Australia’s contact centre industry in recovery mode

A return to pre-2009 conditions delivers industry increases in revenue and in number of seats

Australia's contact centre industry returned to growth in 2010 generating total revenues of $55 billion, representing an increase of 13% over the previous year.  The number of contact centre seats in Australia also grew recording a 3% increase to take the total to 198,000.  
 
In further signs of growth, contact centres reported an average increase in operating budgets of 15% during 2010. It's a particularly positive result given the 5% budget decrease recorded by the industry during the global financial crisis.
 
These are amongst the key findings of callcentres.net2010 Australian Contact Centre Industry Benchmarking Report, the latest in an annual series of contact centre industry surveys, sponsored by RightNow, a provider of on demand customer experience solutions that help consumer-centric organisations deliver great customer experiences.  The research is based on interviews with contact centre executives representing over 729 individual contact centres, 15% of which are outsourced contact centres.  The interviews were conducted last month by specialist research, consulting and news organisation, callcentres.net.
 
The healthier business environment of 2010 saw full time agent turnover rise to 40%, nearly reaching the high of 48% recorded in 2008.  This compares with 28% turnover in 2009.  Part-time agent turnover however dipped slightly to 44% in 2010, compared to 59% in 2009, and 42% in 2008.

Cautious optimism also helped contact centre technology expenditure to rebound in 2010 to 2008 levels, increasing by 20% over 2009.  A technology strategy of significance in 2010 is the enablement of the multi-channel contact centre.  Multi-channel, (voice, self-service and online channel integration) is a key focus here with one fifth of contact centres reporting that they have fully implemented an integrated multi-channel capability.  A further 26% of contact centres state that they have partially implemented such measures.
 
Similarly, one quarter (25%) of contact centres have fully introduced multi-channel agents with responsibility for handling customer contacts via voice, assisted self-service and online channels.  An additional 25% of centres have partially implemented multi-channel agents. 
 
Contact centres operating in the areas of information technology, retail/wholesale and outsourcing are the most active in terms of multi-channel integration, while the same industries plus telcos and utilities are the most likely users of multi-channel agents.
 
Dr Catriona Wallace, Managing Director, callcentres.net said, “The industry has well and truly shaken off the effects of the GFC and is back in growth-mode.  Revenues, seats and employment are all up and we anticipate that this will continue through to 2011, when the total size of the industry as measured by seats is expected to grow by another 5%. Demand is not going to go away, particularly given the move towards multi-channel integration.”
 
The industry reports an average customer satisfaction score of 85% satisfied customers, the same as reported in 2009. The contact centre industry’s self-reported Net Promoter Score (NPS which is a measure of customer advocacy) in 2010 is reported as 31, a three point decline from the 2009 NPS score of 34.
 
The sectors reporting a higher than average level of customer satisfaction include Transport, Professional Services and Finance, Banking & Insurance. Sectors reporting a lower level of customer satisfaction include Telecommunications and Retail/Wholesale.
 
The return to growth and a more positive revenue outlook are reflected in the industry's top challenges for 2011. Last year's focus on cost containment and budget restraints has been replaced with a return to the industry's traditional concerns of staff turnover, training and agent development and the difficulty of recruiting staff.

When asked to rank their primary strategic objectives for the next 12 months, the industry was almost evenly split across three key areas: improving customer service (37%), upgrades to technology (32%) and cultural change within the contact centre (29%).

Brett Waters, Vice President Asia Pacific – South, RightNow, said, “The survey points to robust momentum in the Australia contact centre market but the onus will now be on management to deliver great customer experiences in a complex and rapidly changing business landscape where consumers have the power and every interaction matters.  While the findings are very encouraging in terms of growth, organisations will need to put in place strategies which can deliver consistent experiences across all interaction channels, including web, social and contact centre.”