Where is the cloud communications industry headed? If you’re global growth analyst group Frost & Sullivan, you need to know, and you just might ask Indianapolis-based unified communications and contact center solutions provider Interactive Intelligence, which is on Software Magazine's 2013 Top 500 Global Software and Service Providers and has received Frost & Sullivan's Company of the Year Award, Contact Center Systems, North America, for the last three years running. The company often shows up on lists of top U.S. companies to work for and was placed in the Contact Center Leaders Quadrant in the “Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide,” by analyst group Gartner in 2012.
Frost & Sullivan conducted a video interview with Interactive Intelligence CEO Dr. Donald E. Brown to determine where he thinks cloud communications technology is headed, what it might look like in the future and – most critically to the contact center industry, in which Interactive Intelligence is a heavyweight player -- how it will shape the future of customer service.
“The whole nature of how people are communicating and interacting is changing,“ said Dr. Brown. “And with that there are changing expectations for customer service,” noting that interactions need to move very easily between mobile devices to traditional phone calls to text messages, e-mail and even video.
Nancy Jamison, Principal Analyst with Frost & Sullivan notes in the video that the cloud is ideal for allowing organizations to add these channels without having to be overburdened with IT support.
“The cloud, in some instances, takes the complexity out of being able to provide new channels, which is really important, because we have to provide multiple channels because that’s what customers are demanding,” said Jamison.
So what’s awaiting the contact center in the future? While no one can predict that with complete certainty, Dr. Brown believes the cloud will provide access to an increasing amount of intelligent and predictive information, which companies can use to further enhance their customers' experience. One thing that does see a certainty is that Interactive Intelligence will be there to provide the critical necessary technologies for the contact center of the future.
“In this industry, if you’re not bold, you’re obsolete,” said Dr. Brown.