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December 2010

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Cellhut's Customers, Consumer VoIP, Customers On Hold, AT&T Customer Options

December 22, 2010

Saying that they’re helping with “defining new ways to communicate with people through unlocked phones,” Cellhut officials have announced what they say are “the latest products on the market at some of the lowest prices available.”

This combination makes Cellhut “the site to go to for the latest in unlocked gadgets,” company officials say, adding that “the accessories sale also makes a great way to produce stocking-stuffers for other people.”

In one of the better quotes we’ve heard from a tech vendor in quite some time, Cellhut officials note that “staying up-to-date isn't an easy feat to accomplish, but somebody has to ensure that the products in stock are worth the customers' time.”

Indeed. By “searching through all the tech review website and message board to stay up to date, Cellhut makes sure that the only phone in stock are worth the customers time. This promise has been the motto of Cellhut for years and years.”

Read more here.



Akron, Ohio-based Virtual Hold is trying to help establish a new meme.

Yes, we all know Black Friday, the day of shopping mall hell following Thanksgiving. “Now known as Cyber Monday, November 29 is the start of the online holiday shopping season,” company officials said recently.













Call Center Staffing, Telemarketing Report, Caller Rights, Call Center for Blind Employees

December 22, 2010

See if you agree with this statement: “The overwhelming majority of ongoing call center expense is related to staffing.”

Of course you do. As officials of Monet Software noted recently, “optimizing the personnel resource is critical. Overstaffing results in needless spending for unnecessary staff, while understaffing will lower service levels, increase staff turnover and impact your revenues.”

Monet WFM Live is desgined to help users automate tasks that have an immediate impact on the bottom line through what company officials describe as “more accurate call volume forecasting, staffing calculations and scheduling and daily performance tracking."

Breaking down the ROI to their Monet Workforce Management offering, company officials say it can result in measurable improvements in the following areas:

More efficient scheduling and agent usage. The savings associated with more efficient scheduling includes reducing overall staff hours and need for overtime and identification of overstaffing.







Converting Customers, NetSuite Stock, Contact Center Outsourcing, Customer Trends

December 22, 2010

JSE-listed telecoms operator, Vox Telecom, is “making progress” converting its least cost routing (LCR) customers onto its own network.

According to industry observer, Chanel de Bruyn, it’s happening as the lower interconnect rates come into play: “CEO Tony van Marken on Thursday said that the group would exploit the lower interconnect rates, which is the rate operators charge to carry each other’s traffic, to offer a competitive basket of voice solutions for all traffic types.”

As de Bruyn pointed out, earlier this year, South Africa’s largest mobile operators “reduced their peak interconnect rates, which are also called mobile termination or call termination rates, to 89 cents a minute. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has also determined that the two largest operators would have to reduce their peak and off-peak rates to 40 cents a minute by March 2013.”

This April, TMC reported that VOX Telecom froze the renewal of client contracts to align the new agreements with the revised cell phone interconnection rates, but the move reduced earnings in the half-year to February by 18 percent.

“As the cost of cross-network calls falls, there will be less need for least-cost routing services, so providers that offer them as their sole service are under threat. Although the bulk of Vox's earnings comes from least-cost routing, it has diversified into areas such as internet services,” company officials said at the time.

Read more here.



According to authors of a recent report titled, “Key Consumer Trends for Insurance Providers in 2010,” available from Market Publishers, the global financial crisis “has had an impact on all consumers and their attitudes and motivations for buying insurance.”

In this “challenging environment,” the report’s authors found, “it is no longer sufficient to react to consumer behaviors, rather insurers need to understand the trends and influences behind insurance purchasing decisions.”

One strategy they recommend for growth-hungry insurers is “to establish operations in rapidly expanding markets where demographics and economic conditions favor growth the most. This has been the strategy of a few insurers in recent years, with mixed results.”

For the wave of consumers “across all markets,” the report finds, streamlining lifestyles “has had direct implications for insurance markets.



















Cellhut and Customers, On Hold, Contact Center Outsourcing, Callers' IVR Rights

December 18, 2010

Saying that they’re helping with “defining new ways to communicate with people through unlocked phones,” Cellhut officials have announced what they say are “the latest products on the market at some of the lowest prices available.”

This combination makes Cellhut “the site to go to for the latest in unlocked gadgets,” company officials say, adding that “the accessories sale also makes a great way to produce stocking-stuffers for other people.”

In one of the better quotes we’ve heard from a tech vendor in quite some time, Cellhut officials note that “staying up-to-date isn't an easy feat to accomplish, but somebody has to ensure that the products in stock are worth the customers' time.”

Indeed. By “searching through all the tech review website and message board to stay up to date, Cellhut makes sure that the only phone in stock are worth the customers time. This promise has been the motto of Cellhut for years and years.”

And we thank them for it.

Read more here.



Akron, Ohio-based Virtual Hold is trying to help establish a new meme.

Yes, we all know Black Friday, the day of shopping mall hell following Thanksgiving. “Now known as Cyber Monday, November 29 is the start of the online holiday shopping season,” company officials said recently.















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