 "Value Creation For Customers Drives Growth Of Contact Centre Outsourcing In APAC")
In 2013, call volumes and top-line revenues in the contact centre outsourcing market is expected to gain further momentum in Asia-Pacific as need for customer services reaches new level. The region continues to be the most attractive destination for contact centre outsourcing.
At the end of 2012, the Asia-Pacific contact centre outsourcing market registered near double digit growth and is expected to generate nearly U$33.0 billion in revenue by 2018, registering a CAGR of a 9.9 percent during the period.
“Historically, offshore revenue has been the key driver of the Asia-Pacific contact centre market, and in 2012 contributed 39.6 percent of the total revenue. Cost savings, solid infrastructure, and language proficiency make many Asia Pacific locations preferred as offshore destinations for contact center outsourcing,” said Krishna Baidya, Research Manager for ICT, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.
Contact centre outsourcing will continue to expand and grow in the foreseeable future as organisations focus on their core competencies as well as the increased attractiveness of multi-year contracts with experienced outsourcing companies that can deliver exceptional service levels at a lower cost.
“In addition, the fact that companies today seek out workforce solutions that can expand and contract in relation to business objectives and client call volumes will drive the contact centre outsourcing industry,” Krishna continued. “Increased client acceptance and trust in utilising near shore and offshore agent resources for customer care outsourcing is also a driving factor.”
While phone-live agent continues to be the primary customer contact channel for most verticals, Frost & Sullivan sees robust growth rates for the social media channel, the SMS channel, and the chat channel in the near to medium term.
“As part of Proactive customer care (PCC), we are likely to see significant growth of automated outbound notifications in the near future,” said Krishna. “Outsourcers will focus more to offer clients ‘blended’ delivery models using a combination of onshore, near shore, offshore, home agents and automated customer contact capacity and technologies.”
The nature of the relationship between customer and provider becomes even more important today because consumer expectations for excellent service delivery are extremely high, regardless of the vertical segment. Clients are constantly re-assessing contact centre priorities in order to stay in tune with the market and remain competitive.
Krishna added, “Traditional third-party outsourcing relationships based on cost and labour arbitrage have become passé. It’s our belief that providing customer service at a cheaper rate simply won’t win more wallet share or new logos anymore. It’s a value-add proposition that is going to keep the relationship alive.”