NICE announced that since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the NICE Employee Engagement Manager (EEM) solution is seeing a massive uptick in usa…

In Indio, California, the local Chamber of Commerce recently extended its operational scope to assist local residents and businesses with general ques…

Replicant.ia, a provider of artificial intelligence-enabled voice technologies has answered the call with the release of its AI Voice Responder that c…

Bright Pattern, a provider of cloud omnichannel contact center software, has announced it is providing special virtual contact center capability for c…

A week ago, Verizon suspended operations at its Elgin, South Carolina contact center, this week the Wilmington, North Carolina closed its doors after …

Evidence from the business world tell us that a call center's effectiveness is dependent on the productivity of its agents. In other words, it's not e…

Avoiding the crowd is taking on a whole new meaning today, courtesy of COVID-19. The contact center is faced with myriad challenges, but agent well-be…

With a national state of emergency and some parts of the country under "shelter in place" orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American workforce …

Creating an efficient call center schedule is not an easy task, but thankfully there are plenty of tools and tips to help ease the burden. Call center…

A spike in call volume can certainly be expected in a time of crisis, and many would expect that to be the primary impact. A South Korean call center …

HomeToGo, an independent vacation rental search engine, matches customers with vacation apartments and homes that meet their needs by comparing millio…

With Voice of the Customer (VoC) processes it's possible to capture what customers are saying and then turn that information into actionable tasks tha…

Call center schedules should be able to handle fluctuations and increases in call volume due to disasters and emergencies. But managers can also emplo…

Five9, a company that provides intelligent cloud contact center solutions, will acquire workforce optimization company (WFO) Virtual Observer. The mer…

This week, the Verint Experience Index: Retail was unveiled. The report takes a deep dive in customer satisfaction rankings of 25 prominent retailers,…

A number of U.S. states have introduced legislation or passed laws to stop the steady flow of call center relocations to other states and countries. T…

Virtual assistants are taking over as the most popular mode of communication for businesses to schedule appointments, answer routine questions and mor…

If you're looking to staff your call center with agents who are engaged and who will be dedicated to long term growth with the company, here are some …

Contact centers are now re-optimizing themselves for more automation, but this time, the goal isn't to drive customers off the phone. Thanks to artifi…

Scheduling is one of the most critical functions of a call center manager. In order to meet expected customer demand and call volumes, the contact cen…

A long-term approach to call center scheduling can be invaluable for ensuring a center is operating at peak productivity and efficiency. Call center m…

Seattle's New Secure Scheduling Ordinance, which regulates restaurant and retail workers' schedules and pay to make them more predictable, has achieve…

Just before the holidays, Idaho's Whitcom Regional Dispatch Center reported critical 911 staffing shortages that may cause the emergency services cent…

Call center management and scheduling can often seem like an overwhelming juggling act. By balancing the needs of agents with customer demands, with a…

Effective call center forecasting isn't just about day-to-day or week-to-week operations. Accurate forecasts are also critical for budgeting and hirin…

Does your contact center suffer from shrinkage? Unless it's staffed by robots instead of humans, it's almost certainly a problem. In the call center, …

Elizabeth Warren has announced a Fair Workweek Plan, which would address some of the issues created by erratic work schedules. The plan would require …

A new mixed reality (MR) project that uses Microsoft's HoloLens 2 headset is designed to help remote call center agents better interact with products …

In the contact center, managers struggle with a seemingly contradictory set of directives from operations: keep your service levels high but keep labo…

Despite the availability of affordable contact center solutions, many SMBs have not recognized the value of dedicated customer service teams and techn…

Call centers produce massive amounts of data from a variety of technologies and sources, just waiting to be mined for actionable intelligence. Manager…

Problems at a Skagit, Washington 911 call center are indicative of some of the larger issues at 911 call centers throughout the U.S., as well as the c…

Today, we often designate advanced technology by calling it "smart." Smart cars, smart phones, smart homes and smart grids. When it comes to twentieth…

Calabrio announced a change to its c-suite, appointing Josh Jabs to the role of Chief technology Officer. Jabs will report to President and CEO Tom Go…

Avaya announced Avaya IX Workspaces has earned a 2019 Contact Center technology Award from CUSTOMER magazine.

