2008 Contact Center Technology Trends

In 2008, contact centers are leaning toward an increased emphasis on self-service and applications that provide greater insight into customer experience. Organizations are also considering how to support their customers more proactively and reach beyond the walls of traditional centers to include remote experts and home agents. Forrester's 2008 survey of contact center decision-makers finds increased interest in services delivered as hosted or software-as-a-service (SaaS) to reduce upfront expenses. Additionally, more companies are turning to outsourced and managed services for their operations. IP adoption continues to expand, with more than 30% of companies indicating they have deployed or are rolling out IP contact centers, which is a significant increase over previous years. IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) managers need to demonstrate a positive ROI to justify contact center upgrades and investments, support more efficient operations, and improve customer support.