Changing sector
While the overall size of the market is growing it remains fragmented with numerous competing systems falling under the umbrella term of CCaaS. The wide array of tasks carried out by modern call centres has stimulated an equally diverse range of solutions, including Automatic Call Distribution; Call Recording; Computer Telephony Integration; Customer Collaboration; Dialer; Interactive Voice Response; Reporting & Analytics; Workforce Optimization and many more.
“The CCaaS market is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying various organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market,” Jesse Maida of research consultancy Technavio states, going on to predict that the CCaaS market will grow by USD 2.26 billion in the period to 2026, equivalent to a CAGR of 12.07%.
To date this fragmentation has acted as an impediment for small businesses (SMBs), with the large enterprise segment dominating the market and accounting for more than 56 per cent of global revenue. The roll-out of integrated, cloud-base systems is rapidly changing this and stoking demand from the SMB segment. Cloud-based solutions, available on a pay-per-use or subscription model, are now allowing SMBs to take advantage of services on an as-needed basis.
Greater integration of services has also improved the reporting and analytics capabilities of the latest generation of CCaaS tools, allowing business owners to dive into the data and reshape processes to respond to changing demand. Powerful tools such as workforce management services, omni-channel routing, customer engagement management, and telephony solutions are now available on demand and are expected to be a key driver for growth this year.
Search giant Google recently brought its machine learning experience to bear on the CCaaS space, offering its CCAI Insights tool to provide natural language processing that can identify call drivers and sentiment, helping contact centre managers learn about customer interactions to improve call outcomes.
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Intelligent systems
This is far from the only example of machine learning for CCaaS as providers race to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve performance and create hybrid contact centre solutions. With the latest AI capable of conducting rich, conversational experiences with customers, many businesses have explored the use of virtual agents to free up resources and allow human agents to focus on more difficult and specialized calls.
Robin Gareiss, CEO of strategic advisory firm Metrigy, notes that more than a third of businesses already use Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs) and notes “those using IVAs see an 11.7% reduction in costs, a 30% improvement in agent efficiency, and a 44.1% improvement in customer ratings.”
With research from Epsilon showing that 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase when businesses provide a personalized experience, the demand for intelligent CCaaS tools is only set to grow.
“Reducing cost can’t be your primary motivator,” Jeetu Patel, Executive Vice President at Cisco, said. “The mentality should be to drive the best experience. As you do, you of course want to keep a level of efficiency in mind. But don’t drive it with the idea of taking out the humans and keeping the AI in there.”
From omni-channel routing and sentiment analysis to AI conversations, CCaaS is increasingly managing vital customer communications and bringing a new level of personalisation as it fast becomes the tool of choice for businesses of all sizes.
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