IDA Ireland Launches new report on Customer Experience Sector in Ireland
– Automation and “Chatbots” to transform contact centre industry in Ireland employing 56,000
– 5,000 jobs likely to be affected in the next five years
– Ireland well positioned to take advantage of ongoing changes in Customer Experience Industry
IDA Ireland has launched a new report detailing the extent to which 5,000 jobs in the Customer Experience (Cx) sector in Ireland will be affected by technological and generational forces over the coming years.
The document sets out a vision for Irish operators in the Cx sector that urges them to remain competitive by focussing on the three models for Cx evolution; technology adoption, people change and services transformation.
The roadmap, developed with industry partners in the Customer Contact Management Association and Enterprise Ireland, sets out a course for Ireland’s Cx sector amid huge leaps in artificial intelligence and automation in recent years.
Increased data centralisation and winning customer trust, as well as natural language processing are also affecting an industry which Ireland has been to the forefront of over the last 30 years.
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD (Pictured 3rd From Left) said:
“Customer experience is a large and important employer in regions throughout Ireland. I welcome the publication of this report and urge the industry to continue to come together to plan for the changes that are already affecting this industry and map out how Ireland can sharpen its edge in this area.”
Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland (Pictured 4th From Left) said:
“Change is the only constant – this is particularly the case in the world of business where companies either innovate, or they get overtaken.
This is relevant for the Cx industry in Ireland, where forces of change in the coming years will mean that the industry will evolve rapidly as customer expectations increase.”
“IDA Ireland is pleased to publish this study and report in conjunction with our client companies and industry partners. Ireland has been the leading location for the establishment and expansion of Cx activities and we are confident that this strategic vision, development path and suite of IDA supports will serve as a valuable guide to support our clients on their evolutionary journey.”
Dorothy O’Byrne, Managing Director of Customer Contact Management Association (CCMA) (Pictuted 2nd From Right) said:
“Cx has entered a digital age where organisations are driven to adjust how they interact and engage with their customers. Digital disruption continues to transform the role of customer contact centres, impacting on skills and technology required for employees to perform. It is therefore essential for contact centres to actively exploit these opportunities, move up the value chain and provide superior customer experience whilst driving business objectives.”
Additional Information
Additional InformationThis report looks at the impact of technology on Cx roles with 5,000 jobs likely to be affected in the next five years. This figure is based on the 2017 ContactBabel Study on the impact of automation on the UK Cx market (the most comparable to Ireland) which forecasts that the UK industry will lose 1.8% of roles per annum because of automation. Based on the 56,000 currently employed in Cx in Ireland, this is 5-6,000 roles over a 5-year period.
A copy of the report, which contains case studies from leading players in the Cx industry in Ireland including Virgin Media Ireland, Cartrawler, VoxPro, AIB and Workhuman is available by Clicking Here
