Call Centre/CRM 2005 Conference and Exhibition sees the region's rapidly developing call centre community

According to show organizers INSIGHTS, the almost 50 percent growth in the size of the show for this year parallels the rate at which the call centre market is growing in the region.

INSIGHTS President, Dominick Keenaghan, explained "The MECC show has established itself as the leading annual forum for call centre professionals in the region. Not only do we showcase the latest technologies, techniques and solutions providers in this space but we devote considerable effort to developing differentiated strategies that are appropriate for the Middle East call centre market and the consequent
operational best practices that such approaches engender. The fact that many of our delegates are repeat visitors from previous shows clearly
reinforces the beneficial value of the learning experience that the MECC shows focus on delivering."

"We are delighted this year to have Avaya as the premium sponsor of the MECC 2005 event. According to many sources, Avaya holds a world leadership position in areas such as IP Telephony and Call Centres. This clear leadership position also applies in the Middle East, as confirmed by INSIGHTS own independent research. With the market expanding as it is at present, Avaya is determined to leverage its experience in the field to date to help new sites get started, and reach their full potential. An exiting new, multi-media contact centre solution for the region is to be launched by Avaya at MECC 2005."

The MECC 2005 show will also highlight the expanding versatility of the call centre to help deliver the benefits of many current corporate
initiatives such as integrated voice/data networks, improved customer interactions and the use of automated self service options. On these
fronts INSIGHTS announced 3 theme sponsors for the show this year. They are Concerto Software Inc, with "Customer Interaction Management" as its theme, Intervoice with "Speech Recognition", and Cisco Systems with "IP-enabled Call Centres". For Concerto Software, making their MECC show debut, the emphasis is on helping companies better manage customer interactions via voice, email, fax and the web. Intervoice, a global market leader for converged voice and data solutions, will use MECC 2005 to emphasize their ability to deliver speech-activated interactive voice response and network applications, and multimedia voice portals.

Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, will be explaining the benefits of their fully IP-enabled contact centre solution and why many of the region's organisations are now choosing to go down this route.

Emphasizing the scope and sophistication of call centre-based activity and the corporate value proposition it represents, the MECC 2005 exhibition, which is FREE to attend for the general public, will host a wide range of
state-of-the-art products and services from the regions top solutions providers and systems integrators. These include customer care, help desk and performance management applications, call and contact centre technologies, eCRM solutions, e-commerce innovations and computer telephony and traditional enterprise telecom equipment.

At the MECC 2005 Exhibition, leading service provider, Etisalat Contact Centre, will be showcasing a smorgasbord of outsourcing options ranging from contact handling, automated call handling, SMS solutions, telemarketing campaigns and market research to business analysis, call
centre design, recruitment and managed facilities. Joining them in the outsourcing space are BUZZ Contact Centre, renowned for the quality of their customer interactions and perennial MECC participant, Cupola Teleservices, highlighting their new initiatives in their ever expanding portfolio of outsourcing services.

The show will also see the debut of Saudi Directline, a Saudi-based outsourcing company that has recently concluded deals to foster the employment of women in the call centre sector
in KSA.

Traditional telecom suppliers such as Future Technology and Scientechnic will be emphasizing their new call centre product offerings and the
comprehensive range of supporting services they can offer to ease call centre design and implementation processes and visitors interested in catching up with the latest developments in Arabic Speech Recognition can participate in some live demos on the stands of vendors such as Intervoice, Speakatel and Globitel. Workforce optimization is also turning out to be a key area of focus for regional call centres and at MECC 2005, visitors can examine the latest offerings in this specialization from the likes of Vox Specturm, Contact Centre Resources, Globitel and Rashed Al Makhawi.

Altitude Software, another perennial MECC exhibitor, will be demonstrating why they have had so much regional success with their "Unified Customer Interaction" suite and how it offers full blended support for voce (inbound and outbound), IVR, email, web collaboration and chat. A wide range of other services providers offering e-commerce solutions, market research and IP PBX products may also be viewed at stands such as Cyber Gear, Madar Research and Pan Cyber.

The MECC 2005 Exhibition opens Sunday January 16th at 10.00 am and is open until 6.00 pm, repeated on January 17.