Forecast of the development of the call center market in India
The relevance of research
Call center, CC is a division of the company or a separate organization that provides services for processing incoming and outgoing customer calls. In fact, this is a link in the sales funnel that provides feedback to the buyer of the brand's products. In addition, the extended version of the call center also includes services for conducting opinion polls, various voting, promotions and consumer support.
Purpose of the study
Analysis of the state of the call center market, assessment of the market size, analysis of competitors, as well as identification of factors affecting the call center market
Content
Chapter 1. Key Components of the Call Center Market
1.1. Market size
1.2. Call center market growth rates
1.3. Call center market trends
1.4. The main problems of the industry
1.5. Call center market life cycle stage
1.6. Estimation of the number of buyers and their financial capabilities
1.7. Estimated consumption per capita
1.8. Analysis of sectoral indicators of financial and economic activity
1.9. Price analysis
Chapter 2
2.1. Economic components
2.2. Social Components
2.3. Technological components
2.4. Political Components
2.5. STEP-analysis of the call center market
Chapter 3. Assessment of the degree of competition
3.1. Scale of competition (local, regional, national, global)
3.2. Number of competitors and relative market shares of the largest competitors
3.3. Compact location of industry companies in certain regions
Chapter 4 Industry Forecasts
4.1. Analysis of the impact of recent crises on the industry (the global crisis of 2008 and the currency crisis in India in 2014)
4.2. Analysis of the impact on the state aid industry at the current date
4.3. Assessment of the degree of impact of the crisis due to covid-19 on the analyzed market. Barriers existing in the call center market
4.4. Prospects and growth drivers for the call center market
4.5. Forecast of the development of the call center market in the context of the current economic crisis due to covid-19
Chapter 5 Forecasting Methodology
5.1. Methods for forecasting key industry indicators
5.2. Sources of information for forecasting
5.3. Timing of forecasting
Research excerpt
Chapter 1. Key Components of the Call Center Market
1.1. Market size
Call-center (from the English word call - call), call center, KC is a division of the company or a separate organization that provides services for processing incoming and outgoing customer calls. In fact, this is a link in the sales funnel that provides feedback to the buyer of the brand's products. In addition, the extended version of the call center also includes services for conducting opinion polls, various voting, promotions and consumer support.
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Most companies began to actively create special departments (call centers) that would receive all incoming calls. However, such units require quite a lot of costs and efforts to organize an uninterrupted workflow, retain and train staff. At the same time, own division is not always profitable. It often happens that it is much more convenient and profitable to involve a third-party organization to process client requests, focusing directly on the main areas of business. This new approach gave impetus to the emergence and active development of companies that professionally provide services for receiving and processing customer requests. This allowed entrepreneurs to significantly save on call center equipment, staff maintenance and training.
Today, the outsourcing call center market in India offers service packages that are not easy for small and medium-sized businesses to organize on their own. Indeed, in addition to providing a hotline and servicing client requests, external call centers can conduct advertising campaigns using various communication channels, marketing support for goods and services, interactive voting, mass telephone campaigns and mailing messages. Such services became in demand by customers, especially after the onset of the economic crisis of 2014-2016, when every business began to scrupulously calculate its costs. Today, the leading outsourcing contact centers of the country receive certificates of compliance with international standards, not yielding to the level of leading foreign enterprises in the industry.
The main technological trend in the call center sector is the transition of some users from voice communication over the phone to other communication channels. This factor affects the entire market and has already led to major technological shifts. First of all, the functionality of call centers has expanded: from phone calls to working with several channels and gradually to omnichannel (consolidation of all available communication channels into one). Therefore, the term “call center” is now less and less used and more and more often - “contact center”.
A modern contact center, in addition to telephony, supports the processing of calls through various instant messengers, forms on websites, web chats, social networks, email and SMS. If earlier a telephone was a mandatory equipment, now it has been replaced by software softphones and headsets connected to a computer.
