2012 North American Inbound Contact Routing Systems Market Share Leadership Award

Transcription

1 North American Inbound Contact Routing Systems Market Share Leadership Award 2012 Frost & Sullivan 1 We Accelerate Growth

2 Market Share Leadership Award Inbound Contact Routing Systems North America, 2012 Frost & Sullivan s Global Research Platform Frost & Sullivan has over fifty years of experience as a global research organization. Today, its 1,800 analysts and consultants monitor more than 300 industries and 250,000 companies. The company s research philosophy originates with the CEO s 360-Degree Perspective, which serves as the foundation of its TEAM Research methodology. This unique approach enables us to determine how best-in-class companies worldwide manage growth, innovation and leadership. Based on the findings of this Best Practices research, Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the 2012 North American Market Share Leadership Award in Inbound Contact Center Routing Systems to Avaya. Significance of the Market Share Leadership Award Key Industry Challenges The past three years have not been kind to the contact center systems market, with negative growth in 2009 and 2010, reversing only slightly in 2011, with.3% year-overyear growth. As with the other two systems segments in the contact center market - IVR and outbound dialers (which often require large capital equipment outlays) - the ICR systems market has been subject to stagnant or declining budgets for several years. While the sluggish US economy has buffeted the ICR systems market, hosted solutions have gained traction. Historically, hosted contact center solutions were developed for basic contact center applications, such as IVR call direction, business continuity, directory assistance, and for ACDs on carriers hosted Centrex PBX services. However, hosted solutions now cover the gamut of ICR, IVR, Outbound, and agent performance optimization (APO) applications. As with many other technology segments, hosted solutions that allow a company to get the latest applications without deep capital expenditures have garnered considerable market presence. Hosted service providers market their ability to provide the latest applications and technology faster to customers than their on-premise counterparts. This has allowed them to benefit from another trend in the ICR market - organization s interest in driving customer satisfaction by providing multiple customer contact channels (beyond voice). With a burgeoning base of customers that are accustomed to using the web to research and acquire goods and services, social media to talk about companies and products, mobile devices to access the web and social networking sites, and text, chat, or to contact a company, enterprises are being pressured to provide newer avenues of contact through their ICR systems. This has led to a balancing act for ICR systems vendors as they continue to enhance their 2012 Frost & Sullivan 2 We Accelerate Growth

3 existing products, integrate between disparate systems from acquisitions, and add new functionality without pricing themselves out of the market. Furthermore, challenges have come in the form of a changing role for the ICR systems provider. Whereas these vendors have always paid lip service to being the trusted advisor and partner to their clients, the changing landscape of the consumer digitally connected, social media-aware, as well as demanding of personalized customer service - has made it so vendors have had to get closer to their customer business. They have had to engage with multiple stakeholders within organizations to measure and see what the impact will be in adding new interaction channels, and to ensure that these organizations have sound plans for adding onto their application environments, rather than jumping on the latest trend. This consultative approach has been necessary to ensure that vendors installed base of customers remain loyal while vendors develop new features and channels. Indeed, vendors that help clients develop sound plans and budget for legacy systems upgrades, tend to be rewarded with loyal customers. Due to the industry-wide movement toward indirect sales channels, this consultative approach has extended to channel partners as well. In turn, ICR vendors have had to strengthen the focus they have on channel partner programs, compensation strategies, education, and training. Best Practice Award Analysis for Avaya The Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Share Leadership is presented to the company that has demonstrated excellence in capturing the highest market share within its industry. The Award recognizes the company's leadership position within the industry in terms of revenues or units, as specified. Avaya s Performance in Inbound Contact Center Routing Frost & Sullivan s market analysis of the North American Inbound Contact Routing Systems Market shows that Avaya is the overall market share leader for As one of the top tier vendors in the ICR market space, Avaya has led in this market for many years, and has maintained just over one-third of the total market share for inbound contact routing systems in North America for the second year in a row. Its market share is larger than the shares of its three largest competitors combined (Cisco, Genesys, and Interactive Intelligence). The following are key reasons for Avaya s success: Brand Name - Avaya is one of the stalwart s in the industry, with a history that goes back through two prior companies (Lucent and Avaya) and an installed base that encompasses Nortel customers, obtained through the acquisition of this formidable competitor. In addition, Avaya is well recognized for its research arm, Avaya Labs Frost & Sullivan 3 We Accelerate Growth

