ARTICLES
In Focus
Inbound Routing Software Roundup
A potential customer picks up your product literature or hears about your product from a colleague. He or she decides to initiate contact to find out more about your company�s offerings. This potential customer will only become a buyer if his or her contact, whether it be via telephone, e-mail or off your Web site (perhaps by Web callback) gets to the right person at the right time. To help ensure that your inbound contacts are routed efficiently and effectively, we�ve compiled a list of companies that offer products to aid you in ensuring that your customers and potential customers can get in touch with you, regardless of the contact channel they choose.

Teleservices Outsourcing
[email protected] CENTER CRM Solutions� Magazine�s Fifteenth-Annual Top 50 Outbound Teleservices Agency Ranking 
This is the fifthteenth year [email protected] CENTER CRM Solutions� magazine brings you its �Top 50� Teleservices Agency Ranking. In this issue, we�re presenting the �Top 50� outbound portion of the ranking. (The inbound portion of the ranking will be highlighted in the April 2000 issue.) Since its inception in 1986, our �Top 50� ranking has been used as the benchmark for choosing large capacity/sized teleservices agencies. 

Customer Relationship Management 
Leveraging The Intelligent Network Through Superior Customer Service
By John Konczal, Telution
Over the past couple of years, competitive service pricing points and creative bundled service offers such as local phone service, long-distance phone-
service, high-speed Internet access and cable television have been the key methods used to win and retain customers and grow a healthy revenue model. However, communications providers can no longer rely on these methods alone for continued success. Moving forward, the companies that will succeed are those that take a customer-centric focus by building an interactive and dynamic customer-network relationship by leveraging the vast network assets and valuable repository of customer information they already have available, but are not exploiting.

E-Sales--E-Service.com
E-mail Epiphany: Technology Is Not Enough
By Dara Bloom Mirsky, Editor Of TMCnet.com
We�re sometimes so caught up in technology that we forget the people that ultimately make it work � these people will make or break the best CRM solution. So it�s surprising to TMCnet.com�s editor that in our industry, so little emphasis is placed on training agents to deal with the most prolific type of electronic customer contact � e-mail.

E-Sales�E-Service.com News

You�ve Got Mail: Managing Customer E-Mail
By Stephen R. Nelson, AFFINA
A survey by Harris Poll found that 25 percent of all Americans use e-mail on a daily basis. By the year 2001, Internet gurus predict that consumers will e-mail 50 million product information or service inquiries per day. In that same time frame, according to Forrester Research, 20 to 30 percent of customer contacts will shift from phones, faxes and mail to Web sites. The author outlines a comprehensive plan to aid you in dealing with this veritable e-mail avalanche.

Building The Perfect Call Center
The Outbound Call Center, Today And Tomorrow: New Technology Requirements For A New Role By Edward J.Sarkisian, EIS International
Today we are witnessing dramatic and sometimes revolutionary change in nearly every aspect of the traditional outbound call center, from its mission to its position in the enterprise. No longer a single-function, telephony-only operation, the outbound call center, like its inbound counterpart, is being transformed at an unprecedented rate into a multifunctional, multimedia, customer service contact center.

Outbound Call Center Technology: Software Optimization Solution (Sidebar)
By Phu Le, Austin Logistics Inc.
In the outbound call center business, increasing staff productivity and keeping costs low is a challenge. With rising costs and competitive pressures, call center management is forced to examine new ways to boost productivity.

Communications Solutions EXPO� Preview
Exhibitors At Communications Solutions� EXPO Will Cover All Your Call Center Needs
If you have been overwhelmed with work in your call center and haven�t attended a TMC Expo in a while, you are in for quite a surprise at how much things have changed. Communications Solutions� EXPO Spring 2000, this April 26-28 in the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., will bring you up-to-date on the latest incall center, CRM, Internet telephony, e-commerce and other communications solutions technologies and services that can increase the efficiencies of your call center and help generate bigger profits for your company.

DEPARTMENTS
Publisher's Outlook
High Priority
Technology Highlights
Call Center News™

TMC LABS
Tigerpaw Software�s Business Suite 8

Xantel Corporation�s Connex 80/20 PCD

This month, the technology editors of TMC Labs evaluate two products. The first is Tigerpaw Software�s Business Suite 8, a multifaceted call center and customer management software tool which employs a GUI that is very similar to Microsoft Outlook. Designed for sales and customer support entities, Business Suite 8 offers a flexible install base (Windows 95/98 and NT) and includes more than 200 report templates. The second evaluated product is Xantel Corporation�s Connex 80/20 PCD. �PCD� stands for precision call distribution (as opposed to mere �automatic� call distribution). Connex makes intensive use of rules, follow-me features and advanced call handling and logging, all for enriching the calling experience of the VIP (and for saving you money.)