Contact center software represents a massive opportunity for the channel as the global market is expected to nearly triple in value, reaching $48 billion by the end of 2026.

That’s according to a new report by Fortune Business Insights, which expects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6 percent. The market was valued at $16.7 billion last year.

Key players in contact center software include 8×8, Genesys, Avaya, Mitel, Nice Systems, Cisco, Microsoft, Five9 and more. 8×8, Genesys and others are focused on strategic acquisitions and service launches to strengthen their position, according to the report.

An evolution in customer preferences and redefined content value are projected to increase the adoption of contact center software solutions globally. Furthermore, competition also has increased in the market, prompting organizations to retain a stable relationship with customers and safeguard customer loyalty, the report says.

Last month, 8×8 announced the launch of its complete cloud contact center solution. It includes omnichannel, customer journey analytics, automatic call distribution (ACD), speech analytics, dialer, interactive voice response (IVR), quality management, reporting and surveys under a single platform.

In April, Genesys announced it had integrated its three customer experience platforms – PureConnect, PureCloud and PureEngage – with Google cloud contact center AI. Genesys is one of the first companies to integrate with Google cloud contact center AI.

North America is expected to dominate the global market through 2026 because there are several renowned and strong market players in the United States. These companies are constantly working on the application of contact center software systems in private and public organizations.

Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is anticipated to experience notable growth due to the investments of the small and medium organizations. They are investing to increase the adoption of cloud-based and technologically advanced software solutions for contact centers.