Customer Interaction Solutions articles from February 2009

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from February 2009

The importance of quality in a recessionary economy.(Publisher's Outlook)
February 1, 2009... Since 1982, as the contact/CRM center industry's first and pioneering publication, this magazine has dedicated itself not only to provide outstanding editorial coverage to help the industry grow, but also, to recognize outstanding performances...

Call centers are hidden hiring gems.
February 1, 2009... Throughout past recessions, call centers picked up the slack and hired what amounted to millions of Americans to make and take calls. From 1990 onward, economic development agencies worldwide began to court contact centers to help them solve...

Asset acquisition: smart outsourcing for hard times.
February 1, 2009... Call center outsourcing is more than just hiring a company to handle your overflow. It's a complex and intimate relationship. The core of that relationship is the tension that exists inside a lot of companies who come to realize that though...

Aberdeen Group.(NEWS)(Survey)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Every second in delay for website visitors to access pages costs firms customers according to new research by Aberdeen Group (www.aberdeen.com), a HarteHanks Company. The study revealed that business performance begins to suffer at 5.1 seconds...

Forrester Research.(NEWS)
February 1, 2009... Only 11 percent of companies garnered a rating of 'excellent' in the 2008 Customer Experience Index of large U.S. firms by Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) while 38 percent ranked as poor or very poor. Barnes & Noble topped...

Customers of Interactive Intelligence.(NEWS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Customers of Interactive Intelligence's (www.inin.com) solutions who also use Cisco's Unified Communications Manager can take advantage of both vendors' systems without the need for costly and complex middleware layers. Interactive Intelligence...

Small/midsized firms who have customers living in other countries and who want to enable these buyers to reach them affordably can tap into Phone.(NEWS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Small/midsized firms who have customers living in other countries and who want to enable these buyers to reach them affordably can tap into Phone. com, which has selected Voxbone (www. voxbone.com) to supply DID (direct-inward-dial) numbers...

Additionally Checkout offers Salesforce CRM administrator tools from DrivEnable.(NEWS)
February 1, 2009... Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com) now offers a single source for trying, buying, and deploying native Force.com applications. The new solution, Force.com Checkout, permits integrated commerce and interacting with a single vendor for both...

Teleservices firm Thomas L. Cardella & Associates.(NEWS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Teleservices firm Thomas L. Cardella & Associates (TLC&A) (www.tlcassociates.com) has been growing rapidly with new and expanded facilities and new hires in Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Keokuk, and Marshalltown, Iowa. It also has at-home agents....

West Interactive has selected PerSay.(NEWS)
February 1, 2009... West Interactive has selected PerSay (www.persay.com) to provide hosted voice biometrics to authenticate callers and customers. Biometric speaker verification technology uses the power of voice to provide the critical component in an effective...

Based on a true story.(Cartoon)
February 1, 2009... LINDA, MAY I HAVE A WORD WITH YOU? WHAT DOES HE WANT, I JUST GOT HERE. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MY DOG WAS DIAGNOSED WITH HALITOSIS. SO I HAD TO STAY HOME TO TAKE CARE OF HIM. I DIDN'T CALL BECAUSE THAT SHOULD BE COVERED BY THE...

Verint Impact 360 for Public Safety Powered by Audiolog.
February 1, 2009... Verint (www.verint.com) has come out with Impact 360 for Public Safety Powered by Audiolog. This is the next generation of the firm's proven call recording, quality assurance (QA), retrieval and archive solution aimed at emergency service...

Time to talk.(Barack Obama to create tax incentives and tax penalties)
February 1, 2009... As the legislative season gets into full swing, the volume of complaints about teleservices are climbing to a dull roar. I do not have all the answers. As a matter of fact, I am not certain I have any answers. However, what I do have is a lot...

Sixteenth annual MVP (Marketing Via Phone) Quality Award winners.
February 1, 2009... This is the sixteenth year Customer Interaction Solutions magazine 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...

Presence: the next generation of customer interactions.(CALL CENTER Technology)
February 1, 2009... When you walk into a business with a sales counter, like an auto parts dealer or an electrical or plumbing supply house, the counter person will attempt to answer your inquiries and/or find the products you want. If they cannot assist you, they...

Performing (and exceeding) expectations.(WORKFORCE Optimization)
February 1, 2009... Managing contact center performance has never been more challenging. Not only are operations facing even more pressure to cut costs amidst a difficult economy but are often also being asked to maintain service levels and to cross sell/upsell to...

ATA Self-Regulatory Organization moves forward.(American Teleservices Association )
February 1, 2009... The more individuals and firms look over their own shoulders and make sure that they comply with both the spirit and letter of laws and regulations the less need there will be for governments to do this for them. That is the thinking...

Top tips to build and keep customer loyalty with CRM.(CRM, BPO & Teleservices)(Company overview)
February 1, 2009... Loyal customers are, in general, your most valuable patrons (see this issue's Logout for a more intensive discussion on loyalty). They provide sales and income at marginal marketing and retention costs, and at a fraction of the expenses...

Migrating to an all-in-one solution ... how do we get there?(Ask the EXPERTS)
February 1, 2009... Q The all-in-one contact center solution is definitely the way to go for the future of my contact center. But I've got a problem that's stopping me in my tracks. How do we move from a traditional multi-point communications system to an...

Is contact center-delivered loyalty overrated?(Logout)
February 1, 2009... Today's hot business catchphrase is customer loyalty. obtaining and ensuring it sustains sales and revenues, and also generates these from other customers through word-of-mouth and increasingly text-in-online advertising with peer, friends, and...