EMEA Contact Centre Outsourcing Markets

Greater Acceptance of Outsourcing across Business Verticals in Europe, Middle East, and Africa Aids Growth of Outsourced Customer Care Services

Spurred by strategic, financial, and technological forces, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) contact centre outsourcing market continues to experience impressive growth. Buoyed by growing demand and stable prices, market participants reported significant organic revenue growth in 2007 and 2008 and this would continue for the next three to five years. However, outsourcing firms should keep containing costs in the face of accelerating customer demands. This will result in consistent delivery of better quality customer care, irrespective of where the call is answered, thereby making it imperative to outsource. Outsourcers offer a multitude of benefits to their client base, including eliminating capital expenses, flexibility, access to qualified labour, reduced costs, advanced management techniques, and the opportunity to gain access to state-of-the-art technology without massive financial outlays, notes the analyst of this research. Several market participants report that they have moved to better align their sales forces with client demand for vertical expertise, especially in the dominant financial services vertical and others such as telecomm, travel, and healthcare.

Providers Offering Blended Solutions have an Edge in the Market

The most evident challenge in call centres currently is that of complexity. This includes increased diversity and complexity of products and services, the need for agents' multi-lingual skills, consumer demand for speed and multi-channel media touches, and increased emphasis on cross selling and up selling. EMEA providers report dealing with complex industry legislation and regulatory compliance issues. In today's environment, it is increasingly common for clients in EMEA to require blended' delivery models, using a combination of onshore, near shore, and offshore customer contact centres, explains the analyst. The offshore option provides clients with lower labour costs and 'follow-the-sun' service provisioning, especially for English call volumes, yet, hiring sufficient support for other European languages is a challenge for all providers. Those providers offering multiple solutions and agent models such as client in-house agents, vendor brick-and-mortar agents, self-service options, and work-at-home or remote agents are in a favourable position to take advantage of the market growth. Outsourcing firms that have CEO support to execute a solid security strategy, with an established internal security practice, will be well prepared to meet these important client demands for data privacy, security certifications, and regulatory compliance.