When we look back at the biggest trends of 2014 in the contact center solutions community, there can be little doubt that the momentum behind the move to the cloud will top the list. This has been true globally and cuts across all organization sizes and industry sectors. In fact, perhaps the community should adopt a tagline along the lines of “The Cloud and Contact Centers: Perfect Together!”
Another example of just how important the integration of cloud and contact center functionality has become is the announcement by Fusion—a provider of cloud communications, cloud connectivity, and cloud computing services—that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with TFB (Technology for Business Corporation) to integrate TFB’s proprietary contact center and IVR software solutions into Fusion’s cloud services platform.
The partners believe that moving TFB’s full suite of applications to the cloud will make this sophisticated solution more accessible to companies of all sizes. The agreement provides for the future purchase of the software and associated intellectual property.
As noted, this is an exclusive agreement. Fusion now has the exclusive right to market TFB’s cloud-based contact center solution and its full suite of cloud communications, cloud connectivity, and cloud computing solutions to TFB’s more than 500 enterprise customers in the healthcare, government, energy, finance, and hospitality sectors. The opportunity for Fusion here is that most TFB customers are currently using the software on-premises, meaning they are prime candidates for cloud migration.
As the partners noted in their announcement, the cloud-based contact center segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.5 percent, reaching nearly $2.0 billion by 2018. Last year, more than 62 percent of organizations reported using some type of cloud-based contact center solution, and approximately half of those not currently using cloud-based solutions plan to adopt them within the next 18 months.
“The best way to evaluate the benefits of technology is to learn directly from the customers who use it,” said Matthew Rosen, CEO of Fusion. “We’ve learned from large enterprises served by TFB—including major nationwide retailers, expanding healthcare systems, and government agencies—just how significant an impact TFB’s contact center solution has had on their organizations. Each enjoys outstanding service and support for advanced applications developed specifically for their industry’s unique requirements. We’ve brought the very best contact center features and functionality to our cloud to ensure that our customers have the tools they need across all customer touchpoints, including intelligent routing, monitoring, and real-time reporting.”
Charles Cuggino, CEO of TFB, said, “We’re excited about our exclusive partnership with Fusion to bring our solutions to the cloud. We believe that the flexibility and scalability inherent in cloud solutions add tremendous customer value, combining a compelling OpEx financing model with the integration of future-proof communications, customer service, and database applications that have been developed for enterprises with sophisticated requirements. The cloud allows us to make our advanced applications securely available to all enterprises, regardless of their size or industry. Even the largest companies with multiple locations and seasonal business cycles can rely on our integrated cloud solutions to more cost-effectively open their systems to the integration of support applications—such as device-agnostic multimedia communications and enterprise-scale IVR on demand—delivering the services they need when and how they need them.”
It is hard to ignore the figures from the two research firms regarding market potential. In fact, it could be argued that contact center solutions have emerged this year as one of the main drivers of cloud adoption. The reason is that the combination of the cloud’s ability to provide ubiquitous connectivity to an increasingly dispersed workforce, serve as a cost-effective enabler of real-time omnichannel interactions, and act as the conduit for enterprise-wide information sharing—where big data can be leveraged to generate actionable business intelligence—makes this a marriage of opportunity rather than mere convenience.
It will be interesting to see what the research firms have to say when they tally up the year-end results.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
