Brendan Read
TMC
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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SysAid's Lifshitz: The Cloud Will Dominate ITSM Market
Cloud computing has really become a household word with mainstream media outlets running stories on television about the growth in the space...
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Avaya Takes Networking Lead in SPB
At Interop Las Vegas 2013 Avaya was demonstrating their real-world Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) solutions and while interoperating with Spirent, HP and...
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Alianza Wants to Host Your Software Telco
The software telco(r)evolution representing the move from hardware to software is perhaps the biggest trend in the world of carrier telecom this...
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WebRTC Screen Sharing Using Openfire
I've written about WebRTC screen sharing, but today I came across another WebRTC screen sharing solution leveraging Openfire and using WebSockets and...
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LTE Network Interactions
According to a recently released GSMA Wireless Intelligence infographic, there are 163 live LTE networks today, and that figure is expected...
Full Story »Suing Telemarketers
February 21, 2007
The Red Tape Chronicles blog on MSNBC has an interesting piece about how online court forms have made it easy, cheap and quick for consumers to file lawsuits...and win settlements...against telemarketers violating elements of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. One of the most common grievances is against companies that fail to stop calling consumers after being specifically requested to do so.
The full article is here: http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/02/suing_telemarke.html
TES
The full article is here: http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/02/suing_telemarke.html
TES
Convergys CEO To Retire
February 20, 2007
James F. Orr, Chairman and CEO of giant outsourced call center services provider Convergys Corporation, today announced that he plans to retire at the end of 2007. In anticipation of Orr’s retirement, the company's Board of Directors today elected David F. Dougherty, currently President and COO, to become President and Chief Executive Officer effective at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, April 17, 2007.
Happy retirement, Mr. Orr.
TES
Happy retirement, Mr. Orr.
TES
E-Mail Addictions
February 20, 2007
Are you addicted to e-mail? Do you hit F-5 once a minute? Do you get the shakes if you've been away from your BlackBerry for longer than 10 minutes? Have you ever found yourself checking e-mail at movies, family dinners, in the middle of the night or during sex?
If so, it may be time to embark on the 12 steps, and the first step, as always, is to admit you have a problem.
See CNN's article today: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/02/20/email.addiction.reut/index.html
TES
If so, it may be time to embark on the 12 steps, and the first step, as always, is to admit you have a problem.
See CNN's article today: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/02/20/email.addiction.reut/index.html
TES
Call Centers Prefer Unified Solutions
February 14, 2007
Recently released research by Purdue University's BenchmarkPortal has revealed that call centers tend to prefer "all-in-one" contact center solutions that serve all (or most) of a call center's needs rather than a mix of point solutions from different vendors.
Integration was identified as the most critical condition behind this preference: all-in-one systems were preferred over point solutions based on their ability to support additional applications with virtually no modification or integration issues, and for their ability to "lower administrative costs by reducing support staff by a full 25 percent."
“Our findings show that, in general, all-in-one communications systems contain the same core ‘best-of-breed’ applications required by contact centers as their multi-point counterparts, and that they come with the advantages of fewer interfaces, lower support requirements, simplified management, and easier access to performance data across applications,” said BenchmarkPortal research analyst, Bruce Belfiore.
Another interesting result of the Benchmark Portal survey was that the three applications call centers are most likely to implement over the next year are post call surveys, Web chat and multimedia queuing.
To read more in-depth about the survey, visit www.benchmarkportal.com.
TES
Integration was identified as the most critical condition behind this preference: all-in-one systems were preferred over point solutions based on their ability to support additional applications with virtually no modification or integration issues, and for their ability to "lower administrative costs by reducing support staff by a full 25 percent."
“Our findings show that, in general, all-in-one communications systems contain the same core ‘best-of-breed’ applications required by contact centers as their multi-point counterparts, and that they come with the advantages of fewer interfaces, lower support requirements, simplified management, and easier access to performance data across applications,” said BenchmarkPortal research analyst, Bruce Belfiore.
Another interesting result of the Benchmark Portal survey was that the three applications call centers are most likely to implement over the next year are post call surveys, Web chat and multimedia queuing.
To read more in-depth about the survey, visit www.benchmarkportal.com.
TES
ID Theft Is All In The Family
February 13, 2007
Consultant organization Mintel has conducted a study that indicates that close to 70 percent of consumers surveyed are either "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" that their credit or debit card information will be stolen if they make purchases on the Internet (http://tinyurl.com/35fapm).
