Research and Markets: Economic Downturn Clouds Short-term Prospects for the EMEA Inbound Contact Routing Systems Markets, but its Strong Fundamentals will Drive Growth in 2010 and Beyond

Research and Markets ( http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e3ffc0/emea_inbound_conta) has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report " EMEA Inbound Contact Routing Systems Markets" to their offering.

During the first half of 2008, the EMEA inbound contact routing systems markets were growing at about 6 percent, but the economic downslide slackened the pace of market momentum. In the United States, several major investment banks and insurance companies declared bankruptcy, triggering the financial meltdown, which snowballed into the global credit crisis. By the fourth quarter of 2008, the ripple effects of the credit crunch began to be felt in Europe. In an effort to preserve cash, most enterprises froze all non-critical spending, including purchases of inbound contact routing systems. Many enterprises continue to view their customer service organisations and contact centers as cost centers. This view results in the reluctance to buy new systems or even invest in technology refreshes for anything related to customer service, unless absolutely necessary. Doing more with less is practically the theme song for contact centers.

"Despite these factors, the continuing migration to support Internet protocol (IP) transport, customer loyalty, and strengthened competitive advantages from strong customer support drove sales of new and expanded inbound contact routing systems," notes the analyst of this research service. "The largest EMEA consumers of inbound contact routing systems in 2008-2009 continued to be the financial services, outsourcer, and telecommunications industries." Leading enterprises are aware that with growing commoditization and global competition, it is critical to continue to deliver excellent customer support and prepare for the economic upswing. It is also becoming clear that technology can be a key enabler for effective and efficient customer contact. For these reasons, many enterprises are looking to deploy better technologies to derive the most out of their contact center systems, which support their customers. Trends indicate that even after the economic recovery, inbound contact routing vendors will have to confront the challenge of building and supporting their partner channels, which are vital for small and mid-size businesses.

As limited budgets require prioritization, vendors would be wise to help clients organise their projects efficiently. "There are no generic return-on-investment proof points; every company and situation is different," says the analyst. "Vendors are encouraged to develop frameworks and methodologies for working with prospects and customers to build business cases for application upgrades and to support IP transport." Well-documented business case studies and customer references are also keys to showcase the benefits of these solutions. Inbound contact routing systems vendors must focus on building ease-of-use into their applications. This can be a long-term competitive differentiator, but it calls for strong commitment to simplify all aspects of the applications and to only add new functionality, which has been designed and tested for this purpose. More importantly, contact centers need to not only be aligned with enterprises' goals, but must become the hub for excellence in their unified communications strategies.

Market Sectors

Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research:

By Geographic Region:

UK
France
Germany
Spain
Portugal
Italy
Benelux
Scandinavia
Eastern Europe
Rest-of-Europe
Middle East and Africa

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled EMEA Inbound Contact Routing Systems Markets provides an in-depth analysis of market drivers, restraints, industry structure, and competitive environment besides dealing with the challenges and issues that market participants are facing in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) inbound contact routing systems markets. The research service also provides current and forecast revenues as well as market shares of the leading vendors. Vendor solution offerings and strategies are analysed in a competitive framework and considerations for market penetration and growth are proposed.

Key Topics Covered: