About half of Japanese consumers prefer email and the Internet to telephones when contacting companies. A recent research commissioned by communications software provider Avaya and conducted by a research company callcentres.net, Avaya Contact Centre Consumer Index Japan 2007, concluded there is a growing preference for Japanese consumers to interact with companies via the internet and self-service channels, rather than utilizing telephones.
This new direction is strongly driven by Generation X consumers who have a higher preference for interacting with companies using technologies, than Generation Y, Baby Boomers or Silent Generations.* The research was conducted online in seven countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan (Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, China, and Korea) with 300 people in each country who use call centers. The research shows the difference in gender as well.
The results of the research will enable Avaya to better meet the needs of potential and existing customers and provide strategic insights on how communications technologies can enhance the customer experience. It confirm that demand for multi-channel contact centers that respond to customer inquiries made using a variety of media, including voice, e-mail and chat, is growing across all generations. The results also indicate that companies can enhance customer satisfaction with contact centers by using database routing to connect customers to a contact center agent according to their preferences.
According to the research, about half or 48% of the research respondents in Japan replied: “I prefer to use email or the Internet to using a telephone.” This turned out to be a common trend amongst the Generation Y (47.5%) Generation X (53.85%) and the baby boomers (44.23%)
The research also revealed that preferences for gender and age in call center agents varied by gender. 51% of females preferred agents that were older than they were regardless of the agents’ gender, while 36% of male preferred female agents who were younger than them.
According to the research, 45% of Japanese would be happy to use self-service technology, such as touch tone system or speech recognition system for “basic” queries (e.g. checking account balances, checking on cinema times or checking trial timetables). This result shows that increasing number of Japanese is comfortable with using self-service technology when contacting companies. However, the number decline to 19.7% for “somewhat complex” queries (e.g. trading stocks, booking flights, paying bills) and 11% for very complex queries (e.g. opening a new bank account, applying for loans, credit cards) .To offer better response and improve positive experiences, businesses need to sort call reason accurately to rout the basic queries to self service technology and rout the complex queries to the agents.
Avaya offers contact center applications that cater to diversifying consumer needs and provide support for the enhancement of customer satisfaction.
Solutions combining multi-channel contact centers with database routing
Avaya provides Avaya Interaction Center, a multi-channel software application that allows centralized management of contacts made over a variety of different channels including telephone, e-mail and Web chat. Avaya Interaction Center is able to uniquely recognize the customer whichever method of access is used and process the inquiry using a single agent application. Used in conjunction with a database, it also offers database routing that connects the customer to a specific agent according to the number from which they are calling, their e-mail address, Web log-in ID, etc.
Self service solution to increase customer satisfaction with contact centers
Avaya offer the latest in IVR solutions, Avaya Voice Portal, a SIP-capable automatic voice-activated solution that allows the construction of voice portal environments (websites that allow users to search for information using voice-based access). Avaya Voice Portal allows users in an environment without a PC to use their phone to look up information on a website by voice command. For example, the Voice Portal can be used for stock price search service. It allows companies to differentiate their services from those of other companies while utilizing their existing investment in websites.
Research outline:
Research title: Avaya Contact Centre Consumer Index Japan 2007
Research period: October 1 to 31, 2007
Method: Online research through Callcentres.net
Research subjects:300 males and females residing in Japan between the ages of 16 and 82 who used call centers
*Definitions of Generations:
Generation Y = born 1977-1991 (16-30 years old)
Generation X = born 1962-1976 (31-45 years old)
Baby Boomers = born 1946-1961 (46-61 years old)
Silent Generation = born 1925-1945 (62-82 years old)
(also known as True Believers)
Further details on the research are available on request.
About Avaya
Avaya delivers Intelligent Communications solutions that help companies transform their businesses to achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1 million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®, use Avaya solutions for IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Centers and Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global Services provides comprehensive service and support for companies, small to large. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com.
About callcentres.net
Established in 1999 and based in Sydney with a regional office in Singapore, callcentres.net is the central portal for the Asia Pacific contact centre industry providing research, benchmarking studies and up-to-date news and information. is recognized as the leading Analyst organization for the Asia Pacific contact centre industry. www.callcentres.net
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