This week, Semafone announced the arrival of Intelligence+, a real-time data analytics solution integrated within Cardprotect Voice+.

It is official, Intermedia launched Intermedia Contact Center. The comprehensive contact center solution is built on the foundation of the recent Tela…

Computer Instruments, Inc. recently added to the portfolio of virtual concierge technology with the announcement the availability of its new Virtual C…

A recent study from the University of California shows U.S. workers and their families, particularly minority groups and women, are hurt by unpredicta…

UK-based unified communications and call center solutions provider Kakapo Systems recently announced some additions and updates, and one of them invol…

Attrition is historically the biggest problem at call centers, and U.S. centers suffer from an annual turnover rate of 30-45 percent. Nonprofit organi…

Traditionally, call center scheduling solutions have been built with numbers in mind rather than people. But call centers are made of people, so infle…

American Airlines recently announced plans to consolidate its operations in a bid to better utilize the large office locations it currently owns in Da…

Inside Marketing announced that with the assistance of the Vonage NewVoiceMedia (NVM) contact center solution is seeing double-digit growth in call en…

It's also critical to remember that you're expecting these people to represent your company, so seasonal contact center agents should be treated accor…

AI can be used to automate forecasting and scheduling in the call center, creating more accurate schedules and making better use of existing agents an…

In the recently released, 2019 Omnichannel Customer Experience (CX) Benchmark Trend Report, Canam Research discovered that more than 80 percent of us-…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the contact center has been providing companies with an opportunity to deliver better customer care, collect key data …

One of the biggest mistakes employers make today is expecting younger Americans - those in the so-called "Millennial" generation - to think and act li…

A brand new $15 million emergency call center in North Carolina is being built to meet the scheduling demands of increased call volume as well as to w…

Custodia Technology announced a new partnership with Verint Systems. The pairing introduce a tollset capable of capture, record and retain voice, data…

The City of Barrie, Ontario announced the selection of Verint's Engagement Management solutions for government and public sector. The deployment will …

One of the cornerstones of employee engagement is giving workers flexibility with their schedules to meet their family needs, or even the needs of a s…

If you were to ask the average consumer what his or her biggest gripe was, you'd probably hear, "Waiting on hold. In fact, the average person will spe…

California has announced bipartisan legislation that will update the state's hundreds of outdated 911 call centers, which predate the Internet. The up…

Cities across the U.S. are electing to launch 311 call centers, or non-emergency contact centers, as a better way to communicate with their citizenry.…

In the brief span I've been on this earth, one of the certainties I've learned is you can never make everyone happy. In the contact center, one can pe…

Scheduling becomes extra challenging when the busy season also coincides with times that employees are taking time off, such as for summer family vaca…

Digital transformation is offering simplicity through complexity, as robust solutions are minimizing the minutia of day to day operations and putting …

Abandoned calls are those calls that were dropped by customers while waiting for an agent, usually because the agent is taking too long to connect. Wh…

As any good manager can attest, it's critical that you focus on keeping the good, high performing employees happy in their roles or risk having to fin…

Workforce management solutions are often touted as being of great benefit to the companies that use them. "Do more with less labor." "Trim headcount A…

While most contact centers don't deal with life-and-death situations, there are exceptions in healthcare and emergency services. For these call center…

Weather events large and small have an impact on communities and businesses. From power outages to flooding and wildfires, there are many situations w…

While it's true that all contact centers play an important role in meeting callers needs, those receiving emergency calls have an especially vital job…

Call center scheduling, the art of creating just the right balance of staff to handle communications is a constantly shifting target. Today, with the …

