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Seventh Annual CRM Excellence Awards,
Part I


 

For the seventh consecutive year, the editors of Customer Inter@ction Solutions dared readers to prove that their companies have what it takes to win the coveted CRM Excellence Award. Below is Part One of the winners list — the companies that offer the best and the brightest customer relationship management products and services, all to the benefit of their clients. Winners were chosen on hard data: quantifiable results that convinced us, without a doubt, their clients were infinitely better off with these companies’ products and services than without.

Congratulations to the winners!

1 2 1 Direct Response
Various cable-based services, including video, high speed Internet and VoIP
http://www.121directresponse.com

(news - alert) The cable company that engaged 1 2 1 Direct Response’s services wanted to reduce service cancellations (churn), which tend to be high within the first 30 days of installation, whether for brand new service such as cable TV, or high-speed Internet installation (new or add-on to video). As a result of the program formulated by 1 2 1, initial customer churn (cancellation rate) was reduced by 10 percent. Furthermore, ongoing feedback from the program has led to new technician training programs, post-installation technician evaluation programs and new installation policies and procedures aimed at reacting to customer feedback provided by the program. Of those customers who accepted win-back offers made by 1 2 1 through their cable company’s local customer service, 51 percent signed and returned the agreement as a result of the total turnkey backoffice support 1 2 1 offers its client. The call-backs contributed to approximately 30 percent of that win-back rate. The results are expected to climb as this specialized group of saved customers goes through the entire cycle.

Alorica, Inc. Helix
by Alorica — Helix CRM 1.5
http://www.alorica.com

The client, (news - alert) which produces display monitors and peripherals, amusement products and imaging system software, recognized the need to increase efficiency and enhance quality in service solutions. Additionally, due to the extensive research and development program the client delivers to build superior products that are safe to use in even the most fragile medical environments, the company needed a solution to provide the industry’s best in service while maintaining a cost-effective model. The company turned to Alorica to enhance their customers’ experience by providing CRM excellence through service and technology. Helix CRM 1.5 was built to accommodate high-profile clients with very unique service needs. The application includes customized call-tracking features, call history analysis and customer profile data reporting, service request creation and lifecycle tracking, troubleshooting tools, and a specialized RMA feature that adapts to accommodate high-priority clientele. The client reports, “Because of the efficiency of the Helix CRM 1.5 software, we have significantly improved quality and efficiency for the customer. Alorica’s solution has lowered abandon rates and freed our staff, allowing the agents to focus on our more serious issues and go above and beyond with clients to improve quality.”

AMC Technology
AMC Multi-Channel Integration Suite
http://www.amctechnology.com

The client (news - alert) is an information services company that provides product, service and training solutions to automotive retailers and original equipment manufacturers. The company embarked on an initiative to increase customer satisfaction. The initiative included improving contact center capabilities for better support of one-to-one personalized customer relationships. To this end, the company decided to upgrade its telephone system to an Avaya DEFINITY G3, as well as to implement new software and system technologies from SAP, including mySAP CRM. The critical issue became how to effectively implement these new systems while maintaining the established agent-customer relationships. Working together as a team, Avaya, AMC and SAP identified the specific needs of the client’s contact center and addressed customer service requirements. The team then developed an implementation strategy that would enable the client to streamline its contact center operations and process incoming calls more efficiently. Post-implementation, the client reported improved contact center capabilities to support one-toone customer relationships; the implementation of tested, certified Avaya and SAP partner solutions; automatic lookup of business partner record in mySAP CRM; intelligent routing of incoming calls to designated agents; simultaneous delivery of call and call attached data to agents’ desktops; a single agent desktop for greater ease-of-use; and immediate costs savings with fewer toll-free numbers.

