Now in its 15th year, the Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report is widely acknowledged as the most useful, authoritative and comprehensive research study of its kind. Published annually, the benchmark results are drawn from six key business areas incorporating contact centre strategy, operational delivery, multi-channel management, self-service, workforce optimisation and technology.

The comprehensive survey, upon which our annual report is based, is updated each year to ensure that the most pertinent issues affecting today’s contact centres are included and that traditional review items are refreshed for ongoing relevance.

Benchmarking is about learning, and identifying gaps in performance that can be used to accelerate cost reduction techniques and help drive a business case for positive change. The 2012 report is an invaluable reference for all contact centre professionals.

Supported by 29 of the world’s most important industry groups and associations, our research considers over 350 performance metrics drawn from 637 respondents located in 72 countries. Typically presented at a global level, all of our data can be filtered down by region, sector, size and provider type via our online Benchmark Comparison Portal.

Combining Dimension Data’s reputation as one of the world’s most renowned contact centre integrators, along with The Merchants Group’s 30-year history of customer management excellence, we’ve drawn upon considerable expertise and experience to provide you with in-depth analysis from some of the best subject matter experts in the field.

Within this year’s report, you’ll find thought leadership guidance, context and information on the best people management, process design trends and technological evolution techniques seen anywhere in the world of customer management. Our detailed analysis of over 110 tables and charts supplement our views on the future state of the industry and show how customer management is being transformed. This analysis will help you interpret the data into meaningful information via a set of observations (what we’re seeing), the implications (what it means), and our recommendations (how to position your contact centre for success) – all helping you to better understand today’s issues and the challenges of tomorrow.

Contact centres are assuming a more prominent role within enterprise-wide customer interaction strategies and are starting to take control of cross-channel service offerings. It’s clear that their capability and value contribution has never been so critical to the organisation’s success.

A key theme emerging across all sections of the 2012 review is one of ‘mobility and agility’. Consumers have never before had such a powerful say in determining how they interact with service providers. Rapid adoption of emerging channels – much of which is enabled by new mobile and smartphone devices, wireless connectivity and social media – is proving a game changer within our industry.

Consumers want to make contact at any time and from any place, accessing their smart devices for appropriate contact engagements. The consequence of this is that agent-led transactions are more complex than ever, and that the customer service demands for consistent, simplistic and flexible contact options increase exponentially.

Read the full summary report below