NEW SOLUTIONS TO DRIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE
In a shift from a similar survey conducted a year ago, 35% of respondents saw "new solutions to drive customer service" as the key investment focus for their customers in 2011. This underlines the value of service differentiation as a key customer retention strategy. Enhanced customer service has been a central principle of Avaya's approach to the next generation of contact center deployments -- which use context and history to ensure users have a seamless, rewarding experience that drives loyalty and increases likelihood to spend. Last year's primary objective -- "selected technology investment to enhance productivity" scored the second highest with 27% of respondents. Operational cost savings were lowest on the list, with only 6% thinking this would drive customer buying behavior in 2011.
Larger companies investing again -- UC and video the biggest focus
When asked what types of business would increase their spending in 2011, 59% named multinational and large national enterprises as the most likely to increase spending with them in 2011. A further 31% thought that mid-sized companies would drive strongest growth. This represents a turnaround from a year ago, when the SME market was seen as the biggest driver of increased spend in 2010. This change supports the view that business confidence is returning across the region and the largest players are once again investing for their future. And the most significant areas of growth in spending, according to Avaya's channel partners, will be in unified communications (UC) according to 33%, video 17%, contact center (CC) enhancements 15% and software/communications as a service (SaaS / CaaS) 15%.
"Overall these results demonstrate a very close alignment between Avaya's areas of innovation focus, our channel partners' predictions for growth and our mutual customers' investment priorities in 2011," commented Lancon. "Across UC, video, CC, data, virtualization, applications and services, Avaya is focused with our channel partners on driving success for customers through new ways to collaborate and communicate, a more people-centric approach to technology that drives both productivity and enhanced customer service capabilities, new revenue opportunities and ongoing cost savings."