Spy software vendor takes lead in growing market

Consultancy Frost & Sullivan has named spy software developer Verint Systems as the number one vendor of call-monitoring analytic software in Australia.

Frost & Sullivan, in its latest Asia-Pacific Interaction Customer Relationship Management Market report, said US-based Verint - which uses partners such as Dimension Data and Datacraft NZ - had penetrated to 30.9 percent of the Australian market in 2002.

The consultancy also suggested that communications interception, digital video security and surveillance and business intelligence vendors such as Verint could be well placed to do even better as the market was expected to expand.

"CRM analytics is expected to be a high growth area for vendors ... from 2003. Analytical tools are expected to play an important role in the development of multi-channel contact centres," Frost & Sullivan said.

"Analytical reporting integrated across systems such as call monitoring and workforce management is becoming important in the contact centre."

Ady Meretz, vice-president of Verint Asia-Pacific, said its Australian team's "depth and dedication" had met the needs of customers.

The company's IntelliFind and IntelliMiner applications, in particular, were providing data that Australian businesses hoped would assist contact centre expansion.

Verint has recently signed two new Australasian contracts.

"One of Australia's 'big four' banking institutions and a major New Zealand government agency have selected Verint's ULTRA Intelligent Recording solution to enable actionable intelligence across their call centre operations," the company said.

Rob Allman, national business manager of customer interactive offerings at system integrator Dimension Data, which deployed the application for the Australian bank, said the intelligent recording market had grown strongly.

The Verint products helped clients meet regulatory requirements and "improve customer experience" of contact centres, Allman said.