I recently visited a few very large companies; companies that could swallow us whole and still be hungry from a size and revenue perspective. They are talking to us because they realize something that I understood truly not so long ago – and that’s the power of the platform delivered up in the cloud.
Cloud computing is becoming a more common term. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), hosted, multi-tenant are all terms that are becoming more main stream. When talking to prospects this year versus last year we don’t have to explain what cloud computing or SaaS is quite so often. Companies like salesforce.com and others have legitimized the delivery mechanism that is serving up applications in the cloud versus installing big iron gear at the customer premise.
Being with NICE for six years, it seems normal to deliver software the way we do, but in talking to large companies that know they need to get there but struggle so much, I begin to more realize the power of the platform.
The platform allows companies to take advantage of world class software applications without having to wait a year for new development, they can use it from any web enabled computer without having to install applications on the desktop or laptop they happen to be working from right now. They can gain access to partnerships that the cloud company engaged in and expand their functionality without having to engage multiple vendors and signing multiple contracts, paying separate licenses and once all that is done trying to make all of this software play nicely together.
When SaaS companies add functionality, their customers have access to it immediately. They often don’t download anything differently or have to go through an install and training cycle which can be very disruptive to a contact center.
The platform allows other applications to be built on top of it . The platform allows APIs of other software to consume or be consumed so that the user can have single sign-on, common user interfaces and otherwise desperate software working together to form an ecosystem that leads to productivity to the user group and efficiency from multiple aspects that span beyond the user and the leadership into the financials as one invoice for services that were historically a capital expenditure that are now operating expenses.
So you see, the platform is extensible, easy to access, easy to connect to and easy to build applications to and from to offer a user experience that does not frustrate. These benefits to the contact center translate into a better end customer experience and that, after all, is why we are all doing this – to offer a better customer experience while driving costs out of the business.
So embrace technology and hug your nearest SaaS software engineer who helped make it all possible. It has literally changed the way we as a society do business, and that’s cool.
