Call Center Software Featured Article

Hosted Contact Center Provider Five9 Reflects on 2011, Looks Forward to 2012

By Chris DiMarco
TMCnet Managing Editor

One of the fastest growing segments of the call center space is the hosted option, offering the software vital to the success of a customer service operation with no expensive installation or technology requisites. Five9 (News - Alert) was one of the first to embrace the hosted method of call center technology distribution, and for them 2011 has been a year marked by growth and changes. With more and more companies embracing hosted technology, 2012 is poised to be an active one for the industry. Recently we had a chance to speak with Five9 to discuss the trends that marked this past year and the predictions that they’re making for the next.

Even though 2012 is likely to see a continuation of the slow growth that has marked the tail end of a global recession, Five9 is optimistic that the adoption of hosted contact center software will continue to exponentially increase in the next year. “Our market analysis shows that penetration of cloud-based contact center technology is still in its early stages – there is plenty of room for growth, and Five9 expects to capture a significant share of that growth,” said the company’s VP of marketing Ken Osborn.

The company also predicts that social media will become of increasing importance in the call center as it experiences growing legitimization as a channel of customer feedback. They point of that one of the biggest announcements of 2011 was Salesforce’s introduction of the social enterprise. Five9 has made a considerable effort to offer social literacy support for all of its software Osborn said, “As part of the communications ecosystem, Five9 provides a critical voice component for the social contact center. Coupled with leading CRM solutions such as Salesforce, Five9 phone calls are integrated into a larger conversation with each customer, creating a unified, 360 degree view of customer interactions, both inbound and outbound, across multiple channels.”

In addition to continuing their support of the social channel, Five9 has several other projects that it will focus on in the New Year. Their workforce optimization solution, which is being delivered through a partnership with NICE Systems (News - Alert), will provide a rich set of features demanded by large enterprise contact centers. The company also has plans to introduce a new version of its market-leading Virtual Call Center software.

With the cloud taking off in almost every sector of technology, 2012 will likely show a continuing increase in the adoption of hosted technology for the enterprise. With Five9’s roots planted firmly in the hosted call center space, expect to see its activity rise in direct correlation with this increase.