From the Top
- Executive to Executive -
Performance Management is certainly a hot space and vendors are attacking it from multiple perspectives. RealMarket spoke with Michael Callaghan, Founder and CEO of relatively new player, Opus Group about their view of this fast-growing space and what makes them unique.
Michael Callghan,
Founder and CEO, Opus Group
RealMarket: You talk with CEOs from leading companies. What do they see as the number one customer issue or opportunity facing them today?
Callaghan: The perfect storm has hit the services market. Billions of dollars were spent to try and bring the returns realized in the back office to the front office. The promise from the vendors was to provide better service at lower cost. Unfortunately, the technology got ahead of the market place and customers were left with elaborate capability that they did not know how to utilize. Consequently, we find ourselves in a new type of market that is very cost competitive and demanding of results with lots of underutilized technology. Their customers are very specific regarding the type of services and how they are to be delivered. So our customers are trying to manage through a very complicated service delivery model that allows them to deliver quickly and respond to the market. They are looking for results that include improved quality, faster turnaround and lower cost.
RealMarket: Can you share some Opus Group Consulting customer examples that highlight this issue?
Callaghan: A great example of this is Mutual of Omaha. They initiated a process to integrate data and information for the organization across every channel (such as email, telephone, fax, etc.). They now have every contact and service transaction housed in one place. As a result, they have achieved an increase in productivity of 20-30% across the board through a significant decrease in the time to service.
| ...we definitely understand that everyone doesn’t need all of our technology. We will only provide the technology that is needed. |
RealMarket: In a crowded market, how does your company differentiate itself?
Callaghan: The important thing to recognize is that processes that operate independently across different channels (like fax, email, etc.) represent a significant opportunity for improvement. We deliver this improvement with measureable and tangible results.
RealMarket: What is the average size implementation for you and what percent is services versus products?
Callaghan: Our primary market is between 150 and 500 person contact centers, but our products and services are impacting everything from 15-20 person 10,000 person contact center environments. Our typical implementation is split evenly between products and services. However, we definitely understand that everyone doesn’t need all of our technology. We will only provide the technology that is needed. We look for what they need incremental to their existing technology.
| There are a number of different software providers that are trying to reengineer their product for performance management. |
RealMarket: Performance management has been a hot term lately. Is the term being used consistently?
Callaghan: No, not at all. There are workforce management companies that are pretending to have all the capability. There are pure play analytics companies positioned as performance management but they are not linking to process. There are a number of different software providers that are trying to reengineer their product for performance management. At the end of the day, it’s not a software problem. The key is linking to the process and service delivery. Otherwise it’s just another report card without any tie to action.
RealMarket: Is the hype of performance management ahead of the capability?
Callaghan: No, the capability is there and the market is extremely strong. The market was already forming 3-4 years ago and has somewhat taken on a life of its own now. Customers are looking for ways to drive value out of the contact center market. They are finding it with process data and information integration. Fundamentally, customers are extracting productivity from the technology that is ubiquitous.
RealMarket: Is performance management restricted to the contact center?
Callaghan: No, seventy percent of our business is in back office. More and more, back office functions are starting to look like traditional contact centers. I was at a customer site In an underwriting office recently with individuals taking forty calls per day. I asked them how they were different from the call center in the next building where agents were handling thirty calls per day. The fact is the back office is melding with the front office. Some of the traditional monikers attributed to back office are going away. Eventually it’s going to be called a service center and will handle all interactions…paper, fax, email…it won’t matter.
| We provide a written guarantee to our customer to provide a tangible improvement. |
RealMarket: Of the large group of suppliers, whom do you most often compete against?
Callaghan: Interestingly, we are not running into the same competitor over and over again. However, we do run into at least one in every situation. One time it will be a workforce management company, the next time it may be a CRM or analytics company. In last six months, we have probably run into 30 different companies positioning themselves in performance management. We have seen companies like Blue pumpkin, Siebel, NICE, Witness, and even SAP recently. The key is in the process integration as managing data and analytics is becoming the easier piece to do.
RealMarket: ROI justification has become paramount. How does Opus Group address this with prospective and current customers?
Callaghan: We provide a written guarantee to our customer to provide a tangible improvement. Our typical guarantee is a 3:1 return with 20-30% improvement in quality. Typically, our solution is delivered in 24 weeks. Having said that, over last 18 months we have consistently exceeded those targets by 25%.
| The next generation of solutions will be like those black box solutions that were hyped years ago. |
RealMarket:Outsourcing became a very hot issue during the economic downturn. Now that it looks like the economy is recovering somewhat will outsourcing grow faster, slower or the same?
Callaghan: We see it making sense for the back office going off shore rather than the customer-facing functions. Some of the repatriation stories of late from Dell and others indicate outsourcing is tougher than expected. The contact center is not the function to outsource off shore as it is the one differentiating point for companies today. Consequently, we’re now seeing a more thoughtful look at that.
RealMarket: Voice over IP (VoIP) is another hot topic. How do you see the merging of voice and data onto one network affecting the market?
Callaghan: First, just because it is the latest and greatest technology doesn’t mean it is right for everyone. VoIP will revolutionize the industry but it’s just not right for everyone. Companies should make sure it is consistent with their delivery model and the way they want to differentiate themselves in the market.
RealMarket: Looking to the future, what is the biggest change you see on the contact center horizon?
Callaghan: I mentioned this earlier, but the big change is the massive expansion of the traditional definition of a contact center. All of the channels – email, telephone, fax, transaction processing systems and work types are coming together as internal and external customers seek a seamless experience. The next generation of solutions will be like those black box solutions that were hyped years ago. Service centers, whether front or back office, will have access to integrated data that will allow the same set of performance metrics to drive decision-making and results across the enterprise. The departmental and work silos will be broken down and only then will companies achieve the ROI on their investments in people and technology that have been elusive over the last several years.
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