David Sims : First Coffee
David Sims
| CRM, ERP, Contact Center, Turkish Coffee and Astroichthiology:

Privus Mobile, Pronexus and Aumtech, Sonoma Partners and Microsoft, StrongMail and SAP

March 12, 2010

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is a Hayes Carll mix on iTunes. What a maddening artist Carll is - good enough of a red dirt country artist with a wide blues-rock streak to spark high expectations, but still not fully able to meet them. We look forward to his musical development:   Since its 2008 launch, Privus Mobile has been a mobile Caller ID service provider for sales representatives, real estate agents and numerous professionals. Now the firm, in conjunction with Accudata Technologies, is launching a new corporate enterprise service to makes it easier to use Caller ID screening and caller name lookup services on company smartphones.   Privus Mobile's new enterprise service includes special volume licensing rates for businesses as well as support for IT deployments for pushing the service "without needing to purchase the service for each phone individually," company officials say.   It's being billed by Privus officials as a way to let corporate enterprise customers see the full caller details of incoming calls, from unknown numbers to callers that aren't in the contacts list, as the call comes in or on a missed call: "Customers also can input any complete phone number and receive the person's or company's name registered to the number."   Privus Mobile President Greg Smith said since many of their customers use the service at work, "we wanted to make it simple to experience better call management.

Zebbo.com, Elite Customer Winners, Hughes and IPhone, Spark Radio, VA Call Center, Weekend Work?

March 1, 2010

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Gustav Holst's The Planets suite. Yeah it was kind of a cheesy gimmick, but the music's nicely complex and satisfying:   Zebbo.com has announced the launch of its new payment product introducing carrier billing using mobile platforms.   The app can be used to pay for downloads of applications, digital content and services purchased on mobile smart-phones, company officials say, adding that with it, "the self-funded startup provides a way for mobile developers to monetize their applications."   Malik Yacoubi, CEO of Zebbo.com, says the Zebbo team noticed the lack of a straightforward mobile payment method in the market," so decided to create one: "Zebbo now offers an easy, fast and convenient check-out to pay for your mobile apps and other services purchased on a mobile phone. The purchase simply gets billed on the users' carrier bill."   Company officials claim developers get a higher conversion for paid app downloads by offering consumers a simple process: "Zebbo offers direct carrier billing that replaces complicated multi-step third party billing that can deter users from purchasing apps.   Zebbo works on all smart-phones and services the three major mobile platforms iPhone, Blackberry and Android. Zebbo is also integrating with Amazon Payments and more traditional payment methods like, credit and prepaid cards which will be available shortly, company officials say, adding that "integration of a virtual currency platform is expected soon."   Currently Zebbo covers the USA, Canada and 21 European countries. ... Customer Relationship Metrics has announced its Elite Customer Experience Award Winners for 2010, noting those who "have made a proven commitment to customer-centricity and consistently delivered elite performance throughout the year," CRM officials say.   The winning organizations were measured on "outstanding customer service" in several categories including Utility Provider of the Year, Product Support Provider of the Year, Agent of the Year, Team of the Year, Outsourced Center of the Year, In-house Contact Center of the Year and the Elite Customer Experience Award.   Jodie Monger, CEO of CRM, announced the 2010 award winners and honorable mentions:   ·         Elite Customer Experience Award - Otter Tail Power Company; Honorable Mention - Portland General Electric. ·         Utility Provider of the Year - Otter Tail Power Company; Honorable Mention - Portland General Electric. ·         Product Support Provider of the Year - HP Home and Home Office Store; Honorable Mention - Black & Decker. ·         Agent of the Year - Joyce Sanders, Cincinnati Children's Hospital; Honorable Mention - Tracey Forbin of Cincinnati Children's Hospital. ·         Team of the Year - Mindy McDulin Team, Cincinnati Children's Hospital; Honorable Mention - Otter Tail Power Company- Team Name: Damian Reiter. ·         Outsourced Center of the Year - Michelin North America; Honorable Mention - Affiliated Computer Services for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Family Access Medical Insurance Security Plan. ·         In-house Contact Center of the Year - Michelin North America; Honorable Mention - Otter Tail Power Company.   Kind of makes you wish you got your power from Otter Tail, doesn't it?

