Brendan Read
TMC
10 Lessons from Volleyball, Part 2
Part 1 of the 10 Business Lessons from Volleyball can be found here. In volleyball, the only play you control yourself is...
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CloudTC and N-Able Acquired
"Australian-owned IP PBX systems company, Vixtel, has completed the acquisition of Silicon Valley based glass phone developer, CloudTC, for an undisclosed figure,"...
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ProfitBricks: Where InfiniBand Meets Cloud 2.0
In a recent meeting with William Toll and Pete Johnson of ProfitBricks, the pair were ecstatic to explain how their company has...
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Proactive Care Puts Operators One Step Ahead
By Thomas Fuerst, Senior Director, Multimedia Solutions MarketingAlcatel-Lucent
Monitoring and analyzing network data proactively saves operators time, money, and customers.
When a network service fails, it makes headlines, ticks off customers, and costs that network operator money. When a failure is headed off in advance, on the other hand, there might not be praise-laden headlines, but it's newsworthy nonetheless.
The traditional approach to customer care has typically been: a disgruntled customer calls customer service and complains of a service interruption or problem; the rep, learning of it for the first time, sends out a technician the next day, and eventually finds a resolution. Often, customers are left feeling put out, and the operator has spent significant time and money resolving the problem. Even worse is the customer who doesn’t call and just feels this is ‘typical’ of their network experience. That is a customer at risk of leaving.
Proactive care flips this dynamic on its head by using predictive analytics to identify potential outages or errors in the network and stop them before they occur. It consists of three main parts: one, constantly monitoring and measuring data on the network; two, real-time analysis of the data; and three, the most important, acting on that analysis to fix the problem.
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10 Lessons from Volleyball
I've played volleyball for over 25 years. I have traveled around the US to watch the pros live - both indoor...
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Emerging Threats Combats a Million Plus Pieces of New Malware a Week
There are 250,000 plus new pieces of malware being produced each day equating to one piece per person in the US in...
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NFV-Based Software Telcos Need OSS/BSS Interoperability
One of the goals of ETSI NFV is to allow new entrants to provide solutions to carriers based on software instead of...
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March 5, 2007
The application process is now open for the 8th Annual CRM Excellence Awards, a chance for CRM solutions and services providers to demonstrate that they help their customers provide the best CRM in the world. We know you're out there...you just need to show us your stuff.
Information about applying for this award may be found at http://www.tmcnet.com/tmc/poty/Default.aspx?awardid=28
TES
Information about applying for this award may be found at http://www.tmcnet.com/tmc/poty/Default.aspx?awardid=28
TES
Media Blackout
March 2, 2007
The Associated Press has revealed that it recently put a week-long media blackout on any and all Paris Hilton stories for a week. To see if anyone would notice. Apparently, not only did no one care, the only attention the move got was praise. I think AP should put it in place permanently.
Hackers
March 1, 2007
Reading TMCnet's Beverly Maniago's article on the two MySpace hackers this morning made me angry. Not the article...the lack of jail time for these two bottom-feeders. The two young men, aged 19 and 20 (I erased the original description of the pair I typed), tried to extort money out of MySpace and threatened to distribute code that would allow users to track other users (potentially giving personal information to dangerous stalkers, criminals, child predators, rapists, etc.) The two were nabbed in a sting operation by the Secret Service. (Luckily, they were the stupid kind of criminals.)
They avoided jail time and ended up with community service and fines.
They avoided jail time and ended up with community service and fines.
ClientLogic/Sitel To Become Sitel
February 28, 2007
In a follow up to the recent announcement of the merger of ClientLogic and Sitel, two large outsourced call center/teleservices providers, the merged company announced today that upon completion of the transaction, the entity will go by the name Sitel.
"This merger was not about combining two great companies to form one large company," said Dave Garner, president and CEO of the new Sitel. "The merger was about taking two great companies and creating the best. The new Sitel will set the industry standard for outsourced customer care and redefine what it means to be an outsourcing partner."
For more specific information about the merger, visit www.sitel.com/brandlaunch
TES
"This merger was not about combining two great companies to form one large company," said Dave Garner, president and CEO of the new Sitel. "The merger was about taking two great companies and creating the best. The new Sitel will set the industry standard for outsourced customer care and redefine what it means to be an outsourcing partner."
For more specific information about the merger, visit www.sitel.com/brandlaunch
TES
Annoyed Germans, Irritated Brits
February 28, 2007
Sounds like an episode of "Fawlty Towers," doesn't it?
A recent survey conducted by GMI and commissioned by European IP communications provider Wicom Communications found cultural differences in end user attitudes towards and experiences with call centers in the UK and Germany. The survey was conducted this month (February, 2007) among 1,000 end users in Germany and the UK.
When asked for the motive/reasons behind calls to customer support centers, answers across both countries were consistent. Around 73 percent of respondents in both countries contacted a call center typically for general inquiries. "It may be a cliché, however the results reflect some of the cultural differences between the two countries.
