UK AND EUROPEAN C0NTACT CENTRES NEED MULTIMEDIA CAPABILITIES TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE

Lancaster - 2nd September 2002 – New research specially designed by Teleconomy Group plc the research and knowledge centre, and endorsed by the Call Centre Association (CCA) will present the first industry review of Contact Centres in the UK.

The research, Towards Multi-Media Contact Centres: Emerging Consumer Expectations will assess the impact of rapidly changing customer expectations identified by Teleconomy in recent research.

“These changes will have profound consequences for how customer contact strategies are designed” said Paul Hudson, Group Director of Research at Teleconomy. “When these changes are put alongside rapid developments in outsourcing oversees in countries such as India, the time to fully review the future direction of the contact centre industry is overdue.”

Teleconomy believes the call and contact centre industry is entering a new multimedia phase where telephone is augmented by email, web, text, and more generalised messaging, changing the nature of contact and the reason for using the phone. Understanding changes in customer expectations is mission critical.

“Service is now a significant element of consumption” added Mr Hudson. “Customers are more rights aware and demanding than ever before”.

The high level review will provide Call and Contact Centre owners, operators and suppliers with insights into the emergent multimedia contact mode, shifts in customer expectations and comparisons of performance across the industry.