Customer Interaction Solutions articles from October 2006

Customer Interaction Solutions archives from October 2006

Enhanced performance in CRM and customer interaction through analytics and workforce management.(Publisher's Outlook)(Company overview)
October 1, 2006... People often ask me, "How can you write on so many diverse topics such as advanced technology, CRM, hiring and training, IP contact center, advanced speech technology, marketing, positioning and differentiation, integrated marketing and...

Good customer service for dummies? Lessons from Lewis Black, Richard Branson and a no-fog hotel mirror.(High Priority)
October 1, 2006... By way of an advance explanation, let me say that this column will depart from my usual piece; I found inspiration this month not only from the contact center industry, but from another publication. I had never before read Fast Company Magazine...

Move over, skills-based call routing.(High Priority)
October 1, 2006... Technologies come and go and, for the most part, skills-based routing is a technology that has changed little over the decades. The concept is simple--match the type of caller to the person with the needed skills to service that caller, such as...

The world's first Call Center 2.0[TM] conference.(High Priority)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... As you receive this issue, you are likely attending (or possibly you planned to attend but just couldn't make it) the world's first Call Center 2.0 conference. Call center technology is advancing at a rapid clip and, as the example of Assurant...

Large outsourcer improves customer response time and reduces costs using IP-based communications application software suite.(Case Study)
October 1, 2006... About Alta Resources Alta Resources (www.altaresources.com) provides customized outsourcing services incorporating advanced technology, unique processes and the right people in a dedicated team environment. Customers include Fortune 500...

The TMC Seal of Approval.(2006 Recommended Vendor List)
October 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 Aspect Software Co-Nexus, Inc. etalk...

SpeechCycle and Convergys team.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
October 1, 2006... SpeechCycle, a provider of on-demand, intelligent automated agents for technical support using speech recognition for the cable and telecommunications industries, has announced a partnership with Convergys Corporation. SpeechCycle's speech...

Sage announces ACT! Add-on solutions.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Sage Software has announced over 40 ACT! add-on solutions compatible with the new ACT! by Sage 2007 (9.0) contact and customer management product family. Add-on products give ACT! users the freedom to choose from a selection of value-added...

CallRex certified to record encrypted phone calls occurring on Cisco Unified CallManager 5.0.(Telrex's call recording solution)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Telrex, developer of VoIP call recording and monitoring software for small and medium businesses using IP-PBXs or hosted PBX services, has announced that its solution CallRex has successfully passed interoperability testing as the first call...

Aspect releases Enterprise Contact Server 6.2.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)(Aspect Software, Inc.)
October 1, 2006... Aspect Software, Inc. recently announced the general availability of Aspect Enterprise Contact Server 6.2, which offers a robust application that blends automatic call distributor (ACD) functionality and computer-telephony integration (CTI)...

Humantech releases new version of ergoTool office ergonomics software.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
October 1, 2006... Humantech, Inc. has announced the release of ergoTool 5, a major new version of its Web-enabled management tool for office ergonomics. ergoTool 5 will allow companies to quickly identify and address ergonomic concerns and implement effective...

Porticus launches "who I am; where I am" solution.(Porticus Technology Inc. launched navigation system 'Valocater')(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Porticus Technology, Inc., a player in the field of voice biometric authentication for secure and trusted remote communication, recently unveiled Valocater, a location-aware service for mobile handsets. With Valocater, call center operators and...

SYSPRO updates flagship product.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)(SYSPRO 6.0 Issue 010)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... SYSPRO, an enterprise business solutions provider, has announced the worldwide release of the latest version of its flagship product. SYSPRO 6.0 Issue 010 offers added functionality across all areas of the platform: financial, distribution and...

Datamonitor releases new report: the future of outsourcing.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
October 1, 2006... Outsourcing is increasing its reach in terms of vertical industry as well as geographic scope. While the firms investing in it are wide-ranging, their individual needs are all similar in that they need to reduce overheads as much as possible....

Salesforce.com previews Winter '07.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Salesforce.com has recently previewed Salesforce Winter '07, the 21st generation of its family of on-demand business applications. Salesforce Winter '07 is scheduled for availability in the fourth quarter of 2006 and is expected to drive...