Note that contact and call centers in India still use terms in their names, the formal designation of which does not correspond to their real activities and capabilities. So, many call centers in India (formally, the call center should work with incoming and / or outgoing phone calls) in fact work in the status of a contact center (the contact center forms communications with customers via telephone lines, external communication channels using the IP protocol ( Internet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max) cellular communication 4G, 3G, EDGE, audio / video chats, mail, faxes, etc.), and some are already integrated with social networks, which puts them in the category of context centers .
Contact centers can be conditionally divided into two main groups: external - outsourcing companies, internal - corporate:
Outsourced call center. These are separate companies and services that are not part of the enterprise infrastructure. Such organizations provide contact center services - calling customers in the database, receiving and processing calls and other functions of the Call Center. The main feature of an outsourced call center is a clear preliminary agreement with customers on a contractual basis.
Corporate call center. This is a full-time division of the company, which performs the functions of working with buyers of goods and services, partners. The tasks of internal contact center operators are roughly similar to the work of their outsourcing colleagues. This is calling the client base, receiving calls, creating and maintaining a subscriber base. In addition, CC employees voice commercial offers to partners, invite them to a meeting, an event, and conduct marketing research. The advantage of a corporate call center is the high confidentiality of information. That is, only employees of the company, and not third parties, know about trade secrets. The disadvantages include: high costs for the maintenance of the hardware and software complex, staff training, the cost of arranging the premises.
Thus, as a separate type of business that directly brings profit to its owners, call centers have found application in the outsourcing industry. Therefore, this study considers a market formed from the income of companies providing services through the outsourcing system.
1.2. Call center market growth rates
Diagram 1. Dynamics of the volume of the call center market, 2015-2020, billion Rs.
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1.3. Call center market trends
The following trends can be identified in the Indian call center market:
The market shows an annual increase.
Expansion of functionality and new opportunities that contribute to the provision of comprehensive services no longer by specialized call centers, but by general contact centers with a large range of services.
Omnichannel.
Combining all communication channels on one platform allows you to reduce company costs and improve the quality of customer service. Previously, all applications were developed separately, and there was no connection between them. Now a single platform allows management to see a whole picture of interaction with customers. Many people talk about the transition to the “omni channel” concept, meaning providing customers with equal functionality in the service, regardless of the service channel.
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The trend towards customer focus.
As for the increasing focus on customers, this trend is manifested in the development of contact center tools that allow reducing the number of missed calls, reducing the client's waiting time in the call queue, and increasing the proportion of issues resolved in one call. Modern contact centers automatically provide operators with information about the client who called, the history of this client's calls and other necessary information for a quick and qualified response to a request of any complexity.
Growing demand for qualified employees.
To date, personnel development programs are the most effective way to improve customer experience and increase competitiveness in the labor market. Given the growing demand for qualified information support staff, the role of training and development programs in call centers is growing. Training programs help to increase not only the involvement of employees in the development of the company, but also the growth of their professionalism, which is important for the development of the company.
Cloud call center technologies are developing, which allow attracting additional resources to the structure of the center without overpaying for functionality.
Traditional call centers are experiencing strong competition from cloud services. More and more companies are turning to the cloud to solve customer service problems, preferring cloud services to software and hardware solutions hosted on their site. Modern technologies are better, more flexible and easier to scale than traditional products. And in a difficult or unstable economic situation, cloud contact centers become a convenient and profitable solution that allows minimizing risks and converting capital expenditures into operating ones.
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The trend towards the development of outsourcing call centers in the regions.
One of the characteristic features of the development of such sites is the reduction of their operating costs. This is mainly about the cost of renting premises and personnel. As a result, most companies consider regions to be the most attractive location for their branches. At the same time, the transfer of sites to the regions has practically no effect on the quality of service. For companies that work with clients from all over India, regional call centers are an opportunity not only to reduce costs, but also to increase working hours (taking into account the time difference). However, moving a call center to a region carries additional costs associated with the need to periodically send highly qualified managers and specialists from the capital there, which creates high travel and transport costs.
New trends in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.
During self-isolation, the load on contact centers has increased significantly, and the timely introduction of new technologies and understanding of market needs helped them to cope with a large amount of work.
