APAC Fastest Growing Region for Contact Center Services
Asia Pacific Fastest Growing Region for Contact Center
Services, Finds
Frost &
Sullivan
New Zealand market to rebound strongly in
2012, 3% CAGR through to
2018
Auckland, 11 July, 2012 – The Asia Pacific
(APAC) region recorded a 9.7
percent growth in contact
center agent seats to reach 2.5 million in 2011
and is
expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
of 8.1
percent to touch 4.0 million by 2018.
To meet
rising customer demand, enterprises are reviving
expenditure on
customer service and APAC is expected to
demonstrate the highest growth in
the global contact
center outsourcing in 2012 and beyond.
Frost &
Sullivan’s new analysis, Assessment of the Asia-Pacific
Contact
Center Market, (http://www.contactcenter.frost.com),
finds that the Asia
Pacific region had 3.48 million
agent seats in 2011 and estimates this to
reach 5.9
million in 2018.
The New Zealand contact center
market was estimated to boast close to
30,000 seats at
the end of 2011, a mere 1% decline from 2010. Frost
&
Sullivan ICT Industry Manager Krishna Baidya says
this can be contributed
to a lingering effect of the
economic slowdown resulting in cut backs in
outsourcing
or exploring a lower cost base in line with
reducing
operational costs.
However, the industry is
expected to rebound strongly in 2012. “New
Zealand
continues to serve the Australian market as
the near-shore destination
competing against other APAC
offshore destinations. Agent seat numbers are
expected
to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.0
percent
through 2018” says Baidya. The domestic
outsourced seats and captive
contact center seats are
expected to witness a marginal increase in numbers
during
the forecast period. The number of agents working from home
is also
on the rise.
“While Australia addresses the
demand for technical support to customers in
New
Zealand, other cost-intensive outbound operations are
outsourced from
Australian enterprises to the New
Zealand market” added Andre Clarke,
Country Manager,
Frost & Sullivan New Zealand.
Domestic demand accounts for
over 90 percent of contact center seats in New
Zealand
currently, and this trend is expected to continue
throughout the
forecast period. Telecom continued to
be the vertical with the highest
contribution to the
contact center outsourcing revenue, followed closely
by
Banking and Finance. Retail, Government &
Education also has been a
significant contributor as
they focus on improving customer service.
The
intensifying focus on quality customer service has piqued
the interest
of domestic enterprises. “Customer service
enhancement continues to receive
priority, as enterprises
are investing more capital in contact centers that
offer
superior client satisfaction” said Krishna Baidya.
While
agent numbers are likely to escalate across the region,
the market
will also experience significant attrition.
The attrition rates in the Asia
Pacific contact center
market will be higher than the rates in other
markets
due to high stress levels and career opportunities in
other
industries. In 2011, the average attrition
rate for the Asia Pacific
contact center market as a
whole was approximately 19.1 percent.
Baidya states that
one of the main reasons for agents’ lack of
stickiness
with the job is that with most organizations
attempting to cut costs, the
wages of contact center
agents have remained relatively low in the past
three
years.
“Many enterprises were investing more on
system upgrades rather than in
improving agents’
interpersonal skills and domain knowledge,” noted
Baidya.
“Fortunately, this trend is changing as
outsourcers recognize the
importance of having
well-trained and well-recompensed agents.”
Contact
center service segments including consulting,
implementation,
management, and agents’ training
services have risen in importance for
vendors and
system integrators. Consequently, contact center providers
in
the region are slowly expanding their offerings
to include non-voice,
back-office operations such as
knowledge process outsourcing (KPO),
financial and
accounting outsourcing (FAO), and human resources
outsourcing
(HRO).
ends