One of the trickiest decisions a call center manager is expected to make is the right size of the staff. Too many agents, and you risk overstaffing an…

The rate of absences in the workplace is something many companies have grappled with. From decreased productivity to poor engagement and high turnover…

At the recently concluded Verint Engage 2019 Global Customer Conference in Orlando, Florida, the Customer Engagement Company honored those companies i…

This week, St. Louis County residents got something to be excited about - a new call center. The 311 call center is open Monday through Friday from 8a…

Schedule adherence, or the metric that reveals whether call center agents are adhering to their assignments, is one of the most important metrics in t…

In either case, over-staffing or under-staffing, the customer experience can suffer. Burned out, stressed workers don't provide good experiences, and …

The algorithms, metrics and parameters that go into automated call center scheduling need not be a mystery, and managers can glean the most value from…

It's not a great secret that adherence to the call center schedule is one way to keep quality high while avoiding having to add to the headcount. The …

Inogen is the maker of compact, lightweight and travel-approved portable oxygen concentrators that allow people who require oxygen therapy to be more …

In the business world, leaders are continually reminded to take care of company assets. Since workers are the most costly business asset a company has…

In the contact center, scheduling often seems like an abstract concept. It's a spreadsheet of people, shifts and call queues. When schedules go awry a…

For years now we've been hearing all about the need to reduce agent turnover in the call center. Much of the solutions offered included allowing for m…

It's no secret that the contact center industry has high turnover. It's important to remember, however, that it's not alone. Many other industries exp…

In the contact center, scheduling is often one of the trickiest tasks a manager can perform. Scheduling, which relies on dozens or even hundreds of pe…

Agents in the call center still play a vital role in ensuring that customers have a human to connect to in times of crisis or when they don't want to …

There are some essential ingredients to drafting and implementing a call center schedule that will keep agents happy and motivated while also ensuring…

The new facility also features a next-generation 911 system with VoIP phone system, a significant upgrade from the old analog system, which will allow…

Maintaining schedule adherence need not be a herculean task, yet still far too many call centers struggle with scheduling practices and plugging holes…

While call center managers are the ones who create schedules, it's agents who can make or break them. The best schedule in the world won't work if age…

Scheduling the proper amount of call center agents to have on hand is a tricky job, requiring a number of calculations and knowledge of call center be…

Call center scheduling is an up and down battle - literally. From fighting the high call volumes of peak times, to making sure to not over staff durin…

When it comes to the contact center, it's easy to get lost in the day to day fire drills caused by scheduling miscues or simply a general lack of adhe…

CFI Group's 2019 Contact Center Satisfaction Index (CCSI) reports a three percent drop. Measured on a scale of 1-100, 68 may be passing in school, but…

So you've carefully built a great schedule for the contact center. You've examined historical data, accounted for all manner of future conditions, run…

Call center workers for the Ontario Cannabis Store announced that after a vote, they will be joining the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Uni…

According to recent research from the REPL Group, the largest complaint of retail workers is understaffing, with more than 80 percent of respondents n…

Call center scheduling practices can either hinder or help performance. Proper staffing is critical in a customer service environment, ensuring the pr…

Schedule adherence, an important metric for contact centers to track, is simply the percentage of time that customer support agents adhere to their sc…

A new study from the Kellogg School finds that first come, first served may not be the most efficient way to handle call center queues.

Many companies build work schedules from the point of view of their own convenience. How can we ensure we're not overstaffed or understaffed? What sch…

A comprehensive workforce management solution geared toward the needs of the call center is key to improving worker scheduling.

While no one has a crystal ball to look into (not one that works, anyway), call center managers are often expected to successfully see the future. For…

Studies show the predictive, stable work schedules for those in the call center and other industries can lead to health and other benefits.

Rigid contact center schedules may work well for businesses that have highly predictable call traffic, but most for most call centers, this isn't the …