In their well-justified goals to improve customer experience, many organizations are doubling up efforts to focus on the next-generation IP contact center.
Because options are plentiful and features vary widely, understanding the true IT costs behind operating a contact center affects the efficiency, potential, and value to customers and employees.
Nemertes has been conducting cost-data research for nine years in a variety of technologies. This year, we launched research into the IP contact center--not a straightforward task, given the variety and complexity of today's contact centers. Based on 190 cost samples for a variety of configurations and vendors, we have completed the analysis on the true IT cost of contact centers.
Bottom line: There is no universal "low-cost" provider in the contact center. It really depends on what concerns you most, or what you're trying to do:
* Concerned about ongoing operational costs? This is typically the "biggie" when we're working with our clients on contact centers. Avaya generally has the lowest opex, though Interactive Intelligence performs well for smaller contact centers ( * Looking at a specific mix of capabilities in the contact center? One common rollout combination is ACD, IVR, and skills-based routing--and for that, NEC is your best bet. But for a typical ACD/IVR contact center, stick with Avaya.
* Evaluating vendors for stand-alone capabilities? Avaya is lowest cost for IVR, predictive dialing, and skills-based routing, while Interactive Intelligence is lowest for ACD and call recording, and NEC is lowest for virtual hold.
In analyzing all contact-center rollouts in our sample, regardless of capabilities deployed, Interactive Intelligence posts the lowest total first-year costs (capital, implementation, and operational metrics combined) for small contact centers, with $6,357 per contact-center license. Avaya customers spend least for large contact-center deployments, at $1,007 per contact-center license. (Keep in mind that the small-rollout, per-license price is higher for small contact centers, but it would be multiplied by a smaller number of licenses for the total cost.)
The overall median cost for all contact centers, all sizes, and a range of applications is $3,139 per license (breakdown is: $1,586 for capital, $253 for implementation, and $1,300 for operational costs). Table 1 shows the breakdowns by size, as well.
Table 1
Drilling down into the individual applications and size bands is where the data gets more specific to particular contact-center configurations. I will be reviewing this data, along with Nemertes' annual UC Cost Data research, at Enterprise Connect in sunny (yes, sunny) Florida, bright and early at 8 am on Wednesday, March 19. (After this winter in Chicago, the idea of going to Orlando is heavenly!) If you're looking to expand your contact center, change providers, or add new capabilities, this session will provide you with some insight on the cost components and how each vendor performs, based on cost data from companies just like yours.
The information on this session is available on the Enterprise Connect website.
Just this week, my colleague, Lisa Durant, published a new report that provides a deep evaluation into feature, functionality, and architecture comparisons among contact-center offerings. Enterprise attendees of this session will receive a link to access that report as well, because it really does help in the value component of your contact-center decision.
Finally, for this project, here is our research methodology: We gathered 190 data points for contact-center providers through both interviews and surveys of IT decision-makers with direct experience in and knowledge of the contact center. We received cost data on the following vendors: Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Interactive Intelligence, Genesys, Mitel, NEC, ShoreTel, and Unify. Among those, five vendors had enough responses to be counted individually: Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Interactive Intelligence, and NEC. No vendors sponsored the research.
We asked for cost data on capital, implementation, and operational costs. We also asked if their solution was cloud-based, on-premises, hybrid, or private cloud. We then asked what specific capabilities they deployed, and in cases where the contact center had multiple apps (most did), what percentage of their costs went to which capabilities. We gathered data on the number of agent and supervisor licenses in the contact center, and to level-set the costs, we divided total costs by the blended number of licenses.
The cost components are as follow:
Capital: Servers, licenses, equipment. Total cost divided by number of contact-center licenses.
Implementation: Internal staff time, multiplied by loaded hourly rate, plus third-party costs, plus training, divided by the number of contact-center licenses.
Operational: Internal staff time for the year, multiplied by loaded annual rate, plus equipment maintenance, third-party managed services, training, and certification, all divided by the number of contact-center licenses.
Explore more about contact centers at Enterprise Connect Orlando 2014!
* Evaluating vendors for stand-alone capabilities? Avaya is lowest cost for IVR, predictive dialing, and skills-based routing, while Interactive Intelligence is lowest for ACD and call recording, and NEC is lowest for virtual hold.
In analyzing all contact-center rollouts in our sample, regardless of capabilities deployed, Interactive Intelligence posts the lowest total first-year costs (capital, implementation, and operational metrics combined) for small contact centers, with $6,357 per contact-center license. Avaya customers spend least for large contact-center deployments, at $1,007 per contact-center license. (Keep in mind that the small-rollout, per-license price is higher for small contact centers, but it would be multiplied by a smaller number of licenses for the total cost.)
The overall median cost for all contact centers, all sizes, and a range of applications is $3,139 per license (breakdown is: $1,586 for capital, $253 for implementation, and $1,300 for operational costs). Table 1 shows the breakdowns by size, as well.
Table 1
Drilling down into the individual applications and size bands is where the data gets more specific to particular contact-center configurations. I will be reviewing this data, along with Nemertes' annual UC Cost Data research, at Enterprise Connect in sunny (yes, sunny) Florida, bright and early at 8 am on Wednesday, March 19. (After this winter in Chicago, the idea of going to Orlando is heavenly!) If you're looking to expand your contact center, change providers, or add new capabilities, this session will provide you with some insight on the cost components and how each vendor performs, based on cost data from companies just like yours.
The information on this session is available on the Enterprise Connect website.
Just this week, my colleague, Lisa Durant, published a new report that provides a deep evaluation into feature, functionality, and architecture comparisons among contact-center offerings. Enterprise attendees of this session will receive a link to access that report as well, because it really does help in the value component of your contact-center decision.
Finally, for this project, here is our research methodology: We gathered 190 data points for contact-center providers through both interviews and surveys of IT decision-makers with direct experience in and knowledge of the contact center. We received cost data on the following vendors: Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Interactive Intelligence, Genesys, Mitel, NEC, ShoreTel, and Unify. Among those, five vendors had enough responses to be counted individually: Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Interactive Intelligence, and NEC. No vendors sponsored the research.
We asked for cost data on capital, implementation, and operational costs. We also asked if their solution was cloud-based, on-premises, hybrid, or private cloud. We then asked what specific capabilities they deployed, and in cases where the contact center had multiple apps (most did), what percentage of their costs went to which capabilities. We gathered data on the number of agent and supervisor licenses in the contact center, and to level-set the costs, we divided total costs by the blended number of licenses.
The cost components are as follow:
Capital: Servers, licenses, equipment. Total cost divided by number of contact-center licenses.
Implementation: Internal staff time, multiplied by loaded hourly rate, plus third-party costs, plus training, divided by the number of contact-center licenses.
Operational: Internal staff time for the year, multiplied by loaded annual rate, plus equipment maintenance, third-party managed services, training, and certification, all divided by the number of contact-center licenses.
Explore more about contact centers at Enterprise Connect Orlando 2014!
