EMEA Automatic Call Distributor Systems Markets

SUMMARY

Small and Medium Contact Centre Markets Present New Growth Opportunities

With large contact centres of over 400 agent seats in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region reaching saturation, future growth opportunities are expected to stem from small and medium contact centres. In fact, the under-60 seat market segment will be the fastest growing segment accounting for more than half of EMEAs call centres in the next few years. Central and eastern European countries, in particular, are experiencing increased levels of outsourcing, especially in the under-60 seat segment due to low cost of labour, inexpensive real estate and a multilingual labour pool. Suppliers of automatic call distributors (ACD) need to focus on lowering prices or roll out products with reduced functionality for easy access to the small and medium call centre segment. Foray into the small and medium contact centre markets also necessitates efficient channel development with distributors, resellers and system integrators that posses the geographical reach and credibility to makein-roads into the local markets.

This Frost & Sullivan research evaluates challenges, drivers, restraints and key trends in the EMEA ACD markets. Through extensive primary and secondary research, this analysis provides contact centre vendors with a detailed look at the current dynamics in this marketplace. The study also identifies new growth opportunities in the ACD market and offers strategic recommendations to vendors for increasing their revenues.

Interest in IP Contact Centres is Fuelling Growth in ACD Systems Market

Future growth in the ACD market is expected to come from the shift from traditional time division multiplexing (TDM) to Internet protocol (IP)-based call centres. "Apart from the virtualisation benefits gained from moving to an IP architecture, call centre operators are able to increase the productivity of their agents while minimising operational and labour costs," observes the analyst of this research. IP technology in contact centres also enables advanced routing functions and productivity enhancing applications besides facilitating call centre operators to tap a larger labour pool.

However, the migration to IP contact centres will occur in phases and is expected to start in western and eastern Europe where outsourcing is the fastest growing vertical. While Western Europe has a higher penetration rates in large call centres, most of the call centres in Eastern Europe are Greenfield deployments, and therefore, are able to run IP without any significant capital expenditure.

EMEA ACD Systems Market Poised for Growth

Although Asia Pacific is the favoured destination for cost-cutting activities, outsourcing is emerging as one of the fastest growing verticals in EMEA. "With the increased adoption of IP contact centres, growth of the outsourcing market segment, cultural acceptance of telecommuting and the release of capital expenditure for technology purchases, EMEA is seeing an increase in the number of agent positions in call centres," says the analyst. Due to the demographical diversity in Europe, a majority of the call centre operators and service providers prefer agents that are multilingual in order to reduce staffing expenditures. While services, communications and industries are the largest call centre verticals in EMEA, healthcare and government are expected to be the upcoming verticals through 2008.

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Technologies

The following technology is covered in this research:

Automatic Call Distributors (ACD) System: This is both a software and hardware that routes inbound calls to a group of agents based on certain intelligent routing and skill-based criteria stored in the database. ACD systems can also be configured to route calls made to a particular number to enable priority handling. The ACD system may work on traditional circuit-switched or IP technology. ACD systems analysed in this study include proprietary stand-alone ACD systems that are integrated with private branch exchange (PBX) systems, key telephone systems (KTS), stand-alone hardware-based and software-based ACD systems that are part of a server.

Benefits of this Service

Strategic Recommendations to Target New Market Opportunities

Owing to the saturation in the large contact centres market in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, automatic call distributor (ACD) system vendors need to focus their attention on the smaller under-60 segment. In addition, Internet protocol (IP) contact centres are opening up new growth opportunities. This research service equips ACD vendors with the appropriate strategies to exploit future opportunities in evolving verticals.

Revenue Forecasts for Improved Accuracy of Business Planning

It is critical for vendors to understand the current state of the EMEA ACD market in order to have an idea of future growth patterns. Participants can use a revenue forecast model based on market drivers and restraints to obtain a picture of the ACD market in the years to come. This critical analysis will aid vendors to chart out their business plans accurately in accordance with the forecast changes in the market.

Detailed Market Share Analysis

Market shares for EMEA, western Europe, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa by both shipments and revenues offer ACD vendors a complete view of the competitive structure of the EMEA contact centre market. This study also provides vendor profiles for all the major competitors in the market.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 EMEA ACD SYSTEMS MARKET

Industry Overview

• Research Scope and Methodology
• Introduction and Definitions
• ACD Deployment Architectures
• Industry Challenges
• State of the Market
• Market & Technology Trends

Market Analysis

• Market Engineering Measurements
• Market Drivers
• Market Restraints
• EMEA Unit Shipment & Revenue Forecasts
• Percentage of Regional Revenue Split Forecast for EMEA
• Economic Outlook for Europe in Terms of GDP Growth
• Call Center & Agent Position Forecasts

Competitive Analysis

• Market Share Analysis by Revenues - EMEA
• Market Share Analysis by Revenues - Western Europe
• Market Share Analysis by Revenues - Eastern Europe
• Market Share Analysis by Revenues - Middle East & Africa
• Market Share Analysis by Shipments- EMEA
• Market Share Analysis by Shipments- Western Europe
• Market Share Analysis by Shipments- Eastern Europe
• Market Share Analysis by Shipments- Middle East & Africa
• Regional Market Share by Shipments - EMEA
• Vendor Profiles

Strategic Analysis

• Critical Success Factors
• Strategic Recommendations

• Frost & Sullivan Awards

• 2004 Market Leadership Award
• 2004 Bang for the Buck Award
• 2004 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award

Total Presentation

• Total Presentation