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CUSTOMER INTER@CTION Solutions

November 2003 Issue Editorial Highlights
Taking Advantage Of Web Self-Care To
Meet Client Needs

By Curt Champion, Convergys Corporation

Companies today are facing three challenges that seemingly are at odds. Almost universally, companies need to cut costs. At the same time, however, they need to provide better service to their customers and improve their marketing capabilities.

Finding A Place To Call Home
By Linda Driscoll, TMC
Wooing a teleservices agency to establish a location in a community is almost always very good news for that community. Teleservices agencies offer great tax revenue for the community, provide scores of jobs for its residents, including many who have difficulty finding employment in traditional 9 to 5 jobs, and to top it off, teleservices agencies have no special needs for environmental variances and the like. So, what does it take to influence a teleservices agency to select your community as a site for its business?

The Missing Pieces Of Workforce Management
By William Durr, Blue Pumpkin Software
'Managing the workforce' is an easy phrase to say, but it's an ambitious proposition that presumably shapes people into high-performing assets to drive customer satisfaction and revenue. For as many years as it has been around, though, why hasn't workforce management been the killer app its name promises? It's not even an exact science yet.

Workforce Optimization:
Killing Two Birds with One Stone

With turnover rates as high as 30 to 50 percent in many contact centers across North America, companies are struggling to hire the right agent, design the appropriate mix of training and implement the most cutting-edge and effective technology in order to enhance the performance of their contact center organizations. The newest breed of workforce optimization (WFO) applications is helping meet those needs and allowing companies to track their success in exceeding customer expectations.

CRM For The Mobile Workforce '
The Past, The Present, The Future

Customer relationship management (CRM) and its use by mobile workers is far from a new endeavor, but it is one that has undergone many changes in recent years as advancements in technology continue to create a truly mobile environment. Remote salespeople that use and leverage this truly mobile platform are taking advantage of the technology to increase the response level to customer needs, which in turn leads to better satisfaction and increases sales.

 RE: LOCATIONS:
Burlington, Iowa: A Place To Grow!
By James Beatty, NCS International, Inc.
Let's say I need a place to locate a 500-person customer service center. Where should I look? Offshore, where labor costs are lower than the U.S.? Maybe I should look at the larger MSAs with a population of at least 500,000 to 1 million. Perhaps I'll look in the Southeast, where call centers have been multiplying at astounding growth rates. Or maybe I'll look Northeast, where customer service centers have been successful. There's still the Midwest, where the industry was born and is now at a mature age. What about the West coast, which has millions of people available?

The CEO Spotlight
This month, the CEO Spotlight is on Tom Cardella, CEO of Precision Response Corporation, an outsourced provider of customer care services headquartered in Plantation, Florida.

DEPARTMENTS
Publisher's Outlook
By Nadji Tehrani
In this issue, where our editors focus extensively on workforce management and workforce optimization, it is particularly fitting to write about hiring 'the right people.' Without 'the right people,' workforce management or any management is nothing more than wishful thinking.

High Priority!
By Rich Tehrani
Hosted CRM providers made a big splash during the dotcom era and started to spring up like weeds until the market downturn decimated the entire space. One player, salesforce.com, did better than most on the market's way up and the way back down. 

INDUSTRY NEWS
Customer Inter@ction News

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