Customer organizations should consider service costs and related fees in conjunction with offloading maintenance and management, reducing floor square footage (due to work-from-home), and cutting operational expenses, including the cost of agent training. We will explore each of these in greater detail. But the added functionalities, impact on customer satisfaction, and, as an extension, higher sales, drive most adopters to CCaaS. Agent retention and superior analytics also factor positively into the decision. The business case, therefore, had already built itself. Then the socio-business shock wave of Covid-19 pushed momentum into an even higher level. Some experts anticipate a 60-40 mix, where about 40% of employees work remotely “Contact centers, like most businesses, had to find solutions that provided support and services from somewhere other than brick and mortar environments of old,” said Ryan McCormick, Workforce Optimization Strategy Director at Five9, a San Ramon, Calif.-based provider of cloud contact center solutions. “Many organizations found that sending people home could often work quite well. We are currently in a state of uncertainty about future implications and what the best options will be. Some agents are fine working at home. The benefit for the company is the ability to recruit remotely, save money, and leverage technology like workforce optimization to drive performance and deliver, while still making personal connections.” Although some companies may move to an exclusively work-from-home structure, most are likely to adopt a hybrid environment, after having found success with work-at-home during the pandemic. Some experts anticipate a 60-40 mix, where about 40% of employees work remotely. Others predict that, as work-from-anywhere gains further ground, the legacy emphasis on brick-and-mortar facilities will decline even more – augmented by an opportunity for businesses to get reduced leases in commercial office space and a chance to hire the best-qualified applicants, wherever they live. Copyright © 2021 AVANT Communications, Inc. AVANT | CCaaS 6-12 Report | 8