U.S. Firms Embrace Providers of Contact Center Automation

Partner engagements are increasing as enterprises aggressively adopt AI, analytics, cloud migration, ISG Provider Lens™ report says

Enterprises in the U.S. are engaging with customer experience services providers as they seek to rapidly automate contact centers and move them to the cloud, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2023 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center — Customer Experience Services report for the U.S. finds that companies have sharpened their focus on customer experience (CX) as a competitive differentiator. Service providers that can provide a broad range of CX capabilities across multiple channels, in the cloud and from any location, are increasingly important partners in this mission.

“To modernize contact centers, enterprises need to bring a wide range of technologies to bear,” said Wayne Butterfield, ISG partner, digital solutions. “The contact center is the perfect place for AI-enabled technologies to add real incremental value. Beyond efficiencies, these technologies deliver a deeper level of understanding of what customers want and a real-time view of what is happening in your contact center operation.”

New technology adoption continues to shape U.S. enterprises’ approach to contact center customer experience, the report says. Cloud-based contact center operations have become mainstream in the U.S., which leads the world in cloud migration, and AI is now becoming a standard part of their customer experience toolkits for features such as chatbots. Most companies in the U.S. view AI as a useful, well-controlled tool and worry less than their counterparts in Europe about dangers to privacy and other concerns. While AI usage is more highly evolved in the U.S., most enterprises have not yet deployed generative AI in production.

Analytics also plays a growing role in contact center modernization in the U.S. and other markets, the report says. Advanced analytics tools can integrate data from many sources to give agents as much insight as possible into a customers’ query, mood and past interactions with the company before and during a call.

Companies recognize that consumers’ impressions of a brand may extend beyond customer care to multiple channels, including social media, chatrooms and even websites created to impugn a company, ISG says. They are engaging with providers for omnichannel services that include monitoring consumer sentiment. Many companies in the U.S., including but not limited to large multinationals, are joining this trend.

“Customers today expect more than to have their queries resolved,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “They want a holistic experience across all their contacts with the company, and service providers are making that possible.”

The report also explores other U.S. contact center trends, including the complexity of managing contact centers in the age of remote work and the increasing difficulty of retaining highly skilled resources.

For more insights into contact center challenges in the U.S., including the need to divert most easily resolved queries from human agents, and advice on how to address these challenges, see the ISG Provider Lens™ Focal Points briefing here.

The 2023 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center — Customer Experience Services report for the U.S. evaluates the capabilities of 27 providers across four quadrants: Digital Operations, Hybrid Working Solutions, Intelligent CX (AI & Analytics) and Social Media CX Services.

The report names Conduent, Foundever, HGS, Sutherland and Teleperformance as Leaders in all four quadrants. It names Atento, Cognizant and Concentrix as Leaders in three quadrants each. Alorica, Movate and Startek are named as Leaders in two quadrants each, and [24]7.ai, Tech Mahindra, Transcom, TTEC, Wipro and WNS are named as Leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, Atento, Hexaware and Startek are named as Rising Stars — companies with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition — in one quadrant each.

Customized versions of the report are available from Conduent and Foundever.

The 2023 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center — Customer Experience Services report for the U.S. is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 900 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,600 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

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