4 Breadth of Portfolio - Avaya s long history has allowed it to develop products that span the full range of segments within the contact center systems market. Although also marketing some segment-specific third-party offerings, Avaya can deliver a complete contact center solution to its customers. Key Performance Drivers for Avaya Factor 1: Large, Loyal Installed Base Due to its longevity in the market and a number of key acquisitions over the years, Avaya has a sizeable installed base of inbound contact center routing customers. Many of these customers have been loyal for years, if not decades, through the numerous changes that created the Avaya name. A high percentage of those customers have invested in multiple Avaya technologies, not just in the contact center space, but in adjacent areas, such as unified communications and collaboration. Many have had those solutions running for years as well. There has been considerable turnover in older contact center systems, particularly in the first few years of the new millennium. Today, much of that older installed base is due to churn once again. Avaya, despite the economic forces that have often delayed such upgrades, has managed to maintain its market share presence while handling the organizational and product roadmap changes resulting from the acquisition of Nortel, one of the biggest acquisitions this market has ever seen. Frost & Sullivan expects that due largely to successful delivery on Factor 2 (below), Avaya will be able to hold onto its market share reign in the foreseeable future. Factor 2: Delivery on Product Roadmap Now that the post-nortel acquisition dust has settled, which had much of the installed base watching, Avaya has delivered on the product roadmap set forth at the time of the acquisition. For example, Avaya announced Avaya Aura Contact Center in July of 2010, which turned out to be one of the most successful product introductions in the company s history. 2011, however, was a pivotal year in the delivery of the majority of the roadmap, with releases on all key product areas in the contact center, but specifically on its core ICR systems. On multiple fronts then, Avaya delivered on its strategy and vision. For example, one strategic initiative has been to ensure integration between disparate ICR and adjunct application platforms. Avaya delivered on this by enhancing systems such that its legacy and newer inbound contact center routing platforms can co-exist. Indeed, the company announced a unified desktop for Avaya Aura Call Center Elite voice and Avaya Aura Contact Center multimedia products, so that agents can use a single interface to manage multichannel contacts (web chat, , etc.). They also added unified reporting with Avaya IQ for Call Center Elite voice and Avaya Aura Contact Center 2012 Frost & Sullivan 4 We Accelerate Growth

5 multimedia so that organizations that use both have a single reporting architecture. Avaya IQ also reports on time spent in self-service as well as outbound calls made through Avaya Proactive contact, delivering a comprehensive reporting and analytical platform that spans Avaya's contact center suite. Additionally, one of the strengths that Avaya continues to deliver on is the integration of their ICR systems with other non-avaya assets. Their platforms come with pre-built and pre-tested integrations with other solutions, such as outbound dialers, enterprise and CRM applications. Factor 3: Channel Delivery Channel partnerships continue to be a core strength for Avaya. Although historically Avaya has sold through both direct and indirect channels, the company moved to a largely indirect sales model several years back, at a time when other competitors also moved in this direction. As a result, competition to obtain and nurture channel partners has been an ongoing challenge for the industry. Reducing channel conflict has also been an issue for the industry. Avaya, faced these issues head on, revamped, and strengthened their channel program. Avaya s success is attributable to the quality of support Avaya provides to its channel. In 2011, Avaya heightened its focus on training, certification, and skill development even further. They increased the number of contact center specialists and sales engineers in the field. They continued to elevate the skill level of partners and direct sales support through global contact center summits. They increased the number of authorized partners globally, and put more partners through an accreditation program. Factor 4: Playing to a Larger Base Globally, Avaya s sweet spot for contact center size historically has been in the 250+ agent range. In the US they have been particularly effective in the range. They also have successfully sold into much larger organizations. In late 2011, Avaya strengthened their portfolio with the addition of Avaya Aura Contact Center Suite for Mid-sized Enterprise (AACC-M). This offering targets contact centers in the agent range, and is bundled with advancing levels of applications, making it an attractive and simplified offer for mid-market customers. Customers responded with a strong adoption rate through partners in all regions, not just North America. Frost & Sullivan believes this type of offer will have a positive impact in Conclusion Avaya has, for the most part, executed on the product roadmap they put forth right after the acquisition of Nortel in In 2011, the company delivered a plethora of further 2012 Frost & Sullivan 5 We Accelerate Growth

6 enhancements to its ICR systems, along with new multi-channel/multimedia functionality for customers. In addition, they delivered on their strategic initiative to provide integrated solutions for their platforms, such as unified reporting and analytics, and a unified desktop for agents, enabling agents to have the same interface for managing heritage and multimedia contacts. Avaya s product portfolio has a breadth that compliments and integrates with their ICR systems. This has made Avaya a solid choice to retain and grow its base of customers. Avaya has done this despite competitive threats from hosted service providers and consistent pressure from the economy, which has impacted all contact center systems spending for years. The CEO 360-Degree Perspective TM - Visionary Platform for Growth Strategies The CEO 360-Degree Perspective model provides a clear illustration of the complex business universe in which CEOs and their management teams live today. It represents the foundation of Frost & Sullivan's global research organization and provides the basis on which companies can gain a visionary and strategic understanding of the market. The CEO 360-Degree Perspective is also a must-have requirement for the identification and analysis of best-practice performance by industry leaders. The CEO 360-Degree Perspective model enables our clients to gain a comprehensive, action-oriented understanding of market evolution and its implications for their companies growth strategies. As illustrated in Chart 1 below, the following six-step process outlines how our researchers and consultants embed the CEO 360-Degree Perspective into their analyses and recommendations. Chart 1: CEO's 360-Degree Perspective Model 2012 Frost & Sullivan 6 We Accelerate Growth

7 Critical Importance of TEAM Research Frost & Sullivan s TEAM Research methodology represents the analytical rigor of our research process. It offers a 360-degree view of industry challenges, trends, and issues by integrating all seven of Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies. Our experience has shown over the years that companies too often make important growth decisions based on a narrow understanding of their environment, leading to errors of both omission and commission. Frost & Sullivan contends that successful growth strategies are founded on a thorough understanding of market, technical, economic, financial, customer, best practices, and demographic analyses. In that vein, the letters T, E, A and M reflect our core technical, economic, applied (financial and best practices) and market analyses. The integration of these research disciplines into the TEAM Research methodology provides an evaluation platform for benchmarking industry players and for creating high-potential growth strategies for our clients. Chart 2: Benchmarking Performance with TEAM Research About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit Frost & Sullivan 7 We Accelerate Growth