The concept of call center outsourcing has changed. Whether you’re calling your favorite e-commerce shop to ask why you haven’t received your shoes yet, texting your doctors office to confirm your upcoming appointment, or on live-chat with an electronics store while they compare the price you found online to see if they can match it, you’d never know if you are communicating with the office itself or a call center provider. Where using a call center used to be answering phones and taking messages, today’s call center is an omni-channel paradise with expert agents trained on the brand they’re representing, and with a focus on the customer experience.

With how much call center technology and what’s capable to be outsourced changes almost every minute, it’s always fun to see what people in the industry think about where the industry is headed. What’s on the horizon? To get some perspective, we cornered 10 of our employees to get their predictions on call center services over the coming years.

Here’s what our crew said:

• “I think that call centers are going to become even more advanced as technology continues to evolve, and outsourcing is going to feel like a seamless experience for business owners, their staff, and their customers.” – George Nave
• “In my opinion, more and more businesses are going to look to outsourcing as a way to stay above the competition, and soon enough every business will be outsourcing one thing or another.” – Matt Baker
• “Back in the day, you only really talked to call centers when you were calling  your doctor or trying to place an order for a product you saw on TV. However, you’d be surprised how many companies use call centers, and that number is only going to grow higher.” – Barb Albert
• “As the need for call centers continues to increase, I think we’re going to see a jump in call center service providers. A growing market means more entrepreneurs are going to want in on the action, which means a lot more choices for consumers.” – Kaila Hamaday
• “Right now, call centers are relatively limited in the things they can do. For example, unless you have a dedicated agent that is only handling your calls, your operators are going to have limited knowledge of your brand. As the call center industry evolves, I think operators are soon going to be capable of doing a lot more.” – Kelly Dunbar
• “Many call centers offer a mobile app and online portal which their customers can access and retrieve messages. I think mobile apps and online portals are going to become standard across the board, and those features are going to become way more advanced.” – Taylor Blair
• “A lot of call centers offer bilingual support with Spanish speaking agents. However, I think that eventually all call centers are going to become bilingual, and I think that more call centers will start to offer support in other languages as well.” – Kevin Kozeniewski
• “Call centers are definitely going to become the norm across many industries. The other day I was at the dealership for my car, and every 5 minutes the phone kept ringing. No receptionist at the desk and no call center to help answer means the woman I was working with had to constantly help pick up the slack. Businesses can’t afford to lose customers based off poor or lacking customer service, but they usually can afford to outsource.” – Courtney Pizzi
• “I think call centers are going to become more integrated with the businesses they’re answering for, and I think that customers are going to be able to directly talk to and meet with the people handling their calls, and have a more hands on approach to their outsourcing experience.” – Matt Cohen
• “I think it’s possible that more businesses will try to open up their own call centers to help keep everything consolidated under one roof. However, I don’t think it will work out for most of them due to the added expenses and responsibilities needed to run a successful center.” – Stephen Wildemann 

What do you think about the SAS employees predictions? Are they right on point on or a bit sour? If you have some other ideas, feel free to connect with us on twitter @SpecialtyAnswer.