Agent Performance Optimization Tools Find Higher Uptake Due to Developments in Analytic Technology.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Agent performance optimization (APO) tools are evolving, thanks to technological developments such as analytics. Analytics converts unstructured customer interaction information into meaningful details of how customers and agents behave. The demand is high for enhanced interpretations of customer interactions, as businesses want more than just reports on customer behavior.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.frost.contactcenters.com), North American Agent Performance Optimization Market, finds that this market earned revenues of $604 million in 2006 and estimates this to reach $743 million in 2013.

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"Customer satisfaction has become the focal point for businesses globally to stay ahead in the market," explains Frost & Sullivan Senior Analyst Keith Dawson. "To be in sync with customer preference, organizations require tools such as APO that provide feedback on contact center agent performance and enable representatives to continually improve their interaction with customers.

The transition to Internet protocol (IP) has not only increased the uptake of APO tools but also spawned significant merger and acquisition (M&A) activity among APO vendors in the last two years.

One of the key reasons for the increase in M&A activity is that vendors can plug gaps in their suite offerings as a prelude to offering unified APO solutions to the market. Most vendors recognize the revenue potential of providing integrated tools that connect the contact center with the enterprise management.

This will allow the center to correlate the impact of training, recruitment, coaching, forecasting and scheduling into a big picture of agent performance. These holistic views are the ideal ways to refine agent hiring and training model and increase the tenure of the best agents.

However, consolidation drive is likely to throw up apprehensions regarding vendors' capabilities to support varying product lines and integrate them quickly.

As the North American market matures and slows, purchasers of APO software are likely to be more selective about the features and technologies they adopt. Vendors focused on creating amalgamated suites of APO software have to be particularly attentive to the market's concerns, making sure all the tools work effectively together.

As revenues are being increasingly culled from smaller centers, product suites should include a lot of features that overlap. Defining where one tool begins and another ends is already becoming a bit of a challenge.

As the market is entering a flux period, replacement opportunities due to the transition to IP call routing infrastructure are high. Many centers are looking at upgrading their APO systems as a "ride along" purchase. Simultaneously, they will be looking at packages that address specific business workflow needs such as training and evaluation systems.

"Vendors need to create targeted suites that are based on function, instead of focusing on legacy product lines," cites Dawson. "They need to provide analytic tools to uncover the main issues of customer problems and find means of turning those problems into solutions that are coupled with meaningful metrics."

APO system vendors that provide such functions and differentiate themselves from the rest will be the ones to capture market share.

North American Agent Performance Optimization Market is part of the Contact Centers Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: customer care outsourcing markets, inbound contact routing (ICR) markets, outbound dialing markets, and agent performance optimization markets. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

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North American Agent Performance Optimization Market

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