Amcat
Amcat Contact Center Suite
http://www.amcat.com

The client, (news - alert) a coin and bullion reserve company, required an inbound and outbound communications solutions for its call centers. Because of the nature of their business, the company required more than a contact center, as the lifeblood of their business depended on true customer communication. The client worked with Amcat to implement a customer history and profile information system within their inbound/outbound contact management system. Amcat Professional Services created new SQL tables and stored procedures along with new Webbased screens that would be displayed on the sales person’s Amcat Agent Contact desktop. The Web pages are dynamically generated and contain the customer history of previous purchases for the customer being contacted. The sales person can now view the customer’s previous purchases in seconds and prepare for the call in real time. The client reports that it is ecstatic about how the Amcat partnership has helped the company improve business processes that enhance business services and have a direct impact on revenue. The new system helps them capture and display customer and product information, streamline processes and analyze information to make decisions.

Amdocs
Amdocs CRM
http://www.amdocs.com

The client, (news - alert) a mobile operator in Moscow, was experiencing rapid growth — from 2 million in 2005 to 3.3 million subscribers in just over one year. The company required a system that was flexible to support all future subscriber and service growth, as well as a single system that could support the company’s entire customer-centric operation. The client implemented Amdocs CRM to solve their business issues. Amdocs CRM consolidates all client data into a single, unified platform and can be fully integrated with existing pre-paid and post-paid billing systems. With the installation, all customer service representatives have access to timely and up-to-date customer data, enabling them to respond quickly to customer requests and provide a high level of customer service in line with global standards. Following the installation of Amdocs CRM, the client experienced not only an increase in subscribers, but it also helped the provider achieve transparency across all operations. Call handling time decreased by 62 percent within a month of the system being introduced. Call resolution time decreased by 60 percent and response time to departmental problems, such as billing-related issues, credits, etc., improved by 80 percent.

Antenna Software
Antenna A3 Mobile Sales Intelligence
http://www.antennasoftware.com

The client, (news - alert) a provider of handheld communication and organization devices and accessory solutions, found that its sales force had tripled in size in order to take advantage of the smart phone sector growth. But with the growth, many challenges arose. The client’s sales organization managed multiple end-user customers, carrier constituencies, developers and solutions partners simultaneously. Said the client, “Long sales cycles are a thing of the past; we needed to be much more on top of our business, and understand from a forecasting perspective where we were.” The company chose Antenna A3 Mobile Sales Intelligence, a solution that provides real-time interaction with Siebel CRM OnDemand across any carrier network to the company’s devices. Antenna’s A3 MSI fully enabled the client’s sales force to get a deeper look into the sales pipeline and sales activities, and to have a tool for remote users who were out of the office. Sales reps can now pull data out of their CRM solution back into the mobile client at any time. As a result of the increased functionality, the client’s sales reps have increased effectiveness and efficiency in closing deals faster. “From a solutions perspective, from a solving business problems perspective, the new Antenna A3 Mobile Sales Intelligence solution helped sales teams identify the kinds of solutions being deployed at any given time and from almost anywhere,” said the client. “Because of the improved data capture, they now have a better understanding of what the solutions were that helped them solve business issues and to deploy more broadly.”

APAC Customer Services Inc.
Virtual Agent Service
http://www.apaccustomerservices.com

The client, (news - alert) a newspaper, had a stated mission to be the leader in providing news, information and marketing services to customers in their region. APAC and the client partnered specifically to improve upon the quality of the subscription management process and the impact on the subscriber base. The client also turned to APAC to help resolve subscriber billing issues; initiate vacation stops/starts/holds; manage and resolve delivery issues; resolve and dissuade complaints about the paper and manage any other service-related issues. By transitioning their subscriber care to APAC, the newspaper noted a 20 percent increase in call handling efficiency. APAC instituted a quality feedback program and rewrote the newspapers’ representative training to further enhance the subscriber experience. After the initial project was finished, APAC again came to the client with a new approach to virtual representative services that would help improve the processing capabilities of the client’s subscriber care by implementing its atHome Services capability. APAC’s atHome Services unit allowed the newspaper to meet higher levels of productivity and greater call handling efficiency. The home agent solution improved call handling efficiency by nearly eight percent; provided a disaster recovery solution; helped improve service levels; and reduced call abandonment by 20 percent.

