Published on the 01/12/2015 | Written by Donovan Jackson
Let there be contact centre solutions for all…
With a new partner agreement freshly inked with Aspect Software, Cogent is looking to expand the market in New Zealand with a solution which it says is ‘pure cloud’ and should put omnichannel contact centres within the reach of almost any business.
Cogent CE Ray Noonan described the ‘pure cloud’ solution as rapidly deployable without the need for complex on site infrastructure. “You can decide you want a contact centre today and have it provisioned and ready to go tomorrow.”
More broadly speaking, he said smaller businesses in particular want software that can be turned on and off in response to demand. “A lot of our clients have seasonal variations, going from 15 seats to 50 over the holiday season, for example.”
Small as it is, the New Zealand market is competitive. Other vendors offering cloud solutions include the likes of Interactive Intelligence, Genesys and Zeacom, but these are more geared to the top of town, added Noonan.
Aspect ANZ MD Kristen Pimpini said the appointment of Cogent as its primary reseller is in response to increasing demand for its products.
Asked about the challenges in reaching the market with a cloud contact centre solution, Noonan said there is some confusion over what cloud actually means; in his view, the industry has over-egged the pudding, with more definitions than you can shake a stick at. “In many instances, it’s nothing but a lease prefixed with the word ‘cloud’, but nothing much has changed in the delivery or structure of the deal. What cloud actually means is the elastic provision of a service on demand,” he said.
However, he added that particularly Microsoft with its Office 365, and the ubiquity of smartphone apps, is doing a lot to demonstrate what ‘pure cloud’ is – to the man in the street, and the business owner.
With around 150 clients in Australia and New Zealand, Pimpini and Noonan said expectations for growth are substantial, describing the base as ‘low’. “We’ll be looking at adding around 500 seats in 2016,” said Noonan, while he noted that the increased adoption of Skype for Business is seen as a catalyst; Pimpini added that most of these will come from businesses which have never before had a contact centre, “And that means business enablement.”
