Bundled Contact Center Suites Give Buyers More Options

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1 Markets, S. Cramoysan Research Note 23 July 2003 Bundled Contact Center Suites Give Buyers More Options Midsize companies planning to expand their call centers should consider new suites of contact center software. They are easier to integrate and run than "best of breed" packages, but may not offer all the same features. Core Topic Enterprise Networking: Voice Applications Key Issues How will enterprises successfully evolve their call center architectures and technologies to meet future needs? During the five-year planning period, which voice applications and technologies will enterprises use to successfully build their voice services? Strategic Planning Assumptions Between 2003 and 2007, the contact center suite market will evolve at a compound annual growth rate in excess of 40 percent (0.8 probability). In 2007, contact center suites will account for half of system shipments (0.7 probability). Comparatively few call centers have adopted multi-channel functionality. This is because call centers can be difficult and expensive to implement and manage. These projects often involve an independent integrator that would use a computertelephony integration (CTI) platform to combine components such as automatic call distribution (ACD), databases, desktops and interactive voice response (IVR). Integration becomes more difficult when enterprises want to include advanced features such as text chat, response management systems (ERMS) or collaborative browsing in their contact centers. But as call center functions have become more available on open software platforms, vendors have offered multi-channel functionality in the form of contact center suites. Most of the bestof-breed ACD, CTI, IVR and predictive dialer vendors have entered the market with integrated suites and many will extend their offerings. Enterprises considering major equipment investment in call or contact centers are advised to consider suite solutions in their selection process. What Is a Bundled Contact Center Suite? Bundled contact center suites provide a complete set of call and contact center functionality on a single platform, within the control of a single administrative view. Required components for a bundled contact center suite include: An open computing platform Telephone switch functionality (see comment on switch support) Software ACD Intelligent and business-rules-based routing Gartner Entire contents 2003 Gartner, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 Agent skills-based routing Universal queue CTI integration with switches if the platform is "behind" a switch Application integration interfaces and tools "Cradle-to-grave" reporting on all contacts Administration of all components Optional components include: Voic Outbound dialing (preview or predictive) IVR Web contact functions (Web chat, collaborative browsing) ERMS Unified messaging Integration tools for front- and back-office applications or with applications that support CRM strategies It is important to be able to include the telephony switching within the same administrative interface. This provides enterprises with a complete call center without having to make an additional ACD or PBX purchase and without having to use separate administration tools. In many cases, the switch functionality can be unbundled to support enterprises that wish to integrate with existing switches including third-party products via a CTI link. Finally, bundled suites should be able to support contact center capabilities like universal call routing and queuing, IVR, outbound dialing. Also, call center administration functions such as end-toend contact reporting and quality assurance must be supported. See Note 1 for a list of leading vendors for bundled, contact center suites. CRM applications that support marketing, sales, customer service and support, or field service and dispatch are not considered part of bundled contact center suites. But, the contact center suite functionality described is often packaged with a CRM application suite and the two are sold together as a bundled CRM suite. 23 July

3 Note 1 Leading Vendors Altitude Software (unified customer interaction release 7 [uci 7]), Apropos Technology (Apropos version 6), Avaya (IP Contact Center for Midsize Businesses), Cisco Systems (IPCC Express Edition), CosmoCom (CosmoCall Universe), Edify Corporation (Edify 8 Contact Center Suite), Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories (Genesys Express Multimedia), Interactive Intelligence (Customer Interaction Center), Nortel Networks (Business Communications Manager), Rockwell FirstPoint Contact (FirstPoint Business edition), When to Consider a Bundled Contact Center Suite A bundled contact center suite solution may be particularly suitable when some or all of these factors apply: Short time to implement is more important than maximizing long-term operational efficiency A return on investment in 18 months or less can be achieved Multi-channel functionality is required within 12 months It is a midsize contact center with fewer than 75 agents Ease of system administration is important Single supplier is preferred The solution is required to support a single department or group cost or profit center The enterprise does not want a solution requiring staff to be trained in proprietary system skill sets The added value of these suites is that platform and administration problems can be resolved, at less cost. These problems are often the result of trying to integrate or administer a variety of dissimilar platforms and servers. For example, CTI implementations may cost more than $60,000, even for midsize call centers. By placing all functionality in a single platform, single-point administration and applications can share common data and directory information more easily. In addition, suites are often quicker to deploy and businesses can gain the benefits of their multi-channel contact center investments sooner. What Are the Risks and Advantages of Bundled Suite Solutions? These platforms frequently lack the features, flexibility or proven performance of best-of-breed. Therefore, enterprises should ensure that their basic requirements are supported and should be prepared to compromise on some of the secondary requirements. Another disadvantage is that often the products have a limited capability to unbundle functions. This means that enterprises may be unable to use a best-of-breed platform for a specific function, where it would otherwise be preferred. Also, if the requirements change and they become dissatisfied with part of the suite, enterprises may have to replace the entire platform. There are also reliability and scalability risks associated with the suite approach: The availability of services, such as contact center functionality built on Windows platforms, are typically limited 23 July

4 to percent availability. This can be improved with careful architecture of solutions, by using techniques such as server clustering. But this comes at a cost. Vendors may claim levels of scalability and capacity that have not been proven in the field, so enterprises should avoid pushing the limits of suite platforms. Unproven track records of some vendors and products pose risks. The market is immature with new, software-based products, as well as some early-stage vendors. As is common with maturing software markets, many products even from established vendors will evolve rapidly and some of the newer, smaller vendors will be acquired or fail. Within three years of purchase, 40 percent of suite products will require major software upgrades (0.9 probability) and 20 percent of vendors will discontinue their products (0.8 probability). This will force enterprises to change out products. Enterprises can gain some protection against these risks by ensuring that their support contracts include any major upgrades. In the decision-making process, they should take into account the ability of shortlisted vendors to remain viable in a consolidating market. Enterprises should consider shifting to a three-year software-system amortization schedule, rather than the more traditional telecommunications hardware amortization schedule of five to seven years. Note 2 Related Research "Software Suites Will Dominate Europe's Call Center Market," TELC-WW-DP-0264 "IP Contact Center Considerations and Timelines," TELC-WW-DP-0560 Acronym Key ACD automatic call distribution CRM customer relationship management CTI Computer- telephony integration ERMS response management system IVR interactive voice response Bundling and integrating functionality into suites is a common way for software products to develop. Vendors use advances in technology to combine functions that were previously only available from different vendors or platforms, and sell them as a package. This will continue as vendors from the customer relationship management (CRM) market expand their offerings to include contact center functionality. The bundled, contact center suite market will develop at a compound annual growth rate in excess of 40 percent from 2003 to 2007 (0.8 probability). See Note 2 for related research. Product evolution will be rapid as vendors enter the lower end of the market with suite versions of their products, or update existing offerings. Historically, solutions that succeed in the pricesensitive lower end of the market eventually displace products in the high end. Therefore, the suite approach will become a prevalent solution in the larger contact center markets by 2005 (0.8 probability). Bottom Line: More bundled contact center suites are entering the call center market and are aimed at midsize businesses. Although these solutions lack the features of best-of-breed products, they offer functionality and integration at a price 23 July

5 previously not available to this segment. Bundled contact center suites may pose reliability, scalability and viability issues, but the benefits outweigh the risks for many enterprises. However, enterprises should plan on major upgrades within two years of implementation (0.7 probability). 23 July