It was great to see the comments on my first article “Virtualization in the Contact Center” - how it made a positive impact on your business and for others a “kick-start” for deployment. You may have been wondering, where I disappeared to? I have been quite busy with new deployments in summer and hope to post more consistently in the coming months.
Software has always been known as something you install with hard (CD/DVD media) or soft (downloadable) goods. Software had a traditional way of running “installed” on the company’s infrastructure (servers/personal computers). This now changing with software as a service (SaaS).
Many of you have heard the coined term as “Web 2.0”. This is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Software company’s were quick to adapt with Web 2.0 and offer Software as a service (SaaS). With this business model in mind, we no longer rely on local computer overhead and software licensing duplication. Many new and existing software vendors offer a pay-per-user approach.
What are the advantages? To save money by not purchasing servers (low monthly obligation versus high up-front cost), instantly able to scale and be flexible to business demand, faster time to market, security (most SSL encrypted) and reliability (cloud based server clusters). Most software as a service (SaaS) programs run directly from the web browser or may require a simple installation of Sun Microsystems JAVA (minimal administration from an IT perspective).
What are the disadvantages? No internet - No application! Software as a service (SaaS) is not perfect and it will not provide the same benefits to all users. To the point, some may find it hard to give control or trust to third parties to manage their applications and data. Certain contact centers would require industry specific business applications for which software as a service (SaaS) solutions are not available and companies without clear business objectives and defined business processes will not benefit by it.
Are you going to utilize software as a service (SaaS) this year or next year? Do you currently use it? Do you use Google Docs? Open Office? Office Live? Virtual Hosted ACD/IVR/Agent consoles? Predictive Dialers? Workforce Management? CRM? What successes/challenges have you come across? I am looking forward to your feedback on this service.
