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March 2011

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Partner Appreciation, Call Management Advancements, ERP Fading Into Sunset?

March 27, 2011

In case you were wondering what that is in your rear-view mirror, industry observer Chris Chiappinelli has the answer: “The mirage of a single-instance enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for global corporations is fading into the digital sunset.”

Chiappinelli cites a new report from Constellation Research, which finds that the general trend in manufacturing and other industries is to consolidate disparate ERP software systems, as is “often the result of acquisitions or departmental siloing, into one mega ERP deployment to run the entire business.”

The goal of such mega ERP deployments is “to facilitate streamlined business processes and holistically manage business data at a lower cost of ownership,” Chiappinelli added. However, over the last decade, researchers say, “organizations have discovered the failure of the single-instance strategy.” What many businesses are looking at now is a two-tier ERP model, which “enables organizations to keep existing ERP systems at the corporate level, while empowering divisions or business units to innovate with a second ERP system.”

Hi-Def Call Recording, Network Call Recording, Salesforce.com Results, Social CRM

March 25, 2011

MiaRec, a global vendor of Call Recording and Workforce Optimization products, has announced the release of high definition call recording.

A call recording and monitoring product, MiaRec supports the G.722 wideband codec, which “assures better compatibility with Polycom’s high definition IP phones, Cisco, Avaya, Grandstream and other IP phones, which support wideband codecs,” company officials say.

Now as company officials say, of course there are a lot of benefits of VoIP telephony, noting “the most obvious one is cost. But does low cost always mean low quality?” It’s a good question.

Continuous Customer Dialogue, Consistent Customer Experience, UK Contact Center Guide, Brick-and-Mortar Call Center Transitions

March 22, 2011

A recent white paper from Infor with the promising title “Continuous Customer Dialogues: Strategies for growth and loyalty in multi-channel customer-oriented organizations” deals with just that -- “the challenges of implementing a customer-centric strategy.”

As the paper’s authors ask, “Do you have the right insight into the customer ,and do you have the ability to respond to the needs and interests of the customer based on that insight?” Only the unusually blithe would simply say “Yes yes, we have that all under control, no problems” and skip along. For most, it’s certainly worth looking at.

Infor breaks it down into two categories:

Call Center Furniture, The Cloud and Customer Satisfaction, CRM's Amdocs and Social Networks, Contact Center Basics

March 18, 2011

You probably don’t think much about designing or updating your call center. You should. A recent good white paper from Interior Concepts, excerpted below, offers many practical suggestions of what needs to be considered during such an effort.

Call centers need more than cubes.

Call Centers' Five9, 20-Year CRM, SMBs as Customers, Telemarketing and VoIP

March 15, 2011

Recently on-demand call center vendor Five9 posted a helpful presentation introducing people to the company. Based in Pleasanton, California, the company claims over a thousand clients and “tens of thousands” of agents handling calls.

Company officials emphasize the simplicity of their pricing model -- “as easy as 1-2-3,” they say: A monthly license fee, a long-distance fee based on usage, and a one-time implementation fee, “for our expert team to get you up and running as fast as you require, even if you need it by tomorrow.”

They offer products to run sales, support and marketing operations, including predictive dialing, CRM integrations, reporting, agent scripting, voice recording, quality monitoring, IVR, speech recognition, voice message broadcasting, workflow management and others.

Monet's Workforce Management, Customers Love Cell Phones, FoIP and Your Customers, Intermedia Call Center

March 11, 2011

A recent study from Monet Software compares the cloud-based and the on premise software model, illustrating “how the different models would impact the cost, implementation, usage and success of the Workforce Management solution in your organization.”

Set up and implementation. Cloud: Fast set up, vendor creates new account. Users access the solution through a web browser.

Tracking Customers' Assets, M2M Evolution, Outbound IVR Tools, 4PSA and the Cloud

March 8, 2011

Founded in 2000, Transportation Solutions Group uses custom-developed asset tracking software, integrated within a call center to provide a full service transportation brokerage that specializes in moving expedited and time-sensitive freight. Obviously, in such a business, service and capacity are an issue.

The group has about 80 employees, with 50 agents in the call center and 30 in back office, development and management. And TSG required a VoIP call recording tool that worked with both the Cisco IPCC and Cisco Call Manager platforms to assist in general operations management and enhance operational metrics.

20-Year Happy Customer, Cloud vs. On-Premise CRM, Cell Usage, Customers on Mobile

March 4, 2011

John Macuga, the operations manager of the Falconi family of car dealerships, was recently interviewed about their experiences using Advertel.

“The unique thing about Ads On Hold, when we first came on board, we thought, well, it’s a small company, probably won’t be around in the next three to four years, but they seem to have good services, let’s give them a shot.”

Macuga was pleasantly surprised, though: “It was excellent service, and longevity is important to us. It’s turned out to be more of a partnership than just a client relationship.” Longevity indeed, as the company has been clients of Advertel for over 20 years now. As Macuga said, “You don’t stay with someone for over 20 years and not have a partnership with them.”

“When we started out we thought it was going to be a one-time deal, but the service, the creativity on our phone messages,” kept them with the provider, Macuga said. “They always came up with something a little different, something to help us out in a situation.





Call Center Improvements, Call Recording, Customer Business Video, M2M Evolution

March 1, 2011

Founded in 2000, Transportation Solutions Group uses custom-developed asset tracking software, integrated within a call center to provide a full service transportation brokerage that specializes in moving expedited and time-sensitive freight. Obviously, in such a business, service and capacity are an issue.

The group has about 80 employees, with 50 agents in the call center and 30 in back office, development and management. And TSG required a VoIP call recording tool that worked with both the Cisco IPCC and Cisco Call Manager platforms to assist in general operations management and enhance operational metrics.

The company's call recording was driven by four primary areas. Not all companies have the same needs, of course, their four areas might not be your four areas.



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