Contact Centre Benchmarking: Flexibility Gives the Edge

Telephone self-service continues to be on the upswing. That is the conclusion of the Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report 2008 published in May by Dimension Data. Voice recognition does not yet meet the same positive acceptance as IVR-based self-service functionalities – but that is only a matter of time. The adaptability of technical solutions to changing business processes is a big issue, making the shift towards open standards and IP-based technologies a lead trend. Platforms for speech dialogue like the Clarity Speech Edition that support all modern dialogue techniques and provide full flexibility – for instance in the choice of voice applications and the integration of input and output systems – cater perfectly to growing demand for efficient and adaptable solutions.

 

Organisations from all over the world took part in the Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report 2008. 19 per cent of them are in-house contact centres of companies with more than 200,000 employees. Most participants in the study generate turnover of more than USD 20 million USD (this figure refers to the whole company).

 

“Service” is quoted by 69 percent of respondents as central to their development strategies. Telephone hotlines and voice-operated telephone services play a pivotal role in customer relationship management. According to one poll result, the telephone has the highest service grade as a communication channel: 70 percent of inquiries are processed within 20 seconds – faster than any email.

 

In line with the trend over the past ten years, the length of calls has increased and currently stands at 239 seconds, 30 percent more than in 1999. This is explained by the fact that “simple” inquiries are increasingly being dealt with by self-service while agents increasingly respond to more complex inquiries.

 

The key to the future is process efficiency. While optimisation efforts still concentrate on technology and human resources, it is expected that the field will be led by contact centres that succeed in boosting their potential use through more efficient process design.

 

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Download the Executive Summary of the study:.

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