Outsourced Customer Care Services To Grow To $84.7 Billion By 2020
The outsourced customer care services market is growing rapidly worldwide. A new research report by Radiant Insights indicates that the global outsourced customer care services market is forecast to reach USD 84.7 billion by 2020. A higher demand for interaction through non-voice channels is expected to be the main driving force for the global industry.
Developments In The Industry
The Asia Pacific outsourced customer care services market is expected to grow by 7% over the forecast period. The emergence of India and the Philippines as the top outsourcing destinations, due to the availability of cheap labor and general competency in English, has played a key role in regional demand and growth. Awareness of the importance of effective mobile customer care is gradually rising, with more buyers showing an interest for mobility services across different platforms, according to the report. Increasing cloud and host-based services, along with trends such as big data and social media are expected to increase market competition over the next few years.
One of the central deciding factors for the success of an outsourced customer care services market is vendor selection. Companies go through various checks to ensure that they get into a business process outsourcing agreement with a trusted vendor. The swelling use of host-based and cloud-based services has made customer care services affordable, adding to industry growth. Companies have traditionally trusted Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for interacting with customers. Excelling in overall customer experience involves offering customized and personalized interaction, which is an ongoing process.
Activity Overview
The research report by Radiant Insights revealed that CRM technology was expected to generate USD 7.500 million by 2020. It is effective at achieving customer satisfaction levels at reduced costs, as there is no need for companies to develop in-house resources being able to employ the services of outsourcing contact centre agents. This is expected to boost the industry growth over the next six years.
The customer interaction market size has been the main service activity segment in the market. It includes communications across various channels, such as telephone, email, social media, instant messaging and SMS. Process-centric service platforms for multi-channel customer interactions are currently being designed to enhance the quality of communication with customers.
Regional Growth
In North America, the outsourced customer care services market was valued over USD 32.5 billion in 2013. And profits were projected to reach over 4% over the forecast period, according to the research report. Growth in the region has been improved by developing infrastructure facilities and the delivery of dynamic customer care services. In addition, it is predicted that the region will see an increased demand for tech support services and CRM hosting services, which can be credited to the tech savvy and sophisticated generation.
Modernizing Customer Experience
Another report by Transparency Market Research indicates that companies are starting to see customer experience as the real differentiator, and not the products and services they offer. This makes it hard for companies to obtain competitive differentiation. Also, customers can now easily get connected more than ever before, propelling market growth. Modernizing customer experience is not the same as the traditional customer relationship management (CRM).
The global outsourced customer care services market is predicted to reach a double-digit market growth in the next few years. A move towards cloud-based services is likely to benefit small and large businesses and should assist in tapping into emerging markets. It’s predicted that a high demand for mobility will kindle the demand for optimization of mobile customer care. This is expected to impact the market positively in the near future.
Omnichannel Support
The rising demand for non-voice channels in addition to other channels of communication is resulting in a surge in the need of multi-channel solution development. Social customer care channels are expected to offer ample opportunities for generating profit for market players. According to the report, elements such as growing technological advancements and changes in consumer behaviour are stirring the need for effective outsourced customer care services.
In today’s business world, operating a customer interaction centre is complicated due to factors such as continuously increasing equipment expenses, human resource problems and rapidly changing technological issues. You can, however, ensure your contact centre is run smoothly with the right customer management outsourcing. Contact centre outsourcing makes it possible for all organisations to improve customer experience and satisfaction.
More and more companies are realising that outsourcing contact centre services benefits a company without additional costs. Contact centre outsourcing enables a company to focus on its primary business activities. By outsourcing customer interaction services companies can not only decrease costs but can also better manage customer relationships, take advantage of quality services at more affordable rates and provide 24/7 customer service.
Growth Of Contact Centre Sector In South Africa
An Engineering News article examining the call centre sector in South Africa indicated that the growth of the outsourced customer care services market in the country is due to the fact that South Africa is regarded as a port of entry into the African continent, which is pulling more foreign investors and multinationals.
What makes South Africa more of an attraction over some other destinations in the Asia-Pacific region is the time zone advantage that the country has with regard to Europe, as well as a neutral accent and English language fluency (in terms of contact centre agents).
According to a Cape Town Partnership article, in 2012 the London School of Economics (LSE) compared South Africa with countries such as India, Poland, the Philippines, Northern Ireland, Malaysia, Morocco, Egypt, Kenya and Sri Lanka, where it rated South Africa as the number two offshoring destination of choice on five metrics related to investment. So expect to see continued growth and opportunities in the sector over the coming years.