Singapore, 24 September 2009

Demonstrating this transition is the 22% increase this year in the number of contact centres that have processes and systems in place to identify sales opportunities during an inbound call.

However, cost optimisation remains a key concern as the number of organisations that have a strategy in place to reduce the cost of serving customers has increased 9.4% year on year.

These are two of the key findings in the 2009 Report released today by Datacraft / Dimension Data. The report, which surveyed over 550 contact centres in 36 countries across five continents, also shows that the number of organisations advising their customers about the benefits of using lower cost methods of communication such as the web and self service have doubled to 36% this year.

Nagi Kasinadhuni, Datacraft Asia's general manager for Converged Communications and Customer Interactive Solutions notes that contact centres remain focused on reducing costs. Whilst increasingly more companies are recognising the key role that the contact centre can play in creating value for the business, contact centres are also focused on driving costs down., The report shows that 66% of centres have a strategy in place to cut costs of serving customers."

This trend is also evident where 22.5% of contact centres in Asia have ranked growing the value of existing customers as their top commercial driver. The important shift is away from pure cost optimisation to the next stage of evolution where driving revenue and value becomes a priority, he adds. While companies have focused on consolidating and rationalising processes, functions and activities to cut costs, they're now seeking ways to deliver more value to the bottom line. In Asia, the investment in supporting infrastructure and processes is expected to only level up with the need to drive customer value over the next two to three years.

As Kasinadhuni explains, the global contact centre industry is still relatively young and it may take some time to get the basics of cost optimisation right. We expect this transition to value creation will take the next three to four years to fully take hold, and it is within this context that we expect to see investment decisions made over the next period.

However, says Kasinadhuni, We need catalysts to create this change, and the economic conditions of today may well be one of them.

From a technology perspective, organisations that are making this move are looking at integrating solutions to enable improved service and sales capabilities. In fact 50% of all contact centres polled reported that they already had integrated business systems in place.

With 36% more organisations telling customers about lower cost options for communicating with them, Kasinadhuni believes it is an encouraging sign that companies are evolving. However, he warns this will only benefit the business if the lower cost options meet with customer expectations.

We're also seeing evidence of a more pragmatic and practical approach to Customer Relationship Management. Much importance is being placed on this trend, with 60% of companies reporting they have 'triggers' in place to identify sales opportunities.

According to Kasinadhuni, this will be one area of technology investment in the coming months as organisations strive for new ways to increase sales opportunities from calls coming into their centres.

###