Aplicor
Aplicor CRM
http://www.aplicor.com

The client, (news - alert) a financial services company, implemented Aplicor’s Web-based CRM system in 2005. The objectives of the implementation were to achieve a holistic (centralized and enterprisewide) view of the customer, increase customer satisfaction (and longevity), increase customer share and present a single face to the customer regardless of the person or location providing service. The client reported that for the first time, it retains a complete and real-time view of each customer relationship in a centralized system and for all staff regardless of line of business, location or time zone. The company’s users and management achieve real-time visibility to customer and prospect activities, sales pipeline maturation, salesperson effectiveness, customer evolution and customer support resolutions. All staff members are aware of all customer interactions from anywhere in the company, and each employee is speaking to the client with a consistent and informed voice.

Aspect Software
Aspect eWorkforce Management
http://www.aspect.com

Aspect (news - alert) eWorkforce Management enables businesses to accurately plan, efficiently manage and optimize the performance of multi-skilled, multichannel, multi-site and outsourced staffing resources. The client, an automotive credit company, is focused on improving the customer experience through customer service or collections interactions. The company determined it needed a solution that would enable them to optimize their agent resources, gain greater control over agent scheduling, cut costs and improve customer service levels. As a result of the implementation, the client has seen increased productivity and revenue, improved customer service and agent performance, reduced staffing and operations costs, increased profits and customer satisfaction, as well as rapid return on investment. Specifically, the company has seen an 80 percent reduction in the time contact center supervisors are spending creating and managing agent schedules. They have also enjoyed a 23 percent increase in service levels, based on the percentage of calls that are answered within 60 seconds. In addition, the client has been able to reduce the average speed of answer by 138 seconds in the customer care group and by 60 seconds in the customer accounts group.

Astute Solutions
ePowerCenter
http://www.astutesolutions.com

The client, (news - alert) an airline, had identified a host of service-related challenges which formed the basis of its global strategy to improve customer relations and service recovery. Astute Solutions and the client set an aggressive implementation schedule and deployed a team of professional services consultants and software engineers to roll out its ePowerCenter solution at the major sites within a nine-month timeframe. Ultimately, Astute helped the airline reduce its technology platform from 11 systems to one, creating an understanding of costs and control across global customer relations in the process; nonintegrated systems were replaced by a single application running against a single database that is now being used in over 20 countries; and Astute used leading- edge technology to cache agent content and pass only dynamic traffic over the network — ePowerCenter met the client’s 99.9 percent reliability contractual stipulation.

Before The Call
Before The Call
http://www.beforethecall.com

The client, (news - alert) which delivers personalized, multichannel automated information solutions to enterprises and network service providers, knew that its sales reps were not effectively using Salesforce.com in conjunction with the other sales tools at their disposal. They lacked a cohesive strategy for lead qualification, so reps were cherrypicking leads based on their own knowledge of the market. Lead management and processing was inconsistent, so too much time was being spent researching leads that turned out to be inappropriate, and not enough time was spent pursuing leads that were of potentially high value. After evaluating a number of sales intelligence solutions to address these issues, the client chose Before the Call because of the seamless integration of the Before the Call solution, mitigating the ramp-up time of the reps, bestknown data sources available without leaving Salesforce.com, and the ease of the configuration to meet their specific business needs. This resulted in immediate return on investment using Before the Call. Says the client, “It’s an amazing product that no sales organization should be without. Today’s world is about doing more with less, and Before the Call is a solution that allows my team to make the best use of their time and allows us to focus on those opportunities that will have the greatest impact on revenue.”

Centive
Centive Compel
http://www.centive.com

The client, (news - alert) a provider of storage, backup and recovery solutions, had sales compensation plans that were managed by two separate systems — a series of Excel spreadsheets and a commercial solution from a leading ERP vendor. Because both systems required so much support from time-constrained IT resources, plan changes and new plan setup were cumbersome and required advance planning. Administrators ran manual credit assignment processing in MS Access, followed by manual reporting and approval processes. After evaluating several vendors, the client concluded that Centive’s on-demand sales compensation management system, Compel, could meet all of their needs and was by far the best match across all criteria. Post-implementation, the client was impressed to find that configuring a compensation plan in Compel takes literally five minutes and requires no IT support or programming knowledge. The client realized significant improvements in process efficiency. As result of the automated, daily transaction feeds and real-time visibility, the reduced number of dispute incidents and time to setup and update compensation plans, in the first six months the client saved over 3,000 hours in inputting data; 390 hours in preparing, validating, running and publishing reports; 200 hours in commission dispute resolution; and 120 hours in configuring and updating compensation plans.

