Latin America: Contact Center Outsourcing Services to turn into complex BPO Services

2010-02-26 - The varying levels of competition and market maturity among countries have livened up the diverse Latin American market for contact center outsourcing. According to a Frost & Sullivan study, while major markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina are reaching maturity in terms of quality of service and infrastructure, the competition is fierce in developing markets such as Peru and Guatemala.

Market revenues to grow
This intense competition is keeping market participants on their toes, causing them to reposition themselves from being mere providers of contact center customer care services to offering more complex business process outsourcing (BPO) services such as logistics and channels. The analysis finds that the market earned revenues of 6.8 billion dollars in 2008 and estimates this to reach 13.7 billion dollars in 2014.

"Outsourcers' improving ability to provide a fully integrated suite of end-to-end services covering the main business processes are standing them in good stead," says Frost & Sullivan Team Leader Juan Gonzalez. "Such capabilities are crucial, as businesses are increasing the demand for value-added services and higher levels of quality interactions to achieve superior customer satisfaction."

Providers of sophisticated services need not limit their market-expansion efforts to offering reduced costs, improving quality, and better meeting the supply demand, as the potential to create new markets and reinvent their business is enormous. They have to conceive strategies to boost business revenues, enhance efficiency, and compete on the basis of quality, according to the analysts.

From cost center to profit center
While all clients expect outsourcers to improve their services, some new technologies can bring high client satisfaction and aggregate value on the current offers. For example, outsourcers are considering offering speech analytics to clients to help them know how their customers perceive them. Market participants could also bring in revenue by promoting outsourcing benefits and customer success stories beyond the traditional customer care service, while simultaneously transforming the contact center's focus from cost-containment to a profit generation.

For greater revenue inflow, contact center outsourcers have to develop new ways to offer services. A good example is the virtual contact center, which can be used to popularize the 'home-agent' model. The result is better customer service as the agent will feel more comfortable working from home.
Besides, home agents can help the company to provide many social benefits by lowering polluting emissions and increasing the number of disabled employees. It also helps outsourcers to cut costs on employees' travel and total cost of ownership. This cost benefit is particularly pertinent in the current economic climate.

"Economic slowdowns in Europe and North America have considerably increased the demand for local businesses in Latin America," notes Gonzalez. "The market will also get a leg up with the greater acceptance of the outsourcing concept as an essential step in the business process."

Picture: aboutpixel.de / © René Oertel


Author(s): Sarah Dreps

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