The WFM Vortex, the Winds of Change Push WFM to the cloud

"Cloud-first strategies are the foundation for staying relevant in a fast-paced world," says Ed Anderson, research vice president at Gartner. "The market for cloud services has grown to such an extent that it is now a notable percentage of total IT spending, helping to create a new generation of start-ups and 'born in the cloud' providers."

Across industries, Gartner estimates that $1 trillion will be spent directly or indirectly on the shift to cloud computing by 2020. And within organizations, contact centers are moving to the cloud in increased numbers.  A recent survey by NICE of 500 contact centers of all sizes, found that nearly 15 percent already use cloud-based WFM software, with another 22 percent stating they planned to move to a cloud-based solution within 6 to 24 months. The trend is clear, large innovative contact centers are making the switch, but the cloud can also offer values to small contact centers, such as lower upfront and operational costs, and increased efficiency and flexibility.

A move to the cloud should be done at the right time for your business and with a clear plan that is suited to your investment level, technology stack and business goals. A few signs can help you determine whether moving your workforce management operations to the cloud is right for your contact center.

• You want to focus on the business not the technology.

  Keeping track of hardware requirements and ensuring that upgrades minimally impact the availability of the solution is challenging for most contact centers.

• You want to stay on current and support versions of Workforce Management.

  Most companies do not have a good strategy in place to stay current on software versions. This impacts the centers ability to realize the benefits of new features and puts support at risk if the current version is past the end of life.    WFM in the cloud solves this by including upgrades as part of the agreement.

• You want the ability to use operational funds for pay for usage licensing. 

  This provides the ability to add resources for peaks without having to worry about paying for those licenses in off peak times. It also means hardware capacity is automatically handled.

The cloud offers a host of new opportunities for contact centers. Consider whether your organization's workforce management solution can benefit from increased efficiency and flexibility and lower upfront and operational costs to determine whether a move to the cloud is right for you.

For more information: /engage/workforce-optimization/workforce-management