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March 2010 | Volume 28 / Number 10
Customer Interaction News

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News Briefs


Activa Live (www.activalive.com) has a new language-localized version of Activa Live Chat. Activa Live Chat’s operator console is the reportedly the first and only application of its kind to be available in English and Spanish. The customer-facing portion of the service is now fully localized in 11 languages including English, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Customers can switch the language of their individual live chat deployments with a quick and easy settings change.


Altitude Software (www.altitude.com) has come out with a virtual checkup solution, Altitude Health Monitor. It helps keep contact centers’ infrastructure running by providing real time and historical data on system performance over web interfaces and through e-mail and SMS notifications. Altitude Health Monitor’s value resides on specific Altitude uCI, Altitude vBox and contact center infrastructure metrics such as database performance, storage occupancy, the number of agents logged, trunk status and configuration changes.


EQAOfficeCubicles.com (http://eqaofficecubicles.com) has introduced a new Segment Call Center Cubicle which the company claims is the most indestructible contact center cubicle on the market. The cubicles are constructed with metal and wood laminate; they are scratch-, dirt- and graffiti-resistant. The surfaces are easier to disinfect, which prevents the spread of germs. The cubicles are backed up with a five-year warranty. They are available in a range of colors and textures, can be designed to fit any space: sizes and wall heights are completely configurable for any floor plan and equipped with standards-compliant voice, data and power cabling systems.


PhoneFactor (www.phonefactor.com) now provides readerless biometric verification for its phone-based authentication
platform via customers’ or employees’ (such as home agents’) voices. Their voiceprints are verified during PhoneFactor authentication calls. Users receive calls when logging in. They answer and speak their passphrases to complete the process. PhoneFactor’s voice mapping model uses multiple voiceprint algorithms to ensure that authorized users can be verified regardless of factors such as excess noise or minor voice variations. The authentication a third factor verification, the others being the calls and passphrases.

PRC (www.prcnet.com) has launched PRC Social Media Solutions to help firms tap into this channel. It is made up of three components: listening, measuring and engaging. The listening component involves monitoring
conversations on social networking Web sites. In the measuring phase, PRC uses an analytics tool to track mentions of a client’s brand across all social media sites. PRC engages with its clients’ customers to address individual
service issues, troubleshoot and resolve problems and thank customers for their feedback. PRC Social Media Solutions can be integrated with its inbound/outbound teleservices, e-mail, chat and other service offerings.


Toshiba (www.telecom.toshiba.com) has introduced the Strata Call Manager, its new unified communications solution. The Strata Call Manager’s features and capabilities include Presence Viewer, instant messaging/chat, desktop call control from PCs and customized call handling. There is outbound dialing from any application and CRM integration with screen pops.


VirtualLogger (www.virtuallogger.com) has upgraded its recording systems, policies and procedures and has certified
to be compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS 1.2) certification. VirtualLogger
passed two separate ASV vulnerability scans from two independent scanning companies, rather than the usual single vendor and engaged a Qualified Security Assessor in completing its SAQ_D.


Nexidia (News - Alert) (www.nexidia.com) and Merced Systems (www.mercedsoftware.com) have partnered to provide integrated agent performance solutions. Conjoined Nexidia’s Enterprise Speech Intelligence speech analytics and Merced Performance Suite and Merced Incentive Compensation Management performance applications will help mutual customers to more accurately identify the root cause of performance issues. Contact centers can then quickly roll out targeted improvement campaigns based on accurate “voice of the customer” analysis. With direct access to individual agent calls, operations can link specific call recordings to performance improvement opportunities.

ATA Revs Up Compliance, Legislation Education, Awareness

For contact centers complying with the expanding multitude of federal and state telemarketing and labor regulations can be a headache. So can finding out about, tracking and making one’s voice heard on pending legislation and regulations changes that will affect their operations, costs and business.


The American Teleservices Association (ATA) (www.ataconnect.org) has rolled out plans to educate and train its members
on compliance and to make them aware on legislation/regulatory issues. It is also seeking their financial support to lobby lawmakers and help elect those that support the teleservices industry.

This year the ATA has expanded its ATA Compliance Education Series to include both regulatory compliance with federal and state laws and legal issues regarding employee relations. They are being held in the following cities in 2010 on these dates:

  • Orlando, Fla. - March 16
  • Dallas, Texas - March 23
  • Philadelphia, Pa. - June 22
  • Chicago, Ill. - July 20
  • Atlanta, Ga. – Nov. 9
  • Phoenix, Ariz. – Dec. 2

Attendees of the seminars, themed “Legally Speaking,” will hear from industry compliance experts including Attorney Mitch Roth of Williams Mullen and Attorney Chad Richter of Jackson Lewis. They will address timely issues impacting contact center operations such as: Do Not Call (DNC) and lead generation; managing existing business relationships, updates from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC (News - Alert)), recent compliance enforcement actions, industry self-regulation, compliance documentation and data privacy. Attendees will also be provided with information and updates on wage and hour enforcement; employee handbook content; unionization; social networking usage; immigration issues; and employee leave.

Corporate sponsors supporting this educational series are title sponsor Contact Center Compliance and supporting sponsors PossibleNow and Neustar. These companies have all demonstrated a long-term commitment, says the ATA, to the association’s educational efforts in the area of compliance.

“The topics for our 2010 seminars will build on the successful events we’ve provided for the past five years to deliver the knowledge and awareness necessary for professionals to properly operate based on best practices supported by the ATA,” says Tim Searcy, CEO of the ATA.

The ATA will also be presenting updates on legislation and regulations at the ATA Washington Summit that is taking place April 25 to April 28 in Washington, D.C. David Vladek, director of the bureau of consumer protection, Federal Trade Commission, is expected to give the keynote address. There will be sessions on self-regulation, the law in the contact center, legislating social media, and worldwide regulatory trends plus a 2010 preview on legislative and regulatory issues. Attendees will also have a chance to be heard at the Capitol Hill Legislators Reception. There will be a Knowing How to Lobby Breakfast and legislative visits by appointment only.

To support the ATA’s efforts the 2010 ATA Washington Summit will have a fundraiser with live entertainment for the ATA Political Action Committee (ATA-PAC). ATA-PAC’s mission is to educate, motivate and mobilize contact center and teleservices employees on political and legislative matters. ATA-PAC contributes to candidates with a pro-business philosophy, who are sensitive to the interests of industry, who have constituent relationships and with legislative committee assignments and leadership positions.

Observers say the ATA Washington Summit’s agenda and ATA-PAC fundraiser is especially timely in the run-up to this fall’s elections where the outcomes of key congressional and senate raises could shift and shape the federal agenda on business issues. In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Barack Obama appeared to have signaled that he is no longer “playing nice” with the Republican “opposition” and said he intends to make a de facto full-court press on matters such as healthcare reform.


Contact centers employ some 5.2 million Americans, or 4 percent of the workforce, says the ATA-PAC. With unemployment rates edging on and in too many communities over 10 percent, maintaining and growing contact center employment is critical. The underlying message is this: Don’t unfairly restrict the teleservices industry so that it can continue to employ Americans.

“The ATA Washington Summit is the contact center industry’s only conference that offers complete insight into both operations and legislative issues that have a real impact on decision-making and outcomes throughout your business,” says the association





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