US Research Uncovers Business Opportunities for India BPO Industry
There is an opportunity for India’s BPO industry, as US-based Contact Centers are failing to engage in significant proactive CRM on behalf of its customers, according to a research report becoming available in India today.
Altitude Software, a leading independent contact centre solutions vendor, and ContactBabel, contact center industry analysts, today announced findings on the Outbound and Call Blending activities of US Contact Centers, from the “US Contact Center Operational Review 2007”, based on a study of the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of 204 Contact Centers.
The research, sponsored by Altitude Software, shines a new light on US Contact Center’s Outbound CRM “lost opportunity”, with only 26% of contact centers surveyed engaged in proactive customer service, and a mere 11% actively cross-selling or up-selling to existing customers. Feeding into this state of affairs is a clear “technology gap” in contact centers, with 45% using only basic (or preview) dialers and 55% using predictive and progressive dialers, better suited for legislative compliance and for sensitive “CRM calls”.
“The report findings underline the extent to which contact centers are failing to make an intelligent use of the available technology to deliver proactive customer service – which can be a strong brand builder as well as an effective call avoidance tactic.” said Steve Morrell, principal analyst at ContactBabel.
“India’s BPO industry needs to put itself in a position where it can help companies addressing the US market reinvent customer service through “proactive customer care”, enabling contact centers to use outbound calling to increase customer goodwill” stated Mr. Sanjay Sapru, Altitude Software India Country Head. “Businesses can use the contact center to proactively contact affected customers/groups when service disruptions are anticipated. Or they can pursue customer satisfaction follow-up after service fulfillment. This business approach can prevent inbound call peaks, allow for better staffing and resource management, and above all increase customer satisfaction”
The Altitude uCI 7.5 suite is designed to help companies reinvent customer service through “proactive customer care”. Altitude Software’s solutions for successful proactive contact include pacing mode modules – Preview; Predictive; Power; and a Call Classifier. The Altitude Unified Dialer’s main function is to both automate and add intelligence to the dialing process as it is one of the most important operations in any outbound contact center. Dialing leverages customer information to determine the best time and the most economic way to make successful contact, taking into consideration available human resources and compliance with applicable legislation. Altitude Software has recently developed an automated process to submit outbound dialing campaign lists running on its Altitude Unified Dialer solutions to PossibleNOW’s US consumer data privacy management services.
In the last couple of years, Altitude Software has been investing significantly in its Indian operations where it sees strong potential for the future. It has established successful operations with several customers such as Sutherland Global Group, GoldShield , ADI Media (Communication today Group), RMS, Bird Group and more. Local service delivery capabilities have been built with fast increasing numbers of Altitude-certified engineers, and a fast expanding Altitude partner network, including companies such as Wipro–3D, Orange Business Services & Bhrigus Software.
The U.S. Contact Center Operational Review 2007 is divided into seventeen separate sections each detailing a segment of the call center industry including Speech Technology, CRM, Outsourcing, Salaries and Recruitment, and many other HR, technological and business process areas. Each section contains analysis of the survey data and comprehensive statistics. Contact center managers and directors, representing a random sample of the industry, were asked a series of questions between March and May 2007 for this report. Analysis of the data was carried out in May and June 2007. The Outbound and Call Blending chapter is available at http://www.altitude.com/ and http://www.contactbabel.com/.
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About Altitude Software
Altitude Software is a leading independent contact centre vendor with the Altitude Unified Customer Interaction™ (Altitude uCI) product line. Altitude uCI manages and improves customer relationships for each new interaction in a wide range of contact centers, from SMEs to large multisite organisations..
Altitude uCI is a cost-effective application suite conceived to improve the overall productivity of the contact centre. Since Altitude uCI was engineered to integrate easily with enterprise front office and back-office systems, Altitude uCI delivers significant cost benefits, revenue benefits, and intangible benefits with a limited upfront investment. Altitude uCI not only allows users to achieve return on investment in a limited time frame, but also provides a successful solution to their customer interaction and organizational efficiency strategies. Altitude Software serves around 800 customers of all sizes (with more than 200.000 licenses) in about 60 countries worldwide, both directly and through a wide network of partners. Altitude Software has 18 Offices in four continents. Please visit us at www.altitude.com.
About ContactBabel
ContactBabel provides insightful data and insight into the contact center industry through massive and ongoing primary research projects, which is matched by its experience in analyzing the contact center industry. ContactBabel understands how technology, people and process best fit together, and how they will work collectively in the future.
ContactBabel has helped the biggest and most successful vendors develop their contact center strategies and talk to the right prospects. It has shown the U.K. government how the contact center industry will develop and change. It helps contact centers compare themselves to their closest competitors so they can understand what they are doing well and what needs to improve. For more information, visit http://www.contactbabel.com/.