The global call centers market is projected to reach $337.8 billion by 2018, according to a comprehensive global report on call center markets by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (GIA).

In the coming years, we’ll see a tighter focus on the reduction of costs and providing efficient customer service to clients.

The global call centers market will also see renewed business process outsourcing activity and an increasing use of innovative IT technologies.

Founded in 1987, Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (GIA) is a publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Its new research piece, titled “Call Centers: A Global Strategic Business Report,” provides a comprehensive review of market trends, issues, drivers, company profiles, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities.

The report states that while call centers previously focused on providing customer service functions, they are now seen as an essential element of corporate business development strategy.

Modern call centers can provide services beyond simple, one-dimensional customer service, and they are now considered as important tools to create value for customers and shareholders alike.

Call centers are increasingly adopting new information technology (IT) such as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Call Routing, ACD, Voice Response Systems (IVR/VRU), VoIP, CTI (News - Alert) and sophisticated CRM tools, as per the GIA report.

The report also shows that call centers are taking up image management roles for client companies, and are slowly integrating with social media. This movement enables call center agents to quickly identify social media conversations most relevant to the client’s businesses.

Call center companies are also launching innovative apps for the customer to directly interact with call centers using their smartphones, and looking forward, will offer enhanced value-added services through mobile apps.

GIA was in the news earlier this year for predicting that the growth of application service provider (ASP) hosting services will reach $129.4 billion by 2017.