Asia-Pacific''s voice business set to quadruple in four years

London: Findings from a new report, Voice Business in Regional Perspective: EMEA and APAC, by independent market analyst, Datamonitor, (DTM.L), predicts 'solid opportunities' for voice solution vendors.

The report does not expect strong growth to come from India due to the absence of a strong self-service culture and a small consumer base, while it predicts China to account for a 14-fold increase.

It predicts revenues from voice business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to top $1 billion and $618 million in Asia Pacific (APAC) by year-end 2008 compared to an estimated $358 million and $142 million respectively in 2004. Not only do vendors appreciate the potential of voice applications for building long-term customer relationships, but for reducing overhead costs.

Confidence has also risen amongst end-users. They are beginning to appreciate the efficiency voice applications bring to their commercial interactions. In EMEA, the UK, Spain and Italy are good prospects. In APAC, Australia and New Zealand, innovation in solutions has been on a par with North America and there's still room for growth whilst Japan and China, voice solutions are gaining traction.