ASC releases new version of MARATHON EVOlite for smaller businesses.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
October 1, 2006... ASC, a provider of communications recording and quality monitoring solutions for contact centers, financial institutions and public-safety and government organizations, has announced a new version of MARATHON EVOlite, a recorder designed to...

LiveVox unveils IMS-based Voice Portal.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)(LiveVox Voice Portal)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... LiveVox, Inc. recently announced a new offering, the LiveVox Voice Portal. LiveVox integrates the application, network and transport layers on an IMS-based architecture in order to provide a hosted, uniquely tailored contact center solution. By...

ePLDT acquires BPO provider SPi Technologies.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)(ePLDT Ventus)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... ePLDT Ventus, a provider of offshore call center outsourcing solutions, has announced that its parent company, ePLDT, has acquired SPi Technologies, a global business process outsourcing company with over 6,500 employees worldwide. The...

Spanlink Acquires Calabrio, Inc.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)(Spanlink Communications Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Spanlink Communications, Inc., a provider of customer interaction solutions that leverage VoIP-based unified communications technologies, recently announced that it has acquired Calabrio, Inc. and its software for distributed workforce...

Call center agent satisfaction key to customer loyalty.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
October 1, 2006... Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. has released the eighth study in its Contact Centre Realities series for Australia and New Zealand. Titled Optimising Agent Performance, the latest Genesys study comes at a time when contact centers...

Intervoice strengthens contact center offerings with Nuasis acquisition.(Customer Inter@ction NEWS)
October 1, 2006... Contact centers are consistently searching for cost-saving solutions while also improving customer service. A new purchase by Intervoice, a provider of converged voice and information solutions, is intended to do both. While the company...

CallCenterComics.com.(Cartoon)
October 1, 2006... [c] 2006 By Ozzie Fonseca [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] www.CallCenterComics.com

What role should technology play as a customer care Differentiator? Increasing customer expectations require a strategic vision.(Innovative Solutions From The Customer Interaction Experts: A Special Editorial Series Sponsored by Amcat)
October 1, 2006... Today's consumers have seen a technological explosion that is changing how they view the buying experience and beyond. What once required a trip to a bricks-and-mortar store to see available merchandise can now be accomplished by pressing a few...

Expanding or eliminating the physical borders of the call center.(Innovative Solutions From The Customer Interaction Experts: A Special Editorial Series Sponsored by Amcat)
October 1, 2006... Let's say you're an established company, and you've just decided to move your existing call center and therefore must do a lot of rehiring, or you've decided to start a call center for the first time. Perhaps you've even decided to outsource...

Stop the revolving door--five best practices in contact center agent training: leverage training strategies and best practices to maximize return on investment, reduce agent turnover and recruitment costs, and improve agent performance and customer satisfaction.(OUTSOURCING)
October 1, 2006... One of the major challenges for contact center managers is retaining employees. Not only is it costly to lose an agent--replacement can cost between $5,000 and $17,000--employee turnover can have a negative impact on overall contact center...

Sales force automation implementation challenges.(WORKFORCE OPTIMIZATION)
October 1, 2006... Sales force automation (SFA) is a system for tracking sales leads, sales, service requests and other sales-related information. SFA helps companies encapsulate all the vital data related to sales and sales process into one easy to manage and...

Key considerations in post-interaction surveying: which data collection channel is right for you?(MANAGEMENT SCOPE)
October 1, 2006... It is a common question in marketing research: "Which data collection channel is right for my program? Telephone, Web or IVR?" If you are talking about a contact center post-interaction survey, the answer may not be a simple one-size-fits-all...

The right balance for the call center: somewhere between prison and an encounter group.(Kwik-Fit Financial Services)(Excerpt)
October 1, 2006... The following is an excerpt from David Sims' TMCnet blog, "First Coffee," which may be viewed at http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm. The British online recruitment site onrec.com recently offered a report on the two-phase effort of...

TMC Labs Innovation Awards 2006: Part II.
October 1, 2006... The TMC Labs Innovation Awards are now in their seventh year, and still TMC Labs is amazed at the continual innovation being brought to market in the contact center space to improve training, increase morale, reduce turnover, increase...

The Church of Return on Investment.(Last Call)
October 1, 2006... The phrase "Return on Investment" is used so often nowadays, a casual observer would think it had become a new religion. "We praise thee, Return on Investment. Bless our customers, our suppliers, our partners, our operations and our books." ...