The contact center industry in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.5 percent by the year 2014. Asia Pacific had been a high growth region for the contact center industry till the recent economic slowdown. The total number of seats in Asia Pacific for the contact center industry stood at about 1.7 million seats in 2008.

 

Frost & Sullivan predicts the contact center industry to cross over 3 million seats by 2014. It announced its new research at a summit held in Kuala Lumpur to address current industry challenges and to bring out tactical solutions.

At the summit, topics like attracting, retaining and engaging generation Y staff; building a successful remote contact center agent program; customer care in a down economy; change management towards business excellence; structuring and organizing the contact center for greater competitiveness and creating excellent customer experiences were discussed.

According to Shivanu Shukla, industry manager for ICT at Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) Asia Pacific, even during the slow economic environment, the contact center industry in Asia Pacific continued to invest in customer care and contact center applications in the second half of 2008. The rising domestic demand and steady growth in outsourcing is expected to help the contact center market in Malaysia to witness good growth over the next 3-5 years.

 

The call center industry in Asia Pacific is witnessing steady growth due to new greenfield sites, expansions and upgrades. Cheaper labor and overheads in Asian outsourcing hubs also contribute to growth in offshoring and outsourcing operations.

The most important aspect of business for the contact center industry is customer centricity. Increasing cost pressures, training and motivating agents, rising customer expectations, deploying Web and multimedia applications are some of the challenges that the industry faces.

 

Frost & Sullivan provides clients with unique insights into the competitive dynamics of the market, detailed assessments of market opportunities, pricing strategies, demand trends, and technological developments, as well as applications and best practices for the industry. The analysis, which is based on firm quantitative and qualitative information, will help clients to stay abreast of challenges and trends in this dynamic market to develop solutions to remain competitive and grow their businesses.