A new research report has indicated that contact center outsourcing providers will have very tight in-house CRM budgets for the new year.

According to a recent Ovum contact center manager survey done in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, only 1 out of 5 believed that their budgets would grow, with approximately 80 percent stating that theirs would contract or remain flat.

“This placed tremendous pressure on enterprises that maintain in-house contact centers, as limited cash on hand means that they are unable to invest in new and leading-edge technology, and agent management will be compromised in terms of investing in ongoing training or increased staff incentives,” said Peter Ryan, Ovum lead analyst.

“These will result in the erosion of the end-user relationship over the long-term,” he added.

From the perspective of the contact center outsourcer, Ovum said the report means new contract opportunities with firms looking to maintain or improve customer service levels, but that can only work within limited means. This, it said, ties directly with changing priorities among enterprises.

There is a marked trend for enterprises to want to use their contact centers for the purposes of developing more revenue opportunities and end-user loyalty, the report said.

“This is very different from the end of 2008/start of 2009 at the outset of the recession, during which time firms indicated that the over-riding priority was cost management,” Ovum said.

In addition to excellent service levels, the report said enterprises want to engage outsourcers that are able to develop leads on the back of service calls to the extent of converting them into cross-sales/upsales of other products and services. “This will reduce the actual cost of the contact center as a service, while at the same time increasing overall profitability,” it said.