Recently in Call Center CRM Category

Hosted Speech in the Call Center

April 14, 2008 2:55 PM | 0 Comments

Speech automation solutions used to be something only very large and technically sophisticated companies could afford, mostly due to the significant up-front capital expenditures required to purchase, deploy, maintain and troubleshoot the required (and very complex) infrastructure. Today, however, hosted speech solutions are allowing contact centers of all size to deploy and enjoy the many benefits of speech automation with less implementation time and investment .

Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 15th), I'll be moderating a Webinar at 2:00 pm EST entitled, "Deploying Speech Automation Using A Hosted Solution" that will discuss how a hosted solution puts speech within the reach of even modest-size contact centers.

Join myself and presenters from VoltDelta and Envox for this important Webinar. To register, click here.

TES

Italian Call Center Doldrums

April 10, 2008 3:39 PM | 0 Comments
It seems that a new Italian film that is receiving rave reviews, "Tutta La Vita Davanti" (All Your Life Ahead of You) has a thing or two to say about life (or a job, anyway) in the call center. And it's not complimentary.

The protagonist is a young woman cannot find a suitable job upon graduation from university, so she turns to a call center job. The job itself, apparently, acts as a motif for hopelessness: a dead-end job for a dead-end life.

Ouch.

The plot, and the young woman's predicament, is intended to underscore the difficulties of modern life and employment for young people in Italy.

A review and a commentary of the film can be found here in the International Herald Tribune.

TES

The ATA's Washington Summit

April 8, 2008 3:52 PM | 0 Comments
Hot topics to be covered at this year's American Teleservices Association (ATA) Washington, D.C. Summit will include:
  • Unveiling of ATA's SRO Online Assessment Tool
  • The States on Consumer Protection
  • ATA and DMA - In Cooperation for Our Future
  • Road to the White House: The 2008 Election
  • The How-To's on Building a Powerful PAC
  • The ATA is M.A.D. (Making a Difference)
The important summit will take place April 27th to 30th at Hyatt Regency Crystal City. For more information, visit www.ataconnect.org/washington

TES

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

April 2, 2008 9:15 AM | 0 Comments
Microsoft recently announced, somewhat informally, that it is changing the name of its software-as-a-service CRM solution from Dynamics CRM Live to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The move, which is affecting the name only, is an attempt to avoid confusion between the SaaS CRM solution and Microsoft's other "Live" named solutions.

"Whereas the Live brand is focused on consumers and small businesses, the Online brand is fully aligned with our existing Dynamics CRM strategy of delivering outstanding solutions for small businesses, midsized companies and large enterprises," wrote Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

TES

Eliminating CRM Pain

April 1, 2008 1:06 PM | 0 Comments
Hopefully, you're not one of those companies that discovered the problems of early CRM implementations through experience (if you are, my apologies). CRM is a highly complex business strategy/principle/philosophy/religion, depending on how you look at it, that needs to be approached with respect.

Tomorrow, I'm moderating a Webinar called "CRM Integration Best Practices, Taking The Pain Out Of The Call Center," along with AMC Technology's VP of Marketing Paul Nussbaum. The Webinar starts at 2:00 pm EST time and will cover all the topics you need to know about properly integrating CRM into your organization.

Visit http://www.tmcnet.com/webinar/amc-technology/ to register. I look forward to seeing you there.

TES

Ergonomics For Call Center

March 26, 2008 4:18 PM | 0 Comments
Are you protecting your call center agents' backs? Sitting all day long can be hard on the back, and back problems are one of the most common causes of employees calling out sick.

Fellowes, in partnership with BackCare, a U.K.-based "charity for healthier backs," has launched Ergonomix, a nationwide (in the U.K.) month-long campaign aiming to help reduce the risk of RSI, back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders by raising awareness of workstation assessments and ergonomics in the workplace. To achieve this, the two organizations have set up a dedicated Web site, www.ergonomix.info, with detailed information on how companies can protect their workforces by conducting regular workstation assessments and providing ergonomic products.

TES

Canadian Call Center Strategies

March 24, 2008 3:13 PM | 0 Comments
A recent article posted by CBC news, recognizing the danger in the devalued U.S. dollar to the Canadian call center market, has postulated that the Canadian call center industry needs to refocus itself and concentrate on high-value customer care (financial services) rather than business that concentrates on low-value transactions.

"Economists are warning that global competition, the high value of the Canadian dollar and the tight labour market are reshaping the future of the call centre business, especially in the Maritimes. David Campbell, an independent economic consultant in Moncton, N.B., says New Brunswick should take a page from Nova Scotia's business plan and put more emphasis on attracting financial service and hedge fund centres, which pay bigger salaries."

TES

The End Of Customer Service

March 20, 2008 2:24 PM | 0 Comments
This week's TIME magazine has on its cover "10 Ideas That Are Changing The World." Number one on the list is "common wealth": sustainable development, ecologically sound industry, population stabilization. The number two world-changing idea? The end of customer service, thanks to both increasingly sophisticated self-service technologies and increased customer willingness to use these technologies.

Read "The End Of Customer Service" here.

TES

Call Center Industry Growth

March 17, 2008 3:24 PM | 0 Comments
Good news for those of us who live and work in the contact center industry. The global call center market is expected to reach $195 billion by 2010 according to industry analysts Global Industry Analysts, Inc. This conclusion appears in a report titled, "Call Centers: A Global Strategic Business Report." The study analyzed past, current and future market data and analytics over the period 2000-2010 and long-term projections (2011-2015) for regions including the North America, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and others.

For specifics and a break-down of numbers, visit the summary on the company's Web site.

Canadian Call Center Shut-Down

March 13, 2008 3:34 PM | 0 Comments
We've noted, via various news reports recently, that several large American call center operators are shutting down Canadian call center operations because the weakness of the American dollar against the Canadian dollar means there is no longer a cost savings to locate a call center "nearshore" in Canada.

West Corp. is the most recent company to fold up a Canadian call center. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company plans to shut down a call center in British Columbia by summer, putting 450 workers out of a job.

New article about the shut-down can be found here.

TES
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