INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM THE NEXT-GEN CONTACT CENTER EXPERTS
A Special Editorial Series Sponsored By Telephony@Work

IP Contact Center Technology: Eliminating The Risks (Part XI)
By Eli Borodow, Telephony@Work; and Kevin Hayden, TELUS Communications Inc.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Is On-Demand CRM Right For Your Customer Service Organization?
By Bonnie Crater, Salesforce.com
It seems that every aspect of the operation is considered for outsourcing: the people, the telephony infrastructure, the management. Even alternative strategies are being considered such as the use of home agents. But what about the service and support applications themselves?

WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION

Agent Self-Service: Take Control Of Your Destiny
By Rick Seeley, IEX Corp.
It's not enough to simply say that a company can attract employees by providing them with the tools they need to do their jobs. Increasingly, employees expect to be given the tools they need to manage their careers as well, using the transparency, ease of use and speed of response enabled by the always-on nature of the Web.

CONTACT CENTER TECHNOLOGY

Virtual Realty: The Virtual Call Center For Branch Office Organizations
By Stephen R. Kowarsky, CosmoCom
Many organizations thrive by having both the critical mass of a very large national or global entity and the physical presence and customer relationship potential of a small local business. Banks, insurance companies and real estate companies all come to mind as examples. We'll explore how these types of organizations can benefit from a unified virtual contact center that seamlessly includes both central call centers and local branch personnel in a single system.

MANAGEMENT SCOPE

2005 Product of the Year Award Winners List
Each year, Customer Inter@ction Solutions' magazine bestows its Product of the Year awards on companies that have demonstrated excellence in technological advancement and application refinements.

IP CONTACT CENTER

Moving To IP Telephony In The Contact Center
By Laurent Philonenko and Parvesh Sethi, Cisco Systems
In addition to cost savings and service improvements, the convergence of voice and data allows a business to leverage a single infrastructure with all its benefits, including a centralized, virtual point of configuration and control of all dispersed contact centers.

PUBLISHER'S OUTLOOK

25 Years Of Leadership And Commitment To Excellence
By Nadji Tehrani, Executive Group Publisher, Editor-in-Chief
Much Has Happened In The Last 25 Years - Nationally speaking, over the last 25 years, many companies have come and gone while very few continue to prosper in the Fortune 500 rankings. For example, companies such as General Electric, Exxon-Mobil, Citigroup and IBM have continued to prosper in the last 25 years. However, many companies have been unable to maintain such a prestigious ranking at the top of the Fortune 500 list. For example, General Motors and Ford Motor Co. have traditionally been in the top five ranking of the Fortune 500, but unfortunately they are currently facing possible bankruptcy. AT&T, which was ranked number five in the Fortune 500 list, with revenues of $75 billion and profits of $4.7 billion in 1995, no longer exists as an independent company and is now part of SBC Communications.

HIGH PRIORITY!

Deconstructing The Call Center
By Rich Tehrani, Group Editor-in-Chief, Technology Marketing Corporation
From where I stand here at the beginning of 2006, I see a slew of new and existing Web standards slowly being woven together to more tightly cement data flows between disparate vendors such as multiple outsourcers or home agents. Call centers are rapidly being deconstructed and integrated in news ways in order to enable companies to more rapidly integrate their organizations and data in a multisourced world. Following are some examples of this trend.

SPEECH-WORLD

Speech-World News & Definitions

TMC LABS

TMC Labs Review
This month, TMC Labs examines Cincom Systems' Synchrony.

 Publisher's Outlook
 High Priority!
 Boardroom Report
 CEO Spotlight
 CIS News
 Last Call

TMC Labs Reviews

Cincom Systems' Synchrony

Go to TMCnet.com for the latest communications technology news

Managing Chaos In Your Contact Center
For most companies, the critical juncture between a happy customer and one that's headed for the door, even virtually, is determined by which CRM philosophy they subscribe to.

How To Dial Into The Burgeoning Market For Smart Phones
By Chris Greendale, Kodiak Venture Partners
With higher speeds and bandwidths, compression of power onto ever smaller devices, and fast, secure communications driving a broader range of functions, the potential for completely mobile, lifestyle-based computing is growing.

AnswerNet: Almost Famous
By Gary Pudles, AnswerNet
When you watch a popular TV program such as The Apprentice (is there an Inc. reader who doesn't watch it?) there is a huge array of small businesses that make it happen behind the scenes, and sometimes even in front of the scenes. In a recent episode, we were one of those out in front.

Forrester Looks at CRM Best Practices, Part 3: Pitfalls
By David Sims, Contributing Editor, TMCnet
CRM technologies are a means, not an end. Tools, not ends in themselves. If you want to drive a nail, the niftiest screwdriver in the world is useless to you. Define CRM objectives and the business process changes necessary to meet the objectives before considering a technology purchase.