security infrastructure fully in-house. But, cloud vendors deliver on the “as-a-Service” model and provide solutions with built-in, state-of-the-art security that is continuously updated in real time. This alleviates the burden on internal teams to maintain security across multiple platforms, databases and applications.

Indeed, we found that only 20% of contact centers feel security is the main barrier to cloud migration. Half say their overall outlook on cloud security has become less fearful over the last five years. As organizations start to deploy cloud solutions, they naturally become more comfortable with the security features, and appreciate the management and maintenance being shifted to the provider.

That’s not to say that contact center leaders don’t still have some concerns. The biggest barriers to cloud migration today are the potential for data loss in the move to the cloud and a lack of knowledge, expertise or resources to manage the migration. These practical, logistical and administrative concerns are not uncommon, but can be addressed.

Just as cloud vendors understood the need to address security concerns, vendors now recognize the need to address data loss concerns through better clarity of the cloud migration process, training and by providing the expertise and the resources needed to create confidence. A good partner should be able to walk through all the steps to cloud migration and potential impact on data. In addition, clear training should be part of any migration so internal teams have confidence in the process and the technology.  

Looking across all the contact center leader insights we gathered, a clear trend emerges: Contact centers that have moved to the cloud (fully or partially) have a completely different perspective on the benefits, advantages, realistic limitations or barriers and potential of cloud solutions. Those still fully on-premises remain much more skeptical. Those managers and teams still on the fence would be wise to seek out peers that are further ahead in the migration in order to get a better understanding of the migration experience.

By taking time to talk with contact center leaders, we discovered that interest in the cloud and a willingness to adopt new cloud tools accelerated very quickly during the pandemic. But, it was the experience of going through the migration that allowed many teams to find their comfort level and learn from their own experiences.

We’ve clearly crossed a major inflection point in the cloud journey of the contact center, with 75% of contact centers now leveraging at least some cloud-based solutions. Even more important, though, is the shift in perception and understanding among leaders.

Nearly all contact centers recognize the strategic value of the cloud, and security is no longer a major barrier for most. In short, it’s no longer a question of if organizations move to the cloud; but how, and what then follows. For examples of contact centers that are leveraging cloud to modernize their operations, just check out these stories. Learning how they moved forward might just give you inspiration to do the same.

To see the report in full, go to Calabrio’s State of the Contact Center in 2021: Cloud is Here. What’s Next?




Edited by Erik Linask
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