Mid-Market Message

Looking to capitalize on the explosive growth of CRM in the mid-market, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories unveiled a new out-of-the-box contact center solution and a partnership with CommerceRoute. The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alcatel, just released Genesys Express IP Contact Center targeting mid enterprise companies enabling the complete integration of multiple channels such as e-mail and phone or Internet-based voice within one customer interaction. Express IPCC offers everything Genesys Express does plus an out-of-the-box software-based path to converge voice and data networks, says Genesys Chief Executive Ad Nederlof. Nederlof says approximately 70 percent of companies are not equipped to handle the integration of voice and data channels at the levels customers expect. The company is aggressively targeting the midsize enterprise space and believes that is where the majority of the industry growth will come from, he says. "The mid-market is growing much faster than the high end," Nederlof says. Currently about 20 percent of Genesys' overall revenue comes from mid-market customers, which the company identifies as 15 and 150 seats, he says. Genesys is looking to grow this business to 40 percent of its total revenue, Nederlof says. In fact, no matter how you slice the numbers, the news for the mid-market is positive. Market researcher Jupiter Media Metrix estimates that the purchases of CRM, e-commerce, and financial management applications by small to medium-size businesses in North America will grow to $3.4 billion in 2006, up from $971 million in 2001. Plus, AMR Research says the SMB market, combined with divisions of enterprises, is a $44.1 billion CRM opportunity over the next 10 years. Genesys is looking to capitalize on this market growth opportunity with Express IPCC as well as a recent partnership with CommerceRoute to develop an integrated, network supported plug-and-play solution for single-site contact centers. The result of the joint effort is Genesys Express Managed Appliance, which enables value added resellers to deploy and support mid market contact centers across a wide area network, says John Hernandez, senior director, Mid-Market Program at Genesys. The solution provides 24x7 monitoring, administration and support through Web services, and mid-market companies embracing Express Managed Appliance will reduce their contact center costs, reduce downtime and enhance customer satisfaction, he says. Elliot Markowitz also writes for Line56.com