Online Customer Support a Missed Opportunity in APAC?

By Greg McNevin

August 16, 2007: A new Asia Pacific study has found that while businesses are coming under increasing pressure to offer online support alongside call centre services, only one in four contact centres have made progress to do so.

Conducted by Alcatel-Lucent’s Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories and titled “Managing Web Interactions in the Contact Centre”, the study canvassed the opinions of 236 contact centre managers from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, examining how contact centre managers are addressing the growing consumer demand and business impact of web-based communication channels.

The services discussed include web-chat, click-to-call and email and according to the study, while the majority of contact centre managers understand the need to better engage with customers on the Web, Asia Pacific centres have made only moderate progress in doing so.

Specifically the study found that while 82 percent of organisations surveyed offer some form of online self-service (such as the ability to view account information (47 percent); online payments (44 percent) and online purchases or orders (29 percent)), only 27 percent offer live help to customers browsing their Web sites.

Further cementing the need to and benefits arising from adding online support capabilities, over 60 percent of organisations that do use proactive Web chat reported increased sales revenue, while almost 50 percent noticed a drop in Web abandonment rates.

The survey also found that while Web-based interaction and transactions account for an average of 11.5 percent of inbound customer traffic, and an average of 24 percent of customers use Web self-service where it is available, 70 percent of respondents that do not already offer online assistance have no firm plans in implement online services such as Web-chat.

Genesys claims that the survey responses reveal a significant lack of integration between Web-based service and more traditional channels such as voice, and as a result are missing ripe opportunities to improve revenue and ensure customer satisfaction.

“While responses to our latest Contact Centre Realities survey provide some encouragement, the results clearly indicate that the contact centre industry in Asia Pacfic is not taking full advantage of integrating the Web with contact centres,” said Michael McBrien, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, Genesys.

“We believe Web sites are an untapped opportunity for engaging with your customers, and companies that fail to integrate the Web with contact centres and agents will miss out on opportunities to drive increased revenue and customer loyalty over the long term.”

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