Common Interaction Channel Management Drives Uptake in the North American Customer Service and Support Applications Market.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The North American customer service and support (CSS) applications market continued its steady growth, spurred on by the growing notion among companies that the customer experience needs to be better managed for long-term market success. Despite saturation in the large enterprise market, the wide-open small-enterprise market, as well as the opportunity to provide a unified platform for managing all interactions channels, will spark the growth of CSS application in the coming years.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.contactcenters.frost.com), North American Customer Service and Support Applications Market, finds that this market earned revenues of $673.6 million in 2006 and estimates this to reach $955.9 million in 2013.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the North American Customer Service and Support Applications Market, then send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications, at [e-mail], with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, city, state, country and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

"Creating a common platform for tracking and managing all customer interactions, across all interaction channels, will be a key driver for growth of the North American customer service and support applications market," notes Frost & Sullivan Senior Analyst Ian Jacobs. "In an increasingly competitive marketplace, customers should not hear that the contact center agent they are talking to today knows nothing about the e-mail they sent yesterday."

Consumers, particularly the younger generations, are using e-mail, chat, SMS and the telephone with equal facility. They now want their interactions with companies to use all of the same channels that they use in their personal lives. Customer service and support application vendors, therefore, must create a common platform for interactions that eradicates any interaction channel silos.

However, the market for customer service and support applications has become cluttered, with players from the worlds of customer relationship management (CRM), knowledge management, e-service and contact routing all joining the fray. To compound matters, consolidation across these various previously distinct markets has made enterprise purchasing decision much more difficult.

"Enterprises of all sizes are hearing extremely mixed messages about customer service and support applications," explains Jacobs. "On one hand, they are hearing about very strategic visions of communication-enabling all business processes; on the other, they are hearing tactical messages about improving first call resolution rates in their contact centers in six months."

For customer service and support applications vendors, focusing on the broader enterprise value will help move them up the value chain and make them a more trusted partner. The sales cycles will get longer, but the value the customer derives from the deal will skyrocket.

North American Customer Service and Support Applications Market is part of the Contact Center Growth Partnership Service, which also includes research in the following markets: customer care outsourcing markets, inbound contact routing (ICR) markets, interactive voice response (IVR), 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 Customer Service and Support Applications Market

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