mechanism, you're in that high-end niche. This doesn't mean that the market stops. There and improvements and growth but it will increase relatively slowly.
SCS: What part does mobile play in WFM?
Bucci: One example is in this phenomena where we have remote agents now working from home. They can use WFM as a method of signing in or checking their schedules. It becomes another tool for communicating with the agents. With mobility, a supervisor can also work directly with an agent and have access to what's going on. They're still getting reports and seeing how the contact center is operating.
We're still in the beginning stages of [mobile]. The smartphone has a relatively small viewing area, so it's difficult to present charts and graphs. However, the advent of tablets opens up more avenues. I think mobile will continue to expand in the call center WFM market, and it looks promising.
SCS: How are vendors expanding in the WFM market?
Bucci: There are companies like Verint Systems, which was very early to embark in the back office market. Other companies that dominate this space are Aspect and NICE Systems. These three companies make up 72 percent of the WFM market. The companies have been in business for a long time. For example, Aspect—80 percent of its revenue doesn't come from selling new product but from servicing their installed base—was the first in the business.
SCS: How are cloud solutions affecting vendor sales? In your report you said that "Vendor-direct cloud offers account for four percent of vendor direct sales."
Bucci: [With cloud] it's still very early, although many companies offer cloud services through some mechanism, some do it directly, and some do it through third parties. About nine of the top vendors are now [offering WFM contact center solutions]. But I think that cloud solutions in the contact center is still in an embryonic stage.
I would also say that we are in the very beginning stages of deploying wireless and hosting.This will stimulate growth, though the effect is hard to gauge at this time. Recording and CRM are also mature sectors, but have more dramatic technology drivers like speech and data analytics.
SCS: Would you say you're bullish on the future of the WFM contact center market?
Bucci: There's technology that has a lot of promise, such as CRM and interaction recording. In the report, we focus just on the contact center. There are growth avenues for vendors who have two ways to grow: either find more applications or find more users within their core market.