Contact, Center, Financial, Cost

Contact center study: Financial status could be inhibiting customer value

The majority of contact centers continue to be managed as financial cost centers.  This is one of the findings in Dimension Data’s Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report 2007.  The Report reveals that there has been little change in the past three years in the financial status of contact centers in organizations, with just under six out of ten (57.4%) centers reporting their status as cost centers.

Cost center financial status is most prevalent in Europe with 60.3% of centers being cost centers; while Asia-Pacific has the lowest proportion at 52.2%. Africa and the Middle East and North American contact centers sit at 58.3% and 55.7% respectively.

The challenge with a cost center approach is that it tends to dictate a focus on cost-cutting and efficiency oriented strategies.  The Report suggests this is also an inhibitor for contact centers wanting to deliver value to customers and their organizations. This accounting approach can lead to them being single-mindedly driven to save money, sometimes to the exclusion of all else.

Cara Diemont, editor of Dimension Data’s Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report says:  “As each call made to the contact center has an associated cost, executives need to ensure that every customer interaction is managed to achieve value for both customers and organizations. 

“There needs to be a clear strategy in place to do this. Agents and self-service systems need to resolve calls the first time. This keeps customers happy because they’re getting what they called for – their enquiry solved.  It also saves money as calls resolved first time require no follow ups, which can often cost more than the initial calls,” she adds.

Insight, opinion and analysis on the reported cost center financial status, as well as commentary on other contact center trends including multi-channel development, the increasing use of self-service, and adoption of IP technologies is available in Dimension Data’s Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report 2007.

For more information about the report, please go to www.ccbenchmarking.com.