In Focus
Headset Manufacturers' Roundup
Headsets have been a feature in call
centers for a very long time, but the incidence of their use has been
steadily rising in recent years due to a combination of factors, including
OSHA's recent focus on the ergonomic health of both call center and
general office workers. While wearing a headset used to be a matter of
convenience, studies have shown that repeatedly picking up telephone
handsets, or even worse, cradling the telephone between the ear and the
shoulder to free up the hands, can cause irreversible musculoskeletal
damage. This feature was compiled to provide you with resources for all
your headset needs.
Teleservices
Outsourcing
C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions� Magazine�s
Fifteenth-Annual Top 50 Inbound Teleservices
Agency Ranking
This is the fifteenth year C@LL
CENTER CRM Solutions� magazine brings you its "Top 50"
Teleservices Agency Ranking. In this issue, we're presenting the "Top
50" inbound portion of the ranking. (The outbound portion of the
ranking was highlighted in the March 2000 issue.) Since its inception in
1986, our "Top 50" ranking has been used as the benchmark for
choosing large-capacity/ sized teleservices agencies.
A Panoramic
View Of What's High-Tech In Florida
By Erik D. Lounsbury, Editorial Director,
C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions�
Way down South,
down Florida way, the land is fecund, the air is ripe with growth. But
there is more growing in South Florida than citrus and mouse ears, indeed,
in this lush land one of the flowering fruits is the call center industry.
In July 1999, Deloitte & Touche Fantus Consulting released a report
stating that for the second year in a row, Florida led the nation in the
creation of new call center jobs, with more than 14,000 potential call
center positions in 1998. In addition, Florida is also becoming rich in
the call center technology area. South Florida has become a crucible for
new and better technologies and services for the call center market.
Customer
Relationship Management
The Quality Of Your
Multimedia Contact Center
By Oscar Alban, Witness Systems, Inc.
Today, there are many ways to
research, review and purchase products, as well as seek support and
service once the initial sale takes place. How we opt to carry out those
communications is ultimately our decision -- and now, more than ever, the
choices are plentiful. Traditional sales, support and service have taken
place through the telephone. But with the advances the Internet has
brought to our lives, many new channels for customer interactions are
available. As a result, many of us have turned to the Web to meet our
needs -- whether we are on an information gathering mission, making a
purchase or investment or simply reaching out for help. While these
Internet-based mediums offer great, new advantages, they also carry
certain drawbacks, the largest being an assurance for timely, consistent,
quality service.
Executing
An Integrated E-CRM Infrastructure
By Rene L. White, eCONVERGENT
The Internet is
changing the relationship between buyer and seller. This change is driving
two primary transitions in the customer relationship management market
which, in turn, are improving the effective-ness, productivity and value
of customer relationships. Through direct customer interaction, companies
can create high-value, long-term customer relationships and deliver new
and higher levels of customer satisfaction. With the new generation of
more high-touch technologies, companies can provide personalized services
and improved problem solving and are moving closer to their customers.
E-Sales--E-Service.com
Gotta Serve Somebody
By Erik D. Lounsbury, Editorial Director,
C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions�
With all due apologies to Bob Dylan, who
was addressing the world on a spiritual level, the title of his song could
become the mantra of the Internet economy. With easy access now available
to so many suppliers that only a few years ago would have been totally
unfeasible, often the only way companies can differentiate themselves from
their competitors is through the levels of service and support they can
offer their customers. The author takes a look at two companies that offer
different approaches to the same end: providing the best possible support
services to their customers to keep them happy and keep them coming back
for more.
The Check Is In
The (E-) Mail: Web-Based Payment Solutions
By Joseph Grueter, Intell-A-Check Corporation
For Web-based
shopping, credit cards have become the tools of choice for making at-home
payments and purchases, offering convenience, speed and security. In fact,
for merchants, verifying a credit card number is essentially the only way
that they can accept a payment directly over the Internet or the
telephone. Unfortunately, tens of millions of Americans do not have, or do
not want to use, credit cards online. So what's a Web merchant to do?
E-Sales�E-Service.com
News
Building The
Perfect Call Center
Beyond Next
Available Agent: Routing Possibilities
By Audian Paxson, Picazo Communications, Inc.
Scaled-down skills-based routing
solutions have been available for smaller companies for a while. However,
they often lacked the depth of features and flexibility that were
considered standard in larger solutions. Third-party solutions that
offered more features were available, but integration was difficult and
since they were "third-party," they didn't perform as well as
the single manufacturer's total solution. Due to competition, advancement
in technology and especially the influence of the PC, the small business
no longer faces the same challenge today. Solutions with built-in voice
mail, auto-attendant and ACD are common and priced competitively.
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DEPARTMENTS
Publisher's
Outlook
High Priority
Technology Highlights
Call Center News
TMC LABS
TelAthena v.4.4 Nortel
Meridian Option 11 This
month, the technology editors of TMC� Labs evaluate two products. The
first is Version 4.4 of TelAthena's call
scripting/lead management product. Highlighted are improvements over the
previous release, including a new Windows client, a "Web chat"
element, powerful new additions to the scripting editor, better
documentation and new interfaces to the Equifax credit service and to
AVT's RightFAX software.
The second product is a
skills-based routing product, the Nortel Meridian
Option 11 running with Nortel's Symposium Call Center Server.
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