This change is less about the capabilities of the new technology, than about the infrastructure's ability to deliver the highest levels of availability, flexibility, agility and mobility, it said.

The big challenge for many contact centres is they are already wrestling with ageing technology, which is expensive to maintain and upgrade, whilst they are under increasing pressure to deliver customer service through a multiplicity of channels and customer contact points.

These findings form part of the results published in Dimension Data's Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report 2012, which surveyed 637 contact centres in 72 countries.

General Manager of Customer Interactive Solutions, Robert Allman, said, "These results highlight the need for organisations to develop customer service strategies which provide usability and simplicity for customers.