2011 year of growth in contact centre market: Frost & Sullivan

The Australian contact centre applications market will increase, including a shift to Cloud computing and a strong focus on social media, according to market analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.

The firm’s recent assessment found that the contact centre applications market will grow at an annual rate of 7.5 per cent nationwide over the next five years.

The assessment also found early adopters of call centre applications may need to seek upgrades over the coming 12 months.

“Many early adopters of call centre applications, such as automatic call distribution and interactive voice response, now need to update or replace their solutions,” a statement from Frost & Sullivan read.

In addition, 2011 will be a big year for unified communications and social media in the contact centre market.

The analyst firm predicts unified communications will bring together multiple mediums, including chat, video and collaboration while social media will become more integrated with contact centre applications.

“Vendors will begin to integrate social media more tightly with their core contact centre applications, enabling agents to gain a consolidated view of customer interactions,” the statement read.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the trend of Cloud computing will continue into 2011, although the firm predicts it will take longer than this year to achieve, with Cloud-based solutions eventually changing infrastructure overheads and favour smaller companies as a result.

Other predictions for the contact centre market included the trend of acquisitions, made popular in 2010 in the technology sector thanks to companies like McAfee, making its way into the contact centre market.

“Expect acquisitions as major vendors seek to gain control over the social media and analytical tools that are fast becoming a critical component of contact centre customer service,” a Frost & Sullivan statement read.

Follow Lisa Banks on Twitter: @CapricaStar

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU

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