At some point in the year 2015, there will be more than 2.5 billion people accessing the Internet with over 10 billion devices. Being able to stream and transmit all that data will require a billion virtual servers connected to a cloud infrastructure.
It is apparent that cloud computing is not just here to stay, but is expanding every day. Below is an analysis of the state of the cloud and its future projections.
The Reviews Are In
A recent survey, the 2014-2015 Cloud-Based Contact Center Infrastructure Market Report published by DMG Consulting, analyzed eight industry leaders in the field of cloud vending. They discovered that a 61.5 percent majority received marks of “highly satisfied” in the following dozen major categories:
- Overall satisfaction level
- Professional services
- Product
- Up-time/System availability
- Training
- Implementation
- Product innovation
- Communication
- Ongoing support and service
- Product pricing
- System upgrades
- Responsiveness to request for product enhancement
Those numbers indicate a reassuring confidence and comfort level among end users who now leverage their cloud computing solutions in contact centers as opposed to former on-site locations.
Growing Steadily
The momentum just keeps going. DMG Consulting reports gains of 12.8 percent in 2013 in the market of cloud-based contact center infrastructure. Even though this rate has sloughed off from the previous year’s jump to 32.5 percent, it indicates a stabilization in the market that allows vendors to track their sales more precisely. It’s obvious that consumer awareness of the many benefits of the cloud has increased and shows no signs of slowing.
If growth continues at the projected rate, DMG is predicting that cloud-based contact center infrastructure solutions will grow an additional 20 percent this year, followed by a growth rate of 18 percent in the following two years, and by a still steady 16 percent in 2018. This paradigm shift from on-site to cloud-based data storage is extremely significant for the industry, as evidenced by DMG’s recent observation, “Never before have we witnessed an all-out rebirth of an entire industry due solely to a new delivery model.”
Beyond 2015
The market has not yet reached its zenith regarding the growth of cloud computing. As customers clamor for more business solutions to overcome any challenges, the industry will continue to respond.
Federated systems have emerged, allowing data, services and communications to shift across infrastructures with ease. At some future point, technological advances may evolve to allow data to safely scale into both private and public clouds; to clients, vendors and partners; and between service providers, without involving data centers.
One challenge the industry will face is how to increase efficiency yet still keep the cloud use straightforward enough to satisfy end users. As the complexity of systems will only increase in the future, a workable solution will have to be discovered.
When moving data outside of the physical parameters of on-premise locations, maintaining security is paramount. Any vulnerabilities must be protected to avoid privacy breaches while apps migrate to cloud platforms. As the industry evolves, best practices for software and hardware, solutions, integration, and processes will likely emerge.
Thanks to cloud computing advances, the interaction between contact centers and customers has changed profoundly. Now, even small centers are able to provide clients with state-of-the-art technologies they could never before afford. All have access to the same host of benefits — scalability, flexibility, savings, and usage ease — to meet their customers’ individualized needs.
As the industry continues its evolution, its full potential will be realized through customer feedback as IT providers focus on meeting their demands.
