Based on Ovum’s CRM Survey, respondents indicated that Australian CRM budget growth is anticipated through 2011. 55% of executives surveyed indicated that their Australian CRM budgets would actually increase, highlighting the overall positivity within the Australian economy with CRM budgets appearing to be amongst the biggest beneficiaries.
2011 appears to be a “farming” year for Australian enterprises, which are intent on increasing revenues, improving customer satisfaction, and driving customer retention across existing product/service lines. 65% of survey respondents rated increasing revenue as the ‘most important’ goal, while 60% rated customer satisfaction as a second priority with cost control and improving internal processes lower down the corporate agenda. “The ability to grow business and ensuring a base of satisfied end users are crucial for most Australian executives, and are both areas where a well-targeted CRM outsourcing strategy can play a role”, notes Jens Butler, principal analyst, Ovum. “This drive around call quality and customer focus led Australian enterprises to show an overwhelming preference for dealing with locally-based CRM outsourcers”.
Within this survey, Ovum also targeted the top 5 criteria for outsourcer selection in Australia with respondents clearly stating that a high degree of agent language capabilities was a critical factor. This is likely due to the emphasis Australian executives place on strong end-user interactions facilitating cross-selling and up selling.
Outsourcer delivery location stability was mentioned frequently by Australian respondents, which speaks to the desire for seamless interaction with end users, driving satisfaction and risk-minimization around operational investments with third-parties.