Customer Interaction Solutions articles from February 2008

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from February 2008

They invented contact center because they couldn't call it: Telemarketing[R]!(Publisher's Outlook)
February 1, 2008... The above is one of the most memorable comments I have heard that enormously respects the pioneers and shows little respect for copy cats! My father used to say that, "... if God wanted us to be copy cats... he would have created us as...

Correction.(Correction notice)
February 1, 2008... The following two companies were inadvertently omitted from the December Buyers' Guide issue of Customer Interaction Solutions. CIS regrets the error.

SAP: offering CRM relevance over all customer touch points.(High Priority)(Interview)
February 1, 2008... I am ever on the lookout for examples of solutions that take the way companies serve their customer base to the next level. There are lots of claims of improvement in the giant industry that is customer service, but as we all know, the proof is...

www.tmcnet.com/1456.1: Oracle announces OOTB Fusion CRM integration with PeopleSoft.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Oracle has announced out-of-the-box Oracle Fusion Middleware-based integration between Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 9 and Oracle Customer Hub. PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM customers can now use MDM...

www.tmcnet.com/1457.1: SugarCRM gets SugarMaps with Google Maps, intelestream.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Intelestream has announced the release of SugarMaps, a plug-in integrating the Sugar Suite line of CRM applications with Google Maps technology. It provides a module where maps and place marks are displayed according to user-determined...

www.tmcnet.com/1465.1: Genesys survey examines activities of successful contact centers.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... A recent survey by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories explored customer service organizations and found that while many have implemented strategies to improve customer interactions, most have yet to take action on those strategies. This...

www.tmcnet.com/1458.1: customer service getting worse, Accenture finds.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... A recently released study by Accenture found that companies "are not keeping pace with consumers' rising expectations for service, especially in emerging economies." The report, "Customer Satisfaction in the Multi-Polar World: Accenture 2007...

www.tmcnet.com/1459.1: CRM data security touted by Salesboom in TFAS.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Salesboom.com, a vendor of SaaS CRM and ERP products, has announced it will offer two-factor authentication security to its customers. "With phishing scams on the rise," the company says, new database security standards "ensure that your CRM...

www.tmcnet.com/1460.1: open source CRM increasing in popularity, OSA finds.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... San Francisco-based Open Solutions Alliance has released its findings of the 2007 Customer Forum Series. "Interoperability between open products" tops the list of requirements among customers and channel partners who are deploying these...

www.tmcnet.com/1467.1: PreVisor acquires Performance Technologies International.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... PreVisor, a provider of pre-employment assessments and selection solutions that connect hiring decisions to business results, recently announced its acquisition of Performance Technologies International, Inc. (PTI).The acquisition is expected...

www.tmcnet.com1466.1: TouchStar introduces 2008 Enterprise Call Center System.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Contact center technology provider TouchStar recently introduced its new 2008 Enterprise Call Center System, which provides enterprise scalability, redundancy and functionality to connect thousands of call center agents in multiple locations...

www.tmcnet.com/1461.1: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 support announced by Ensim.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Ensim Corporation, which sells management software for communications, has announced its support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, the multitenant version of Microsoft's customer relationship management application. Ensim's Unify Shared Edition...

www.tmcnet.com/1464.1: new Bluetooth headset from Sennheiser.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... In a bid to further extend comfort and "unparalled sound quality" for headset users, Sennheiser Communications has announced a new addition to its premium Bluetooth wireless headset line-up, the FLX 70. As the second addition to Sennheiser's...

www.tmcnet.com/1463.1: the top five CRM software advancements of 2007 highlighted.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... CRM software continues to play an important role in ensuring customer satisfaction and business success. As this role has increased in importance, so has the sophistication of CRM software offerings. Looking back at 2007, VendorGuru.com has...

www.tmcnet.com/1462.1: contact center vendor OMDR acquired by Silverline.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Omega Direct Response)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Officials from Silverline Technologies have announced that the company has acquired OMDR, which was formerly Omega Direct Response. The Toronto company sells customer interaction and management services, particularly in the inbound and outbound...

www.tmcnet.com/1468.1: strong growth in Latin American contact center outsourcing in 2008.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Contact center outsourcing for many companies is the optimal strategy to contain costs while meeting customer service and interaction needs. For those companies that have implemented strategies to keep those contact centers as close to shore as...