Verizon Wireless, Clickatell SMS, Comverse BSS, IPod Baseball, Sybase and PlayPhone, SAP White Paper

February 25, 2010

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Clash's London Calling, because every once in a while you need the music to kick you into gear:   3G network operator Verizon Wireless has been ranked highest in customer care among wireless phone service providers in J.D. Power and Associates' 2010 Wireless Customer Care Performance Study, Volume 1, released today.   Based on responses from more than 9,600 wireless subscribers who contacted their wireless service providers by phone, in stores or online last year and were surveyed by J. D. Power and Associates between July and December of 2009, Verizon Wireless "continued to perform as an industry leader with an overall satisfaction score of 753, 14 points above the overall industry average."   Verizon Wireless' score included former Alltel customers in retained markets. Steven R. Smith, President, South Central Region, Verizon Wireless called it "an honor to receive such recognition."   Verizon Wireless has recently introduced an after-call survey to provide "fast, direct feedback from more customers," company officials said, "to help the company further improve the customer experience."   The company also continues to roll out its design in new and existing company-owned and -operated Communications Stores, offering shoppers the chance to experience their wireless voice, data, music and video services.   They were also cited for allowing customers to manage their accounts online using My Verizon, the company's online account management and customer service tool giving 24/7 online access to all their billing, payment and account-related information and the ability to view and pay bills online, check account balances, change addresses, track airtime usage, analyze monthly spending trends or change account features. ... Clickatell, a vendor of messaging, is providing in-country SMS alert services to Satelite Microfinance Bank in collaboration with Neptune Software. This means Satelite's customers "now receive real-time, priority alert messaging via Clickatell's Secure Enterprise Mobile Messaging Gateway, notifying them when transactions are taking place on their credit and debit accounts," according to Clickatell officials.   "Microfinance has fast become an important part of financial services as institutions serve previously under or un-served," said Pieter de Villiers, Clickatell CEO.

IBM's SPSS, Convergys, Black Box and Cisco, eGain and Customer Service

February 24, 2010

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is Frank Sinatra's wonderful album Night And Day. As the AllMusic Guide's review says, "Records don't get any better than this:"   IBM has announced that Digital +, UPC Broadband and Tesco Mobile are improving their customers' experience by using IBM SPSS predictive analytics software to "gain deeper insights into subscriber behaviors and preferences."   This, so the theory goes, will be used to "improve customer retention, call center interactions and marketing campaigns." You know, reduce churn.   As mobile broadband expands in developed markets, devices like the smartphones and tablets are proliferating rapidly -- challenging the traditional Communication Service Provider's core business capabilities, IBM officials say, adding that in order to succeed, "CSPs need to respond to competitive pressures, reduce customer churn, optimize product portfolios and become more relevant and personalized."   IBM's business analytic products for CSPs use data to "predict business outcomes, spot trends as they emerge, improve customer service, drive customer value and reduce churn by building a better understanding of the customer," said Scott Stainken, general manager for IBM's telecommunication industry.   Big Blue officials point to Digital +, part of Sogecable in Spain, using IBM SPSS predictive analytics to optimize its call center by "predicting individual customer behaviors and directing call center agents to provide real-time recommendations while engaged with customers."   Digital + "improved its customer satisfaction with customized offers, reduced churn by 20 percent and increased cross-sell campaigns by 5 to 10 percent over outbound campaigns," said Omar Rois, customer analysis manager at Digital +. ... Convergys Corporation, a vendor of relationship management products, has announced that a U.S. wireless operator with millions of subscribers has signed a contract for Convergys Intelligent Credits Solution, part of Convergys' Intelligent Automation portfolio.   By using Intelligent Credits to improve the process of issuing customer credits, the client can save on cost while increasing the satisfaction of its most valued customers, Convergys officials say, adding that the software contract, valued at approximately $6.5 million, "includes a license for Convergys Dynamic Decisioning Solution as well as annual maintenance and implementation services."   The implementation will be completed in the second quarter of this year.   The trick for companies looking to reduce costs is to do it while not negatively impacting customer satisfaction. Sure you can cut costs if that's all you want to do, eliminate your call center and hire a few guys in India to get around to answering the e-mails sooner or later, but your customer satisfaction's going to drop just a tad.   With this in mind, some companies choose to provide credits to their good customers when warranted due to an interruption in service or other unforeseen circumstance. Unfortunately, they often lack the automated controls needed to actively manage these credits.   This is what happened to this particular wireless operator, with spending on customer credits exceeding the industry average as a result of inconsistent policy adherence.   Then after finding Convergys Intelligent Credits the company had the capability to centralize policy creation and management as well as automated, real-time, and proactive policy enforcement across all customer contact channels.   The product will enable real-time evaluation of customer requests for credits based upon the wireless operator's business policies and the customer's history with the provider, Convergys officials say: "It will immediately provide customer service and retail associates with the appropriate credit offer they should make to subscribers in real-time."   It's expected to save this operator as much as $100 million per year by eliminating erroneously issued credits and reducing call handle times.

