2015 EMEA Hosted/Cloud Contact Center Buyers Guide

Transcription

1 2015 EMEA Hosted/Cloud Contact Center Buyers Guide Selecting the Right Cloud Solution Provider to Improve the Customer Experience APRIL 2015

2 Contents Executive Summary... 3 Introduction The Rise of the Hosted/Cloud Contact Center... 4 Market Highlights... 4 Market Trends... 6 Multichannel Adoption Aimed at Improving the Customer Experience... 6 Proactive Customer Care... 9 Mobility Company Profiles [24] x Altitude Aspect Software BT Global Enghouse Interactive Genesys Hewlett Packard (HP) incontact Interactive Intelligence InVision Software LiveOps Nuance Orange Business Teleopti Conclusions Frost & Sullivan Story

3 Executive Summary The cloud market for communications solutions of all types is maturing, but continues to grow. Hosted IP telephony, unified communications (UC), and contact center solutions are among the technologies now commonly provided in the cloud. The majority of issues, such as security and reliability, that hampered cloud adoptions in the past have been addressed, and solution providers of all types have broadened application capabilities and expanded overall portfolios. This EMEA research service includes cloud solutions offered in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Rest of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Rest of Europe comprises the Nordic countries, Ireland, the Southern European countries (Italy and Portugal), and Central and Eastern European countries (Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia). While maturing rapidly, the EMEA cloud market is still growing closely following the trajectory of the North American market with local vendors, cloud-only providers, and legacy premise-based participants offering solutions. It is imperative for any business looking to deploy hosted contact centers to assess providers capabilities in the areas of reliability, scalability, security, and features. When the hosted contact center market was in its infancy, some worried that hosted solutions were not as feature-rich as premise-based solutions. Historically, even in the premise-based systems market, lack of application functionality has largely been addressed by integrating best-of-breed point solutions. While long-term viability, vertical market expertise, and experience are essential, ensuring that the provider has the right set of solutions is equally important, so businesses need to assess whether contact center suites are comprehensive, or whether supplementing with point solutions makes more sense. Businesses also need to ask what a potential vendor has done to address regional needs, such as in the realm of language support and regulatory requirements. If the company s headquarters is outside of EMEA, does it still have an EMEA location? Having solid local expertise is vital, and it is also important to pay attention to regional go-to-market strategies and after-sale support suppliers. Does a supplier have in-country expertise? Does it offer a consultative sales approach? How much voice and data experience do those channel partners have? How does a channel partner technically support multinational companies? Do partners also have a depth of experience supporting different customer segments and vertical markets? Finally, do they have regional customer references? 3

4 Introduction The Rise of the Hosted/Cloud Contact Center Frost & Sullivan research shows that while % of contact center organizations in Europe now use a hosted/cloud solution, by 2016, over % will have moved one or more applications to the cloud. The top reasons cited include: Reduced capital expenditure (CAPEX) and streamlined operational expenditure (OPEX) costs Reduced total cost of ownership Flexible scalability Ability to quickly add new interaction channels and applications Ability to facilitate the move to omni-channel customer engagement Reduced risk of technology obsolescence Improved business continuity/disaster recovery Increased ability to support work-at-home agents and support expert agents Ability to free up internal resources for more strategic tasks and allow the organization to focus on core business objectives, increasing business agility By not having to commit financial resources to upfront costs and freeing staff to focus on other business imperatives, companies can be more flexible, and use resources to drive innovation and growth, while being more responsive to customer needs and market conditions. This buyers guide discusses key market and technology trends in the hosted/cloud contact center services market, and provides in-depth provider and solution analyses along with specific customer recommendations to help companies decide whether or not to move to the cloud. Market Highlights Hosted contact center services offer customers the freedom of unlimited scalability and options to hire a workforce in different geographic regions to address seasonal increases in demand for call center operations. These services also help promote a collaborative work environment among call center and work-from-home agents. With a challenging European economy, companies are looking at new ways to implement technology to lower operating costs and maintain the operational levels of their contact centers. Hosted contact center service providers offer companies Web-based solutions to address demand, thereby helping to reduce capital expenditure without affecting operational levels. 4

5 Despite challenges the EMEA market has faced over the past decade, Frost & Sullivan projects the following: The hosted/cloud contact center market in EMEA will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of % from 2013 to 2019 Market revenue will grow from $ billion in 2014 to $ billion in 2019 The small and medium-sized business (SMB) segment was the first to adopt cloud/hosted contact center solutions; however, the flexibility and scalability of the cloud is now attracting larger enterprises (-plus seats) Hosted seats will grow from % of the market in 2013 to % by 2019 Exhibit 1 shows the revenue forecast for the total hosted/cloud contact center market. Exhibit 1: Total Hosted Contact Center Services Market: Revenue Forecast, EMEA, Source: Frost & Sullivan 5