The number of calls to contact centers of medical institutions, federal and regional coronavirus hotlines has increased many times over. Contact centers did not have time to process all incoming requests, and it became obvious that the existing system of interaction with customers needed to be urgently changed. Moreover, we need solutions that are not only reliable and capable of handling hundreds of calls per second, but can also be implemented in a very short time.
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At the same time, the following prospects can be distinguished in the Indian call center market:
Prospects and development directions arising from the coronavirus pandemic
Use of artificial intelligence or machine learning.
Voice access channels will lose their popularity among consumers, while remaining the most common in terms of the degree of ""involvement"" in the scope of contact centers.
The structure of criteria that shape customer experience of service quality will remain unchanged, but the evaluation and management of these criteria will need to be viewed through the prism of multi-channel.
The popularity of customer self-service systems will grow.
CC operators will have to process not ""typical"", but complex operations.
Technical solutions will increasingly shift towards cloud services.
Implementation of a unified biometric customer identification system.
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1.4. The main problems of the industry
The main issues in the industry include:
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1.5. Call center market life cycle stage
Let's consider some expert assessments and provide calculations to assess the potential of the market:
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1.6. Estimation of the number of buyers and their financial capabilities
The main end-users in the call center market are individuals. Let's present data on the dynamics of the main indicators characterizing the audience of consumers.
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1.7. Estimated consumption per capita
Consumption per capita is calculated by GidMarket based on the ratio of the volume of the market for call center services to the population of India.
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1.8. Analysis of sectoral indicators of financial and economic activity
Important data for analyzing the state of the industry is the dynamics of such indicators as profitability, liquidity, and business activity.
The table shows the dynamics of the gross profit margin (the ratio of gross profit to income).
Table 1. Gross margin of the call center industry in comparison with all sectors of the Indian economy, 2015-2020, %
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Consider the dynamics of profitability before tax.
Diagram 8. Current liquidity (total coverage) by call center industry for 2015-2020, times
The estimated indicator of the current liquidity of a normally operating solvent legal entity must be at least 1, i.e. it is necessary that the total value of current assets be greater than the amount of short-term liabilities.
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A more stringent liquidity criterion is the absolute liquidity ratio. It shows what part of short-term liabilities can be repaid immediately, if necessary, at the expense of available cash and marketable securities.
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The table shows the dynamics of this coefficient.
Table 2. Absolute liquidity of the call center industry in comparison with all sectors of the Indian economy, 2015-2020, times
Business activity is the ability of an enterprise, based on the results of its economic activity, to take a stable position in a competitive market, it is the performance of an enterprise in relation to the amount of resource consumption in the process of the operating cycle. Indicators of business activity are related to the rate of turnover of funds: the faster the turnover, the less semi-fixed costs per turnover, which means the higher the financial efficiency of the enterprise and the industry as a whole as a combination of many enterprises.
Consider the dynamics of the average turnover of receivables in the call center services industry in India.
The dynamics of the average turnover period of receivables in the period from 2015 to 2020 had a wave-like character...
The stability of the financial position of the enterprise is impossible without effective management of working capital, based on the identification of significant factors and measures to provide the enterprise with its own working capital.
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Thus, compliance with the standards, positive dynamics and exceeding the indicator in all sectors of the Indian economy demonstrates financial stability, liquidity indicators and gross margin, while the indicators of profitability before tax and the average turnover period of DE cannot be characterized positively.
1.9. Price analysis
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If we talk about the cost of the operator's work on incoming and outgoing calls, then the vast majority of market companies do not post price information and price lists on their official websites.
The largest companies in the market, which mainly provide their clients with comprehensive services, ranging from project development to calling, receiving data via other communication channels and analyzing the information received, offer a calculation of the total cost of their services after a potential client fills out a questionnaire about the goals, project deadlines, and the required number of operators , the complexity of the task for the contact center, etc.
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Comparative price analysis allows you to make aggregator sites.