A recent survey conducted by GMI and commissioned by European IP communications provider Wicom Communications found cultural differences in end user attitudes towards and experiences with call centers in the UK and Germany. The survey was conducted this month (February, 2007) among 1,000 end users in Germany and the UK.
When asked for the motive/reasons behind calls to customer support centers, answers across both countries were consistent. Around 73 percent of respondents in both countries contacted a call center typically for general inquiries. "It may be a cliché, however the results reflect some of the cultural differences between the two countries.
Technology & Narcissism
February 27, 2007
Think about it...MySpace and YouTube. Not "OurSpace" and "WeTube". Me, me, me.
A study that has been regularly conducted by San Diego State University has found that in 2006, college students are more narcissistic and self-involved than every before...two-thirds of them think they're wonderful and the world ought to revolve around them.
While the study shows media such as MySpace and YouTube to be a symptom, not a cause, of the problem, it is indicative that somewhere along the way, the "Free To Be You and Me" movement of the 60s and 70s that was meant to build self-esteem in children has over time morphed into an alarming overdose in self-esteem and a rise in a "F*ck You, I'm Special And You're Not" generation.
But think about the technologies...iPods mean we can pick the music we want to listen to and never have to be exposed to anything we don't...in the way listening to the radio or sharing a family stereo meant you had to put up with other people's musical choices for part of the time. The vast array of Internet news (and increasingly polarized network news) means we can listen to current affairs information skewed in the political direction of our choice without ever having to be bothered by views from the other side or uncomfortable realities we don't like.
A study that has been regularly conducted by San Diego State University has found that in 2006, college students are more narcissistic and self-involved than every before...two-thirds of them think they're wonderful and the world ought to revolve around them.
While the study shows media such as MySpace and YouTube to be a symptom, not a cause, of the problem, it is indicative that somewhere along the way, the "Free To Be You and Me" movement of the 60s and 70s that was meant to build self-esteem in children has over time morphed into an alarming overdose in self-esteem and a rise in a "F*ck You, I'm Special And You're Not" generation.
But think about the technologies...iPods mean we can pick the music we want to listen to and never have to be exposed to anything we don't...in the way listening to the radio or sharing a family stereo meant you had to put up with other people's musical choices for part of the time. The vast array of Internet news (and increasingly polarized network news) means we can listen to current affairs information skewed in the political direction of our choice without ever having to be bothered by views from the other side or uncomfortable realities we don't like.
Entellium Ranks High For CRM
February 26, 2007
CRM provider Entellium announced today that it was among the select group of companies that Forrester Research invited to participate in its Q1 2007 Forrester Wave report, Midmarket CRM Suites. In this review, Entellium was recognized as a strong performer, offering small and midsized businesses “ready-to-use, affordable CRM.”
Forrester evaluated several midmarket CRM vendors using nearly 500 criteria grouped into three main categories: current offering, strategy and market presence. Entellium earned the highest scores for cost and time-to-value, as well as one of the top three scores for product strategy, corporate strategy and usability.
To read more about Entellium, visit www.entellium.com.
TES
Forrester evaluated several midmarket CRM vendors using nearly 500 criteria grouped into three main categories: current offering, strategy and market presence. Entellium earned the highest scores for cost and time-to-value, as well as one of the top three scores for product strategy, corporate strategy and usability.
To read more about Entellium, visit www.entellium.com.
TES
Product Release Timing
February 26, 2007
To tech editors, mid-to-late February becomes fodder for a horror movie. The phone never stops ringing, the e-mails pour in, and the briefing requests come in faster than our Outlook calendars (or editors' brains) can handle them.
Contrast this to mid-January: this is a time when tech editors are desperately writing up and posting any news, no matter how slight ("CRM Software Provider Moves Location Of 'Open Here' Instructions On Product Packaging!") out of sheer desperation. Why is the news so slow then? Because no one is announcing any new products.
Contrast this to mid-January: this is a time when tech editors are desperately writing up and posting any news, no matter how slight ("CRM Software Provider Moves Location Of 'Open Here' Instructions On Product Packaging!") out of sheer desperation. Why is the news so slow then? Because no one is announcing any new products.
Woman Power In Tech
February 23, 2007
One of the most prestigious prizes in computing, the $100,000 Turing Award, went to a woman Wednesday for the first time in the award's 40-year history. Frances E. Allen, 74, was honored for her work at IBM Corp. on techniques for optimizing the performance of compilers, the programs that translate one computer language into another.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/02/22/computing.award.ap/index.html
Good for Frances...nice to see some double-X chromosomes being recognized in such a male-dominated industry.
TES
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/02/22/computing.award.ap/index.html
Good for Frances...nice to see some double-X chromosomes being recognized in such a male-dominated industry.
TES
Forrester Says Oracle/Siebel CRM Tops
February 22, 2007Congratulations to Oracle. Analyst group Forrester Research has recognized Oracle’s Siebel CRM Professional Edition as "having the strongest current offering in the latest Forrester Wave Evaluation: Midmarket CRM Suites, Q1 February 2007." Forrester also named Oracle’s Siebel CRM On Demand as the industry leader.
Check out the full report at: http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2007_feb/oraclecrmondemandforresterfeb07.html
