The world of contact centre infrastructure is in a state of transition, as new customers search for cloud-based products and integrations that work alongside workforce optimisation and customer relationship management. As the average contact centre becomes more customer-focused and versatile, flexibility is one of the key items on the menu, according to recent reports.
Fundamentally, the contact centre market for infrastructure includes a range of products, including software and equipment, that help to provide multi-channel support and operate call centres. However, new trends in the industry have begun to change how organizations deploy and purchase their infrastructure solutions.
A Change in Customer Trends
Today, contact centre infrastructure solutions can be deployed as part of a customer engagement solution, using customer relationship management and social media products to offer organisations an in-depth view into their target market. The technology in use that exists between customer engagement centres and contact centre infrastructure solutions has a lot of overlap, but not much connection between vendors. Although, Gartner believes the market will begin to merge in the coming years.
Another trend in the market is Contact Centre as a Service solutions (CCaaS). As organisations look for ways to replace their existing infrastructure with cloud-based solutions, factors are driving more companies to the cloud, including the potential to scale licenses and cut costs according to seasonal needs. CCaaS has also had an impact on vendor rankings in the recent Gartner report, which considers the on-premise contact centre market. Vendors that have shifted too far from on-premise contact centre solutions in favour of CCaaS might see a lower score on Gartner’s “completeness of vision” criteria.
The Impact on Vendors
The recent market shifts have had a huge impact on various vendors across the industry today, with six vendors being excluded entirely. Collab, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE), and even ShoreTel were dropped from the report after it was found that the companies didn’t meet the criteria for premises-based contact centre service and product revenue. Additionally, Interactive Intelligence was excluded after they were acquired by other vendors.
Both Cisco and Genesys were named as market leaders in the recent report, while Huawei, Enghouse Interactive, NEC, and Mitel were named challengers. Aspect, Avaya, and SAP were named visionaries, while Unify, Vocalcom, and ZTE were niche players.
