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Summary
New research from Ventana Research has found that products built on voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) continue to gain momentum in contact centers, with a significant number of companies now reporting they have deployed this technology. Saving money remains the chief driver for adopting VoIP, but more mature companies are seeing additional benefits: They have found that VoIP supports new communication channels, provides innovative services and enables the virtualization of interaction-handling. With the arrival of devices that run Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), we expect the promise of more cost savings and advanced services will accelerate adoption rates even more. Ventana Research believes that driving the efficiency of contact centers with VoIP can increase the efficiency of customer interactions and improve the experience that is the basis of customer satisfaction.

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In the new report “Customer Interaction Technologies,” which details the results of research conducted late last year and earlier this year, Ventana Research notes that the adoption of VoIP-based products in contact centers has increased since our last study in 2006. The study – sponsored by Genesys and IBM and media sponsors CCF/CallCentre.co.uk, Contact Professional, ICCM, Intelligent Enterprise, Montgomery Research and TMCnet – found that VoIP is well on its way to becoming a standard platform for communication-based services. In our study last year, “Evaluating Maturity in Contact Centers,” 32 percent of respondents said they had deployed VoIP-based networks, while an additional 44 percent reported they were seriously considering doing likewise. In the new study – which surveyed centers from small to very large (greater than 2,000 seats) – 59 percent of respondents said they have deployed VoIP at least partially in their corporate networks, and 36 percent said they have deployed a VoIP-based contact center. We expect that within five years, VoIP will be the dominant standard for communication-based services.

But not all the news signals progress. When asked why they deployed a VoIP-based contact center, the large majority of respondents said it was to save money on network services. Furthermore, our study found that cost savings remains the chief consideration for those currently considering a transition to VoIP. Being able to save money inevitably helps the business case for deployment, but we believe it is important that once companies have taken the first step, they look beyond cost at the additional benefits VoIP provides. For example, 10 percent of respondents said that deploying VoIP has enabled them to virtualize their interaction-handling. Another 8 percent said VoIP has enabled them to provide innovative customer services or support additional customer communication channels, including instant messaging and video. These developments comport with what companies say they want to do in the future, with new communication channels topping their agendas.

So what’s holding the others back? Companies reported they don’t have the money to invest in the transition. And even if they do, companies said they don’t see a clear business benefit to VoIP or a persuasive return on investment. This finding contradicts what companies that have already deployed VoIP say they have achieved. It suggests that many companies don’t have the resources or time to investigate the benefits of VoIP. If they did look at some success stories, they would see that VoIP can make their contact centers both more efficient and more effective. Working with a supplier or a properly trained systems integrator, many companies were able to overcome technical difficulties and complete successful projects.

Session Initiation Protocol is an emerging standard for VoIP-based products that should make more advanced network products or communication devices widely available. As more vendors adopt SIP, it will drive down the product costs, enable more innovative services, provide greater interoperability and give companies more choices. Although our survey shows that adoption levels are still low, we expect them to accelerate as more SIP-based products come to market.

Assessment
Ventana Research evaluates the maturity of contact center operations using four ascending levels: Tactical, Advanced, Strategic and Innovative. As a contact center matures, it transitions from a basic call center to a multichannel, multiservice contact center that differentiates itself in the ways it supports its customers. We advise contact centers looking to progress to the Advanced level to begin by deploying VoIP as their platform. Initially we believe companies can build strong business cases for VoIP on cost savings alone, but when they look further into the future, they will see that VoIP-based centers can bring additional business benefits, especially as SIP-based products become more widely available. We believe these additional benefits will enable companies to continue on to Strategic and Innovative maturity, so we strongly recommend that companies that want to provide their customers with better, more innovative services evaluate the latest products. The investment will help improve the performance of your contact center operations.