Dataquest report shows strong continued growth for Avaya in Western European call centre market

Avaya, the former Enterprise Networks Group of Lucent Technologies to be spun off September 30, and Lucent were identified as leading the Western European call centre market in terms of new and replacement agent shipments, according to a report issued by leading IT market research and consultancy firm Dataquest. The research shows that Avaya is market leader in Spain, Belgium and Germany.

Call centres are an integral part of Avaya`s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions portfolio and in 1998 Lucent`s Enterprise Networks Group - now known as Avaya -took leadership of the Western Europe call centre market with over 19% marketshare. According to the Dataquest report, "Call Centre Manufacturers Struggle with Volatility," in 1999, Avaya, with an additional contribution from Lucent, increased the number of systems shipped by 24.7% and the number of agents shipped by 21.3% to retain the leadership position with an increased share of 22% measured by agents associated with the systems shipped*. Through a strategy which has included both organic growth and growth through acquisition, the Dataquest report showed that Avaya benefited from increased shipments of premise-based solutions. These comprised its DEFINITY(R) communications servers and INDeX solution - a fully scaleable, convergent voice, data and CRM system, designed and manufactured in Europe, primarily for small- to-medium-sized (SMB) businesses.

Although there was an overall slump in 1999 in the number of call centre systems purchased due mainly to Y2K panic buying of systems in previous years, Dataquest said the market measured by agent shipments grew by 19% in 1999. Looking beyond 1999, Dataquest highlights that the sale of call centre equipment in Western Europe will continue to rise and exceed $3.74 billion between 2000 and 2004.

As the first point-of-contact for many customers, call centres are an important tool in an overall (CRM) strategy. Through intelligent routing applications and by connecting a call centre to a company`s store of customer data, call centre agents are able to access all relevant information and background on a customer and provide immediate and effective customer service.

Terry Wright, principal analyst with Dataquest and the author of the report commented, "Because communication is both a front-end interface to customers and integral to information management, the integration of communications within task handling processes is fundamental to improving business performance - but the startpoint has to be the creation of an effective call centre. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies that do not encompass a contact centre as part of contact management are ultimately doomed to failure."

"The call centre market in Western Europe is now entering the eBusiness era and in the past few years there has been a dramatic change in its leadership," said Charles Denes, COO in Europe, Middle East and Africa of Avaya. "Call centres are a critical means for companies to keep in close contact with their customers. A negative call centre experience can quickly turn customers off one company and drive them to a more service-oriented competitor. In today`s highly competitive marketplace, customer loyalty is imperative to building a strong, growing business. We feel that the marketplace is continuing to realise this and therefore appreciates our approach to developing and building effective call centres. This report from Dataquest confirms that Avaya is maintaining strong growth in Europe. Avaya will continue to enhance its customers` contact centre experience with its strategic developments in customer relationship management (CRM)."