Global IVR Market to Reach $514 Billion by 2013

Reputed provider of market research, data, analysis, and consulting and advisory services to the telecommunications industry, T3i Group, recently announced the publication of its most recent research into the international interactive voice response (IVR) market, titled "InfoTrack for Converged Applications 2008 IVR Market Report.”


The study pegs the expected quantum of the IVR industry to touch $514 million by 2013, which is up from current level of $431 million. The growth will be primarily driven by an increase in adaptation of voice XML technology.

This study reveals that international deployments from the 11 biggest vendors in the industry were around 625,000 ports during 2008. Among these Nortel, Genesys and Convergys accounted for the maximum number of deployments. Avaya (News - Alert), Nortel and Genesys were the top three revenue earners. Among the regional acceptance parameters, North America was ahead of the others, even though it held less than 50 percent of the market. In second and third positions respectively were the Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions. The study also did a cross functional analysis based on technology, applications and vertical industry.

The study predicts that by 2013 more than 95 percent of all shipments will support VXML technology, as opposed to a little under 75 percent today.

With VXML technology portals can offer speech recognition technology equivalents, like order entry, for text based applications. IVR applications are today being most frequently deployed in incoming call handling for call centers, inbound self service transactions and outbound calling for such routine tasks as appointment confirmations, collection reminders and repair memos.

The study also projects a 10 percent decline in year-on-year IVR shipments meant exclusively for inbound calls up to 2013; this is because more suppliers and companies today are trying to incorporate IVR solutions into their extended suite of contact center solutions. With IVR shipments for inbound calling coming down, the expected growth rate will be sustained by an increase in shipments for outbound applications which will grow at a compounded annual rate of 12 percent right up to 2013.

Ken Dolsky, program director for the study, said in a release: "Every vertical segment has some unique opportunities, and vendors are providing both solutions and guidance as to how IVR can improve the total customer experience with customer-pleasing applications to replace the stereotypical perception of IVR as only an endless loop menu."

The study illustrates that IVR shipments which are meant for DTMF or analog voice capabilities are declining in favor of speech recognition software which has the option to convert text to speech and vice versa. According to the study, speech recognition systems will outnumber DTMF systems by at least 2:1 by 2013. Regarding IP and SIP shipments, the study predicts that this segment will continue to witness robust growth. Even though currently, they only account for 58 percent of total shipments, by 2013 this percentage could shoot up to 90 percent.