[September 26, 2009] Customer Experience Foundation-Empirix Survey: Delays in Rolling Out Contact Center Technologies Cause Project Costs to Double Tweet Sep 26, 2009 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- When contact center technology projects are delayed, the impact on costs and on business overall is dramatic - and ignored by UK contact centers - according to a new survey conducted by the Customer Experience Foundation (CEF). The survey was commissioned by Empirix, a provider of service quality assurance solutions for contact centers and new IP communications. It shows that project delays when rolling out new technologies were found to typically add over seven months of additional project time and an extra 90 percent on top of the original budget. The survey also revealed that poor project practice can as much as quadruple additional costs, as compared with contact centers that apply best practices in their management of technology roll-outs. Testing was singled out as a critical but underestimated element of good project practice. The study revealed an inverse relationship between companies' investment in contact center testing and budget overruns when updating or rolling out new technologies. This finding suggests that establishing thorough testing procedures can help avoid delays and costs associated with technology failures. The research was conducted among business, technical and project management staff at more than 100 private sector companies who had experience with contact center technology projects worth over GBP 500,000. "It is difficult to comprehend how these huge cost overruns and delays happen in at least 25 percent of these types of projects," said Professor Morris Pentel, founder and chairman of the CEF. "We believe this is the first time anyone has shown what a massive problem the industry has here. The study also shows the impact of delays is not only financial, but also affects the customer experience of the contact center and the brand behind it." CEF is the academic arm of Customer Experience Services and provides thought leadership and business science services to a number of partners including Silent Edge, Nemesysco and New Voice Media. The Foundation provides research programs to establish information that supports the development of ROI business cases. It also offers tools that support the business case in the sales environment and provide intellectual capital to support the use of these tools. More Information: http://www.customerexperiencefoundation.org. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]