US businesses show a paradoxical position in global cloud technology adoption, as revealed by a recent study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of SuccessKPI. The survey focused on Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) operators and highlighted that 58% of US operators have successfully transitioned to the cloud. However, only 35% in the US and 42% in the UK have fully optimized their CCaaS solutions for maximum value.
Surprisingly, 47% of US operators express dissatisfaction with their CCaaS solutions, citing limited automation features (40%) and a lack of significant improvement in customer experience (38%) as the primary reasons. Also, 78% of the identified challenges are addressable through optimization efforts, emphasizing the untapped potential of cloud toolsets.
"There is much opportunity ahead for contact centers to optimize outcomes. There is much more value enterprises can achieve in the cloud when you leverage the right cloud toolset to efficiently transition to cloud and boost people with AI-powered tools and new skills—and these come with a compelling ROI," said SuccessKPI CEO Dave Rennyson.
In April, SuccessKPI released a similar study showing the difficulties of cloud migration for many contact centers.
AI is for contact centers
Amid the ongoing debate surrounding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the workforce, 60% of UK operators believe AI is essential for agents to analyze interactions and better understand customers. Approximately half of companies across the US, LATAM, and Central Europe share this sentiment.
"Only 25% are completely satisfied with their CCaaS solutions with many still in the midst of optimizing them. These are very clear indications from the market that the state of digital transformation, particularly CCaaS solution suites are a bit up in the air for most businesses. Nobody's got this figured out yet. There are many challenges that they're trying to solve beyond the talent availability and support from executives. Feedback from the survey indicated that there are enhanced expectations with things like AI and automation that have largely been unmet," said Vasupradha Srinivasan, Senior Analyst, Forrester.
For those dissatisfied with their CCaaS migration, a skills gap is the most significant obstacle in Latin America (49%), followed by the US (44%), and the UK (41%). Central Europe operators cite the complex internal enterprise IT landscape as their second-biggest challenge (47%), reflecting the struggle of enterprise IT teams to keep pace with the dynamic cloud IT marketplace.
79% see cloud toolsets as essential
The study also identified desired CCaaS capabilities that are lacking, with real-time business intelligence reporting and analytics leading at 61% in the US. Automation and insights to better understand customers follow closely at 60%, and Speech and Sentiment Analytics are crucial for 48% in the US. Interestingly, while the US and UK prioritize real-time business intelligence, Latin American companies (57%) seek "Quality management and Training," and organizations in Central Europe (53%) desire timely triggered alerts for crisis situations.
Across all geographical markets, there is a unanimous agreement on the critical role of the right cloud toolset in CCaaS success, with 79% expressing its importance. This underscores the consistent recognition of the pivotal role that technology optimization plays in the evolving landscape of cloud contact centers.
