Irish software firm Performix’s performance optimisation technologies will be a key driver of profitability and growth in the contact centre industry over the next five years, according to analyst firm Saddletree Research. This will net the Dublin firm a large slice of a market that will be worth US$228m by 2007.
Employee performance optimisation systems represent the most significant growth opportunity since the failure of the dot.com boom and the implosion of the global telecoms market, the Saddletree report said.
Saddletree estimates that the US market for performance optimisation technologies will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 60.8pc over the next five years, taking the value of the market to US$228m over the next four years.
“Rather than add yet another new technology to contact centre operations, performance optimisation software takes the technologies and human resources already in place and makes them perform at optimal levels,” said Paul Stockyard, founder and chief analyst at Saddletree Research.
Performix Technologies was named by Saddletree as the performance optimisation market’s pioneer and de-facto leader.
Performix’s president and CEO Cathal McGloin expects to see the growth projected by Saddletree for the US mirrored in Europe, with a market value of US$70m by 2007.
Performix, which was established in Dublin in 1998 by ex-Cap Gemini executive McGloin, has captured market share in the US and the UK call centre industries and its clients include Cable & Wireless, AT&T, O2, Microsoft, AOL and Chase Manhattan Bank.
“Performance optimisation succeeds by driving change,” he said. “The business intelligence and analytics technologies of the past told companies how their call centres were performing, but not what to do about it. performance optimisation goes a step further by linking information to individual and business wide performance objectives, then using it to fuel employee appraisals, incentivisations and personal development programmes.
“If, facing a harsh economic climate and low-cost competition from offshore, the challenge for today’s contact centres is to reduce cost while improving service to the customer, then performance management technologies will continue to thrive,” McGloin concluded.
By John Kennedy