Chordiant Software, Inc.
Chordiant Decision Management (DM)
http://www.chordiant.com

Chordiant’s (news - alert) Decision Management helped a large wireless provider talk to its customers directly about what they wanted and needed. It had the effect of making the interaction very personable and manageable, with all the information needed in one place. The client has seen its response rate of less than two percent increase to over 50 percent with inbound micro DM combined, with an impressive sales conversion rate of 56 percent; for certain products, the rates were even higher, and a single-day conversion rate peak at 64.1 percent. Return on investment (ROI) was projected at 2,500 percent, based on current results. Closed-loop reporting also indicated three percent average revenue per user (ARPU) uplift, not including customer retention benefits and customer experience measures. The wireless provider has also abandoned its average handling time (AHT) measures in the call center, focusing on quality over quantity. The prediction process now takes one-seventh of the time it used to.

Citrix Systems
Citrix GoToAssist 7
http://www.citrix.com

The client, (news - alert) a business services firm, discovered Citrix GoToAssist to provide real-time remote support to clients each day. With proprietary screen-sharing technology and best practices support tools, consultants securely share a client’s server or desktop just as if the consultants were actually on-site. A consultant can assist clients immediately by working from home using Citrix GoToAssist. “For issues that were previously handled over the phone, we have cut the resolution time by as much as 75 percent,” said the client. With a typical round trip to a client averaging two hours, travel costs added up rapidly. “Because we charge clients for travel time and mileage, using Citrix GoToAssist saves them [consultants] money,” the client said. Issues that previously required hours of travel can now be resolved in minutes. With consultants traveling less, the company can spend more time on higher-value consulting services.

ClientLogic
ClientLogic Customer Care Solutions
http://www.clientlogic.com

The client, (news - alert) a provider of cable TV, high-speed Internet and telephone services, chose ClientLogic for its reputation of helping clients reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction as well as working with clients to determine the best strategies to help them continue to be successful. Since the successful initial program was instituted, the client is constantly updating products and introducing new services to keep pace with the industry. The client company reports that ClientLogic has been very successful in keeping abreast of all changes in order to best serve customers. Since the client’s business continued to grow, more calls were transitioned to ClientLogic, leading to the outsourcer handling 50 percent of the client’s total calls. Since partnering with ClientLogic, monthly customer surveys have consistently shown 90 to 92 percent customer satisfaction.

Cross Country Automotive Services
24-Hour Roadside Assistance
http://www.crosscountry-auto.com

The client, (news - alert) a large automotive retail and service organization, manufactures multiple vehicle brands, directs operations in over 30 countries and sells its products in 200 countries. To support its mission, the client provides round-the-clock roadside assistance services 24 hours a day, 365 days per year to their customers. A partner was needed that could rescue the customer in the event of a vehicle breakdown, and through flawless execution of service delivery, turn that negative event into a positive, brand-building experience. The success of the program was measured through customer surveys. On a monthly basis, approximately 9.8 percent of customers serviced through the program opt to participate in the survey. The average weekly top box satisfaction score for customers that utilize the roadside assistance program is 87 percent for the last 52 weeks. The top two boxes overall satisfaction score has an average of 94 percent for the last 52 weeks. On average, the top box and top two box satisfaction scores for customers who were serviced by mobile dealership personnel increased five additional percentage points. As a result of CCAS’s service, more than two out of every three customers who experienced a vehicle breakdown during their warranty period indicated they would return to the brand to purchase their next vehicle.