More than one third of respondents to Mintel's survey perceive the Internet as the medium most likely to result in ID theft. Twenty-eight percent who claim mail theft is most common and one fifth blame credit card receipts. In contrast with these perceptions, the 2006 Identity Fraud Survey Report released by the Council of Better Business Bureaus/Javelin revealed that more than 60 percent of fraud actually occurred at the hands of friends, family neighbors and through other means than Internet purchasing.
In other words, forget Amazon or eBay and take a good long look at your loser cousin Bob who was rifling through your garbage last week because he said he'd dropped a rare collector's beer cap in there.
TES
More than one third of respondents to Mintel's survey perceive the Internet as the medium most likely to result in ID theft. Twenty-eight percent who claim mail theft is most common and one fifth blame credit card receipts. In contrast with these perceptions, the 2006 Identity Fraud Survey Report released by the Council of Better Business Bureaus/Javelin revealed that more than 60 percent of fraud actually occurred at the hands of friends, family neighbors and through other means than Internet purchasing.
In other words, forget Amazon or eBay and take a good long look at your loser cousin Bob who was rifling through your garbage last week because he said he'd dropped a rare collector's beer cap in there.
TES
Interactive Intelligence's Record Results
February 12, 2007
In a familiar theme these past few weeks, Interactive Intelligence today announced record financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2006.
The company reported record total revenues in the 2006 fourth quarter of $23.9 million, a 36 percent increase from $17.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Revenues for the 2006 fiscal year totaled a record $83.2 million, up 32 percent from $62.9 million in 2005.
Many companies in the call center space have reported record results in the last few weeks. It warms the heart (well, a call center editor's heart, anyway) to hear such good news.
To read the full details, visit Interactive Intelligence's Web site at www.inin.com.
TES
The company reported record total revenues in the 2006 fourth quarter of $23.9 million, a 36 percent increase from $17.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Revenues for the 2006 fiscal year totaled a record $83.2 million, up 32 percent from $62.9 million in 2005.
Many companies in the call center space have reported record results in the last few weeks. It warms the heart (well, a call center editor's heart, anyway) to hear such good news.
To read the full details, visit Interactive Intelligence's Web site at www.inin.com.
TES
Verint & Witness To Merge
February 12, 2007
Analytics provider Verint and workforce optimization leader Witness this morning announced that the two companies will merge. The two companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Verint will acquire Witness for $27.50 per share in cash. The convergence of Witness’ workforce optimization and Verint’s actionable intelligence will create a broad portfolio of contact center and enterprise performance solutions, delivering a compelling new vision for the customer-centric enterprise.
Stay tuned for more in-depth info later in the day.
TES
Stay tuned for more in-depth info later in the day.
TES
Gmail's Cool Factor
February 8, 2007
TMCnet's Raju Shanbhag posted an article today about Gmail becoming accessible to all as Google removes the "invitation only" stipulation from it.
(See the article at http://www.tmcnet.com/ce/articles/4970-gmail-now-open-all.htm)
Does anybody remember the very earliest days of Gmail when having an account was worthy of bragging rights during cocktail happy hours after work? The cool factor lasted about as long as it took to finish the blood orange martini, if I recall. Then, you discovered your mother had a Gmail account, and it was all over.
TES
(See the article at http://www.tmcnet.com/ce/articles/4970-gmail-now-open-all.htm)
Does anybody remember the very earliest days of Gmail when having an account was worthy of bragging rights during cocktail happy hours after work? The cool factor lasted about as long as it took to finish the blood orange martini, if I recall. Then, you discovered your mother had a Gmail account, and it was all over.
TES
Teleperformance Reports Strong Growth
February 7, 2007I've received a flood of press releases lately from companies, both call center solutions providers and teleservices companies, reporting record profits or, at the least, powerful growth. French teleservices giant Teleperformance issued a release today indicating stronger-than-expected organic growth.
The Teleperformance Group, which has call center facilities all over the world, reported that 2006 consolidated revenues, based on published data, were €1,385.2 million versus €1,195.9 million in 2005, increasing by 15.8 percent.
For more detailed info about the financial numbers, visit www.teleperformance.com.
TES
Enkata Reports Strong Growth
February 6, 2007Enkata, which sells on-demand "performance and talent management" solutions, reported today that the company experienced a record year in 2006. This is good for Enkata, but such news is also a good portent for the market segment it represents.
Said Enkata, "Performance and talent management is one of the fastest-growing software categories. Its rapid growth has been driven by management desire to increase the productivity and morale of their employees. Enkata’s solutions help contact center and back-office managers unleash employee potential by automating daily/ weekly performance assessments and improving coaching effectiveness."
TES
