The Emergence of Hybrid Contact Centers 2.0

Jim Milton

Last year, I authored a post on Hybrid Contact Centers, titled Hybrid Contact Centers: The Cloud Will Set You Free. In 2012 we saw the hosted contact center providers grow more rapidly than the on-premise   infrastructure players and we also saw the on-premise infrastructure players make additional investments in cloud technology.  ShoreTel acquiring M5 Networks and Genesys acquiring Angel.com are just two examples. But the question still remains, is the emergence of a hybrid contact center a passing fad or a lasting trend?

SoundBite has been growing its Hosted Predictive Dialer business, both as a full replacement to traditional on-premise dialers as well as a complementary channel to Automated Voice Messaging and Interactive Mobile Messaging deployments.  Many of the RFPs for dialers that we encounter now specify a cloud deployment model as optional or mandatory.

The ability to effectively and efficiently blend and escalate different types of calling, including predictive, preview or manual calling, across multiple channels (voice, text, web and email), provides clients with powerful strategies aimed at increasing consumer outreach and improving customer experience.

All of this supports the trend towards a Hybrid Contact Center, especially in larger companies that have made substantial investments in areas such as ACDs, IVRs and Workforce Management applications. Even in smaller companies or divisions of larger companies, a Hybrid Contact Center is a viable option since the core “nervous system”, aka the ACD/CTI infrastructure, may already be working effectively and be tightly integrated into the company’s core transactional systems.

SoundBite provides modules to integrate our multi-channel communications platform, SoundBite EngageTM , into the CTI layer of Cisco, Genesys, and Avaya contact center infrastructures so that these investments are preserved and enhanced. The Hybrid Contact Center has not only arrived, it is becoming the trend.  If you would like to learn more, please visit SoundBite’s website and watch our video on our Contact Center Text Messaging Solution.

As President and CEO, Jim Milton is responsible for leading the team at SoundBite Communications towards attaining the undisputed market leadership position in Proactive Customer Communications. Jim brings more than 25 years of high technology sales, marketing and general management experience to his role. He previously served as president and chief operating officer of Intervoice, Inc., a publicly- traded leader in interactive voice response (IVR) and IP messaging systems (acquired by Convergys Corporation in 2008). Prior to joining Intervoice, Jim served in senior executive management positions at UGS Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq Computer and Digital Equipment Corporation. Jim received a Bachelor of Mathematics degree with joint Honors in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Waterloo in Canada.