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Networked
Call Center Market Set to Grow
A new report by independent market analysts Datamonitor (DTM.L)
'Networked Call Centers', concludes that the market for advanced
network routing services is on the verge of boom as multi-site routing
solutions are becoming extremely popular with large and medium-sized
firms globally.
This shift will provide lucrative revenues opportunities for telcos,
technology vendors and service providers, and also grow the number
of agent positions in networked call centers.
Datamonitor predicts that the number of networked call centers
in Europe will increase from 460 in 2001 to 684 in 2004 when networked
call centers will account for 19% of Europe's overall call center
agent positions.
By comparison in the US, networked call centers will total 1010
by 2004 and account for 18% of overall call center agent positions.
In Europe and the US, 34% and 51% of virtual call centers respectively
will be virtual hosted call centers by 2004.
Hosted or networked call centers are call centers that use routing
applications to switch calls between call centers. The routing functionality
is hosted by telcos (or other service providers) on their own networks.
When full automatic call distributor (ACD) integration is achieved,
several sites can work in a virtual call center environment.
Network routing technology solutions have many advantages for fragmented
enterprises seeking to unify their call center operations including:
• A single point of contact for customers and partners;
• Unified architecture without the need for large investments;
• Increased efficiency through better use of IVR and other
routing engines;
• Potential costs savings or revenue generation due to increased
efficiency;
• Highly scalable solution.
Additional benefits include:
• Not having to build a virtual call center which is very
expensive
• Ability to add sites relatively easily
• Cheaper deals on call minutes (particularly attractive
for large call centers)
• Not having to expand the capacity of the corporate network
to accommodate more traffic between sites
• Outsourced services
Examples of industry sectors currently using these services include
financial services institutions (banking and insurance), large retailers
and travel agents.
Although less than 1% of US and European call centers currently
use advanced network routing services, Datamonitor predicts that
by 2004, 34% of virtual call centers in Europe and 51% in the US,
will be virtually hosted call centres.
Service providers should gradually pull out of the unprofitable
hosted call center market and focus on the virtual call center market
as it will be the most lucrative
Two distinct segments can be identified within the networked call
center market:
• Hosted call centers, using network routing solutions without
automatic call distributor (ACD) integration;
• Virtual hosted call centers, using a network routing solution
integrated with an ACD or ACDs on site.
Due to the number of agent positions it represents, the virtual
call centre market is a particularly profitable area. Virtual hosted
call centers tend to have over 500 agent positions.
As virtual hosted solutions enable call centers to increase agent
utilization and the overall efficiency of the call center, a virtual
call center will use significantly more call minutes than a traditional
multi-site call center.
Elsa Lion, Datamonitor technology analyst comments:
"By offering virtual hosted call centre services, service
providers can generate higher average revenues per user and increased
value-added services in order to compensate for call minute price
erosion."
At present 11% and 12% of European and US agent positions respectively
use network routing services. This will increase to 18% and 19%
respectively in 2004 and most of these agent positions will be in
virtual call centers.
Although very few technology vendors are capable of providing scalable
and reliable solutions, and few service providers are actually able
to host these solutions, the market for hosted and networked call
centres will represent a significant chunk of the overall call center
market.
Leading technology vendors and service providers should offer multimedia
and Internet protocal (IP) even though demand is currently low.
Although the immediate demand for full multimedia capabilities is
quite low (web collaboration, email for example), the limits of
many solutions on the market mean that there is also a supply gap.
In the longer term, companies will demand more multimedia capabilities,
particularly universal multimedia queuing. In addition, the demand
for IP solutions is gaining momentum in the market and offers new
entrants an opportunity to compete with more established service
providers (i.e. large telcos).
New entrants and less established players, both vendors and service
providers, will have to compete by offering greater functionality
than the more established players and by targeting the multimedia
and IP gaps in their portfolio.
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