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Brookstone
March 19, 2007
About six months or so ago I purchased an iGo mobile travel adapter from Brookstone in the JFK Airport in New York. The device proved extremely handy allowing me to plug into airline power adapters as well as AC outlets. Then on Friday of last week my adapter stopped working. The blue light which used to be solid on the adapter started to flash. I realized the tip was the culprit because as soon as I removed the tip, the light stopped flashing.
Apparently my situation was a known problem According to my MIS department. Since I was traveling on the following Monday I didn’t have time to wait for a new tip to be sent to me via the mail so I decided to go to the mall this past weekend and see if I could purchase a new tip.
No such luck. The mall I went to had all the electronics stores you could think of from Brookstone to Sharper Image but none of the stores carried any iGo products.
So there I was – stuck. I had now way to power my laptop on my flight today.
As I walked through the airport today at JFK once again I happened to find another Brookstone store in a different terminal.
I explained my situation to the person behind the counter and she explained that they don’t sell tips for laptops. I could purchase a new iGo adapter for $120 if I like.
I asked if I could return the old one and she said they no longer carry it and their new return policy would not allow it.
So basically it looked like there was no way for me to power my laptop for the week – unless I opted for a new adapter.
Then the woman asked which tip number had the problem. I told her #6. She reached into her magic iGo bag behind the counter and handed me the tip I needed. I gave her mine. She said she would send it back.
Now in case you don’t know me, I believe I have some sort of power obsession. I like to have all of my devices fully charged at all times and just hate to run out of battery. This power situation while perhaps a small problem to others was a big problem for me.
It is obvious that the person behind the counter at Brookstone saw my frustration and decided to help a customer out. She went above and beyond and I appreciate her actions and that of Brookstone corporate. Great job Brookstone. If only every company had employees like yours.
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Mitel’s Next Generation Call Center
March 19, 2007
What will the call center of the future look like? I am not sure but I have seen some interesting Mitel product demos recently which may be the basis for some future call center applications in 2010 or beyond.
About seven years ago Sun came by TMC and was thrilled to show us their new smart card based terminals they thought would be a natural fit for call centers. Shortly thereafter Sun went silent and we at TMC didn’t hear much about these cards again. I haven’t seen them in any call centers over the years either.
Still, the concept of having a thin client for call center agents makes sense as there are no virus issues to deal with and no upgrades and new releases to add management time and cost to your call center solution.
When Mitel showed me their leading edge call center solution I was actually surprised to realize it is the same smart card I saw first about seven years ago.
It is called a Sun Ray Base Station and it accepts a smart card which authenticates the agent. Fingerprint info can be embedded in the card if needed. Agents can log into any terminal with said card and there is full integration with Mitel’s call center solutions.
Sun likes to call this environment a phonetop. The idea seems great but while Sun seems to be a great technology company, they often seem to forget to actually promote their innovations in areas such as call centers.
Still, for a few hundred dollars you can purchase one of these terminals and in the process not worry about data theft and a myriad of other problems a typical computer manager is faced with.
What is so cool about the integration is Mitel’s integration of the Sun card into their telephone. These phones can obviously be brought home as well for a more secure remote agent solution.
Mitel also showed me a Windows Mobile PDA-based application allowing a call center manager to wander the call center and check on the agents while managing queues reprioritizing calls, etc.
Like I said, this stuff is all part of Mitel’s contact center of the future demonstration and I like what I see. Hopefully this article will generate some attention to the cool things Mitel and Sun are collectively working on in call centers to be available very soon.
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