Datacraft / Dimension Data Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report reveals CRM practices only

Singapore (SANEPR.com) August 5, 2008 -- In the global contact centre industry, estimated to be worth some USD130 billion per annum, organisations are not optimising the value of their investments in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices.

That’s one of the findings in the 2008 Datacraft / Dimension Data Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report, which includes survey responses from 300 contact centres in 36 countries across five continents. This year’s report confirms that only a minority of contact centres have established CRM practices and capabilities.

Karina Majid, Datacraft Asia’s General Manager for Customer Interactive Solutions, comments, “Minimal progress has been made in adopting a more customer-oriented, CRM-based approach within the contact centre environment over the last 10 years. When we compared this year’s findings with those from our inaugural 1997 Report, the picture is not positive.”

A key CRM indicator is the establishment of a single view of the customer. Ten years ago, 39% of participating contact centres already possessed this capability, with a further 45% of centres planning to implement a single view within the following two years. However, this year’s results show that the percentage of centres with a single customer view has decreased to 34%.

In addition, in 1997 many organisations stated their intention to deploy a more sophisticated set of customer metrics within their contact centres. These metrics included customer lifetime value and profitability. However, this year’s statistics reveal that contact centres that are able to measure or actively employ these types of metrics are in the minority. For example, less than 10% of centres surveyed have the capability to measure lifetime value, and only 18% of centres use customer profitability as a metric.

Another key CRM indicator is the deployment of ‘trigger events’ within inbound customer service contact centres. These involve the initiation of an outbound customer contact as a result of the nature or outcome of an inbound call. These trigger events usually relate to either customer dissatisfaction, retention of a customer or a policy, or new revenue generation such as an inbound inquiry about a policy surrender. According to this year’s Report, only 21% of contact centres actively engage in this type of customer management activity.

“These findings indicate that the development of a more holistic and sophisticated approach to customer management is less of a priority than it was 10 years ago, and there is a back-to-basics trend with contact centres focusing more on basic performance efficiencies and cost reduction,” adds Majid. “This is also reflected in the commercial drivers of contact centres. Only 16% of participating centres ranked ‘creating direct customer relationships’ among their top three commercial drivers, compared with over 50% 10 years ago. This underscores that there has been a major shift away from the tenets of CRM over the last decade.”

Call resolution is the greatest indicator of customer service improvement

From an end-user / customer standpoint, the Benchmarking Report also revealed that organisations that employ the right service fundamentals will enhance their customers’ experience and retain them longer.

It revealed that 38% of contact centre managers polled believe that a contact centre agent’s ability to resolve a query during the first call is the most important factor in service improvement, while 74% rated it in their top three.

In addition, the time the customer waits before the call is answered had the second greatest impact on service improvement with 47% of participants ranking it in their top three. Furthermore, agent communication and service skills were ranked third with 34% of participants including this among their top three improvement indicators.

Majid says, “This year’s survey confirms that when the basic service components are firmly in place, customer service experience improves, and client retention accelerates. When we compared these service components to the level of priority or attention organisations place on them, the results were enlightening.”

“The choice of medium (or channel) was ranked among the lowest methods for customer service improvement: less than 2% of participants selected this option in their top three choices for impact on customer satisfaction,” adds Majid. “Taking into account that call resolution is the greatest indicator of customer service improvement, we were surprised to learn that not all contact centres have aligned themselves to its measurement and targeting.

“Contact centres still rely on the standard efficiency metrics. Abandon rate is the most commonly used target with 90.1% of participating centres using it as a key metric, while only 63.4% of centres use First Call Resolution as a performance target. These findings indicate a discrepancy between what customers want and what contact centres focus their costs and energy on.”

Meanwhile, the average number of hours allocated to teaching telephone communication skills during agent induction training is 11 hours. This equates to only 7% of the total induction time. In addition, contact centre agents receive an average of only six hours of coaching per month.

“Compared to last year’s Benchmarking Report, these figures highlight the ongoing trend by organisations to reduce investment in training, even though agent communication and service skills enhance customer satisfaction and the service experience,” concludes Majid.

About the Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report

First published in the UK in 1997 by Merchants, Dimension Data’s specialist contact centre outsourcing and operations division, this year’s edition is the tenth in a series of the industry-renowned benchmarking reports. The Report, jointly researched and published by Dimension Data, Datacraft and Merchants, has balanced global and industry representation from 300 contact centres located across 36 countries and five continents, and is an invaluable reference for all contact centre professionals. It provides managers with a set of best practice standards and benchmarks, including staffing and training, performance metrics, technology usage, budgets and development plans. For more information about the Report, please go to www.ccbenchmarking.com.

About Datacraft

Datacraft is the leading independent IT services and solutions company in Asia Pacific. The company helps clients plan, build, support and manage their IT infrastructures. Datacraft combines an expertise in networking, security, Microsoft solutions, storage and contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in consulting and integration, as well as training and managed services, to craft IT solutions for businesses.

A member of the Dimension Data Group, Datacraft is listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange. Headquartered in Singapore, Datacraft operates in more than 50 major offices and has over 1,450 employees across 13 Asia Pacific markets.