Optimum and Verizon, NEC Unified and TORO, Mailprotector, AT&T and iPhones, SureWest's TV Caller ID

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Kinks' classic 1968 album Something Else, the best non-Beatle pop songwriting to appear in the 1960s:

According to the redoubtable J.D. Power, Optimum Business ranks highest in satisfying home-based and small to midsize business customers with telecommunications data services, and Verizon's tops among customers in the large enterprise business segment.

 

After a sharp decline in satisfaction scores in the small/mid-size and large enterprise business segments between 2007 and 2008, overall satisfaction in both segments have increased in 2009, J.D. Power officials say, "driven by improvements in the billing and customer service factors." The results are in the latest J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Major Provider Business Telecommunications study.

With an index score of 654 on a 1,000-point scale, Optimum Business by Cablevision ranks highest in the home-based business segment. No, there's no comparison from last year's performance or a defending champion, it's a new segment in the 2009 study. 

 

The study found that Optimum Business performed well in performance and reliability, and picked up kudos for offerings and promotions. Silver and bronze went to Cox Communications (637) and EMBARQ (629).

Optimum Business also took top honors for the small/mid-size business segment with a score of 673, performing particularly well in sales representatives/account executives, billing, cost of service and offerings and promotions. J.D. Power characterized these particular categories as "four of the six factors driving satisfaction." 

 

Cox Communications seems to be playing Avis to Optimum's Hertz, following Optimum in the segment rankings with a score of 669. AT&T ranked third with 632.

In the large enterprise business segment, Verizon ranks highest in customer satisfaction with a score of 694, performing particularly well in performance and reliability, sales representatives/account executives, customer service, cost of service and offerings and promotions. Time Warner Cable came in second with 677.

In more good news, the study found a "considerable decline" in the percentage of small/mid-size and large enterprise business customers who said they had "difficulty understanding the customer service representative," which includes a lack of understanding of the problem by the customer service representative and issues with the clarity of a customer service representative's response. Sixteen percent report having experienced this problem, compared with 23 percent in 2008. Among large enterprise business customers this went from 26 percent to 13 percent.

"The sharp decline in communication-related problems between customer service representatives and their clients is just another example of how strong internal training programs pay long-term dividends for business services providers," said Perazzini. "These results are particularly impressive considering that there were no major differences in network outage performance between 2008 and 2009."

 

J.D. Power is a McGraw-Hill company.
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NEC Unified Solutions has announced that TORO National Support Network is using NEC's UC for Business product to handle customer service.

TORO NSN's call center handles troubleshooting and maintenance for customers using TORO's turf irrigation computer systems. TORO chose NEC's UC for Business unified communications application, according to TORO officials, to "enhance the NSN contact center's performance and reporting capabilities." The product is supposed to streamline administration and allow the company to handle the real-time demands of its call center.

In addition to providing advanced contact center functionality, NEC's deployment at TORO NSN offers unified messaging, mobility and desktop telephony applications. Desktop monitoring software allows TORO NSN to supervise incoming calls and prioritize those that need to be addressed immediately. In a pure IP environment the TORO NSN can meet its current communications needs with advanced technology.

"By choosing the UNIVERGE SV8300 and UCB, TORO NSN is providing its call center employees with the tools they need to make decisions and respond to customers quickly and knowledgeably," says Larry Levenberg, vice president and general manager, National Channel for NEC.

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Mailprotector, a vendor of e-mail security services, has unveiled quota-free hosted Exchange services. The new service is being pitched as going "beyond alternative hosted Exchange offerings" by "eliminating downtime resulting from mailbox limits that are exceeded quickly, preventing e-mail access."

 

"E-mail quota management has been a struggle for both users and organizations managing e-mail systems. Quotas reduce productivity by requiring users to manage their mailboxes instead of focusing on more strategic business activities," says Michael Osterman, founding analyst for Osterman Research. "With 60 percent of organizations having to impose a size quota on e-mail this is a widespread issue."

 

Mailprotector is offering fully hosted MS Exchange 2007 mailboxes with unlimited storage capacity, protected by Mailprotector's e-mail security service that includes spam, virus and phishing removal. The company's services start as low as $12.95 per user for unlimited mailbox storage e-mail security, inbound/outbound filtering,  business continuity, daily spam quarantine reports, unlimited contacts and aliases and centralized calendars and contacts, among other features.

