The study, the first multi-country comparative study of the performance of contact centers in Asia, was jointly conducted by Aspect Software, Inc., the world's largest company solely focused on the contact centres and call centres.net, a contact centre industry and customised research firm.

The study assesses the performance and business confidence of 200 Asian contact centers across a set of customer service, human resources, revenue, operations and technology-based indicators and in a variety of industry sectors, including finance, telecommunications, government, outsourcing, professional services, manufacturing and retail.

The bi-annual study provides Asian contact center industry executives with a standard benchmark for tracking performance against competitors and other contact centers, as well as information for justifying investments and driving future growth initiatives.

According to the report, India's primary area of opportunity is in customer service and its challenges are currently with HR performance, particularly agent turnover. Usage of VoIP in India and The Philippines is high and expected to reach 78 per cent and 65 per cent penetration rates respectively over the next two years.

Compared to other Asian contact centre industries, India is most likely to use as an Application Service Provider (ASP) with 32 per cent of centers currently using and a further 32 per cent considering an ASP. The Philippines however, is not far behind with 25 per cent currently using and a further 41 per cent considering an ASP.

On a scale of 100, the survey reveals that the Asian contact center industry is averaging a score of 67, which places it in the 'reasonable' performance category. The Index, developed by callcentres.net for Aspect Software, assesses the performance of Asia Pacific contact centers across categories including customer service, sales, revenue, operations, technology and human resources.

"We created the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia to provide the insight, backed by hard data, to really understand the Asian contact centre industry and to address the challenges that come along with its growth," said Pramod Ratwani, vice president, Asia Pacific and Middle East at Aspect Software.

"Interestingly, while Asia is emerging as a viable competitor to contact centres in Europe and the US due to its low cost of operations, the Index shows Asia is hampered by Human Resource (HR) challenges and lacks advanced technologies like customer relationship management (CRM), Voice over IP (VoIP), computer telephony integration (CTI) and workforce management," Ratwani added.

The survey covers six key countries in Asia – India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines and Thailand – and specific countries in the survey ranked differently. Topping the charts are Korea and Singapore, who rank in the 'achievers' category, which is from 71 to 85 on the overall scale.

According to Dr Catriona Wallace, director and co owner, callcentr.net "Asian contact centers have shown tremendous potential in delivering on customer service, revenue generation and profitability, however inadequate focus on human resources – which includes remuneration, career options and flexible work conditions – must be addressed for the region to compete internationally. By effectively addressing the challenges and industry issues the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia raises, the Asian contact center industry should continue its strong growth and performance."

Highlights of the Index:
Using a combination of telephone and online methods, the Aspect Contact Center Index Asia surveyed approximately 200 contact centre managers operating a minimum of 20 contact centre seats from across all industry segments.

The overall scores of the countries are reflective of the maturity of the contact centre industry in each country. While Korea (75) and Singapore (71) are more mature markets, Malaysia (65) and Thailand (59) are relatively new entrants in the market. India (64) and The Philippines (66) have higher levels of outsourced contact centers.

• Key differentiators between mature and emerging markets are: customer service (achieving service level targets and first call resolution), sales (level of right party connect), HR (agent absenteeism and turnover), revenue (gross revenue) and operations (contact centre efficiency)
• Most Asian contact centers are focusing on customer service and HR
• Two in five contact centers in Asia are using quality monitoring systems, workforce management and analytics applications
• Three in five contact centers will invest in technology over the next 12 months, with key areas of focus being CRM, VoIP, CTI and workforce management
• Almost half the market is currently using or would consider using an Application Service Provider (ASP) for its contact center technology requirements
• Larger contact centers are significantly more likely than smaller centers to use an ASP

Findings by country:

• India, The Philippines, Malaysia and other markets with outsourced contact centres reported the highest percentage of centres with an increase in profitability this year
• The high rank for Korea can be attributed to its strong focus on customer service, sales, HR and operations
• Thailand's performance in the overall Index was lower than average on customer service, HR and revenue, resulting in Thailand having the largest opportunity for improvement of the measured countries
• India's primary area of opportunity is in customer service, its challenges are with HR performance, particularly agent turnover
• India and Korea are the countries least likely to invest in new technology in the next 12 months
• India is most likely to use as an ASP with 32 per cent of centers currently using and a further 32 per cent considering an ASP, however The Philippines is not far behind with 25 per cent currently using and a further 41 per cent considering an ASP
• Usage of VoIP in India and The Philippines is high and expected to reach 78 per cent and 65 per ent penetration rates respectively over the next two years