CRM in the Contact Center and the Emergence of the Unified Agent Desktop (Strategic Focus)

Customer service and support solutions are being developed with the user interface and customer experience in mind. Vendors are offering unified desktop solutions, which integrate multiple systems and applications into one application, providing a single point of access for all customer information.

Report Highlights
Enterprises are changing their contact center strategies. Previously, they were focused on cost cutting and making contact center operations more efficient. After an increasing need for compliance and the tightening economy, enterprises are placing more importance on customer retention and providing better service.

Enterprises are continuing to invest in CRM solutions in the contact center and are upgrading old customer service solutions to gain new features and unified desktop capabilities. The hosted deployment model is gaining traction, as enterprises realize the benefits of faster deployment and lower capex.

Monitoring agent and customer behavior is an increasing focus for enterprises as they try to better understand their customers. There is a large amount of historical data available and enterprises are beginning to use this with customer analytics to provide real-time feeds to agents about how to respond to customers.
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Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Key Messages 2
Contact centers are investing in tools that help improve customer retention 2
There is a demand for better user interfaces and easier access to customer information 2
The market for CRM in the contact center is growing steadily 2
Analytics and real-time predictive response solutions will play a greater role in the contact center 3
Integration in the contact center is paramount moving forward 3
Table of Contents 4
Table of figures 5
Table of tables 5
MARKET OPPORTUNITY 6
Definitions 6
CRM 6
Hosted CRM 6
CRM solutions tie siloed departments together 7
Unified agent desktop 8
Market trends and the evolving contact center 8
The contact center represents a significant opportunity for CRM vendors 8
Enterprises are investing in technology to enable the contact center as a tool for customer retention 9
Agents' roles and responsibilities must change to adapt to increasing use of phone and web self-service 10
There is an increase in the numbers of home-based and outsourced agents 10
Contact center infrastructure is changing to become more flexible 12
Analytics is playing a more important role in CRM solutions 12
Drivers for investment in CRM and unified agent desktops 12
The need to reduce costs and improve customer retention is driving investment in CRM 12
Using CRM and analytics to transform contact centers from cost centers into profit centers 12
Enterprises want to improve system usability and agent turnover rates 13
Outsourced agents need access to the same level of information 13
With increased regulatory control, enterprises need to monitor agent data access 13
Key challenges for CRM vendors 14
CRM applications were originally designed for sales and marketing departments 14
The slow adoption of IP telephony provides integration challenges 14
Limited IT budgets for new technology may put CRM investments on the back-seat 14
Market size 15
Premise-based CRM is growing at a steady rate 15
The majority of spending is on premise-based CRM solutions 16
Hosted CRM is growing slightly faster than premise-based CRM uptake 16
Unified agent desktop solutions 16
The majority of spending is from large contact centers in North America and Western Europe 17
Customer Impact 19
Financial services 20
Insurance 20
Telecommunications 21
Outsourcing 21
Manufacturing and technology 21
Other verticals 22
Customer pain points 23
Premise-based versus hosted CRM deployments 24
When to invest: ROI model 24
Cost to the business 24
Measurable benefits 25
Competitive Landscape 26
The leading contact center CRM vendors 26
Altitude Software 27
Strengths 28
Amdocs 28
Strengths 28
CDC Software (Pivotal and Saratoga CRM) 28
Strengths 29
Chordiant Software, Inc. 29
Strengths 29
Sword ciboodle 29
Strengths 29
Cincom 30
Strengths 30
Consona Corporation 30
Strengths 30
eSoon 31
Strengths 31
Fuze 31
Strengths 31
Infor 32
Strengths 32
Jacada 32
Strengths 32
KANA 33
Strengths 33
Microsoft 33
Strengths 33
OpenSpan 33
Strengths 34
Oracle 34
Oracle E-Business Suite 34
Oracle PeopleSoft CRM 34
Siebel CRM 34
Strengths 35
Pegasystems 35
Strengths 35
RightNow 35
Strengths 36
Salesforce.com 36
Strengths 36
SAP 36
Strengths 36
SugarCRM 37
Strengths 37
Go to Market 38
Channel and partners 38
Systems integrators and contact center infrastructure vendors are the main routes to market 38
Future Trends 39
Unified agent desktop solutions will become a more intrinsic part of CRM 39
Growth in SOA-based applications and architecture 39
The contact center will continue to be integrated into the business with unified communications 39
Using real-time analytics to predict customer behavior 40
Increasing focus on multiple channels and integration of customer portals 40
Investments in CRM will become more strategic 40
Recommendations 41
Create packaged vertical CRM and desktop applications 41
Provide hybrid and alternative deployment models to appeal to wider range of customers 41
CRM vendors, IP telephony providers and unified desktop vendors must work in concert 41
Where M&A activity has occurred, vendors need to create clear product maps for integrated solutions 42
APPENDIX 43
Definitions 43
Methodology 44
Further reading 44
Ask the analyst 44
Datamonitor consulting 44
Disclaimer 44
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Table 1: Total number of global contact center agents, by contact center size in 2008 8
Table 2: North American and Western European enterprises' current adoption and short-term contact center investment plans, 2008-2010 11
Table 3: Global spending on premise-based CRM licenses and services, 2007-2013 ($ millions) 16
Table 4: Global spending on CRM and unified agent desktop applications, 2007-2013 ($m) 17
Table 5: Global spending on contact center CRM by region and contact center size in 2008 18
Table 6: Contact center technology spending by industry, globally in 2008 ($m) 20
Figure 1: CRM solutions provide front-office staff with intelligence on their customers 7
Figure 2: Total number of global contact center agents, by contact center size in 2008 9
Figure 3: North American and Western European enterprises' current adoption and short-term contact center investment plans, 2008-2010 11
Figure 4: Global spending on premise-based CRM licenses and services, 2007-2013 15
Figure 5: Global spending on CRM and unified agent desktop applications, 2007-2013 ($m) 17
Figure 6: Spending on contact center CRM by region and contact center sizeband in 2008 18
Figure 7: Contact center technology spending by industry, globally in 2008 19
Figure 8: Common customer pain points and how they can be resolved with CRM solutions 23
Figure 9: The leading CRM and unified agent desktop vendors 27
Figure 10: The route to market for CRM and unified desktop applications 38
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