Customer Direct
Inbound Customer Care For The HSIA Industry
http://www.customerdirect.com

Together, Customer Direct (news - alert) and the client, a large provider of HSIA (high-speed Internet access) technology to the hospitality industry, began to lay the groundwork for a holistic guest support process, with a clear program purpose: “Building guest loyalty for hoteliers.” Since launching in early 2005, the program has grown to support in excess of 100,000 hotel rooms; from Hong Kong to Great Britain, and from exclusive five-star mega-properties to roadside inns. Each month, the guest program cares for tens of thousands of hotel guests and their need to stay connected with their office, home, e-mail, and lives. In excess of 90 percent of calls are resolved on a first-call basis, and over 99 percent of trouble tickets are recorded as “happy” or “very happy” in regards to guest mood. The tremendous growth of 2005 is expected to double in 2006, and is a testament to a process for guest satisfaction that works.

Echopass
Echopass Contact Center On-Demand
http://www.echopass.com

Almost immediately, Echopass (news - alert) Contact Center On Demand produced the efficiency the client, a hotel group, was looking for. “We quickly reached the 50 to 60 percentile range for conversion of calls to bookings — that’s unusually strong for the hospitality industry,” reported the client. In addition to meeting desired call center standards for transactions per hour, calls handled per hour and average call answer times, the client also noted that Echopass Contact Center On Demand’s ad hoc reporting features help keep their business’s quality assurance efforts on track. Department supervisors can easily monitor both overall system and individual agent performance, ensuring consistently high service levels and pinpointing problem areas should they arise.

eGain
eGain Service 7
http://www.egain.com

(news - alert) To remain on the competitive edge, the client, the IT branch of a large multinational financial services/ mortgage company, had to find a way to offer value-added services to financial products that have become near commodities. The management team recognized they had to expand their institution’s service capabilities and improve ease of use and efficiency without increasing expense. Their goal was to create a multichannel customer interaction hub that would allow them to offer customers new interaction options such as self-service, chat and e-mail. It would have to work within the existing IT environment, enable agents to handle multiple service channels easily, and give clients the option of quickly and securely accessing information and services on their own over the Internet. By deploying relevant components of the eGain solution, the client reports that it has set new customer service standards in the financial services industry and now offers electronic banking services such as cash management to a range of customers. Following deployment, the customer base has continued to expand, while the number of customer service agents has remained constant. The Chicago-based customer service team has exceeded performance goals in virtually every area of activity, including response times and customer inquiries handled per agent.

Empirix
Empirix Service Assurance for Siebel
http://www.empirix.com

(news - alert) Recently, a well-known bank decided to upgrade its customized Siebel Call Center application — a critical enabler for quality customer interactions. Based on their past experience with upgrades, pre-deployment testing quickly became a top priority. The financial services company had experienced challenges with a previous upgrade of their CRM application. At that time, its strategy had been to focus most of its testing efforts on the agent desktop (CRM application). In addition, some of the telephony components were manually tested in isolation. Empirix developed a comprehensive test plan that was to generate production levels of inbound caller and agent desktop traffic. The result of the test was a detailed data set on system performance and a report that highlighted opportunities to tune the application for even better performance. In this case, the testing verified that performance was excellent and that the system would in fact support the financial services company’s expected call volumes. As a result, they could deploy with confidence, and the client’s Siebel Call Center upgrade was flawless. In fact, the company reported that, “It was the smoothest rollout we’ve ever had.”

Envox Worldwide
Envox CT Connect
http://www.envox.com

The client, (news - alert) a utility company serving over two million customers, needed their agents to be more productive in order to handle their high volume of calls. To solve the problem, the utility chose Envox CT Connect to implement an agent screen pop solution. It captured the automatic number identification (ANI) from their Avaya Definity G3R PBX and used it to look up customer information in their CRM database. As the agents received the calls, they were also provided with the customer’s account profile and recent history, including any interactions with IVR self-service applications. Because Envox CT Connect provides an open, standards-based method for communicating with their Avaya PBX, the company has been able protect its development work as it provides compatibility with over 30 different traditional and IP-PBX models. The agent screen pop solution has made a positive impact on the utility’s service organization. It allows agents to begin resolving issues immediately, without wasting time asking for account information. Because they have access to history information, agents are better equipped to understand what has happened with the account and how best to provide assistance. The screen pop application has reduced average call time by 15 to 20 seconds. This not only represents a significant cost savings, but also has enabled the company to handle higher call volumes without increasing staff.

