Flexible Technology Upgrades Can Help Outsourcers Close “Service Gap” and Win New Business in Economic Downturn
Altitude Software Sponsors Survey to 204 US Contact Centers on Use of Outsourcing
Lisbon, Portugal, February 3rd, 2009 – Outsourcers are delivering reduced costs, more flexibility and specialist knowledge to US contact centers. But some perceived service shortcomings could be preventing them from winning more business in the current economic downturn, according to industry research now released.
These findings come from the “US Contact Center Operational Review 2008” report by contact center industry analyst ContactBabel and sponsored by leading global contact center solutions vendor Altitude Software. It analyzes the performance, operations, technology and HR features of 204 Contact Centers in the United States of America and brings new light to the US Contact Centers’ use of outsourcing services.
According to the report, when asked about the drivers for outsourcing, almost half of the respondents (47%) rate the cost-benefit ratio as the main factor, followed by the flexibility of quickly adding agents and running campaigns (35%), which directly results in better customer service and business results. The need to add specialized people to move forward (24%) and acquire specialist abilities unavailable in-house (e.g. foreign language or technical ability) (18%) are further highlighted as main drivers to use contact center outsourcers.
41% of respondents used outsourcers in some way in the last year, with almost a quarter (23%) reporting a less positive experience, citing lack of visibility or information, as well as service shortcomings. “Outsourcing allows businesses to focus on their core business, to benefit from the experience and knowledge of specialist contact center operators. Outsourcers can take full advantage from business opportunities arising from the economic downturn, by providing significant cost benefits and a quality service delivery. Judicious investment in proven ROI technology is a way forward to successfully achieve this goal”, states Steve Morrell, Principal Analyst at ContactBabel.
With an extensive track record of providing specialized solutions to contact center outsourcers, Altitude Software has recently updated its proven Altitude Unified Customer Interaction™ suite, the Altitude uCI 7.5, with a bevy of new features, delivering more flexibility and more value than ever to companies facing tough new challenges, enabling contact centers to go the extra mile to keep every customer and to chase every cent.
“There is a clear opportunity for contact center outsourcers wishing to position themselves as the right business partner in the downturn. Altitude Software provides contact centers with the capability to develop flexible, productive, cost-effective high value-added operations in order to capture the best business opportunities arising from the economic crisis”, says Mark Lepko, President of Altitude Software North America.
The Altitude uCI 7.5 now includes an enhanced agent desktop, able to achieve higher first call resolution rates. Also, the Altitude Voice Portal 7.5 enables intelligent self service, for both inbound and outbound, leveraging speech recognition and text to speech capabilities. The new campaign optimization features now available in the Altitude uCI 7.5 solution help contact centers become more competitive and effective in customer acquisition and retention.
The “US Contact Center Operational Review 2008” is divided into nineteen separate sections each detailing a segment of the call center industry including Speech Technology, CRM, Outsourcing, Salaries and Recruitment, Multimedia and many other HR, and technological and business process areas. Each section presents an analysis of the surveyed data and wide-ranging statistics. The report also contains a Supplier Directory of organizations which provide services, products and solutions to the US contact center industry. The Outsourcing chapter is available at http://www.altitude.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1011&Itemid=962 and the full report can be downloaded free of charge at http://www.contactbabel.com/usor.htm http://www.contactbabel.com.
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Survey Methodology
The US Contact Center Operational Review (2nd edition – 2008) is a study of the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of 204 US contact center operations. Taking a random sample of the industry, a detailed structured questionnaire was asked to contact center managers and directors between March and July 2008. Analysis of the results was carried out August to October 2008. The result is the 2nd edition of the largest and most comprehensive study of all aspects of the US contact center industry.
About Altitude Software
Altitude Software is a leading independent contact center vendor with the Altitude Unified Customer Interaction™ (Altitude uCI) product line. Altitude uCI manages and improves customer relationships for each new interaction in a wide range of contact centers, from SMEs to large multisite organizations. Altitude uCI is a cost-effective application suite conceived to improve the overall productivity of the contact center. Since Altitude uCI was engineered to integrate easily with enterprise front office and back-office systems, Altitude uCI delivers significant cost benefits, revenue benefits, and intangible benefits with a limited upfront investment. Altitude uCI not only allows users to achieve return on investment in a limited time frame, but also provides a successful solution to their customer interaction and organizational efficiency strategies. Altitude Software serves around 800 customers of all sizes (with more than 200.000 licenses) in about 60 countries worldwide, both directly and through a wide network of partners. Altitude Software has 18 Offices in four continents. Please visit us at www.altitude.com.
About ContactBabel
ContactBabel provides insightful data and insight into the contact center industry through massive and ongoing primary research projects, which is matched by its experience in analyzing the contact center industry. ContactBabel understands how technology, people and process best fit together, and how they will work collectively in the future.
ContactBabel has helped the biggest and most successful vendors develop their contact center strategies and talk to the right prospects. It has shown the U.K. government how the contact center industry will develop and change. It helps contact centers compare themselves to their closest competitors so they can understand what they are doing well and what needs to improve. For more information, visit http://www.contactbabel.com/.
For more information:
Altitude Software
Carlos Taveira
Marketing Communications
Phone: +351 214 129 800;
Email: [email protected]
