CRM - October 2008 - (Page 48)

SCOUTING REPORT BY DONNA FLUSS The High Quality of Quality Management New solutions continue to make an impact inside and outside the contact center T H E Q U A L I T Y management/liability recording (QM/LR) market had another great year in 2007. The overall market— sometimes referred to as workforce optimization (WFO)—grew by 13.1 percent, from $2.1 billion in 2006 to $2.4 billion in 2007. The contact center segment of this market continued to grow steadily at 19.2 percent, and is now approaching $1 billion in annual sales. The trends sustaining the high growth rate of this mature, yet dynamic, market include emerging vendors, product innovation, organic growth, acquisitions, and continued migration toward IP-based recording. The QM/LR market is complex and continues to expand into new functional areas. DMG Consulting expects to see this market evolve further into analytical solutions that will both increase efficiency for contact center managers and add value to the greater enterprise. This market already encompasses a broad set of related products and services, as can be seen in Figure 1. The modules in quality management/liability recording suites are recording, quality assurance (QA), workforce management, coaching, e-learning, surveying, performance management, and speech analytics. “Back office” refers to the adaptation of a number of these modules for non–contact center operating areas of enterprises or their branches. These back-office applications primarily address recording, workforce management, and a limited amount of quality assurance. This relatively new trend for the QM/LR vendors began a couple of years ago, picked up momentum in 2007, and has grown more significantly in 2008. The rollout of contact center WFO products into other operating areas is expected to substantially increase the revenue opportunity for this market. THE MARKET REMAINS STRONG The 13.1 percent WFO market growth rate between 2006 and 2007 was substantially smaller than the 106.1 percent increase realized between 2005 and 2006. A number of factors contributed to the diminished annual growth rate. In 2006, three contact center infrastructure vendors with WFO offerings—Aspect Software, Interactive Intelligence, and TeleDirect International (now known as TDI)—were added to the market analysis. Verint acquired Witness Systems during 2007 and, while the newly merged company continues to grow, it is doing so at a pace slower than the two companies had separately in the prior year. Additionally, as Verint was absorbing Witness, these two traditionally acquisitive companies did not introduce revenue from additional purchases, as each had done in prior years. The decreased annual rate of growth should not detract from the WFO market’s strong momentum as it transitions from traditional recording and QA applications to more analytically oriented ones such as contact center surveying, performance management, and speech analytics. Additionally, the market is shifting from predominantly hardware-based applications to new offerings consisting of software running on generic hardware. This increasing software orientation means that average market margins are growing, even though the actual revenue per recording sale may be decreasing. A MATURING MARKET The QM/LR market is quite mature, having been around in one form or another since the 1980s. There are now more than 45 vendors that offer quality management, recording, and some or all of the modules found in Figure 1. With the exception of a couple of companies that are relatively new and investing all of www.destinationCRM.com Source: DMG Consulting LLC, June 2008 Figure 1: Quality Management/Liability Recording Suites 48 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | OCTOBER 2008 http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - October 2008

CRM - October 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality�Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Sprinting Toward Disaster? SAP�Retains Market-Share Lead in�CRM A�Week of Strong Customer�Service CRM�on Twitter Build a Good Event and They Will Come Required Reading There's No Place Like Home The New Breed of CRM�Consultant The Price is Right...You Hope How Much Marketing is Too�Much? The�Sweet Smell of High-Quality�Service The Next Act! For An Acquisition Some Stories Never Get Old CRM�Eases the Pressure For WIKA�Instruments Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - October 2008

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