New Delhi, Delhi, India
Aspect Software, Inc., the world's largest company solely focused on the contact center, and callcentres.net, the leader in contact center industry and customised research, today announced the results of the inaugural Aspect Contact Center Index Asiaä, the first multi-country comparative study of the performance of Asian contact centers.
According to the report, India reported the highest percentage of contact centers (64%) with an increase in profitability this year, followed by The Philippines (59%), and Malaysia (54%). India's primary area of opportunity is in customer service and its challenges are currently with HR performance, particularly agent turnover. Usage of VoIP in India and The Philippines is high and expected to reach 78% and 65% penetration rates respectively over the next two years. Compared to other Asian contact centre industries, India is most likely to use as an Application Service Provider (ASP) with 32% of centers currently using and a further 32% considering an ASP. The Philippines however, is not far behind with 25% currently using and a further 41% considering an ASP.
On a scale of 100, the survey reveals that the Asian contact center industry is averaging a score of 67, which places it in the 'reasonable' performance category. The Index, developed by callcentres.net for Aspect Software, assesses the performance of Asia Pacific contact centers across categories including customer service, sales, revenue, operations, technology and human resources.
"We created the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia to provide the insight, backed by hard data, to really understand the Asian contact center industry and to address the challenges that come along with its growth," said Pramod Ratwani, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Middle East at Aspect Software. "Interestingly, while Asia is emerging as a viable competitor to contact centers in Europe and the US due to its low cost of operations, the Index shows Asia is hampered by Human Resource (HR) challenges and lacks advanced technologies like customer relationship management (CRM), Voice over IP (VoIP), computer telephony integration (CTI) and workforce management."
The survey covers six key countries in Asia - India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines and Thailand - and specific countries in the survey ranked differently. Topping the charts are Korea and Singapore, who rank in the 'achievers' category, which is from 71 to 85 on the overall scale.
"Asian contact centers have shown tremendous potential in delivering on customer service, revenue generation and profitability, however inadequate focus on human resources - which includes remuneration, career options and flexible work conditions - must be addressed for the region to compete internationally," said Dr. Catriona Wallace, Director and Co-owner of callcentres.net. "By effectively addressing the challenges and industry issues the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia raises, the Asian contact center industry should continue its strong growth and performance."
Key findings of the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia
Using a combination of telephone and online methods, the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia surveyed approximately 200 contact center managers operating a minimum of 20 contact center seats from across all industry segments.
The overall scores of the countries are reflective of the maturity of the contact center industry in each country. While Korea (75) and Singapore (71) are more mature markets, Malaysia (65) and Thailand (59) are relatively new entrants in the market. India (64) and The Philippines (66) have higher levels of outsourced contact centers.
Overall findings include:
-- Key differentiators between mature and emerging markets are: customer service (achieving service level targets and first call resolution), sales (level of right party connect), HR (agent absenteeism and turnover), revenue (gross revenue) and operations (contact centre efficiency)
-- Most Asian contact centers are focusing on customer service and HR
-- Two in five contact centers in Asia are using quality monitoring systems, workforce management and analytics applications
-- Three in five contact centers will invest in technology over the next 12 months, with key areas of focus being CRM, VoIP, CTI and workforce management
-- Almost half the market is currently using or would consider using an Application Service Provider (ASP) for its contact center technology requirements
-- Larger contact centers are significantly more likely than smaller centers to use an ASP
Findings by country include:
-- India, The Philippines, Malaysia and other markets with outsourced contact centers reported the highest percentage of centers with an increase in profitability this year
-- The high rank for Korea can be attributed to its strong focus on customer service, sales, HR and operations
-- Thailand's performance in the overall Index was lower than average on customer service, HR and revenue, resulting in Thailand having the largest opportunity for improvement of the measured countries
-- India's primary area of opportunity is in customer service, its challenges are with HR performance, particularly agent turnover
-- India and Korea are the countries least likely to invest in new technology in the next 12 months
-- India is most likely to use as an ASP with 32% of centers currently using and a further 32% considering an ASP, however The Philippines is not far behind with 25% currently using and a further 41% considering an ASP
-- Usage of VoIP in India and The Philippines is high and expected to reach 78% and 65% penetration rates respectively over the next two years
About the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia™
Produced in cooperation with callcentres.net, a leading independent market research consultancy, the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia assesses the performance and business confidence of 200 Asian contact centers across a set of customer service, human resources, revenue, operations and technology-based indicators and in a variety of industry sectors, including finance, telecommunications, government, outsourcing, professional services, manufacturing and retail.
The bi-annual study provides Asian contact center industry executives with a standard benchmark for tracking performance against competitors and other contact centers, as well as information for justifying investments and driving future growth initiatives.
About Aspect Software
Aspect Software, Inc., the founder of the contact center industry, is the world's largest company solely focused on providing proven, innovative contact center products and services that enable the key business processes of customer service, collections, and sales and telemarketing. Each day, thousands of in-house and outsourced contact centers around the globe conduct more than 125 million customer interactions using Aspect Software products. We believe in using the power of technology to positively transform the customer-company experience. That belief has led us to accept the challenge of developing the world's most reliable automatic call distributors (ACDs), most trusted dialers, most widely-used and respected workforce management (WFM) solutions, most flexible voice self service systems and the industry's first and most comprehensive unified, multi-channel contact centre solution. Headquartered in Westford, Mass., Aspect Software has operations across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.
Note: Aspect® is a registered trademark and Aspect Contact Centre Index Asia™ is a trademark of Aspect Software, Inc., in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or trade names are the property of their respective owners.
Monika Agarwal, E, Lexicon Public Relations, +91 (011) 26234726 / +91 9811784695 monika@e-lexiconpr.com
Palin Ningthoujam, E, Lexicon Public Relations, +91(011) 26223099 / +91 9899334941 palin@e-lexiconpr.com
Source: Aspect Software (Business Wire India)
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