December 05, 2007

 

As "next big thing" technologies go, if you've been in this industry long enough, you've been through a rising and falling wave of trends. We embraced computer-telephony integration (CTI). We experienced CRM mania. We've done speech technology line dance. We've had first-call resolution fever.

 

What's next? Well, I wouldn't call performance management "new," since it's an essential component of workforce optimization, but it's still an undervalued technology in the call center. When you understand what it can do, and how it can turn a call center on its ear (in a good way), you wonder why anyone operates without it.

 

A new study from the PELORUS Group entitled the "2008 World Contact Center Performance Management Systems Market" examines the concept and its potential in detail. Performance management is one of the core applications that now comprise what has come be known as workforce optimization. The others are interaction recording, workforce management, e-learning and analytics. (Some may add a few more disciplines under the workforce optimization umbrella, but we'll stick with the basics here.) Performance management is just now coming of age as a mature, credible application that contributes significant value to well-run contact centers. It all started, according to PELORUS, in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland where international CRM and contact center experts Ray and Cathal McGloin formed a company then known as Performix Technologies. By 2002 to 2003, several other vendors entered the market and the nexus for development and market adoption shifted to the U.S. 

 

Fifteen vendors, mostly small, share a market valued at $100 million but growing at 20 percent per year. Some of these firms are doubling revenues annually. This report discusses the business case and other factors that will continue to drive sales growth.  We also explain significant obstacles that, if not overcome, will slow future market expansion. Chapter One  tackles one of the most vexing issues facing the vendor community – simply defining the space in terms relevant to the needs of end users. The Chapter 2, the Executive Summary, lists ten specific recommendations for growing vendor market share. 

 

The report is the third in a series that explores the demand and supply sides of what has come to be known as workforce optimization (WFO) applications. Previous reports examined interaction recording systems and workforce management software. Readers will find "2008 World Contact Center Performance Management Systems Market" valuable for crafting marketing and business plans, spotting new growth opportunities, reality-checking sales forecasts, and bringing new employees and channel partners up-to-speed on this dynamic but highly complex market space. 

 

For more information, visit http://www.pelorus-group.com/brochure/2008%20bucci.htm.