The contact center applications market is dynamic in the consistent changes that it produces nearly on a daily basis. The same is true when examining the global aspect of the industry. Many regions are showing strong growth in response to changes in demand for companies in the United States and the UK.

According to a study by international tech consultancy firm, IDC (News - Alert), the Argentina call and contact center applications market generated revenues of US$19 million in 2006. This figure represents an increase of 19 percent compared to 2005. In terms of units sold, the market saw a growth of 27 percent during 2006 compared to the previous year.

IDC also found that in the predictive dialing applications segment, the market expanded 33 percent in terms of units sold last year as compared to 2005. Such solutions are mainly implemented by companies in the financial segment, as well as large companies with a big client base.

At the same time, in the Web-enabled applications segment, which includes applications integrated to a Web portal, IDC has forecasted a compound growth rate of 49 percent for the next five years.

An IDC enterprise networks program manager was quoted as saying that this segment of the market will experience the highest growth in the coming years as it is closely linked to the broadband expansion in the country.

Those operating in the call and contact center markets understand the financial burden these centers assume with human resources. While employees are of course necessary, they are also the biggest financial liability for the center. IDC assumes that growth in 2006 was mainly due to the increasing number of call center positions in the country, which was helped by the competitive cost of human resources.

The IDC program manager went on to note that Argentina is interesting due to the maturity of the market and the low costs compared to other countries in the region. The country can take advantage of big growth opportunities in capturing offshore projects.

Argentina is also in a great position to appeal to U.S. and UK companies that are catering to the Latino markets and Spanish-speaking customers. The readily available by- and multi-lingual labor pool at a fraction of the cost of domestic options makes for an attractive location for offshoring or outsourcing call and contact center operations.

The U.S. and UK expect to see its Spanish-speaking segment efforts increase as this market is expected to grow. Such an outlook on the market will fair well for Argentina and other Spanish-speaking countries as they can provide exactly what these companies are seeking and at significantly lower costs, helping to drive growth.