Chapter 2
Macroeconomic factors affect the dynamics of all sectors of the Indian economy, including the market for call center services. The main groups of factors are: economic, political, social and technological.
2.1. Economic components
Economic
GDP (gross domestic product) is used to determine the rate of economic development of any state. GDP is a macroeconomic indicator that reflects the total value of goods, works and services that were produced and provided in the country in a year. Gross domestic product is the main indicator on the basis of which the level and pace of the country's economic development are determined.
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The expert noted that the forecasts for the recovery of the Indian economy depend on the possible dynamics of the global economy and the development of the epidemiological situation.
Let's consider some experts' estimates of India's GDP dynamics forecast.
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Thus, experts disagree on the forecast for the medium term: ...
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Dynamics of electricity prices. The dynamics of tariffs for electricity and electricity supply services affect any industry.
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2.2. Social Components
Increasing level of urbanization.
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The migration influx in large cities leads to an additional supply of labor, an increase in demand for various services and goods in large cities, which stimulates the development of the call center market in these cities. For the analyzed market - the positive influence of the factor.
2.3. Technological components
The spread of the COVID-19 virus.
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IT technologies and equipment, digitalization of the industry.
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Activities NO AOPIR NACC (National Association of Contact Centers).
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Members of the Association can only be legal entities operating in the field of:
services for citizens and legal entities in telephone contact centers (call centers, call centers) of enterprises, institutions and authorities, including state and municipal institutions, banks, insurance companies, telecom operators, retail and wholesale trade enterprises, utilities, energy companies , enterprises of transport, tourism and others;
providing services for servicing telephone and other types of calls;
development, supply, distribution, integration and leasing of telecommunications equipment and software, including for contact centers;
after-sales service;
telemarketing;
distance trading;
telesales;
recruitment, training and motivation of personnel;
certification;
market research, consulting and audit;
media and event management;
any other activity, one way or another connected with contact centers in India and beyond.
The purpose of the Association is to coordinate the activities of the Members and protect their interests in India in the following areas:
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The subject of activity of the Association is:
protection of the rights and interests of its Members, coordination of their activities and provision of legal guarantees;
representing the interests of the Association and/or the interests of its Members, with their consent, in state authorities and administration;
creation of a system of horizontal relations and mutual support of the Members of the Association in the implementation of their statutory activities;
regular organization of analytical studies, issuance of relevant reports;
researching trends in the development of the market for information technology, telecommunications, workforce for contact centers and providing recommendations to Members;
assistance in improving the professional level of specialists, organizing their training and advanced training, including abroad;
participation and (or) organization, together with its Members, of thematic exhibitions, conferences, seminars, competitions, other events for the purpose of exchanging experience, training, advanced training, establishing business contacts;
if necessary, the creation of other non-profit organizations, participation in associations and unions, the establishment of societies or participation in them in accordance with the statutory goals of the Association;
assisting its Members in their business endeavors by searching for reliable partners for joint activities, information, legal and representative support;
cooperation with domestic, foreign and international unions, associations and other similar associations;
implementation of other activities to achieve the goals established by the Charter of the Association;
holding charitable and socially significant events.
2.4. Political Components
The tense political situation in interstate relations has a negative impact on all spheres of the Indian economy. The main activities of the state and the strategic tasks at present are the development of new models of cooperation with the US and the EU and the approval of India in the world monetary system. Anti-India sanctions and the generally sharp deterioration in relations between Western countries and India largely determine India's foreign policy.
Credit policy.
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Today it is quite difficult to imagine the progressive development of the economy without the active participation of the credit system. It should also be noted that the assessment of the availability of credit resources for both legal entities and individuals is a significant indicator that allows assessing not only the demand for credit funds, but can also serve as a reflection of the real economic situation both in the region and in the economy as a whole.
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2.5. STEP-analysis of the call center market
We combine all these factors in the form of a STEP analysis.
Table 9. STEP analysis of factors influencing the call center market
According to the results of the STEP-analysis, macro-environment factors have a negative impact on the market of call center services. All groups of factors have a multi-vector influence on the development of the market.