Epicor Software Corp.
Epicor CRM
http://www.epicor.com

The client, (news - alert) a software company, reports that now, whenever a support or sales representative talks to a customer, the agent can easily access notes on the customer’s account, complete call history as well as training information. The client’s customers appreciate the fact they don’t have to spend time repeating themselves or bringing somebody new up-to-speed on an issue every time they call. The client also installed Epicor CRM Conductor, a companion product to Epicor CRM that is used to automate workflow processes based on userdefined criteria. The client set up Conductor to notify key individuals and team leaders whenever a call has been in the call queue for 60 minutes, or when a call remained unresolved for seven days. With Epicor CRM Conductor, call activity improved almost immediately. The client also automated its training setup process, including class registration and confirmation, confirmation, and also helps manage the company’s custom programming projects. Through these automated reminders managed through Epicor CRM, the client is seeing a faster response from customers who are sent quotes for custom programming projects.

etalk
Qfiniti
http://www.etalk.com

As a result of etalk’s (news - alert) Qfiniti product, the client, a financial services provider, has experienced a two to eight percent gain in first-call resolution, depending on the line of business; it has seen its customer satisfaction increase more than six percent; and it has gained a better understanding of its customers’ and distributors’ needs. This improvement in satisfaction is also helping sales efforts. The company’s twopronged approach to sales includes cultivating new leads while strengthening established relationships with existing customers. “We’re actually not trying to cast a wider net all the time, but rather work on the net we have to make sure that we’re getting more of our fair share of the business with the relationships that we already have in existence,” said the client.

eTelecare Global Solutions
Proprietary eTelecare Global Solutions CRM package
http://www.etelecare.com

(news - alert) The solution is a CRM application that integrates all channels except posted mail into one unified desktop. The software is based upon the Microsoft DNA/.NET approach to building distributed systems. The solution helped a large wireless telecommunications provider successfully migrate 840,000 customers from one billing platform to another and sign them up for multi-year contracts. At the same time, eTelecare reduced the client’s cost per accept by more than 56 percent, and enabled customers to migrate plans from their homes instead of requiring them to travel to a client retail outlet, something the client originally did not consider possible. The proprietary CRM system helped eTelecare’s agents increase their accuracy, reduce average handle times and provide superior customer service. During peak months, eTelecare handled more than 120,000 calls, resulting in about 72,000 renewals. Compared to the previous vendor, eTelecare achieved a 56 percent per-renewal reduction, saving the client about $27 per retention. Overall, renewal rates have almost doubled since eTelecare started the program. In addition to the savings it offers, eTelecare’s proprietary CRM system also enhances the customer experience by helping agents provide faster, more accurate service.

Excell Services
Medicare Discount Prescription Drug Plan Call Center Services
http://www.excellsvcs.com

The client, (news - alert) a pharmacy benefits solutions company, provides services to millions of individuals; the client base includes several large health insurance providers, employers, union groups and third-party administrators. The client contacted Excell Services to gain assistance with handling incoming calls for the roll-out of the Medicare Prescription drug plan. Due to the difficult task of predicting call volume for information requests and enrollment calls, the client was looking for an additional outsource partner to be available for a limited amount of initial FTEs to handle the expected initial surge in call volume. For the start-up, Excell sent two trainers to the client’s call center facility for two weeks to attend training and development courses. Time was spent learning the products and internal policies and procedures along with detailed information on Medicare, the healthcare industry, medical privacy laws and the specifics of the client’s discount pharmacy plans. Excell Services was able to extend the amount of hours the client’s call center remained open, boosted the number of calls handled from 2,500 per week to 16,000, met or exceeded quality insurance scores of 94 percent, and attained an average speedto- answer of under 30 seconds.

FrontRange Solutions
GoldMine Corporate Edition
http://www.frontrange.com

The client, (news - alert) a provider of fitness equipment and programs, was often beholden to a busy schedule of trade shows and outreach efforts. However, without a system for tracking prospects and follow-ups, the company found its hard work often didn’t pay off as anticipated. The client then integrated GoldMine Corporate Edition with QuickBooks and their UPS shipping program to enable single data entry, and brought in QuoteWerks software to take the place of Excel spreadsheets for creating and storing quotes. As a result, GoldMine has become the single interface for everything the company does, with information easily pulled into the client’s other critical business applications. Today, nearly every employee in the client organization actively uses GoldMine, from sales to shipping. Seven remote sales reps stay connected with the rest of the team with regular synching of customer data. The company logs every detail about prospects and customers in the software, and can access it in seconds when needed.

