Frost & Sullivan Says Increased Functionality Driving Contact Center Systems Sales in EMEA

Better application functionality and technology advancements are sustaining the contact center systems market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan. The United Kingdom represents the single largest country market, with a 29 percent revenue share, while Africa and the Middle East will be the fastest growing regions, the analyst firm said.

In its "EMEA Contact Centre Systems Market" report, Frost & Sullivan noted that the market earned revenues of 694.2 million euros in 2012 and estimates this to reach 854.9 million euros in 2017, at a compound annual growth rate of 4 percent. The study covers inbound contact routing, interactive voice response and voice portal, outbound dialler, quality monitoring, workforce management, and contact center analytics systems.

The research identifies inbound contact routing systems as taking up a majority of the market's share in EMEA, though the segment is expected to register a CAGR of just 2.8 percent through 2017. Contact center analytics systems will be the fastest-growing segment as companies like Verint Systems spearhead campaigns to integrate speech analytics into the broader quality monitoring portfolio.

"The driver underpinning the growth of the contact center systems market in EMEA is the solid demand for contact center analytics capabilities from organizations across industries," said Frost & Sullivan Information and Communication Technologies Senior Industry Analyst Suvradeep Bhattacharjee in a statement. "The addition of social and mobile contact channels will also widen market potential."

The firm expects market growth to remain subdued as tight IT budgets and weak economic recovery deter several companies in EMEA from implementing new contact center systems. The advent of cloud-based contact center solutions will also dissuade companies from making huge up-front investments in contact center software systems, and concerns about vendor viability will further mar the market's prospects, particularly in Europe, Frost & Sullivan predicts.

"The changing landscape of the end consumer—digitally connected, social media-savvy, more demanding of personalized customer service—means system suppliers must work more closely with their clients," Bhattacharjee added. "Vendors today are expected to engage with multiple stakeholders within organizations in order to assess the possibilities for new interaction channels and design sound plans to incorporate these new channels, rather than just jumping on the latest trend."

As new customer-centric features and channels evolve, vendors will need to adopt a consultative approach that will help clients develop a robust strategy and an effective budget for legacy system upgrades  to ensure continued loyalty, Bhattacharjee concluded.

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