The development of the market is hindered by: the dynamics of the dollar exchange rate, the decline in real incomes of the population, the tense foreign policy situation, and the decline in the population.
Credit policy, technology and digitalization, urbanization of the population, GDP recovery in 2021 have a positive impact on the market. The spread of the COVID-19 virus has a multi-vector effect.
Chapter 3. Assessment of the degree of competition
3.1. Scale of competition (local, regional, national, global)
Global Competition: On the one hand, the call center market is a service market. Unlike commodity markets, where there are flows of export and import directions for the movement of products, there are no such flows in the call center services market, so global competition as such is not expressed. On the other hand, market companies are talking about the planned expansion of the geography of their presence outside the Indian market, which in the future will generate various cash flows at the international (global) level.
National competition: the most pronounced. There are large companies (within 2-3 dozen) operating throughout India, depending on the need to implement serious projects in various territories. Other market companies are much less significant and form regional and local competition.
Regional and local competition: less pronounced than the national competition due to the small coverage of the client base and the implementation of much more modest and shorter projects.
3.2. Number of competitors and relative market shares of the largest competitors
At the beginning of November 2021, almost 800 legal entities were registered in Russia, the main activity of which is OKVED 2: (82.20) Activities of call centers. Of these, with non-zero revenue - 310 companies. More than 5000 entrepreneurs with the specified type of activity are also active.
At the same time, there are a small number of large companies on the market - about two or three dozen.
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Diagram 14. Shares of the largest competitors in the call center market in 2020, %
Group of companies XXX
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XXX
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XXX
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XXX
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The dynamics of the total revenue of the top 5 market participants is linear ...
3.3. Compact location of industry companies in certain regions
Diagram 16. Compactness of location of companies in the industry in certain regions in 2020, %
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Chapter 4 Industry Forecasts
4.1. Analysis of the impact of recent crises on the industry (the global crisis of 2008 and the currency crisis in India in 2014)
In the first half of 2020, the call center market, like many other industries, felt the impact of the pandemic and the onset of the economic crisis.
Let's analyze data on the impact of recent crises on the industry ...
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4.2. Analysis of the impact on the state aid industry at the current date
Forecasting the development of the call center market in India is impossible without understanding the economic situation in the country, as well as the impact of the spread of the covid-19 virus and the measures taken.
At the end of March 2020, the government identified 22 industries that will be the first to receive state support in the context of the economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic: the government commission on improving the sustainability of the Indian economy, chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov, approved a list of sectors of the economy most affected by the deteriorating situation in in connection with the spread of a new coronavirus infection, to provide priority targeted support.
Based on the results of consultations with the business community, the Ministry of Economic Development of India submitted the following sectors for approval to the Commission: air transportation, airport activities, trucking; culture, organization of leisure and entertainment; physical culture and health-improving activities and sports; activities of travel agencies and other organizations in the field of tourism; hotel business; public catering, organizations of additional education and non-state educational institutions; organizing conferences and exhibitions; activities for the provision of personal services to the population (repair, laundry, dry cleaning, hairdressing and beauty salon services). The list of industries was approved by the Government of India Decree No. 3 dated April 2020, 434.
Companies providing call center services are not included in the list of so-called affected organizations that suffered financial and material losses from the introduction of the self-isolation regime.
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4.3. Assessment of the degree of impact of the crisis due to covid-19 on the analyzed market. Barriers existing in the call center market
In the current situation, it is worth considering not only the impact of the pandemic, economic factors, but also the characteristics of the market under study.
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4.4. Prospects and growth drivers for the call center market
In favor of the positive dynamics of the CC in 2020, the following can be indicated:
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According to Indexcall experts, in 2021 the main trends, taking into account which market companies will achieve the maximum effect at the end of the year, are:
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4.5. Forecast of the development of the call center market in the context of the current economic crisis due to covid-19
Chapter 5 Forecasting Methodology
5.1. Methods for forecasting key industry indicators
Modern statistical forecasting methods are used, taking into account the actual dynamics of the industry and the impact of the current and projected general economic situation in connection with the spread of the covid-19 virus.
