Contact centre value-add services on the up

The global contact centre outsourcing (CCO) market was worth between $70bn and $75bn in 2013, after growing by 7% since 2011, according to research from Everest Group.

This accounts for about 20% of the total contact centre market, valued at between $300bn and $350bn.

“Since 2009, CCO has witnessed steady growth with increasing contract activity. Along with the higher number of new deals, 2013 also witnessed a high number of terminations, highlighting buyers’ intentions to consolidate their portfolio and drive more value from their current engagement,” said Everest Group.

Companies with revenues over $5bn made up 65% of the CCO deals, but the growth was driven by SMEs, with most new contracts coming from them. In 2013, there were 145 new contracts and 75 renewals.

Last year also saw an increase in deal sizes as a result of value-added services being included, as well as multi-channel and delivery. A total of 81% of contracts included value-added services, compared with 44% in 2009 and 63% in 2012. 

Value-added services include customer analytics and customer retention support. The report said on average there were two or more value-added services in CCO contracts.

More deals are agreed with business goals rather than just cost-cutting targets, which were traditionally the reason to outsource contact centres. “CCO value proposition has changed over time to move beyond labour arbitrage, with a focus on process improvement and business outcomes,” said the report.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is going through a similar revolution. Technologies such as cloud computing, business analytics software, social media platforms and process automation software are being used within BPO to enable businesses to lower costs and be more effective.