“Knowledge is telling the past. Wisdom is predicting the future.” - W. Timothy Garvey

It’s finally happening. Historically change-resistant contact centers are getting their transformational day in the sun.

One of the most hyped decades for business innovation is now in flight. And whether you consider its start a setback or a boost, there’s no doubt that recent events have accelerated technology trends and the need for digital transformation to the point where last year’s existing gaps are this year’s formidable divides. 

The average contact center has a big leap it needs to make - from on-premise to permanently in the cloud. From in-office to operate-from-anywhere. From siloed to collaborative. From reactive to proactive. While most business leaders don’t love predictions, we think these six from Gartner forecasting the future of the contact center are right on track. Decide for yourself: 

  1. By 2024, 30% of organizations will have moved their contact centers’ operations off-premises, with a 60% jump in remote-working full-time agents. - Overcome the Top 3 Challenges to Setting Up Contact Center Agents for Remote Working
  2. By 2024, cloud contact center agents (56% market share) will exceed on-premises contact center agents (44% market share), a transition that will have taken two decades. - Gartner Forecast Analysis Contact Center, Worldwide 2021
  3. On-premises contact centers will increasingly become technologically inferior compared to their cloud counterparts. The result is a −12.5% CAGR for on-premises contact center agents. - Gartner Forecast Analysis Contact Center, Worldwide 2021
  4. By 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will have abandoned native mobile apps in favor of messaging for a better customer experience. - Gartner Predicts 2021: CRM Customer Service and Support
  5. By 2025, proactive (outbound) customer engagement interactions will outnumber reactive (inbound) customer engagement interactions. - Gartner Predicts 2021: CRM Customer Service and Support
  6. By 2025, 40% of customer service organizations will become profit centers by becoming de facto leaders in digital customer engagement. - Gartner Predicts 2021: CRM Customer Service and Support

Want to see more contact center predictions and trends from top industry analysts and subject matter experts? Check out Contact Center Trends to Watch in 2021.