ProtoCall One survey reveals tough 2010 for contact centres and improving recruitment and investment outlook for 2011

• 52% of contact centres will increase staff numbers this year
• 47% of contact centres will increase IT budgets in 2011

In its latest survey of senior contact centre managers ProtoCall One has revealed the extent of the measures that contact centres have taken to survive through 2010. Respondents predict another tough year in 2011, only tempered by some recruitment and increased IT investment.

The majority of the respondents surveyed reported imposing cost saving measures during 2010. Half (51%) of the respondents reported they had reduced staff numbers within their contact centres. Nearly half (45%) have imposed wage freezes and 32% reduced working hours and overtime levels. More worryingly, nearly one in four (23%) closed at least one of their contact centres during 2010. Nearly three quarters (73%) reported introducing initiatives to increase agent productivity.

The outlook for employee recruitment within contact centres looks brighter for 2011, with more respondents reporting plans to increase staff numbers than those imposing recruitment freezes or cuts. Nearly half (47%) of respondents plan to increase employee levels by between 5-20%. A small minority (5%) of contact centres are planning to increase employee numbers by over 20% in 2011. But by contrast over a third (37%) are continuing recruitment freezes into 2011 and 16% are planning reducing employee numbers by between 5-20%.

Levels of IT investment within contact centres for 2011 is more encouraging with nearly half (47%) of respondents reporting increases to their IT budgets for the year ahead. IT budget freezes are fixed at 2010 levels for some 37% of respondents, with 16% reporting a drop in IT budgets.

ProtoCall One polled over 40 senior contact centre decision makers at its latest Genesys Workforce Management User Group meeting held in Solihull on 1st December 2010.

Rob Sherwin, head of marketing, ProtoCall One, said: “Our survey reveals just how tough it has been for contact centres over the past 12 months and it shows the outlook remains challenging this year. It is encouraging to see that the majority of contact centres are looking to increase agent recruitment levels during 2011 and nearly half are looking to invest in new technology, especially to help increase agent productivity.

“We predict strong demand in 2011 for solutions such as workforce management, unified desktop and increased deployment of virtual contact centres as contact centre heads look to build flexibility and refine their workforce systems.”

11th January 2011