Customer Interaction Solutions articles from July 2006

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from July 2006

The next 25 years in CRM and call centers.(customer relation management)(Editorial)
July 1, 2006... * Quality And Customer Care Will Be The Only Sustainable Competitive Advantage! * Become An Early Adopter Of Advanced Technology And Prosper * Speaking Of Growth... You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet! Background In the May and June...

Correction.(Correction notice)
July 1, 2006... In the June issue listing of Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award Honorees (page 14), Amcat International Inc. was inadvertently left out of the listing. We regret the error.

Behold the virtual salesforce.(Salesforce.com launches new service business managemnt solutions)
July 1, 2006... I can tell you from personal experience that managing a sales force is one part art and one part science. Sales managers fulfill the simultaneous roles of parent, friend, confidante, coach and counselor. One of the trickiest issues is knowing...

KANA: a leader in highly scalable multichannel customer service solutions.(THE BOARDROOM REPORT[TM])(Interview)(Company overview)
July 1, 2006... The Boardroom Report provides the CRM, customer interaction and call center industry's view from the top, featuring the sector's first in-depth, exclusive CEO-to-CEO interviews with leading executives regarding industry news, analysis, trends...

The TMC Seal of Approval.
July 1, 2006... The following Recommended Vendors have distinguished themselves by winning one or more of TMC's coveted awards, earning them the TMC Seal of Approval. CRM/Contact Center Software/Hardware Amae Software Aspect Software ...

West to be acquired by private investors.(Thomas H. Lee Partners and Quadrangle Group)
July 1, 2006... West Corp. has announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by a group of private investors led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Quadrangle Group. The deal is reported to be worth $4.1 billion. Under the agreement, the...

IEX introduces version 3.11 of TotalView Workforce Management.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... IEX Corp. has announced the general availability of version 3.11 of its TotalView Workforce Management system. TotalView v3.11 introduces new features designed to meet global contact centers' unique scheduling requirements and boost agent...

Onyx agrees to be acquired by M2M Holdings Inc.(Onyx Software Corporation )(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Onyx Software Corporation has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by privately held M2M Holdings Inc., the holding company that is jointly owned by Battery Ventures VI, L.P. and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners and...

Cisco announces two acquisitions.(Cisco Systems Inc., Metreos Corp., Audium Corp.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Cisco Systems, Inc. has announced a definitive agreement to acquire the privately-held companies Metreos Corp. of Austin, TX and Audium Corp. of New York, NY in two separate deals. With these acquisitions, Cisco will be able to further help...

Aspect Software offering Unison Predictive Dialer 7.1.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Aspect Software, Inc. has announced the general availability of Aspect Unison Predictive Dialer 7.1, a comprehensive outbound contact center solution. The latest version offers new features designed to improve flexibility and simplify system...

PossibleNOW adds to Consulting and Audit Services.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... PossibleNOW, a provider of Internet-based privacy preference management solutions and services, has announced the Do Not Call Safe Harbor Assessment, a new service of its Consulting & Audit Services Group. The Do Not Call Safe Harbor Assessment...

AnswerNet acquires S & D, plans to boost business.(S & D Marketing, AnswerNet Network)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... The AnswerNet Network, a contact center and telemessaging outsourcer, has acquired Philadelphia-based outsourcer S & D Marketing for an undisclosed sum. AnswerNet had held a 50 percent stake in S & D. The deal is expected to enhance AnswerNet's...

Aperio CI releases FlashTrac.(business intelligence software)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Aperio CI, a provider of customer acquisition and retention solutions for consumer-facing enterprises, has released FlashTrac, a near real-time software solution designed to convert historical usage data into business intelligence quickly and...

HigherGround and SER announce partnership.(SER Solutions Inc., Higher Ground Software Inc.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... HigherGround, Inc., a software developer of call recording, data collection and business intelligence tools, and SER Solutions, Inc., a provider of enterprise contact center management and speech analytics solutions, recently announced a...

Tangoe opens European headquarters.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Tangoe, Inc., a provider of enterprise telecommunications expense management (TEM) software and services, has announced the opening of its first European office, located in Manchester, England. Tangoe established the office in support of its...

Neocase launches new collaborative customer operations software suite.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
July 1, 2006... Neocase Software, a collaborative customer operations specialists, has announced the availability of the newest version of its CRM offerings, Neocase 10, for the U.S. mid-market. An established European provider of CRM, Neocase delivers...

Inter-Tel releases Inter-Tel Audio and Web Conferencing Version 2.0.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Inter-Tel, Incorporated has announced the release of Inter-Tel Audio and Web Conferencing Version 2.0, an IP-based collaboration solution that combines voice and video capabilities developed to facilitate cost-effective, interactive online...

Unica introduces Affinium Netlnsight.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Unica Corporation, a provider of enterprise marketing management (EMM) solutions, recently announced the introduction of Affinium Netlnsight for enterprises seeking to optimize Web sites, Internet marketing and the cross-channel experience for...

InQuira announces version 7.3.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... InQuira Inc., a provider of integrated software applications for intelligent search, knowledge management, analytics and user experience, recently announced the general availability of InQuira 7.3. The release includes additions to InQuira's...

