Publisher's Outlook Making Workforce Optimization Easy and Affordable

CUSTOMER INTER@CTION SOLUTIONS — March 2012

Publisher's Outlook Making Workforce Optimization Easy and Affordable

Workforce management has always been considered a bit of an art, says Chuck Ciarlo. That’s why the CEO named his company Monet Software and trademarked the phrase “The Art of Workforce Management...

Feature Articles

CALL CENTER TECHNOLOGY

Servion Gives the Age of Social Networking a Voice
There is a lot of talk right now that online chat, social media, e-mail, and other new technologies will replace voice communications when it comes to customer contact and service. David Baker, vice president of Servion, does not agree. In fact, he believes that voice will become increasingly critical for large and small companies around the globe. And his company is currently working in 20 of those countries. Baker recently shared the thinking behind his views in a Q&A with Customer Interaction Solutions magazine.

OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

Self-Realization: A Key Ingredient to Effective Call Center Management
For standard information-based development we create training curriculum, analyze results, evaluate accuracy and performance and, occasionally, we may even coach. When dealing with behavioral issues, however, we often miss the one area that makes affecting change more easily attainable. Helping agents become self aware is often the key.

Just Getting the Job Done is Not Enough
Delivering exceptional customer service requires more than just getting the job done. You must also make the service experience itself easy and effective for the customer. Recent research suggests that minimizing a customer's effort during the service experience has the greatest impact on customer loyalty

Time to Brush off Your Disaster Recovery Plan?
As I write this, the top news story is about a cruise ship that ran aground in the Mediterranean. Reports are that the captain and officers did little to help passengers get off the ship safely. Hearing about this type of tragedy gets me thinking about how well any of us are prepared to deal with disruptions of smaller magnitudes.

CRM, BPO & TELESERVICES

Multimodal Mobile Apps, Cloud Services, and UC VARs Make Telephone Contact Centers Grow Up
Unified communications is complex because it covers all forms of contact with a person, whether the person is initiating the contact or is the recipient/respondent to a contact. Inasmuch as organizational call/contact centers deal with communication technologies from both perspectives, as well as with automated self-service applications, they can benefit the most from UC-enabled flexibilities. It is therefore time for legacy call center technology silos to grow up and become multimodal through UC-enabled applications.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Awards & Recognition Customer Interaction Solutions Announces MVP Quality Awards
This is the 19th year Customer Interaction Solutions proudly presents its MVP Quality Awards.

OTHER ITEMS

Call Center Gurus Weigh in on Industry Topics in New Forum: Productivity Plus Blog
Knowlagent recently launched a new Productivity Plus blog where experts within the call center industry can collaborate and opine upon the customer experience, agent productivity and the call center culture … things that are top of mind for most customer service leaders.

How Brand Ambassadors Can Strengthen Your Message and Build Customer Loyalty
While you can't completely control individual feelings, you can certainly influence them by properly communicating the qualities that make your brand unique. Consumers need to know who you are; what you do; and why they want your service. They need to have a clear sense of your identity and what makes you stand out. This knowledge gives customers confidence, motivates buying and helps cement loyalty.

Columns

Publisher’s Outlook

Will Nimble 2.0 Take Social CRM Mainstream?
But while it is understood by many web-savvy companies that social is important - how many of them are embracing social CRM? My informal analysis shows the numbers are very low, meaning there could be huge room for growth.

HIGH PRIORITY!

CRM: Putting the RM Before the C
rizon and AT&T both began using terms like 4G and LTE in their advertising well in advance of network and device rollouts, preparing customers for the next great thing in communications. Remember the HTC Thunderbolt ad that was initially launched without the "coming soon" moniker at the end?

Ask the Experts

The Evolving Role of Process Automation and the Customer Service Experience
Give contact centers credit. In their effort to improve customer service and increase the effectiveness of how service is provided, many centers have made significant investments in technology as well as people. One payoff has been contact center automation and the efficiency it produces for managing customer interactions. Yet, bottom line, the pressure remains to improve service processes overall and reduce costs at the same time.

Logout

Customer Service: The New Marketing
These words were uttered by Jerry Maguire, the title character played in the movie by Tom Cruise. Like the couch-jumping actor himself, this fictional sports agent became a cautionary tale of what can happen when you lose your bearings, even temporarily, in the business world. But, in the end, Jerry also demonstrates what can happen when you truly dedicate yourself to the customer. That is, you get a friend for life.

News

Kunnect FREE Delivers Gratis Call Center Functionality
Google and Skype have found great success based on business models involving providing free tools to the populace. Now Kunnect is following those examples by introducing a free call center solution..