CallCenterComics.com.(Cartoon)
February 1, 2008... YOUR STAFFING MODEL CALLED FOR HIRING MORE PEOPLE, BUT I FOUND A BETTER WAY TO FIX OUR STAFFING ISSUES. HOW? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I REMOVED ALL UNPRODUCTIVE TIME LIKE LUNCHES AND BREAKS... NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR LACK OF...

Fifteenth annual MVP Quality Award winners.(CRM, BPO & Teleservices)(marketing via phone)
February 1, 2008... This is the fifteenth year Customer Interaction Solutions has brought you the winners of its MVP (Marketing Via Phone) Quality Awards. In the ensuing years since we introduced the awards in 1993, we have been impressed by the growing...

"Firing" customers is a bad idea.(CRM, BPO & Teleservices)
February 1, 2008... Are you ready for another piece of traditional call center conventional wisdom to be debunked? The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School marketing professors Jagmohan Raju and John Zhang, and Wharton doctoral student Upender...

2008: the year of workforce optimization.(WORKFORCE Optimization)
February 1, 2008... As anybody who manages a contact center knows, the seemingly impossible task that needs to be accomplished every day is, "Make More With Less." While budgets and headcounts get cut, expectations of better sales, better service, greater customer...

The top five reasons why third-party remote call monitoring is a must.(WORKFORCE Optimization)
February 1, 2008... Call centers for years have been using some sort of monitoring in order to measure performance and customer satisfaction. While there are as many methods of call monitoring as there are call centers, not all are effective for every...

Verint Witness Actionable Solutions: capturing the voice of the customer.(Boardroom REPORT)(Interview)(Company overview)
February 1, 2008... The Boardroom Report provides the CRM, customer interaction and call center industry's view from the top, featuring in-depth interviews with leading executives regarding industry news, analysis, trends and the latest developments at their...

ContractXchange.com shows the way to recruiting your remote agents--remotely.(Innovative SOLUTIONS)
February 1, 2008... One of the great, unsung advantages of using remote agents is the opportunity to vastly expand a contact center's recruitment radius. Bricks and mortar limits the hiring of in-house agents to the local commuting area, remote agent...

Easy listening: when it comes to comfort and safety, Plantronics is all ears.(Innovative SOLUTIONS)
February 1, 2008... Eight hours is a long time to carry a conversation, especially when you're wearing a telecommunications headset on your ear. And straining to hear a caller, coping with uncomfortable or unsafe volume spikes, or feeling heat or pressure from a...

VoltDelta has serviced over nine billion calls and supports 36,000 agents--how can we help your business?(Innovative SOLUTIONS)
February 1, 2008... Have you ever dialed directory assistance in North America or Europe? If so, then you likely have touched much of the infrastructure and platforms that VoltDelta builds and deploys at carrier-grade levels for our telephone company customers....

The 2007 Customer Interaction Solutions Product of the Year Awards, Part two.(AWARDS & Recognition)
February 1, 2008... Each year, Customer Interaction Solutions magazine bestows its Product of the Year awards on companies that have demonstrated excellence in technological advancement and application refinements. Listed here are products and services that we've...

Converting ordinary people into extraordinary performers.(Insider's Report)
February 1, 2008... There's a popular myth that successful sales reps are born, not made. While certain personality types adapt more readily to sales and service roles, your success will rise dramatically when you implement an internal marketing plan that...

Remote agents.(Ask the EXPERTS: A Special Editorial Series Sponsored By Interactive Intelligence)
February 1, 2008... Q Remote "at-home" agents are getting a lot of attention as being assets to a contact center, so a two-part question: What are the best technologies to make remote agents possible, and what are the benefits of such a workforce strategy? A...