Call centres will compete with speech-enabled self-service technology by 2008
By Our Corporate Bureau | 22 Nov 2004
For example, when compared to one handled in the domestic market, a call centre in an offshore location, like India, saves a US company approximately 25 per cent to 35 per cent per transaction — a significant savings. However, a call serviced through speech automation costs approximately 15 per cent to 25 per cent of the cost of a call handled by an agent in India.
The need to improve customer service, reduce costs and increase top-line revenues has not only spurred investment in offshore call centres but is also driving enterprise investment in speech-enabled self-service technology.
Two new reports from Datamonitor, Voice Business in Regional Perspective: The Americas, and Voice Business in Regional Perspective: EMEA and APAC, reveal that spending on speech-enabled self-service technology in North America will more than double from $480 million in 2004 to $1.2 billion by 2008.
Datamonitor estimates that in 2008, the Caribbean and Latin American (CALA) voice business market will be worth $180 million, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is expected to top $1 billion whilst that of Asia Pacific is expected to be a market worth $619 million.
Businesses can reduce costs, improve bottom line results and increase customer satisfaction through the use of speech automation.
Large enterprises such as Bank of America, Citigroup, CIBC Oppenheimer, Verizon, Qwest, MCI, T-mobile, American Airlines and Continental Airlines have already implemented speech-enabled self-service solutions and are benchmarking significant cost savings and improved customer service levels.
"As the early adopter companies exhibit tangible success with speech-enabled self-service, other companies will follow suit," says Daniel Hong, voice business analyst at Datamonitor. "This is leading to a greater uptake of speech solutions as the market awareness and visibility of speech recognition technology increases."
Businesses that already have offshore call centers can look to drive greater cost savings by implementing speech-enabled self-service solutions.
"The popular offshore call centre markets, such as India and the Philippines, are rapidly maturing resulting in increasing wages and higher turnover rates," according to Hong. "This is likely to nullify labour arbitrage benefits and thus decrease the value proposition for businesses to open an offshore call centre. This has led to a sharpened focus among enterprises on improving and automating phone-based transactions through speech recognition technology."
While the offshore call center movement will continue through 2008, businesses are likely to evaluate the areas in customer relationship management where they can automate with speech technology.
"Companies that have offshore call center operations can further reduce costs with speech, but companies that are looking to expand offshore may find more overall value by staying onshore and implementing a speech self-service solution," concludes Daniel Hong.
