Workforce Management Featured Article
February 02, 2010
DMG Consulting Predicts WFO Market Will Grow in 2010-2011
Call center consultancy and market research firm DMG Consulting has released a new report predicting that sales of call center workforce optimization solutions, including workforce management solutions, will increase by 3 percent in 2010 and 5.5 percent in 2011, as organizations continue to look for new labor efficiencies.
According to the firm’s “2009-2010 Quality Management/Liability Recording (Workforce Optimization) Product and Market Report,” 2008 and 2009 were actually fairly good years for vendors of WFO systems, which are typically suites of applications including, but not limited to, quality assurance and recording, speech analytics, surveying, performance management, coaching, eLearning and workforce management. The firm points out that although call center WFO revenue dropped 5.9 percent from the first half of 2008 in the first half of 2009 -- from $507.7 million to $477.7 million -- the market is still ahead of the $447.7 million earned in the first six months of 2007.
“DMG expects 2010 to start slowly, but a strong fourth quarter will propel 2011 into a recovery year,” the firm predicts.
According to the firm’s “2009-2010 Quality Management/Liability Recording (Workforce Optimization) Product and Market Report,” 2008 and 2009 were actually fairly good years for vendors of WFO systems, which are typically suites of applications including, but not limited to, quality assurance and recording, speech analytics, surveying, performance management, coaching, eLearning and workforce management. The firm points out that although call center WFO revenue dropped 5.9 percent from the first half of 2008 in the first half of 2009 -- from $507.7 million to $477.7 million -- the market is still ahead of the $447.7 million earned in the first six months of 2007.
“DMG expects 2010 to start slowly, but a strong fourth quarter will propel 2011 into a recovery year,” the firm predicts.
The report covers 45 vendors and features detailed product and company assessments for the top 10 leaders and contenders. It also features a revenue and market share analysis for 22 vendors.
DMG says one reason this market is expected to bounce back in 2010 is because WFO software vendors have had the opportunity to significantly improve their products during the past two years. As a result, they can better meet the needs of a wider range of companies, from small to large and working in a broad range of industries and verticals, without having to tailor their solutions. As such, they are better positioned “to meet the needs of highly particular prospects as they begin making technology investments again,” the report states.
“New product packages, workflow, analytics-enabled solutions and true mid-sized offerings are a just a few of the innovations seen in the market,” a press release promoting the report states. “Due to the economic climate, contact center managers have an opportunity to purchase or upgrade to a feature-rich workforce optimization solution at an aggressive price. This trend is expected to continue throughout 2010 as vendors aggressively compete for new business.”
Although it only offers workforce management for the call center, as opposed to a full suite of WFO applications, Monet Software has been benefitting from the fact that organizations are desperate to find new ways to get more efficiency out of their call center agents, as well as improve customer service. Earlier this week the provider of cloud-based workforce management solutions announced the expansion of its healthcare customer base with the implementation of its Monet WFM Live solution at a health and human services call center company.
Monet Software’s Monet WFM Live solution enables organizations to increase call center operational efficiencies and reduce staffing costs, while at the same time improving customer service. The system, which is fast, simple and affordable to deploy, sports advanced analytics capabilities that allow call center managers to forecast, with a high degree of accuracy, how many agents will be needed for any given shift. This is achieved through integration with the call center ACD, or automated call distributer. Using historical call data captured from the ACD, Monet WFM Live is able to apply algorithms to the data to forecast call volumes. This, in turn, allows call center managers to schedule the proper number of agents.
To learn more about Monet Software’s cloud-based workforce management solution, click here.
Although it only offers workforce management for the call center, as opposed to a full suite of WFO applications, Monet Software has been benefitting from the fact that organizations are desperate to find new ways to get more efficiency out of their call center agents, as well as improve customer service. Earlier this week the provider of cloud-based workforce management solutions announced the expansion of its healthcare customer base with the implementation of its Monet WFM Live solution at a health and human services call center company.
Monet Software’s Monet WFM Live solution enables organizations to increase call center operational efficiencies and reduce staffing costs, while at the same time improving customer service. The system, which is fast, simple and affordable to deploy, sports advanced analytics capabilities that allow call center managers to forecast, with a high degree of accuracy, how many agents will be needed for any given shift. This is achieved through integration with the call center ACD, or automated call distributer. Using historical call data captured from the ACD, Monet WFM Live is able to apply algorithms to the data to forecast call volumes. This, in turn, allows call center managers to schedule the proper number of agents.
To learn more about Monet Software’s cloud-based workforce management solution, click here.
Patrick Barnard is a senior Web editor for TMCnet, covering call and contact center technologies. He also compiles and regularly contributes to TMCnet e-Newsletters in the areas of robotics, IT, M2M, OCS and customer interaction solutions. To read more of Patrick's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Patrick Barnard