In addition, when compiling the forecast, changes in real incomes of the population, trends in consumer preferences in a crisis, development forecasts and the degree of impact of other factors affecting the industry are taken into account.
5.2. Sources of information for forecasting
Industry volume over the past 5 years
Industry dynamics in 2008-2009, in 2014-2015, in 2016-2020*
Dynamics of macroeconomic indicators over the past 9-10 years
Current public assistance plans
Databases of the State Statistics Committee of India
Indian Revenue Service databases
Open sources (websites, portals)
Issuer reporting
Company websites
Media Archives
Regional and federal media
Insider sources
Specialized analytical portals
5.3. Timing of forecasting
The forecast belongs to the medium-term category - 5 years (2021-2025)
Diagrams
Diagram 1. Dynamics of the volume of the call center market, 2015-2020, billion Rs.
Figure 2. Stage of the life cycle of the call center market
Diagram 3. Population dynamics in India as of January 1, 2010-2021, million people, %
Diagram 4. Population forecast in India for the period 2021-2024, million people
Diagram 5. Dynamics of real incomes of the population of India, 2011 - 2020, 2021 (Q1 and Q2), % to the previous year
Diagram 6. Consumption in the call center market per capita, 2015-2020, Rs./person
Diagram 7. Profitability of profit before tax (profit of the reporting period) in the call center industry in comparison with all sectors of the Indian economy, 2015-2020, %
Diagram 8. Current liquidity (total coverage) by call center industry for 2015-2020, times
Diagram 9. Business activity (average receivables turnover period) in the field of call centers, for 2015-2020, days days
Diagram 10. Financial stability (security of own working capital) in the field of call centers, in comparison with all sectors of the Indian economy, 2015-2020, %
Diagram 11. Dynamics of India's GDP, 2007-2020, % to the previous year
Chart 12. Monthly dynamics of the US dollar against the rupee, 2015-2021 (Jan-Aug.), Rs. for 1 US dollar
Chart 13. Dynamics of the average interest rate on loans, 2015-2021 (Jan-Jun), %
Diagram 14. Shares of the largest competitors in the call center market in 2020, %
Diagram 15. Dynamics of the total revenue of the largest call center market operators (TOP-5) in India, 2016–2020, billion Rs.
Diagram 16. Compactness of location of companies in the industry in certain regions in 2020, %
Diagram 17. Dynamics and volume of the call center market in 2007-2020, billion Rs., %
Diagram 18. Forecast of the call center market size in 2021–2025, billion Rs.
Tables
Table 1. Gross margin of the call center industry in comparison with all sectors of the Indian economy, 2015-2020, %
Table 2. Absolute liquidity of the call center industry in comparison with all sectors of the Indian economy, 2015-2020, times
Table 3. Consumer price indices in the call center market in India in 2015-2021 (Jan.-Aug.), %
Table 4. Average prices in the call center market across the Union Territories in 2020, units rev.
Table 5. Forecasts of various sources for real GDP in India in 2021-2023 (data for June-September 2021), %
Table 6. Average producer prices and CPI for electricity at the end of the period in 2017-2020, rupees, %
Table 7. Urban and rural population in India in 2014-2020 (as of January 1), million people, %
Table 8. Weighted average interest rates of credit institutions on credit operations in rupees, excluding PJSC Sberbank (% per annum), 2015-2021 (Jan-Jun)
Table 9. STEP analysis of factors affecting the call center market
Table 10. Main companies participating in the call center market in 2020
Table 11. Basic information about participant No. 1 of the call center market
Table 12. Basic information about participant No. 2 of the call center market
Table 13. Basic information about participant No. 3 of the call center market
Table 14. Basic information about participant No. 4 of the call center market
Table 15. Basic information about participant No. 5 of the call center market
Table 16. Assessment of the impact of recent crises on the industry
Table 17. Analysis of the impact on the industry of the state aid proposed to date
Table 18. Forecast indicators of the development of the Indian economy in 2021-2024 (base case), %
All reports