CRM in the Contact Center and the Emergence of the Unified Agent Desktop (Strategic Focus)

Published by: Datamonitor

Published: Oct. 7, 2008 - 46 Pages

Table of Contents

Overview

Catalyst

Summary

Key Messages

Contact centers are investing in tools that help improve customer retention

There is a demand for better user interfaces and easier access to customer information

The market for CRM in the contact center is growing steadily

Analytics and real-time predictive response solutions will play a greater role in the contact center

Integration in the contact center is paramount moving forward

Table of Contents

Table of figures

Table of tables

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

Definitions

CRM

Hosted CRM

CRM solutions tie siloed departments together

Unified agent desktop

Market trends and the evolving contact center

The contact center represents a significant opportunity for CRM vendors

Enterprises are investing in technology to enable the contact center as a tool for customer retention

Agents' roles and responsibilities must change to adapt to increasing use of phone and web self-service

There is an increase in the numbers of home-based and outsourced agents

Contact center infrastructure is changing to become more flexible

Analytics is playing a more important role in CRM solutions

Drivers for investment in CRM and unified agent desktops

The need to reduce costs and improve customer retention is driving investment in CRM

Using CRM and analytics to transform contact centers from cost centers into profit centers

Enterprises want to improve system usability and agent turnover rates

Outsourced agents need access to the same level of information

With increased regulatory control, enterprises need to monitor agent data access

Key challenges for CRM vendors

CRM applications were originally designed for sales and marketing departments

The slow adoption of IP telephony provides integration challenges

Limited IT budgets for new technology may put CRM investments on the back-seat

Market size

Premise-based CRM is growing at a steady rate

The majority of spending is on premise-based CRM solutions

Hosted CRM is growing slightly faster than premise-based CRM uptake

Unified agent desktop solutions

The majority of spending is from large contact centers in North America and Western Europe

Customer Impact

Financial services

Insurance

Telecommunications

Outsourcing

Manufacturing and technology

Other verticals

Customer pain points

Premise-based versus hosted CRM deployments

When to invest: ROI model

Cost to the business

Measurable benefits

Competitive Landscape

The leading contact center CRM vendors

Altitude Software

Strengths

Amdocs

Strengths

CDC Software (Pivotal and Saratoga CRM)

Strengths

Chordiant Software, Inc.

Strengths

Sword ciboodle

Strengths

Cincom

Strengths

Consona Corporation

Strengths

eSoon

Strengths

Fuze

Strengths

Infor

Strengths

Jacada

Strengths

KANA

Strengths

Microsoft

Strengths

OpenSpan

Strengths

Oracle

Oracle E-Business Suite

Oracle PeopleSoft CRM

Siebel CRM

Strengths

Pegasystems

Strengths

RightNow

Strengths

Salesforce.com

Strengths

SAP

Strengths

SugarCRM

Strengths

Go to Market

Channel and partners

Systems integrators and contact center infrastructure vendors are the main routes to market

Future Trends

Unified agent desktop solutions will become a more intrinsic part of CRM

Growth in SOA-based applications and architecture

The contact center will continue to be integrated into the business with unified communications

Using real-time analytics to predict customer behavior

Increasing focus on multiple channels and integration of customer portals

Investments in CRM will become more strategic

Recommendations

Create packaged vertical CRM and desktop applications

Provide hybrid and alternative deployment models to appeal to wider range of customers

CRM vendors, IP telephony providers and unified desktop vendors must work in concert

Where M&A activity has occurred, vendors need to create clear product maps for integrated solutions

APPENDIX

Definitions

Methodology

Further reading

Ask the analyst

Datamonitor consulting

Disclaimer

List of Tables

Table 1: Total number of global contact center agents, by contact center size in 2008

Table 2: North American and Western European enterprises' current adoption and short-term contact center investment plans, 2008-2010

Table 3: Global spending on premise-based CRM licenses and services, 2007-2013 ($ millions)

Table 4: Global spending on CRM and unified agent desktop applications, 2007-2013 ($m)

Table 5: Global spending on contact center CRM by region and contact center size in 2008

Table 6: Contact center technology spending by industry, globally in 2008 ($m)

List of Figures

Figure 1: CRM solutions provide front-office staff with intelligence on their customers

Figure 2: Total number of global contact center agents, by contact center size in 2008

Figure 3: North American and Western European enterprises' current adoption and short-term contact center investment plans, 2008-2010

Figure 4: Global spending on premise-based CRM licenses and services, 2007-2013

Figure 5: Global spending on CRM and unified agent desktop applications, 2007-2013 ($m)

Figure 6: Spending on contact center CRM by region and contact center sizeband in 2008

Figure 7: Contact center technology spending by industry, globally in 2008

Figure 8: Common customer pain points and how they can be resolved with CRM solutions

Figure 9: The leading CRM and unified agent desktop vendors

Figure 10: The route to market for CRM and unified desktop applications

Abstract

Introduction

Customer service and support solutions are being developed with the user interface and customer experience in mind. Vendors are offering unified desktop solutions, which integrate multiple systems and applications into one application, providing a single point of access for all customer information.

Scope

• Analyses the key trends, drivers and inhibitors in the contact center CRM and unified agent desktop market.
• Provides market spending forecast for premise-based CRM, hosted CRM and unified agent desktop applications from 2007 - 2013.
• Assesses the leading CRM and unified agent desktop solution vendors.
• Discusses the future trends and provides recommendations for vendors.

Highlights

• Enterprises are changing their contact center strategies. Previously, they were focused on cost cutting and making contact center operations more efficient. After an increasing need for compliance and the tightening economy, enterprises are placing more importance on customer retention and providing better service.
• Enterprises are continuing to invest in CRM solutions in the contact center and are upgrading old customer service solutions to gain new features and unified desktop capabilities. The hosted deployment model is gaining traction, as enterprises realize the benefits of faster deployment and lower capex.
• Monitoring agent and customer behavior is an increasing focus for enterprises as they try to better understand their customers. There is a large amount of historical data available and enterprises are beginning to use this with customer analytics to provide real-time feeds to agents about how to respond to customers.

Reasons to Purchase

• Understand significant trends in the contact center CRM and unified agent desktop market in order to plan your go-to-market strategy.
• Learn about the key industries where CRM is being deployed and discover customers' pain points and motivations for investment.
• Gain insight into the global market size and discover Datamonitor's predictions for revenue growth for hosted and premise-based CRM.

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