The Contact Centre Management Association in Ireland (CCMA) recently carried out a study on “The prospects for Ireland’s contact centre, business processing, outsourcing & shared services industries”.
The report discovered some interesting facts and also emphasized how the industry is continuing to grow.
Over 30,000 people are currently employed in this sector, with a further 6,000 to be recruited in the next year (CCMA, 2012).
Our own experience shows that the growth in the customer care industry can be attributed to two specific trends:
- Companies are trying to increase benefits, by offering their clients increased opening hours, and reducing costs and both strategies lend themselves to outsourcing while reducing costs.
- Companies are focusing on existing clients to increase sales and therefore customer relationship management (CRM) is vital to grow existing business and to gain referrals.
Ability to solve complex enquiries and to multi-task is required in order to provide a high-quality CRM solution to clients. Hence, training and education are key elements in our industry.
According to CCMA, on average four in ten employees (44%) have level 7 degrees or higher qualifications. From our own research, we are averaging 47% with level 7 degrees.
A skilled workforce is changing the image of the contact centre. They are providing a fresher and more positive image to the customer relationship management industry.
Finally just to add that Key Answering System Group, composed of Call Management and Arema Connect, plans to hire new agents within the next year to coincide with the launch of our sister company Arema Connect. A multi-channel contact centre focusing on technology-based CRM solutions such as Live Chat & E-mail handling. We plan to target the UK (London, Manchester & Birmingham) in 2013 and depending on our success decide from there where to go next.
If you are interested to find out more about our services or future job vacancies, send us an e-mail at info@callmanagement.ie.