StarTek unveils StarTek Intelligent Enterprise.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... BPO provider StarTek, Inc. has unveiled StarTek Intelligent Enterprise, the company's suite of complex process management services for the financial and healthcare industries. The financial and healthcare industries will have access to...

Stratasoft and call compliance partner.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Call center solutions provider Stratasoft, Inc. recently announced that its StrataDial.VC2 predictive dialer technology has been integrated with Call Compliance, Inc.'s TeleBlock system. Stratasoft's StrataDial.VC2 virtual call center software...

Poll finds Americans twice as frustrated with bad English than bad tech support.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... A new international contact center survey has revealed that Americans balk more at customer service agents with hard-to-understand accents than those who don't understand the problem they are calling about. Conducted for NetReflector, a...

Symon releases Symon Enterprise Server 9.0.(Symon Communications Inc.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Symon Communications, Inc., a provider of real-time operational performance, productivity and communication applications, has announced the release of Symon Enterprise Server (SES) 9.0 software. SES is a software application that instantly...

01 Communique releases on demand remote support tool.(01 Communique Laboratory Inc., 'I'm OnCall')(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... 01 Communique Laboratory Inc., a remote access solutions provider, has announced the launch of I'm OnCall, a secure Web-based remote support solution, enabling help desk personnel to more quickly and efficiently support their customers anywhere...

Retired Home Depot executive named "Direct Marketer Of The Year".(John Costello)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... University of Akron alumnus John Costello, retired executive VP of merchandising and marketing for Home Depot, has received the university's first Direct Marketer of The Year Award. The award is sponsored by UA's Taylor Institute for Direct...

Empirix offers OneSight for call recording quality.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
July 1, 2006... Empirix Inc. recently launched what it calls the first quality assurance solution for contact center call recording systems. OneSight for Call Recorder Assurance proactively identifies failed or degraded call recording, logging and call...

Inova Solutions announces Inova Performance Optimization Suite 5.2.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Inova Solutions, Inc., a provider of real-time visual communication solutions, has announced the availability of Inova Performance Optimization Suite 5.2. The latest release includes new features. Inova Performance Tracker, Inova's...

Tim Ramos joins before the call as president and CEO as president and CEO.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
July 1, 2006... Before the Call, a provider of on-demand sales intelligence solutions, announced that Tim Ramos has been hired as president and CEO, and will join the board. Ramos will be responsible for the overall direction and operations of the company. ...

CallCenterComics.com.(Cartoon)
July 1, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Contact center services at the core of integrated direct response process outsourcing (DRPO): combining contact center excellence with integrated direct response solutions gets results!(1 2 1 Direct Response )
July 1, 2006... Whether you acquire new customers via outbound telemarketing, inbound sales and customer support, direct mail, the Internet or other direct response channels, contact center excellence is the foundation of most direct response marketing and...

Companies offer mediocre customer service at their own peril.
July 1, 2006... A recent survey of 2,048 adults conducted by Harris Interactive indicated that 96 percent of Americans had had a bad customer service experience in the previous year. In terms of broad, anecdotal statistics, that's pretty much everybody. But...

Four simple questions to evaluate on-demand CRM.(CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT)
July 1, 2006... It's hard to ignore the intense interest that on-demand CRM has been generating lately. Like many new computing paradigms introduced over the years, on-demand CRM is being touted as a revolutionary replacement for on-premises CRM, which is...

Why sales leads fall through the cracks, and how SFA can make the difference: five minutes with Paul Petersen, senior director, FrontRange Solutions' CRM business unit.(CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT)
July 1, 2006... Question: Recently you highlighted the fact that 70 percent of sales leads never receive proper follow-up from the sales department. What is the reason and how can companies improve this? Paul Petersen: That is a startling statistic, and I...

Outsourcing risks and rewards.(OUTSOURCING)
July 1, 2006... The term business process outsourcing (BPO) evokes mixed reactions. Though it has been, and continues to be, a primary catalyst of globalization in today's business world, it has its share of critics who question both its validity and...

Cultivating customer satisfaction strategies for the Hispanic market.(OUTSOURCING)
July 1, 2006... It seems that when companies think about targeting the Hispanic market, they focus their energy on how they can capture their share of the market's $1 trillion spending power. Their gut reaction is to find ways to generate Hispanic market...

Case study from the financial services sector: VekStar.
July 1, 2006... "In the old days, you could pick up the phone, make a couple of calls and find a potential customer willing to talk to someone about a lower rate. Today, it is like finding a needle in a haystack in the dark!" Brent Seaman, COO for...

How much is your customer's trust worth?(CONTACT CENTER TECHNOLOGY)(Company overview)
July 1, 2006... Identity theft, while once thought to be a minor issue, could dry up multichannel contact center sales. Companies must determine their data privacy and protection strategy to gain and retain customers' trust. Without their customers' trust,...

The IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Awards.(Customer Interaction Solutions Inc.)
July 1, 2006... Customer Inter@ction Solutions realizes that technology is the key to the success of any call center, as we have been editorially covering call center technology for 25 years. We also realize that with new products and new categories of...

Buy one headache, get three free.(evaluation of customer service and telemarketing services as business sector have great deal of competition)
July 1, 2006... It's not a secret that I like to complain about bad telecom customer service (see my May column in which I discuss my betes noirs of customer service, all of which happen to be telecom companies). But I call good customer service when I see it,...