Call Centre investment in workforce optimisation technologies to be in excess of $1bn by 2006
By Our Corporate Bureau | 07 Apr 2005
In Datamonitor's view, call centres stand to gain huge benefits from utilising WOTs. According to Datamonitor, the emerging performance management solutions represent the ultimate evolutionary step in terms of the four broad categories that constitute WOTs. Valued at over $800m in 2004, Datamonitor expects global revenues from call centre investment in WOTs to be worth in excess of $1bn by year end 2006.
Better Management, happier agents
The global squeeze on cost continues. Call centres are being asked to do more with less. Cross-sell, up-sell, improve customer service, answer phones faster, the list is endless.
Workforce optimisation technologies can help. These solutions fall under four broad categories:
- Quality monitoring, the recording and analysis of telephone and data interactions between customer and agent;
- Workforce Management, the efficient scheduling of human resources in call centres;
- Agent analytics, the analysis of agent performance using data from call centre sources;
- eLearning, the online delivery of training to agents to improve their performance in key areas.
These solutions form component parts of an inter-locking and inter-dependent solution chain for call centres. Their aim is two-fold: to improve the efficiency of call center operations, and to maximise the effectiveness of agents working in the call center.
"Satisfied customers and happy agents should be the goal of any call centre manager," says Tom Pringle, technology analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report. "Call centre agents in environments which are inefficient are likely to deal with angry customers who have been subjected to long wait times. Customer frustration also rises when agents are not fully aware of the products they deal with, or the systems they use to deliver information. Workforce management can help deal with the scheduling of agent resources, while quality monitoring, agent analytics and eLearning can address the agents' skills."
Performance management (PM)
PM is built on two founding principles, efficiency and effectiveness. This is not a case of chicken and egg; efficiency is the first step in optimisation of call centre operations. Workforce management (WFM) is the means by which this is achieved. WFM is important for two key reasons:
- Efficient operations are the foundation for any attempt to optimise call centre operations
- WFM is an important source of information for other WOTs components, for example, the scheduling of eLearning or analysis of agent performance against targets.
Agent analytics and quality management vendors likely to compete for control of the PM space
If any vendor group could argue its solutions most closely matched the criteria of a PM solution, it would be agent analytics. Through their position as a data hub, they draw information from not only call centre core technologies, but also other WOTs solutions including both 'hard' (agent adherence, etc.) and 'soft' (quality management scores, etc.) metrics. However, agent analytics vendors tend to be small and specialised.
In contrast, quality management vendors are significantly larger in terms of revenue and customer bases than all of the other WOTs component vendors. They also have some of the longest established relationships with their customers. They are, therefore, likely to attempt to exercise control over the entire WOTs market.
Pringle concludes:
"Continuous assessment and analysis of the global WOTs market indicates the pace of change is accelerating. While 2004 may be considered the year of establishment, Datamonitor expects 2005 to be a year of accelerated growth and technological advancement in the WOTs market. As success stories spread in this industry, adoption amongst call centers will continue to rise."
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