Australian Firms Invest in Workforce Tools, Customer Data Analytics after Pandemic Disrupts Contact Centers

ISG Provider Lens� report sees ongoing change as enterprises partner with providers to manage remote agents and deliver more personalized customer experiences

SYDNEY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$III #AI–Australian companies have changed how they manage contact centers and respond to customer needs since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and this transformation is likely to continue for the next few years, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for Australia finds regulations triggered by the pandemic have disrupted supply chains and work practices, increasing the need for workforce engagement and management and leading companies to adopt new technologies.

“Contact center agents create customer experiences that can determine the success or failure of Australian companies,” said Scott Bertsch, partner and regional leader, ISG Asia Pacific. “Organizations that maximize the effectiveness of remote and on-site agents help to ensure customer loyalty now and in the future.”

In the wake of work-from-home mandates imposed early in the COVID-19 crisis, Australian companies have rolled out more flexible working arrangements to attract more qualified and experienced contact center staff, the report says. The growth of remote work has increased demand for workforce management and engagement solutions to help agents, including gig workers, better manage their own workloads. Enterprises are also increasingly turning to cloud-based contact center solutions, looking to protect their operations during any future crisis, the report says.

Australian contact centers are also implementing analytics to better understand individual customer needs and preferences for a deeper, more personalized level of service, ISG says. Companies are rapidly increasing the use of both structured data, such as customer feedback streams and transaction data, and unstructured data such as social media and web browsing information. The need for companies to manage huge volumes of unstructured data creates a growing opportunity for service providers to offer AI systems that collate, analyze and interpret the data.

As companies become more skilled at collecting, combining and using customer data to gain insights, contact centers will play more strategic and central roles in Australian organizations, ISG predicts. Customer data will even help organizations deliver more innovative experiences and generate new revenue streams.

Many Australian enterprises are increasing investments in digital solutions such as bots, which can help support human contact center agents, the report says. ISG predicts a shift over the next five years from reliance on phone and in-person customer support to lower-cost self-service channels such as chat bots, smartphone apps, social media and instant messaging. Companies may face integration challenges as they try to give customers an omnichannel experience that blends traditional and digital options, so opportunities for customer experience consulting firms are expected to grow.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for Australia evaluates the capabilities of 26 providers across three quadrants: Digital Operations, Work From Services and Social Media CX Services.

The report names Datacom, ProbeCX, Sykes, TSA and Wipro as Leaders in all three quadrants. It names Concentrix and TCS as Leaders in two quadrants each and Acquire BPO as a Leader in one quadrant.

In addition, Cognizant, Concentrix, Infosys and Startek are named as Rising Stars—companies with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition—in one quadrant each.

Customized versions of the report are available from ProbeCX and TSA.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for Australia is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG’s global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG’s enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., France, the Nordics, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

Contacts

Will Thoretz, ISG

+1 203 517 3119

will.thoretz@isg-one.com

Erik Arvidson, Matter Communications for ISG

+1 617 874 5214

isg@matternow.com