This IDC study provides IDC's forecast for the worldwide outsourced customer care services market for 2012–2016. This study highlights key assumptions and drivers that are creating changes and driving growth in this market. IDC expects that at a worldwide level, the outsourced customer care services market will grow at a five-year CAGR of 5.7%, reaching $73.0 billion in 2016.

"IDC expects that the worldwide customer care services market, aka contact center services, will experience important changes as a result of the different ways companies and consumers are now communicating with one another. The traditional view of a customer care outsourcer is moving from a largely agent- and voice-based service to a strategic, multichannel, and sometimes transformational service," said Melissa O'Brien, research analyst, Contact Center Services at IDC. "Newer delivery models such as hosted contact center services and home-based agents are addressing some of these changes with a flexible and geographically agnostic value proposition, among other elements such as cost effectiveness. As these trends evolve, the ecosystem of providers is shifting along with it, allowing for more options and a broader landscape of providers for customers to choose from. The changing interactions and evolving ecosystem are poised to change the traditional customer care provider's value proposition to one of a more strategic partner and to shake up the provider landscape."