IEX Corp.
TotalView Workforce Management Version 3.9
http://www.iex.com

The client company, a large power producer in South Africa, stated that since implementation of TotalView Workforce Management, it has come a long way from its roots with an annual master schedule (its former method of scheduling the workforce). Central schedule coordinators monitor forecasts, plans and overall schedule performance while local managers supply schedules to their agent groups. Accuracy is measured both daily and at 30-minute intervals, providing instant visibility and feedback to coaches and floor managers. By tying the detailed skills capabilities of agents with sophisticated planning and forecasting, the client has attained a forecast accuracy rate of 95 percent, week-to-week, with fit to schedule averaging 85 percent. Overall scheduling performance has exceeded expectations in 8 of 12 months. “We can now adjust our schedules to meet the needs of the business, as well as the employees,” said the client.

InfoCision Management Corp.
Digital Phone Consumer Prospecting
http://www.infocision.com

(news - alert) More than 24 years of managing customer relationships has made InfoCision the ideal CRM partner for the client, a large cable company. InfoCision’s Communicators were the mature, intelligent, professionally trained telephone agents that the client required and InfoCision’s quality assurance system assured consistency in performance as well as a platform for continuous improvement. In the first phase of the campaign to win customers to cable Internet and digital phone service, InfoCision called on the client’s “expanded basic” customers. These were households that had a basic cable package consisting of fewer than 100 channels and with no premium movie channels, sports packages, cable Internet connection or other digital packages. In the second phase, InfoCision contacted customers who already had digital cable service and offered them cable Internet and digital phone service. On all goals set for the program: cost per sale, sales per hour and response rate, InfoCision exceeded the client’s expectations. Because of this program’s success, InfoCision has partnered with the client on its outbound prospecting, win-back sales, survey and welcome calls, inbound sales retention and customer service.

Inter-Tel, Incorporated
Inter-Tel Axxess Converged Communications System
http://www.inter-tel.com

(news - alert) After evaluating products from a number of vendors, the client, a grocery merchandising and warehousing company, chose Inter-Tel to supply its new communications solution. Inter-Tel offered the technology the company was looking for — including advanced voice over IP solutions and powerful IP-powered applications — to help improve its business processes. Another deciding factor was the scalability, flexibility and compatibility of Inter-Tel’s technologies. The client liked the fact that it could take advantage of emerging products and applications when its business dictated, and not be forced into using undesirable or unnecessary technology because of technical constraints often imposed by other vendor solutions. “In the past,” said the client, “installing the pricing application usually translated into a full day at the customer site to configure the software and train the staff. It was a very expensive and laborious process. With Inter- Tel Remote Support, we’re able to install the application, train the employees and answer any questions in a fraction of the time. From an efficiency and cost perspective, this application has paid for itself many times over.”

LivePerson
Timpani Sales & Marketing
http://www.liveperson.com

The client, (news - alert) a pure online retailer focused on outdoor gear, initially implemented LivePerson’s click-to-chat technology in 2002, and discovered that numerous chat interactions resulted in sales and improved customer satisfaction ratings. An established industry innovator and early adopter of live chat, the online retailer recognized that chat could also serve as a valuable tool to improve conversion rates; however, the existing solution was designed to satisfy customer service requirements and lacked the capabilities to serve as a major sales catalyst. To maximize revenue and leverage the unique expertise of its employees, the client again turned to LivePerson to transform the chat deployment on the organization’s family of Web sites from a pure customer service application to a proactive sales solution affecting bottom- line results. In addition to equipping the client with intelligent technology to proactively engage and consult with qualified customers online, LivePerson supplied comprehensive training to ensure that personnel assigned to the chat channel would take full advantage of their new online engagement and interaction tools. Postimplementation, the conversion rate for chatters grew to 10 times greater than self-service channel conversions.

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