In Focus
Outbound Routing Roundup
Multimedia channels of communication notwithstanding, the telephone retains a prominent place in today's customer interaction and relationship management toolkit. The latest technologies offer greater efficiencies, a variety of useful features and reduced costs of ownership/usage, and have resulted in wider acceptance by and penetration of the small- to mid-sized business segments. Integrated outbound e-mail and computer-telephony products are readily available assets in your quest for customer retention and loyalty. We've pulled together a list of those companies that can take care of all your outbound routing needs.

Comprehensive Customer Interaction Management (CIM) Solution Powers Entergy
By Candace Berman, CELLIT
As one of the largest utility companies in the United States, Entergy has pressing responsibilities to its 2.5 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to provide power to its customers and ensure they receive a consistent level of service. Read how the company recently installed a solution that gives it a unique ability to be proactive and reach out to its customers.

Customer Relationship Management 
2000 Who's Who In The CRM/eCRM Industry: A Compendium Of Industry-Leading CRM/eCRM Companies
In trying to keep up with CRM, chances are you don't have time to read every product brochure, examine every high-tech news item, absorb every industry change and view every available demo. The editors of [email protected] CENTER CRM SolutionsTM have done it for you. Our first annual "Who's Who In The CRM/eCRM Industry: A Compendium Of Industry-Leading CRM/eCRM Companies" is a comprehensive list of companies that provide the products and services you need to institute.

E-Sales--E-Service.com
Can The Internet Bring Back The Village Market? Part II
By Erik Lounsbury, Editorial Director,
[email protected] CENTER CRM Solutions
In Part II of his article about how the Internet is changing how businesses relate to their customers, Erik Lounsbury asks a panel of experts to look at personalization and the creation of communities using the Internet, including a look slightly into the future at what new products and services they see being developed in the next few years.

Globalizing E-Support: Avoiding The Headaches, Reaping The Rewards 
By Katrina Teague, Lionbridge Technologies, Inc.
Until now, most companies have provided electronic support in English only. But global customers are escalating their demand for e-support in their own languages. Just as they prefer conversing in their native language when receiving support over the telephone, customers want frequently asked questions (FAQs) and knowledge base articles in their native languages as well.

Second-Generation Technology Will Unleash The Global Potential For Business-To- Business E-Commerce (Sidebar)
By Jeff Conklin, TradeAccess
With so much hype focused on the potential of the Internet to transform commercial relationships in the past year, it's easy to forget that the business-to-business e-commerce transformation has yet to become a reality. This is especially true in the world of global business-to-business buying and selling, where the Internet's technological capabilities remain largely untapped.

Building The Perfect Call Center
Getting More From Your Marketing Campaigns With Interaction Management Technology
By Christine J. Holley, Interactive Intelligence
Traditional communication systems are rapidly being replaced by interaction management technology. Interaction management technology is based on a unified, not integrated, architecture and begins with a single platform on which all media types are processed. Since it consolidates interaction processing, it's less expensive and faster to implement. The author takes you step-by-step through the benefits and specifics of this emerging technology.

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TMC LABS
There are many applications out there used for different aspects of a call center. These applications include workforce management, CRM solutions, predictive dialers, ACD functionality and monitoring tools. The technology editors of TMC Labs recently tested VOCALCOM's Herm�s Pro and discovered that the product includes components of all of this and much more.

Communications Solutions EXPO Fall 2000 Preview
Communications Solutions EXPO Fall 2000, which will be held December 5-7 2000, will mark our second year in Las Vegas. Attendees will be able to glimpse some of the newest and most exciting technologies in the industry and will have a chance to see all of the leading vendors supplying service providers, enterprise customers, call centers and VARs/developers under a single roof. Here is a sneak preview of the companies that will be exhibiting at the show...so come and learn!