Dimension Data Unveils Results of Annual Contact Center Survey

Contact centers increasingly recognized as key value centers for
organizations; centers focused on identifying new sales opportunities,
innovative ways to drive customer retention

NEW YORK, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Dimension Data, a $4.5 billion IT services
and solutions provider, today announced the findings from its 2009 Global
Contact Center BenchmarkingReport, an annual survey of more than 550 contact
centers in 36 countries across five continents. Among the numerous findings,
the results reveal that contact centers are focused on: serving as key value
centers for their overall business; finding new ways to drive satisfaction
among existing customers; and implementing processes and systems to better
identify sales opportunities during inbound calls.

Keeping Existing Customers a Top Priority
"Rising in importance this year, more than 20% of respondents named customer
retention as the number one trend affecting their contact centers," said
Martin Dove, global managing director for Customer Interactive Solutions,
Dimension Data. "It's widely accepted that it is seven to eight times more
costly to win a new customer than retain an existing one. For this reason,
companies are waking up and focusing their energies and resources on
delivering better service to the customers they already have."

The report also unveiled clear signs that companies are looking at new ways to
place the customer at the center of their business. According to Dove,
"Businesses are offering more options to customers to improve overall service
levels. For example, this year, we're seeing more contact centers - a rise of
10% to almost 70% - focus on how to streamline and simplify processes, and
also offer more self service options, for their customers' convenience."

Changes in customer behavior are also prompting contact centers to focus on
the new ways people prefer to communicate with them. "Fifty-two percent of
consumers between the ages of 16 and 34 are using the Internet as their first
port of call*. As younger consumers change the way they interact with
businesses, and in light of the global rise in popularity of social networking
sites such as Facebook and Twitter, companies need to find ways to offer these
customers more communication choices, or face losing them," Dove said.

"The good news for consumers is that they should expect to see a greater
degree of consistency and continuity across the board. While offering
customers more choices, companies must understand that this means also
ensuring the service remains the same, regardless of what channels customers
use to talk to them."

Delivering More Value to the Business; Identifying Sales Opportunities
According to the report, more companies are recognizing the key role that the
contact center can play in creating overall value for the business. However,
even as they become core value drivers, contact centers continue to remain
focused on driving costs down, with 66% of centers stating they have a
strategy in place to cut the costs of serving customers, a year-over-year
increase of 9.4%.

For example, the number of contact centers telling their customers about the
benefits of using lower-cost methods of communication, such as the Web and
self service, has doubled to 36% this year. Dove believes this is an
encouraging sign that companies are evolving. However, he warns this will only
benefit the business if the lower cost options meet customer expectations.

"The important shift is away from pure cost optimization to the next stage of
evolution where driving revenue and value becomes a priority. While companies
have focused on consolidating and rationalizing processes, functions and
activities to cut costs, they're now seeking ways to deliver more value to the
bottom line."

As Dove explains, the global contact center industry is still relatively
young, and it may take some time to get the basics of cost optimization right.
"We expect this transition to value creation will take the next three to four
years to fully take hold, and it is within this context that we expect to
see investment decisions made."

"However," Dove says, "we need catalysts to create this change, and the
economic conditions of today may well be one of them."

"We're also seeing evidence of a more pragmatic and practical approach to
Customer Relationship Management. Much importance is being placed on this
trend, with 60% of companies reporting they have 'triggers' in place to
identify sales opportunities." According to Dove, this will be one area of
technology investment in the coming months as organizations look for new ways
to identify and increase sales opportunities from inbound calls.

*Published in Dimension Data's Alignment Index for Speech Self-Service Report
2009.

About Dimension Data
Dimension Data (LSE: DDT), a specialist IT services and solutions provider,
helps clients plan, build, support and manage their network and IT
infrastructures. Dimension Data applies its expertise in networking,
security, operating environments, storage and contact center technologies and
its unique skills in consulting, integration and managed services to create
customized client services. For more information: Call 866-DIDATA-US or visit
www.dimensiondata.com/na.

About Dimension Data's Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report
First published in the UK in 1997 by Merchants, Dimension Data's specialist
contact center outsourcing and operations division, this year's edition is the
11th in a series of the industry-renowned benchmarking reports. This year's
Report has the highest level of participation over 11 years, contains balanced
global and industry representation from 554 contact centers located across 36
countries and five continents, and is an invaluable reference for all contact
center 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. The Report is
researched and published by Dimension Data and this year sees the delivery of
a world-first benchmarking portal for use by participants and partners. For
more information about the Report, please go to www.ccbenchmarking.com

Media Contacts:
Lisa Grimes
Dimension Data
(703) 217-2692
lisa.grimes@us.didata.com

Davies Murphy Group
(781) 418-2400
ddna@daviesmurphy.com

SOURCE Dimension Data

Lisa Grimes of Dimension Data, +1-703-217-2692, lisa.grimes@us.didata.com; or
Davies Murphy Group for Dimension Data, +1-781-418-2400,
ddna@daviesmurphy.com