Pin launch one SA call centre market pegged for rapid growth over the next few years Although the US is still the largest call centre market in the world, with 1,55 million agents, compared to Western Europe with 428 000 agents, other key markets which are expected to grow rapidly over the next few years include South Africa, Australasia and Latin America.
At a call centre seminar to introduce the Pin-Point group`s newly formed One-on-One Call Centre Solutions division, in Johannesburg today (February 18) Quintus` international vice president, Mark Payne spoke about call centre market drivers, both locally and abroad. One hundred top executives from around the country attended the seminar.
Says Payne: "The market is mostly driven by customer expectations, the developing e-commerce culture and, particularly in South Africa, deregulation and liberalisation of telecoms as well as technology is playing a key role."
The UK is the most mature mass call centre market in Europe, having 1,4 percent of its working population employed as call centre agents. Statistics also show that the Netherlands, with a population smaller than London, has the highest growth in small to medium sized call centres.
Says Paul Blakey, chairman of the Pin-Point group, the three important issues which customers want addressed in call centre solutions are ease of use, functionality and upgradability. "Like our business partner, Quintus, we have found that open system compliance is more important than cost, which points towards planned growth."
He says that the South African market seems to be following the European market with high adoption levels for ACD, IVR and Internet links. Both e-mail and the Internet have penetration levels of over 50 percent in Europe and South Africa is not far behind.
"Much progress still needs to be made with regards to integrating processes dealing with e-mail, or Internet business. Local websites are generally unsophisticated with few offering `call back` button functionality.
"Currently, the real value add in a call centre is the applications and how they are used in conjunction with existing business applications. Our customers, like those in Europe demand consistent service and sales across multiple communication channels and the ability to optimise the value of every client interaction as it occurs."
In order to address these needs, there is an increased demand for open systems which integrate best of breed environments, which means that a customer often has to go to more than one supplier to put together the optimal solution.
The Pin-Point group, which forms part of the Value Added Services division of JSE-listed Infiniti Technologies Limited, has entered the call centre market in partnership with ServiceWare Inc, knowledge management technology provider, and Quintus, with a solutions which incorporates computer telephony integration (CTI), customer interaction solutions (CIS) and knowledge management system (KMS).
The technology offering is fully integrated `out of the box`. Instead of using a number of suppliers to provide the complete solution, companies today can achieve a fully integrated solution using One-on-One Call Centre Solutions.
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The Pin-Point Group
The Pin-Point group, which forms the Value Added Services division of JSE-listed Infiniti Technologies Limited, is a customer driven business solution provider. Through utilising information technology as a critical business tool, customers are given the necessary impetus, skills, services, hard- or software to grow their businesses profitably while retaining their independence. With integrity as a key value, Pin-Point builds its team around providing a focused, consultative, value-added approach combined with leading-edge technology.
Infiniti Technologies Limited, which was the most successful debut listing on the JSE in seven years, provides a comprehensive mix of products and services that span the entire value added chain. Its three divisions, value added services, technical services and distribution concentrate on the high-growth end of the IT spectrum - communications, networking, outsourcing and client-server computing.
Quintus Corporation helps companies turn every contact into a loyal customer. Only Quintus delivers complete call centre solutions that combine business consulting with proven computer telephony integration (CTI) and desktop application software. Quintus` award-winning products provide efficient management of customer interactions, information, activities and relationships. Quintus` customers include the `who`s who` of corporate America, including 15 of the Fortune 50 companies.
Since 1993, ServiceWare has been dedicated to helping companies provide their customers with the Right Answer Right Now. By remaining focused on requirements of customers, ServiceWare has enabled thousands of businesses to improve support quality, reduce support costs, and even gain competitive advantage. ServiceWare provides a complete support solution. This includes award-wining knowledge management software, ready to deliver solutions to technology questions, and complete professional services for implementing knowledge-based support.
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