
December 1999
Dear Nadji Tehrani,
I read your October Publisher's Outlook ("E-Commerce's Explosive
Growth Offers Call Centers New Opportunities") with great interest. I manage a
small call center for the Robbins Auto Parts stores in New Hampshire and have been trying
to position the call center to be more receptive to e-commerce.
The more I use the Web for purchases myself, the more I see the need for personal
interaction during a Web inquiry. Text chat and all of the other methods of responding
"right now" to a question from a customer are going to be very important. I
agree with your conclusion that the Web is not our enemy, it is a great resource.
I enjoy your magazine and I find it to be very educational.
Sincerely,
Peter H. Rogers
Call Center Manager
Robbins Auto Parts
Dear Nadji Tehrani:
When I first saw the IBM TV ads that made fun of the Web site developer who knew how to
put flames on a page, but didnt know how to set up basic order processing and
inventory I was a little bit offended. It seemed arrogant. Now, I see the same as
you thousands (millions?) of Web sites that were obviously designed by people who
are completely clueless about how to attract and keep customers. Then, the ghastly color
and graphics and endless boring text full of grammatical errors leads me to believe that
the stereotypical Web developer is an antisocial high-school dropout.
As an outsourcer tentatively moving from high-quality call center support in the
corporate arena to e-commerce support, it is appalling how much effort is put into
developing the Web sites of prospective clients with no conception of the need for
customer care or even customer-friendly Web sites.
Sincerely,
Paul Tiffany
Help Team Inc.
Dear Nadji Tehrani:
I recently read your excellent magazine for the first time. One of the articles by a
VocalTec person (August 1999, Do You Need A
Multimedia Call Center? by Hugh Goldstein of VocalTec Communications) described
a futuristic call center management system. It seemed that such a product is yet to exist.
I have recently been shown a product called Imagine (see IMAGINEUSA.COM) that seems to fit
his description.
I would be grateful to receive your opinion on this product and whether there are
any other real competitive products.
Thanks in advance,
Yankel Koncepolski
NKA Communications Pty Ltd
The editor replied:
Dear Mr. Koncepolski:
While not familiar with the Imagine product, there are several companies that come to mind
that make similar products. Chris Donner, associate editor of another of TMCs
publications, CTI� magazine, compiled a roundup last year.
Other companies that werent mentioned in that roundup that provide multichannel call
center solutions include Altitude Software, CosmoCom, [email protected], Vocalcom and
VocalTec. We also compiled a list of features to look for in a next-generation call center
and recent articles we have published about them. For this information, go to www.tmcnet.com/cis/nextgen.htm. |