Clarifying Contact Center Channels to Market for Success (Review Report)

Content

• Catalyst
• Summary
• Methodology
• Executive Summary
  • Introduction
  • Alternative Hosted US Contact Center Providers (Strategy Focus)
  • How to price contact center solutions (Strategy Focus)
  • Solutions Providers - a proactive channel to market for contact centers (Strategy Focus)
  • Global Hosted Contact Centers Update (Market Focus)
  • ALTERnaTIVE HOSTED US CONTACT CENTER PROVIDERS (STRATEGY FOCUS)
  • Summary
  • How the low end of the contact center market is shaping up
  • The real reduction in overall costs gives rise to a revenue generating center
  • New applications for new opportunities
  • Service reliability is both important and attractive
  • Vendors - heed these concerns as they inhibit on-demand uptake
  • Security concerns hinder the uptake of a hosted solution
  • The cost of hosted solutions is a deterrent to purchase
  • A major disincentive to opting for a hosted solution is an existing arrangement
  • Closing thoughts
  • Where does IP feature?
  • Geographical footprints increase presence in hosted contact center virgin territory
  • Outsourcing as a revenue stream
  • MacDonaldization of the hosted contact center business model
  • Contact center in a box should include an integrated CRM package
  • Non-hosted vendor competition
  • An alternative choice of hosted service providers distinct from traditional carriers
  • Cincom
  • Contactual
  • Echopass
  • Five9
  • Siebel
  • UCN
• How To Price Contact Center Solutions (Strategy Focus)
  • Summary
  • Role of the Contact Center
  • Cost center vs. Value Center
  • CapEx vs. OpEx
  • CapEx helps to plan for the long term
  • OpEx has the advantage of flexibility
  • General contact center technology pricing
  • Production costs and sales costs play an important role in vendor and reseller margins
  • Regional variations has an impact on the price
  • Discounting schemes can be complex but help push sales
  • Maintenance does help end-user efficiency and competitiveness and provides a steady revenue stream
  • Value added services
  • Managed services offers flexibility to the end-user
  • Vendors need to find the right balance when selling consulting services
  • Sources of finance for the end-user
  • Attractions of financing options for SMEs
  • As hosted services are gaining traction in the market pricing them correctly is key
  • Usage - based pricing for contact centers
  • Concurrent verses log-in pricing
  • Bundled minutes and contact center services
  • CRM and Contact Centers
• Solutions Providers - A Proactive Channel To Market For Contact Centers
  • Summary
  • The Evolving Role of Soltions Providers
  • The challenge facing specialist SIs
  • Services offered by SIs
  • Reselling and integration of software is more profitable but harder to sell
  • Maintenance of contact center technologies is unavoidable
  • The flurry of M&A activity can confuse customers when it comes to maintenance contracts
  • A managed service provides end-user flexibility and lots of opportunities for the vendor
  • Professional services and business consulting are sweet spots for solutions providers
  • Vendor - Solutions Provider relationship
  • Vendors as implementers can be constructive to the end-user but destructive to a solutions provider relationship
  • Vendors, SIs and the importance of Workforce Optimization is increasing in prominence
  • Consulting is a hot trend that is gaining traction amongst Vendors
  • Hot Solutions areas for solutions providers to be aware of
  • Migration, convergence and virtualization are areas that are gaining in prominence
  • Workforce optimization is not just marketing hype anymore
  • Self service / multi-channel are areas that improve a contact centers reach with its customers
• Global Hosted Contact Centers Update (Market Focus)
• Summary
  • To host or not to host - the first question that is asked
  • Clarifying the hosted contact center
  • Early adopters of the hosted contact center are primarily driven by cost control
  • There are still barriers to the initial uptake of hosted contact centers
  • Security and reliability
  • Control
  • Risk
  • A major disincentive to opting for a hosted solution is an existing arrangement
  • The second wave of hosted contact center uptake will be focused on business transformation
  • The real drivers in implementing a hosted contact center in a bid to transform the organization from a cost to a profit center
  • Reason number 1, Distributed contact centers become a reality with hosted technologies
  • Reason number 2, Accessibility to WOTs in a hosted environment can make better use of operational and customer data
  • Reason number 3, SIP - is it really a successor to CTI?
  • Reason number 4, Mobile workforces are altering the dynamic of the contact center
  • The hosted contact center market will continue to grow strongly in particular markets
• Appendix
• Further reading
  • Ask the analyst
• List of Tables
  • Table 1: US APs by technology location (000s)
  • Table 2: Typical contact center costs in developed markets
  • Table 3: Global hosted APs, 2004 - 2010
  • Table 4: Global Hosted contact center spend 2004 - 2010
• List of Figures
  • Figure 1: Evolution and size-bands of US Hosted Contact Center services
  • Figure 2: What are the three main drivers to purchasing a hosted solution?
  • Figure 3: What are the three main barriers to purchasing a hosted solution?
  • Figure 4: How would you rather pay for a hosted contact center service?
  • Figure 5: Enterprises consider a number of criteria as important when selecting a vendor
  • Figure 6: Enterprises expect their IT budgets to increase further in 2007
  • Figure 7: Changes to software and hardware spending are at opposite ends of the IT budget spectrum
  • Figure 8: Raising efficiency dominates over increasing revenues
  • Figure 9: Services offered by Solutions Providers
  • Figure 10: Changes to software and hardware spending are at opposite ends of the IT budget spectrum (Q: "How are you spending your external IT budget in 2006? How will it change in 2007?")
  • Figure 11: The network elements to a hosted contact center
  • Figure 12: Which of the following statements best describes your contact center, and how do you think that this will change over the next 12 months and 3 years?
  • Figure 13: Total Global hosted contact center APs