 

Also announced is the Mailprotector Premium Security Suite, which includes spam and virus filtering to protect not only incoming messages but now outgoing messages as well. A new user adjustable spam filter provides the ability to fine tune settings based on a customers own specifications which, company officials say, "mitigates false positive issues surrounding the loss of legitimate e-mail as a result of filtering."

 

Additionally, configurable content management capabilities now allow users to create content filtering rules for individual users or entire domains to better enforce corporate e-mail politics... oops. that should be "policies," sorry.

Quota-free e-mail hosting services start at $12.95 per user.

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Don't worry, it's almost here, keep your shirt on -- June 19th AT&T begins selling iPhone 3G S nationwide in its more than 2,200 company-owned retail locations.

 

And probably as we speak AT&T is shipping devices to customers who preordered online. IPhone 3G S will also be available in all 211 U.S. Apple retail stores. (Only 211? First Coffee would have thought there'd be more than that.)

"The time is finally here. We're more than ready to open our doors tomorrow and begin selling the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. "We understand that customers are eager to get their hands on this great new device. So we've worked hard to make the experience as easy as possible." One wonders if that includes passing out complimentary coffee and doughnuts to the no-lifers camped out on the sidewalk in front of the store.

As a public service, First Coffee is passing on the notice that customers who preordered in AT&T stores can return to the same store -- with their receipt, that's key now, don't forget your receipt, no excuses will be accepted -- to pick up their order. Customers should be sure to check the e-mail notification they received for their actual arrival date as some preorders will arrive after June 19; dates are based on when preorders were made and available inventory. 

 

All stores will open at 7 a.m. local time to exclusively serve preorder customers whose orders are expected to arrive on June 19. Any customer is welcome to visit beginning at normal business hours, at which point all customers will be served on a "first come, first served" basis. Initially, AT&T stores will sell one iPhone 3G S per person for new customers; existing customers may purchase one per eligible telephone number. Online shoppers may purchase one device per household.

 

Sounds like getting U2 tickets, doesn't it?

 

First Coffee swears this sentence appears verbatim in the official press release: "Customers who inherit an iPhone 3G from a friend or family member will need to visit an AT&T store to activate their device. Customers who inherit an iPhone can request a SIM card from AT&T and activate at home using iTunes."

 

That's right -- they've set up inheritance policies for these suckers.

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Independent communications holding company SureWest Communications has announced the launch of Caller ID on TV, a feature which provides an option for immediate, on-screen notification each time the phone rings. 

 

Sounds like one of those gizmos from hell, but wait -- "Sacramento area customers can now decide whether to ignore incoming calls that may be an interruption to their television program or to get up from the couch and answer important phone calls."

 

Perpetual couch potatohood takes another step forward -- notification of who it is calling on that phone inconveniently placed six whole steps across the room.

"With each call that comes in while the TV is on, a small pop-up window will appear at the bottom of the TV screen displaying the caller name and phone number of all unblocked calls," say the rightfully proud inventors. "Customers choose whether to answer the call, ignore it or inform the proper person in the house of the call." We'll leave it to your imagination to interpret that last option, but First Coffee knows what it entails around his house.

 

The Caller ID on TV feature is included free of charge for triple-play customers who subscribe to SureWest TV, phone and Internet, and costs $9.99, every penny well-spent, per month for other qualifying customers.

With maybe a hint of a tongue poking his cheek, Peter Drozdoff, vice president of marketing for SureWest, says this feature "allows people to take control of their phone, reducing unwanted interruptions and receiving immediate notification of truly important calls. To provide an exceptional customer experience, we must continually offer new features like Caller ID on TV that bring value and convenience to our customers' lives."

New SureWest triple-play customers will automatically receive the Caller ID on TV feature free of charge. SureWest currently offers Caller ID on TV in its Kansas City market.

Customers have the option to turn the Caller ID on TV feature on or off and customize it to suit their preferences. It keeps track of calls while the TV is off and the call log displays the 20 most recent incoming calls with the caller's name, number, date and time of call. No additional equipment is necessary to use Caller ID on TV.