Research has shown that American contact centers are losing ground in the global market.
In 2004, 37% of the world’s outsourced contact center agent positions were in the US. By 2008, Datamonitor expects that number to shrink to 25%. In fact, the number of US agent positions is expected to drop from 315,000 in 2004 to 291,000 in 2008.
Nine out of 10 jobs lost in the US contact center outsourcing industry will be outbound telemarketing jobs, as a consequence of the Do-Not-Call registry and the higher revenues offered by inbound work.
In addition, the number of agent positions in offshore and nearshore countries will continue to grow, due to the growing demand from US and captive market businesses.
The boundaries between US-based contact center providers and other business process outsourcers are dissolving, and firms are invading each others’ territories. There have been at least eight publicly announced acquisitions since 2003, and Datamonitor expects this trend to continue.
Contact center outsourcers are also introducing new services to grow revenue and compete more effectively in the US market. Firms that were founded as contact center outsourcers are offering services which overlap other business process outsourcing (BPO) areas, and BPO providers are acquiring contact center capability.
As the market contracts through to 2009, it will be imperative for outsourcing service providers to choose between competing on the basis of cost or reinventing themselves.
