Smarter Than the Average Manager

On the first of February we posted a link to our first readership survey in the In Queue newsletter.  The purpose of the survey was to quickly gauge the attitude of contact center professionals regarding economic conditions and to measure at a very high level how those attitudes might affect the industry as a whole in 2008.  The survey was designed to be completed in well under five minutes while still providing what we thought would be interesting information for the readership.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the participation rate.  There are about 35,000 subscribers to the In Queue newsletter but we received only 96 completed surveys.  Perhaps people are just tired of surveys, but this wasn't one of those surveys where you get a dollar bill in an envelope and never see the results of your input.  It wasn't one of those surveys where sales reps start calling you based on your survey response.  This was a survey intended to be of direct benefit to the participants since I intend to report the results over time in either this blog or in future issues of In Queue.

So, to those of you who carved out the 3.5 minutes it took to complete this survey, thank you.  Although there are only 96 of you out there, I have to believe you represent the cream of the crop in terms of contact center professionals.  This belief was confirmed by an article I read in the February 12th issue of the Financial Times newspaper.  In the article, business leaders from around the world were asked for their opinion about how the American economy as well as the global economic picture would affect their businesses in 2008.  Their answers tracked surprisingly close to the answers provided by the respondents to our survey.  If it's any consolation, those of you who responded to the survey appear to have a great deal in common with high-profile business leaders from major corporations across the globe.

Here is some of the detail behind our first survey results.  Respondents to the survey were nearly all in management although at different levels.  The breakout is as follows:

• Analyst           7.8%
• Manager       36.7%
• Director        27.8%
• Executive     27.8%

The respondents came from companies in the following industries:

• Financial Services   18.6%
• Retail                     33.9%
• Insurance                 6.8%
• Health Care            16.9%
• Outsourcer             28.8%
• Other                       5.0%

The respondents were asked how they saw the 2008 U.S. economy affecting their business and their answers were as follows:

• Very Positive               3.2%
• Somewhat Positive     11.7%
• No Effect                   20.2%
• Somewhat Negative    55.3%
• Very Negative              9.6%

If you compare these answers to the breakout of industries from which the respondents came, it makes a lot of sense.  The sub-prime mortgage crisis in the U.S. will undoubtedly have its most devestating initial effect on the financial services industry as well as the housing/building industry, which wasn't specifically tracked in this survey.  The trickle down will also affect the retail industry as we are already beginning to see.  With 52.5 percent of respondents coming from the financial services and retail industries, and 55.3 percent of respondents expecting the 2008 economy to have a somewhat negative impact on their business, this makes a lot of sense.

This is also surprisingly close to how global business leaders in these industries expected the economy to impact their business according to the Financial Times.  What's that saying about great minds thinking alike?

I think those expecting the economy to have little or no impact on their business are probably in such recession-resistant industries as health care, which probably spills over into the outsourcer category as well.  No matter how bad things get economically, it's likely that when people get sick they will still seek medical attention.

Although the majority of respondents believe that their businesses will be impacted somewhat or very negatively by economic conditions, I thought it was interesting to compare that fact with the percentage of respondents who still intend to evaluate new technology in 2008.  Despite expectations of difficulties ahead there is still quite a strong feeling of optimism among the respondents.  Again this tracked well with global business leaders.

I'm going to save my report on the respondents purchase intentions for the next posting.  In the meantime, how do the survey results compare to your own expectations of how the economy will affect your business this year?  As always, your comments are welcome.  Just click on the link below.

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