NelsonHall’s latest Customer Management Services market analysis report, ‘Targeting CMS in High Tech’, identifies the need for increased customer service quality as the number one market driver. This is followed closely by cost reduction in second place, with increased revenue generation (through subscription sales, renewals, and paid-for technical support) third.

The report also reveals how voice interactions are increasingly being deflected to non-voice channels, primarily webchat, by high tech organizations. Complex interactions tend to remain in the voice channel, though some high tech organizations have moved entirely to a digital, non-voice, customer care and technical support framework. High tech organizations are experiencing reductions in product returns as a result of utilizing video chat and online videos for product installation. 

The report identifies the following shifts in channel usage for outsourced CMS in the high tech sector between now and 2020:

• Voice/IVR usage decreasing from 87% to 65%
• Email decreasing from 23% to 15%
• Webchat increasing from 17% to 33%
• Social media increasing from 5% to 15%
• Video chat increasing from 1% to 10%.

The scope of outsourced CMS activity in the high tech sector has moved beyond customer care and retention, technical support, and collections/credit management, with increased emphasis now on revenue generation through paid-for technical support, analyzing end-to-end processes to reduce product returns and truck rolls, and enhanced installation support.

The report shares a variety of case examples quantifying how CMS vendors have delivered the benefits sought by high tech organizations from outsourcing. It also includes details of the current and future shape of CMS in the high tech sector, outsourcing drivers, vendor delivery capabilities, channel usage, market size and growth, and critical success factors.

‘Targeting CMS in High Tech’ is now available, along with a NEAT vendor assessment tool which enables sourcing managers to assess and compare the performance of vendors offering CMS services to high tech organizations. For more information, please contact Guy Saunders at [email protected]. You can also view a brief video with highlights from the report here.