Call Centre 101

Management Objective: To successfully integrate outsource partners into your customer contact operation - with centralised management and control

Author: Mike Adolphy, Regional Director UK and Ireland, CosmoCom Over the last few years, outsourcing has become huge business - with organisations outsourcing everything from payroll and back office tasks, to more specialist HR and customer contact roles. Analysts XMG believes thi ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Outsourcing

Management objective: To make the right outsourcing decision

Author: Stuart Mackie, Business Development Director, Genesys Telecommunications Offshoring and outsourcing are hardly ever out of the news, and with cost-control a top priority for most businesses, it's relevance is once again affirmed. Datamonitor suggests that more UK companies a ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Outsourcing

Management objective: Turn off Answer Machine Detection in contact centres to fully comply with OFCOM guidelines.

Author: David Walters, Chief Information and Innovation Officer, LBM Direct Marketing Ltd. In September 2008 OFCOM announced that they would be including Answer Machine Detection (AMD) false positives in calculating abandonment rates, impacting all companies using predictive diallers. ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Regulation

Management objective: Harnessing phone self-service to drive customer service up, not down

Author: Oliver Lennon, CEO, SpeechStorm Self-service solutions have done much to transform the cost-efficiency of customer service initiatives. Yet, in many cases, they have failed to delight the customer. Compounded by current market conditions, this could have dangerous implications f ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Self-service

Management objective: To use the voice of the customer to drive positive change that works hard for your business

Author: Jim Burns, CEO of Sigdev, part of HeroTSC How satisfied are your customers? Today's businesses are operating within tight margins of an unprecedented scale, and many are vying for position in an unforgiving marketplace where there is little to differentiate their produc ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Satisfaction

Management objective: Improving the way Multi-Channel Communications projects are run

Author: Simon Gresswell, Director and Principal Consultant, ProtoCall One 1. For starters - be flexible, review and refine Multi-Channel Communications, or Multi-Channel Contact projects as they are sometimes called, aren't like any other IT project: setting objectives in stone ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Multi-channel

Management objective: To make sure that you've got a framework in place to support multiple channels, and that you're able to unlock some of the significant benefits that such a multi-channel solution can offer

Author: Adam Faulkner, Director, Sabio   Seizing the multi-channel opportunity Customer service operations often struggle with the reality of multi-channel service. It isn't easy. Done right, however, the benefits can be considerable, with improved first contact resol ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Multi-channel

Management Objective: Understanding what lies behind first contact resolution

Author: Ventura FCR: Great service? Or a barrier to customer relations? First contact resolution - surely the pinnacle of all contact centre measures, the ultimate aim for you and your customers. Imagine every call you receive swiftly dealt with. Imagine customers who only call o ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - FCR

Case study: EPSON's global organisation boosts customer service efficiency by 30% and reduces service resolution cost by 38% with nGen CIM Suite

Solution provider: nGenera CIM Client: EPSON Product: nGen CIM Suite The Customer Support Challenge Service has been a key differentiator in the market for some time now, any business needs to balance this with the costs associated with delivering high quality service ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Chat & Email

Management objective: To attract Millennials to your business

Author: Keith Pearce, Marketing Director EMEA, Genesys Telecommunications Many companies are struggling to adapt their business to serve a new wave of consumers from the Millennial generation. The current economic climate means that attracting, serving and retaining customers has neve ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Customer 2.0

Management Objective: To cut costs without losing customer focus

Author: Jenny Thornton, Marketing Programs Manager, Northern Europe & South Africa, Aspect During tough times, we are all asked to take a close look at the bottom line.  However, cost-cutting alone won't by itself see an organisation survive the downturn in a healthy state. ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Cost Cutting

Management objective: To understand the intent of the customer to ensure you deliver the best possible service quality

Author: Bryn Standrin, contact centre business consultant, Pegasystems Call centres are under pressure to deliver.  On the one hand, they must take cost out of the operation, at the same time improving the service they give customers.  And further, as they are increasingly rec ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - CPM

Management objective: Harnessing analytics to drive service and sales excellence

Author: David Mason, Major Accounts Manager, Business Systems Many of the early debates surrounding analytics such as phonetic indexing versus speech-to-text, high cost of ownership, accuracy and effectiveness, have diminished thanks to the increasingly reliable solutions which are now ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Analytics

Management objective: Unite data silos to cut costs, boost performance and customer base

Author: Trent Fulcher, program director, customer experience and contact centre solutions, Cincom It's no secret that today's customers expect more and better service than ever. As the digital-native millennial generation-the first generation that has never experienced life with ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Agent Desktop

Management objective: Deliver the benefits of automated service without blocking the caller's path to an agent

Author: Ian Turner, General Manager, EMEA, Nuance The ideal call centre experience provides all the benefits of an automated service, without blocking the caller's path to an agent. Here, Ian Turner from Nuance outlines how this can be achieved. Many of you have already experie ... read more

Date - 29/06/2009
Category - Automation