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Report: IVR Market to Reach $514 million by 2013, Driven by Growth in VXML Technology

By Patrick Barnard, Senior Web Editor, TMCnet

Market research firm T3i Group recently released a report predicting that the global interactive voice response (IVR) market will grow to $514 million by 2013, up from an estimated $431 million this year, due in part to the growth in voice XML (VXML) technology.

The firm's "InfoTrack for Converged Applications 2008 IVR Market Report" forecasts that 95 percent of IVR ports shipped in 2013 will support VXML, compared with less than 75 percent today. VXML enables Web sites to offer the same text-based applications, such as order entry, with speech recognition.

As is to be expected, the top three types of IVR applications are incoming call handling (i.e. routing) for contact centers; inbound self-service transactions; and outbound calling, such as appointment confirmations, collections reminders and repair notifications, in that order.

But as vendors and enterprises integrate IVR into more comprehensive customer-care solutions, the number of ports shipped specifically for inbound calls will decrease about 10 percent each year to 2013.

So where will the growth in the IVR market come from? According to the report, port growth will be driven by outbound applications at a rate of almost 12 percent annually through 2013.

DTMF-only IVR systems are slowly being phased out, the report finds. It predicts that speech-enabled (or hybrid DTMF/speech-enabled) systems will outnumber DTMF-only (i.e. touchtone only) by almost 2 to 1 by 2013. IP/SIP port shipments will continue to grow -- by 2013, only 10 percent of all IVR ports shipped will be TDM, compared with 42 percent today.

"The market for IVR is gaining new life due to a resurgence of self-service applications; the power of VXML to link Web applications to voice; and increasingly sophisticated outbound applications, including video on cellphones," explained Ken Dolsky, program director for T3i Group's InfoTrack for converged applications program, in a release. "Every vertical segment has some unique opportunities, and vendors are providing both solutions and guidance as to how IVR can improve the total customer experience with customer-pleasing applications to replace the stereotypical perception of IVR as only an endless loop menu."

According to the report, global IVR shipments from the top 11 vendors exceeded 625,000 ports in 2008. North America led all regions but with considerably less than 50 percent of the market, followed by the Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions, respectively.

In June market research firm DMG Consulting released a report predicting that the IVR solutions market will see a CAGR of 13.4 percent for the hosted/managed inbound IVR sector and 18.7 percent for the outbound IVR segment over the next four years.

Patrick Barnard is a contributing writer for TMCnet. To read more of Patrick's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Media inquiries: Ernie Cote, Contact Solutions, 703-581-6315

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