Released on: August 8, 2008, 3:11 am

Press Release Author: Datacraft Asia Ltd

Industry: Computers

Press Release Summary: Dramatic increase in adoption of self service by customers
and contact centres;
USD4 per self service transaction compared with USD 34 per human agent transaction


Press Release Body: Singapore, 28 July 2008 - Utilisation of self service in contact
centres continues its upward trend and shows little sign of abating. Primarily
driven by convenience for customers and cost savings for contact centres, self
service has become a firmly established channel.

According to the 2008 Datacraft / Dimension Data Global Contact Centre Benchmarking
Report, 31% of all inbound transactions are completed on a self service channel.
Highest among these is Interactive Voice Response (IVR) self service (15.5%),
followed by Web self service (13.7%), with speech self service and Web co-browsing
making up the balance.

Ten years ago, 90% of all inbound transactions were completed by a human agent.
Today, human agent transactions only account for just over 50% of all inbound
transactions.

Karina Majid, Datacraft Asia's General Manager for Customer Interactive Solutions,
says: "Contact centres are under pressure to deal with far higher volumes of calls,
and to execute queries faster and more effectively. What's more, increasing numbers
of customers are demanding information immediately, and it must be correct. Gone are
the days when customers accepted slow responses from the contact centre. Instead,
they're opting to use self service."

Majid says a well-executed self service application can redirect inbound call
pressure to a more suitable channel for the more routine and regular inquiries. And
if organisations ensure it works well, they have a winning combination.

"It's estimated that a successful self service transaction amounts to only 15% of
the cost of a human agent call. The average cost of a self service transaction is
USD4 compared to USD34 per human agent transaction. Employing self service
applications provides a staggering cost benefit to organisations - simultaneously
freeing up agents to deal with more complex and emotive inquiries," she explains.

However, contact centres still have a way to go in order to leverage the cost
benefits of self service.

Majid continues, "The cost of getting it wrong is significantly higher than the cost
of getting it right. However, this requires a paradigm shift when making decisions
to implement a self service application. Customer expectations, increased complexity
of inquiries, and highly dynamic environments are just some of the considerations
that impact a successful self service offering.

"A customer-centric approach should dictate an organisation's non-voice channel
development, and the impact on the end-user should not be underestimated." she says.
Majid also points out that contact centre managers would do well to remember that
the ultimate goal is to increase usage and keep customers coming back for more - and
to save costs.

"The contact centre industry is fast approaching the threshold when it will no
longer be able to manage the volumes of demand from customers. To retain these
customers and save costs, it's vital that contact centres move the simpler, routine
transactions to well-designed self service channels," concludes Majid.


About the Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report
First published in the UK in 1997 by Merchants, Dimension Data's specialist contact
centre outsourcing and operations division, this year's edition is the tenth in a
series of the industry-renowned benchmarking reports. The Report, jointly researched
and published by Dimension Data, Datacraft and Merchants, has balanced global and
industry representation from 300 contact centres located across 36 countries and
five continents, and is an invaluable reference for all contact centre
professionals. It provides managers with a set of best practice standards and
benchmarks, including staffing and training, performance metrics, technology usage,
budgets and development plans. For more information about the Report, please go to
www.ccbenchmarking.com.

About Datacraft
Datacraft is the leading independent IT services and solutions company in Asia
Pacific. The company helps clients plan, build, support and manage their IT
infrastructures. Datacraft combines an expertise in networking, security, Microsoft
solutions, storage and contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in
consulting and integration, as well as training and managed services, to craft IT
solutions for businesses.

A member of the Dimension Data Group, Datacraft is listed on the main board of the
Singapore Exchange. Headquartered in Singapore, Datacraft operates in more than 50
major offices and has over 1,450 employees across 13 Asia Pacific markets.

Web Site: http://http://www.datacraft-asia.com/

Contact Details: 6 Temasek Boulevard, #26-01 to 05 Suntec Tower Four - Singapore
(65) 6322 6688
www.datacraft-asia.com