SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




GMT Boss Chats About Call Center Space, Industry Trends and More <

TMCnews


TMCnews Featured Article


April 29, 2009

GMT Boss Chats About Call Center Space, Industry Trends and More

By Tim Gray, TMCnet Web Editor


I recently had the opportunity to speak with Roger Avats, president, chairman and co-founder of GMT, about the Call Center space.
 
GMT’s workforce management and performance optimization solutions create competitive advantage by enabling companies to improve customer service and sales across their enterprise, while decreasing their labor expenses.
 
The company’s product line combines precision forecasting and intelligent scheduling with powerful analytics and performance management tools – together delivering a complete solution that can be deployed throughout a company’s contact center, branch office, and back office departments and is priced to deliver rapid return on investment.


Looking back at 2008, how would you characterize the year for your company?
2008 was a very good year for GMT. We completed our third straight year of 30%+ revenue growth, extended our track record of 95% client satisfaction, added several blue-chip customers to our growing client list, and introduced GMT On-Demand for Banking – a Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) solution for the branch banking market to complement our hosted contact center product.
 
What were the key trends that impacted your business?
Clearly the macroeconomic environment was a challenge for all contact center vendors. However, we continued to see clients make investments in call center workforce management technologies. New clients appear to be especially drawn to our GMT On-Demand offering which enables them to enjoy the benefits of a full-featured workforce optimization solution without the burdensome up-front costs.
 
What was your company’s biggest achievement in the past year?
I don’t know that I can pick just one – we had several remarkable achievements throughout the year.  Continuing to grow our business at a rate that outpaced that of our competitors in particular and of the market in general is certainly significant. It’s a testament to the value our product and services bring to clients and the measurable benefits they receive as a result.
 
What are your customers looking for in the coming year?
Our customers will continue to be challenged to provide superior service to their customers and doing it more cost effectively. Making sure the right people are in the right place at the right time delivering a superior customer experience will be more important than ever. GMT will be by their side with products and services to help them achieve these goals.
 
What can we expect to see from your company in the next 12 months?
We have great things planned for 2009. We expect accelerated uptake in our GMT On-Demand offerings. We recently completed the release of the latest version of GMT Planet, which we have internally code-named “Lanier.” We are also well underway with another release, scheduled for late in the year. We continue to refine our award-winning SureServices suite of client lifecycle professional services and consulting products. We are also greatly expanding our network of leading partners.
 
In your view, please describe the future of the Call Center Management Space.
Call centers will continue to perform a vital role in any company’s customer service strategy. An even greater emphasis will be placed on high performance and retaining the best agents in light of the fact that customers have more choices and, in many cases, are being more reserved about how they spend their money. In my view, workforce management technologies, like GMT Planet, will become an essential investment for contact centers of all sizes not only because of the cost efficiencies they can deliver, but also as an effective customer retention tool. 
 
If you had to make one bold prediction for 2009, what would it be?
Despite the spate of force reductions across many industries, the contact center industry will show modest growth in 2009.

Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Tim’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tim Gray







Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2024 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy