Customer Interaction Solutions articles from March 2009

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from March 2009

Thinking outside the box creating new jobs for America ... without spending $819 billion a message to president Obama.(Publisher's Outlook)(Barack Obama)
March 1, 2009... I watch with fear and amazement as our Government takes on responsibilities best left to the private sector. Government should stop pretending and stay away from things that are not their core competency. Just look at two prime examples: Amtrak...

Congratulations to the Top 50 outbound Teleservices Agencies.(Publisher's Outlook)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... As the industry's leading publication since 1982, it is our distinct honor to congratulate all the companies in the 24th Annual Top 50 Teleservices Agencies Ranking (outbound). To see the list of winners, turn to page 16. By becoming a Top 50...

Bestsourcing contact center agents.(High Priority)
March 1, 2009... In a conversation with telecom carrier Level 3 I just learned they recently ceased all of their customer service operations in India and have brought them back to the U.S. The agents are located near the company's NOCs nationwide. Company...

Contact center challenges in a tough economy.(Headset)
March 1, 2009... A declining economy affects how contact centers operate. Inside an organization, the competition for resources pits the labor-intensive customer care operation against other profit centers. In past recessions, contact centers have fared badly,...

800response.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
March 1, 2009... A new study shows that consumers have a 45 percent higher recall of vanity 800/toll-free numbers than they do of Web URLs. It also illustrated that vanity 800 numbers are also more memorable than URLs when used in print, outdoor, and broadcast...

Altitude Software's.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
March 1, 2009... Altitude Software's (www.altitude.com) Altitude uCI 7.5 has now been updated with new features that include an enhanced agent desktop, able to achieve higher first call resolution rates through the use of a built-in knowledge base and simpler...

Confirmit.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Confirmit (www.confirmit.com) has released Confirmit Horizons, the first fully on-demand, multi-channel (web, live agent, IVR, paper) platform for customer feedback, also known as enterprise feedback management or EFM, employee feedback, and...

A new report by Forrester Research.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
March 1, 2009... A new report by Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) offers several strategies that will help companies cut costs and at the same time boost revenues by improving customer service. The study, "The Economic Necessity Of Customer Service" by...

Interactive Intelligence.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
March 1, 2009... Interactive Intelligence (www.inin.com) will integrate the contact center and IP telephony capabilities of its Customer Interaction Center (CIC) software suite, with the unified communications and collaboration functionality of the IBM Lotus...

LiveVox.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... LiveVox (www.livevox.com) now offers skills-based routing into LiveVox Hosted Dialer, enabling credit and collection organizations to match their best collectors with the highest value accounts. It also permits multilingual agents, who are...

Loyalty Lab.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Loyalty Lab (www.loyaltylab.com) has four new, lower priced products geared toward rapidly improving customer retention. Loyalty Lab CRM offers multiple data source consolidation, segmentation, and offer management. Loyalty Lab Reward provides...

Mercury Grove.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Tapping into social networks has become easier. Mercury Grove (www.mercurygrove.com) has gone live with Dex, its first social CRM tool. Dex allows firms to follow a better and efficient contact management system with focus on relationships,...

Netop.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Netop (www.netop.com) has launched Netop Live Communicator Suite 3.4, the latest version of its online collaboration and communications tools which offer solutions for desktop management, unified communications, conferencing, advanced training...

OrecX.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... OrecX (www.orecx.com) debuted at ITEXPO East the OrecX VoIP Recording Appliance its first all-in-one, plug-and-play call recording solution. The product, which combines OrecX's Oreka TR Total Recorder application with a 1U, Linux-based rack-...

Ergonomic equipment salesman.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Cartoon)
March 1, 2009... THIS IS THE "ERGO-SUIT 5000". IT ELIMINATES THE RISK OF REPETITIVE MOTION INJURIES... THE SUIT IS SO HEAVY THAT IT INHIBITS ALL MOVEMENT.... NO MOVEMENT EQUALS NO "WORK-COMP" CLAIMS. HAVE YOU EVER USED THE GOGGLES? I TRIED TO PUT...

Salesforce.com's Service Cloud.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
March 1, 2009... Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com) has lifted customer service, including technical support, literally to the next level, in the cloud. It has rolled in the Service Cloud: which combines live agent voice, e-mail, and chat customer interactions...

Avaya's Video Assist.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
March 1, 2009... Avaya (www.avaya.com) Avaya Video Assist is an in-store, IP video-based customer service solution that can connect customers to off-site experts using video conferencing, and thereby help customers get specialized assistance on specific...

Avoiding the common mistakes of a downturn.(On The Line)(Column)
March 1, 2009... The last several months have been the strangest in my career in teleservices. Members of mine are buoyant and excited about new work one minute, and on the precipice of failure due to corporate cutbacks the next. Everyone is waiting for the...

Customer Interaction Solutions magazine's 24th annual Top 50 outbound Teleservices Agency Ranking.(AWARDS & Recognition)
March 1, 2009... This is the twenty-fourth year Customer Interaction Solutions magazine brings you its "Top 50" Teleservices Agency Ranking. In this issue, we're presenting the "Top 50" outbound portion of the ranking. (The inbound ranking will be highlighted...

Learn from IBM: add services.(from the TMCnet[TM] BLOGS)
March 1, 2009... In his Communications and Technology Blog, Rich Tehrani writes: IBM has shown us that services are a great way to keep your revenue stable or even growing in a slowdown. When companies slash jobs they still need to get work done and this is...

Must the media get involved to ensure quality customer service?(from the TMCnet[TM] BLOGS)
March 1, 2009... In his Readerboard blog, Customer Interaction Solutions' Brendan B. Read writes: Canada's Toronto Star newspaper ran an excellent article by its consumer affairs columnist, Ellen Roseman, on several firms that have responded well when...

ContactQ enhances Asterisk's call center functionality.(from the TMCnet[TM] BLOGS)
March 1, 2009... In his VoIP & Gadgets" blog TMC CTO Tom Keating writes: ContactQ is a new call center application server created by Braxtel Communications that brings advanced call center functionality to the Asterisk platform. Their aim is to handle any...

DataForceCRM guarantee.(from the TMCnet[TM] BLOGS)
March 1, 2009... In his "First Coffee" blog, TMCnet's David Sims writes: DataForceCRM, which makes sales lead management software and CRM software, is coming out with a promotion guaranteeing results or "customers get money back, no questions asked,"...

Study shows companies need new strategic metrics.(From The Analysts' Desks)
March 1, 2009... The performance of the contact center can make the difference between retaining the customer base and driving up costs in an attempt to replace lost customers. As a result, contact center managers are often capturing performance variables and...

Best-in-Class companies optimize marketing across multiple channels.(From The Analysts' Desks)
March 1, 2009... As contact centers play an important role in the marketing efforts of a company, many struggle to optimize online and offline marketing campaigns across a number of new marketing channels. Aberdeen has published a new study that examines the...

Telemarketing rules, enforcement, issues, and taxes.(Compliance Desk)
March 1, 2009... On most desks there are usually several items that merit attention, and The Compliance Desk is no different. Here are those matters that are on the top for this issue: September 1, 2009: What's Your Gameplan? Last year the Federal...

CRM: complex needs, challenging responses.(CRM, BPO & Teleservices)(Company overview)
March 1, 2009... Customers are empowered and demanding that their needs be met they way they want, over a growing array of channels from anywhere they choose, at low cost, no hassle, and now. They are relying less on branding and companies for product...

Communications-Based Process Automation (CBPA).(Ask the EXPERTS)(Interview)
March 1, 2009... As the economy has slowed down, companies have focused on cutting expenses, increasing efficiency, and maintaining quality. To achieve this, many companies are investigating ways to automate processes. To find out more about the choices...

Getting saatisfaction from SaaS.(CALL CENTER Technology)
March 1, 2009... Software as a Service (SaaS) also known as hosted solutions or cloud computing is fast becoming a very popular method of delivering an increasingly wider range of contact center applications, as an alternative to premises licenses and...

Tuning up (and engaging) the workforce engine.(WORKFORCE Optimization)
March 1, 2009... Forget for a moment the fancy CRM, CIM, ACD/routing, and CTI solutions. The engines that truly drive contact centers, and the customer retention, satisfaction, revenue and income they get in motion are the staff. These are the agents who...

Rx for the downturn: better marketing, better customer service.(Logout)
March 1, 2009... One would think that in a marketplace that is being buffeted by the nastiest economic downturn in years and by a shift in customers' attitudes from passive respondents to becoming active, empowered participants that companies would step up...