RedHorse Systems, Kayak for IPhone, Salesforce.com Foundation, CRM SpellCheck, Jaspersoft Open Source

February 24, 2010

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music, sorry if you're tired of hearing about it but we must be truthful, we can't say we're listening to Mozart when we're actually listening to Aimee Mann's Live At St. Ann's Warehouse, which is probably the album that's soundtracked more First Coffee work than any other:   Officials of RedHorse Systems, which sells business management products, say that "in response to customer requests," the company is releasing an updated version of its customer relationship management product, RedHorse CRM v2.5.   Company officials say they're "committed to producing a CRM product with the functionality that its customers need," so follow a policy of releasing updates on a quarterly basis. In January they released v2.4, containing a list of new functions, and began work on the next version scheduled for release next quarter.   Customers "identify much needed functionality that incorporates their custom use of the application into standard functions that RedHorse provides," company officials say, adding that "we felt that these requests would provide a whole new set of possibilities for customers furthering the extensibility of RedHorse."   As a result, "we decided to produce an interim release for our customers rather than waiting three months to release with the next version," says founder Connie Koch.   Koch says with this new release RedHorse users can now perform standard RedHorse functions like e-mail merging, e-mail rules and global updates using filters based on their own custom data in the system.   In related news, RedHorse has also released a new version of their link with Microsoft Outlook, RHOLink, which adds the capability to synchronize up to 19 phone numbers per contact between RedHorse and Outlook. Company officials bill this as a way to improve customers' ability to sync as many phone numbers as necessary to a handheld device or smart phone.   "We really are committed to providing a system that users want, rather than a system that we think they should have," says Koch, adding that the company is also "beginning background design work on our web based version and incorporation of Windows Workflow Foundation to provide automated processing of activities in the system." ... Travel search engine Kayak has released a new version of the Kayak for iPhone application integrating the site's baggage fees tool. "Coming only two months after the company launched a major upgrade to the application, the updated app also adds new flight, hotel, and car rental search capabilities," company officials say.   Saying mobile travel search is "a major focus of our product innovation," Kayak Chief Architect Bill O'Donnell said "people want to know how much different airlines charge for checking bags, so we're pleased to add this feature to our iPhone app."   New features include the aforementioned baggage fees tool, flight tracking, other flight search filters and a hotel search by name.

Fonolo's IPhone App, Quickoffice on IPhone, Green Hills Results, Consumer Tech Revenue Falls

February 17, 2010

The news as of the second cup of coffee today, and the music is Van Morrison's St. Dominic's Preview. We had an iTunes shuffle on, and as usually happens, within the first few songs there was one which led us to think okay, that's the album we want to hear:    Fonolo, which interestingly catchphrases itself as "the company that makes it easier and less frustrating to call large companies," has announced the availability of its free iPhone application.   What? Ah, here we go: "The frustration of having to 'press 1 for this, press 2 for that' to navigate through lengthy phone menus is universal. From quickly changing a flight time, to reaching an agent about your phone bill, Fonolo allows consumers to visually navigate a company's phone menu with a single tap of the iPhone, before making a call."   Wow. We need this app.     "Users have long been asking for a way to use Fonolo on-the-go," said Fonolo COO Jason Bigue.

Van Natta Steps Down, Globoforce's Recognition, Flight To Crisis, Union Bank and SAS

February 17, 2010

The news as of the first coffee today, and the music is Jorma Kaukonen's Quah, the Jefferson Airplane guitarist's best side project:   News Corporation has announced that Owen Van Natta has stepped down from his position as MySpace CEO, effective immediately.   Van Natta is replaced by newly-elevated co-Presidents Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who will each report to Jon Miller, Chairman and CEO of Digital Media for News Corporation. All three executives joined MySpace in April 2009, according to News Corp officials, with Jones and Hirschhorn previously serving as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer, respectively.   "MySpace is an incredibly unique place and we've made real gains in terms of product focus and user experience. I'm proud of the work we've all accomplished together and look forward to watching its continued growth," Van Natta said in a statement.   "Owen took on an incredible challenge in working to refocus and revitalize MySpace, and the business has shown very positive signs recently as a result of his dedicated work," said Jon Miller, News Corporation's Chairman and CEO of Digital Media. "However, in talking to Owen about his priorities both personally and professionally going forward, we both agreed that it was best for him to step down at this time.

