Brendan Read
TMC
November 2006
You are browsing the archive for November 2006.
Accent Reduction
November 28, 2006
IBM is offering technology to help Indian and other foreign agents improve their English skills, reduce their accents and avoid using phrases that may be unfamiliar to English speakers in the U.S. or other primarily English-speaking countries.
According to this article in the Louisville Courier-Journal, "The program evaluates grammar, pronunciation, comprehension and other spoken-language skills, and provides detailed scores for each category. It uses specially adapted speech-recognition software to score the pronunciation of passages and the stressing of syllables for words."
The full article may be accessed here: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061127/BUSINESS/611270334/1003
TES
According to this article in the Louisville Courier-Journal, "The program evaluates grammar, pronunciation, comprehension and other spoken-language skills, and provides detailed scores for each category. It uses specially adapted speech-recognition software to score the pronunciation of passages and the stressing of syllables for words."
The full article may be accessed here: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061127/BUSINESS/611270334/1003
TES
Reverse Telemarketing
November 21, 2006
Here's an interesting article from Bob Sullivan's blog on MSNBC today about a practice loosely termed "reversed telemarketing." Indian telemarketers call stone-cold leads (years-old responses to spam) with the hopes of catching a few "live" ones. They then transfer any live leads to, in this case, mortgage brokers in the U.S., who pay per live, transferred lead.
Read the full blog entry at: http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/11/spam_never_dies.html#posts
TES
Read the full blog entry at: http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/11/spam_never_dies.html#posts
TES
Paper Customer Service
November 17, 2006
Here's an interesting response I received to my November "Last Call" column, which can be read here: http://www.tmcnet.com/call-center/1106/cis-last-call-1106.htm.
#1 fan here. You really got wound up on this Nov. issue's Last Call. Whew. I can't disagree with you. The stats. are really amazing. I don't remember the exact source, but I read one recently where the call center workers and then the callers into the same customer care operations were surveyed on service quality. 3/4 of the workers said they were delivering good service, but only 23% of their customers reported receiving same.
Where I might slightly differ from your message is that I don't think the reasons for the disconnect are always as complex as you suggest. Quick and true example: A client approached us recently: "We're getting 95% satisfaction scores. Can we really be that good?" Me: "Well, that does seem awfully high. Where is the data coming from?" Client: "We do a survey at the end of a customer service call." Me: "Oh. Rather than ask the callers to stay on the line, why don't we call them back? We'll ask the very same questions."
It seemed better just to make the suggested change than blurt out: "Excuse me? All the disgruntled callers hung up before the survey, and since you rate agents on satisfaction, they have the incentive to just say 'goodbye' to the dissatisfied caller and wait for the caller to disconnect before releasing the line. Your survey gets 95% sat. scores because you're only asking the happy campers!"
BTW, we did make the change and the sat.
#1 fan here. You really got wound up on this Nov. issue's Last Call. Whew. I can't disagree with you. The stats. are really amazing. I don't remember the exact source, but I read one recently where the call center workers and then the callers into the same customer care operations were surveyed on service quality. 3/4 of the workers said they were delivering good service, but only 23% of their customers reported receiving same.
Where I might slightly differ from your message is that I don't think the reasons for the disconnect are always as complex as you suggest. Quick and true example: A client approached us recently: "We're getting 95% satisfaction scores. Can we really be that good?" Me: "Well, that does seem awfully high. Where is the data coming from?" Client: "We do a survey at the end of a customer service call." Me: "Oh. Rather than ask the callers to stay on the line, why don't we call them back? We'll ask the very same questions."
It seemed better just to make the suggested change than blurt out: "Excuse me? All the disgruntled callers hung up before the survey, and since you rate agents on satisfaction, they have the incentive to just say 'goodbye' to the dissatisfied caller and wait for the caller to disconnect before releasing the line. Your survey gets 95% sat. scores because you're only asking the happy campers!"
BTW, we did make the change and the sat.
One Percent Porn
November 15, 2006
A U.S. government-commissioned study had claimed to have discovered that, based on search engine indexing, the Internet is comprised of one percent porn. As the conventional wisdom is that the Internet is 99 percent junk and one percent useful content (news sites, TMCnet, newspapers, retail Web sites, scholarly research, etc.) what's the other 98 percent of drivel? Teenagers' MySpace pages? Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction? Canadian drug sites for Viagra (or should that be V!@GRA!!!) and snake oil pills? Tell-all sites devoted to celebrity airheads like Paris Hilton? And with regards to the latter, why do we need tell-all tabloid journalism to tell all about people who are clearly desperate to tell all about themselves to anyone who will listen anyway?
View the full article here: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/11/15/internet.blocking.ap/index.html
View the full article here: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/11/15/internet.blocking.ap/index.html
3,000 Miles From Your Burger
November 14, 2006
"Restaurants count on the drive-through business for about two-thirds of all sales. Every second counts in the race to deliver food faster. At the Wendy’s stores that use call centers, drive-through transactions are expected to be completed in under 90 seconds."
So how to keep the orders flowing and make sure you have a regular supply of well-spoken, minimally accented employees to take orders for Wendy's cheeseburgers? Outsource, of course. In this article from Mumbai's Financial Express, the Wendy's agent is across the country. In many other instances we've seen in the news lately, that agent can be located anywhere in the world.
Read the full article here: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=146131
TES
So how to keep the orders flowing and make sure you have a regular supply of well-spoken, minimally accented employees to take orders for Wendy's cheeseburgers? Outsource, of course. In this article from Mumbai's Financial Express, the Wendy's agent is across the country. In many other instances we've seen in the news lately, that agent can be located anywhere in the world.
Read the full article here: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=146131
TES
Phishing Is Phlourishing
November 9, 2006MSNBC's Bob Sullivan reports today that phishing is starting to change from a profitable cottage industry into a big business. Perhaps the credit card companies should start putting easy-to-read inserts into consumers' bills explaining what phishing is and how not to fall prey to it?
TES
Jet-lagged Mice
November 7, 2006In a study that conjures up terrific mental images of mice strapped into small airplane seats (I'm sorry...is "small airplane seat" an oxymoron?), scientists have concluded that mice who live on irregular light/dark and sleep/wake schedules die younger than better rested and refreshed mice. The study concludes that the kind of sleep interruption brought on by jet lag may lead frequent flyers to die younger.
So be warned, mice of the world who are logging in seven-figure airmile accounts each year, you may not make it to see your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren graduate from college.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15603297/
TES
