North American Multimedia Contact Center Markets

Integration of Web Self-service Capabilities and Existing Application Suite - A Must for Market Success

Vendors in the North American multimedia contact center markets are increasingly bundling products and offering integrated eService suites to meet the demand for a common framework for voice- and Internet-based interaction routing, reporting, and administration. This is reducing the deployment of stand-alone e-mail management and live Web collaboration tools, morphing their individual markets into a single market. Web self-service engines with their low costs of deployment/integration and ability to improve response quality to customer queries are emerging as an essential component of these integrated suites.

This research forecasts and analyzes the demand characteristics of multimedia contact center markets in North America. The industry has been segmented into online live collaboration tools and e-mail management systems. In addition, this research analyzes the performance of market participants that have been grouped under three broad categories: telephony-based vendors offering multimedia contact channels, customer relationship management (CRM) suite vendors, and stand-alone eService vendors.

Improved Services and Application Hosting Widen Market Scope

Most businesses are being compelled to provide customers with a full range of options for both self-service and live service and the ability to seamlessly move between voice- and Internet-based channels. Integrating customer data gathered through online self-service interactions with data gathered from live interactions and other sources is important and a single software suite makes this integration possible.

For the growing mid-market, the 'software-as-service' option is an attractive value proposition, as small- and medium-sized businesses are hard-pressed to spend time/money to implement on-premise contact centers and eService solutions. "A hosted solution allows businesses to gain access to advanced technologies without making a large up-front investment while eliminating 'staff time' expenditure and reducing business risks," says the analyst. Voice-based vendors are either establishing strategic alliances with stand-alone knowledge-base vendors or developing their own self-service applications to provide complete contact center (including multimedia) and sales force automation solutions on a hosted basis, at price points that are attractive to the mid-market.

Consulting Services and ROI-based Sales Tools to Shape Future Growth

Many businesses are encountering difficulties in integrating the Internet contact channels into their overall contact routing scheme and are challenged by the need to provide consistent service across multiple channels, be it voice, e-mail, text-chat, or web collaboration. This is why companies that deliver good quality voice service fail to provide effective eService, resulting in the slower-than-expected uptake of multimedia contact channels. Vendors can ease this transition by providing consulting services not only for application integration but also in terms of people and processes.

Vendors have also realized the critical need to use sales tools that demonstrate quick return on investment (ROI), as the trend of reduced capital spending and lengthened sales cycles continues. "ROI sales tools must emphasize operational benefits such as better call deflection and improved agent efficiency that arise out of automation," says the analyst. "In the short term, end users' investment/demand will be driven by the cost reduction benefits, whereas value-added features that increase customer satisfaction are likely to take center stage in the long run."