ICheer App, T-Systems and SAP, Tellabs Mobile Provider Survey, Google's FTTH

February 15, 2010

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Miles Davis's In A Silent Way. We wanted mellow here, we certainly got it, might have to switch over to his A Tribute to Jack Johnson if we find the pace of work getting a bit lethargic.   There's a Olympic and World Cup focused iPhone App called "'iCheer - Country," which hit the #3 spot of the top paid Apps in the Sports category on iTunes.   The purpose of the App is to allow fans to cheer for their country "whether they are at an Olympic event, a World Cup event like the FIFA World Cup, or just at a local pub cheering for their country." At home you're evidently on your own.   "Have you ever been to a game and forgot your jersey, or heaven forbid your face paint?" the vendor's site asks, hopefully rhetorically. "Not to worry, you always have your phone" Nobody'd ever forget that! "Use 'iCheer!' to cheer on your countries athletes or team!" Okay. Sounds good.

Aurix Survey, Sabio and DAS, Smaato's SDK, Axcess Ontario and Google, Healthcare Needs Social Media

February 15, 2010

The news as of the third cup of coffee this morning, we're well and truly wired by now, and the music is Neil Young's Live Rust, probably the best live album released by a major artist:   A recent survey from speech search specialist Aurix found that 70 per cent of complaints made to call centers are "not being heard."    And that's serious: Over 96 per cent of respondents said they would consider switching to a competitor as a result.   Surveying over 100 consumers, the Aurix survey asked respondents whether they had ever made a complaint to a call center, and if so, whether that complaint was taken seriously by the agent.   Peter Rogers, CEO at Aurix, found that their snap shot survey "reinforces the message that customers are significantly more likely to churn to a competitor" based on a poor experience.   "In my opinion, it is these interactions which should be viewed as an opportunity to gain feedback and intelligence, as well as to deal with the customer's query -- take the chance to reinforce positive messages about your brand, not cause it any further damage."   It's well-known that how a company handles a negative customer experience is a great time to bond a customer's loyalty. We have companies we patronize over the competition because of how they treated us when we had a problem.   Look, folks, everybody knows you'll screw up once in a while. Your customers know that. They're not expecting perfection, they're expecting you to rectify the situation when it happens.

Consona ERP, Bahama Power Phones, HP and LTE, You Grow CRM Worldwide

February 15, 2010

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is a general Creedence Clearwater Revival iTunes mix:   CRM and ERP vendor Consona Corporation has announced that its Intuitive ERP solution has achieved what company officials call "exceptional customer satisfaction levels for educational resources and support services."   The company's Intuitive ERP software is designed specifically for the business needs of mid-market manufacturers, Consona officials add.   Based on customer survey results cited by company officials, 89 percent of Intuitive ERP users were satisfied with their support experience in 2009: "Remarkably, compared to the same time period the previous year, case volume decreased 24 percent and the case backlog plummeted 26 percent, marking a significant increase in case resolution."   The company says they favor proactive support through educational resources as a tool for customers to learn directly from Intuitive support staff and instructors, "as well as from peers who share tips and experiences, through Consona's database of online educational courses and Knowledgebase articles in the searchable Expert network that is accessible at any time."   At present, Consona offers more than 50 classes on the Intuitive ERP product, which has seen "over 8,000 customer downloads." Consona Education now offers personalized training online, which allows customers to schedule classes to meet their schedules on a one-on-one basis.   ...   The Grand Bahama Power Company has announced that they are finalizing the launch of their phone system "expected to improve the customer service experience."   According to GBPC officials, a team comprised of members of the GBPC management, engineers and line staff have been working on the implementation. They noted that the new Integrated Voice Response System is equipped with "several features that will allow customers to access their account information via their phone."   According to Katherine Demeritte, GBPC Director of Customer Service, the phone company is "excited about this new feature to our Customer Service Department. The best feature is that our customers will be able to access their personal account information from home. They will be able to obtain their account information, have billing queries addressed by an interactive automated system and receive real time information in the event of an outage in their area."   Company officials say they'll also be delivering disconnection messages, which they assured the public they would implement in 2010.
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