Feel like your support team is on the losing side of a Red Rover game?

The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) recently conducted an exhaustive study on retaining technical talent in service and support organizations. This comprehensive report defines the keys to hiring, training, engaging and retaining the best possible service and support staff.

Download the "Best Practices for Retaining Top Technical Talent", research report to discover expert recommendations for the most effective way to accomplish this goal.

Autonomy etalk Helps Inovis Boost First Call Resolution
Autonomy Corporation, a provider of infrastructure software for the enterprise, announced that Inovis has used Autonomy's Intelligent Contact Center solutions to improve support staff training, resulting in a double digit increase of Level One Service request closures within a six-month period. Inovis, a provider of on-demand Business Community Management solutions, has installed Autonomy etalk's call recording, agent performance evaluation, and speech analytics solutions to enhance the quality of client interactions. Inovis has leveraged Autonomy etalk's voice and screen recording capabilities for coaching and in 'best practices' training for new hires and existing agents. By capturing customer interactions to use as examples of successful client engagements, Inovis has improved the way its agents handle customer calls and shifted support resources in a more cost-effective direction.

Oracle Announces New Integration Between Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise 9 and Oracle Customer Hub
Oracle announced out-of-the-box Oracle(r) Fusion Middleware based integration between Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 9 and Oracle Customer Hub. PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM customers can now take direct advantage of the state-of-the-art MDM capabilities for data quality management, data enrichment, and customer mastering capabilities, enabling an even better customer experience through deep customer data integration that keeps incremental changes to customer records within PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM synchronized with the Oracle Customer Hub in real-time. The PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM integration to Oracle Customer Hub is standards-based and provides the framework for customers to integrate other third-party customer data hubs and data quality tools that they may already have in place.

OnState Unveils Full-Service Customer Contact Center for Skype with International & Toll-free in Over 30 Countries
OnState Communications, a provider of new-generation call center solutions, announced enhanced customer contact-management offerings, creating a one-stop shopping experience for small- to mid-sized companies looking for a single source to outfit their customer contact operations. The OnState storefront now offers a full suite of toll-free telephone support, call center capabilities and accessories, communications products bundled with the Skype business offering, and Skype-enabled contact center products.

N.E.W. Customer Care Portal Empowers Consumers with Self-Serve Online Option for Service, Repairs, Warranties and Purchases
N.E.W. Customer Service Companies, Inc. (NEW), a provider of extended service plans and buyer protection programs for consumer products, announced the launch of its NEW Customer Care Portal that gives service plan customers easy access to the resources they need to maximize the use and enjoyment of their newly purchased products. The easy-to-use online portal is an added benefit for service plan customers that provides robust product support and service plan management tools. In addition to the traditional service plan management tools -- filing a claim, scheduling service and tracking claim status -- the NEW Customer Care Portal offers service plan customers access to a variety of user-friendly product support tools such as self-help content, product manuals and warranty information.

Brian Grubb, Corporate Director, Learning & Content Delivery, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to Speak at the 3rd Annual Call Center Summit
Stemming from Brian Grubb’s success at the sold out 8th Annual Call Center Week where he was named one of the top presenters, Call Center IQ welcomes him back for an extended amount of time to deliver a three hour in-depth limited enrollment workshop presentation at the 3rd Annual Call Center Summit. The conference takes place on January 28-31, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables, in Miami, FL where call center professionals will discuss how to make the call center a strategic competitive advantage. Specifically Brian Grubb’s seminar will discuss how successful Ritz-Carlton supervisors and managers create exceptional memories for their guests through consistently applying the performance management cycle. More info can be found at http://www.iqpc.com/us/callcentersummit.

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Customer Service Quality Falling Short of Rising Expectations Across the Globe
Companies are not keeping pace with consumers’ rising expectations for service, especially in emerging economies, according to results of a global study released by Accenture.

The findings are outlined in a new report, “Customer Satisfaction in the Multi-Polar World: Accenture 2007 Global Customer Service Satisfaction Survey Report,” the third in a series of annual studies designed to examine consumer attitudes toward customer service. While the studies in 2005 and 2006 focused on the United States and the United Kingdom, the 2007 report expanded the geographic scope to also include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and France.

More than one-half (52 percent) of the more than 3,500 consumer respondents surveyed this year across five continents reported that their expectations for better service have increased over the past five years. Additionally, one-third (33 percent) said they have higher service expectations today than they did just last year.

Expectations increased the most among consumers in emerging economies. More than nine out of 10 consumers in China (93 percent) said their expectations for better service had increased over the past five years, and 75 percent said their expectations are higher than they were a year ago. In Brazil, nearly half (48 percent) of respondents said that their expectations had increased since last year.

The findings indicate that increases in customer service expectations continue to outpace efforts made by companies to improve service. Globally, nearly one-half (47 percent) of survey respondents said their expectations were met only “sometimes,” “rarely” or “never.” The highest level of dissatisfaction was found among Brazilian consumers, with two-thirds (67 percent) of those respondents reporting that their expectations are met only “sometimes,” “rarely” or “never.”

Even in developed economies, where companies have spent billions on customer service capabilities, dissatisfaction with service remains high. For instance, more than half (52 percent) of U.K. consumers said the frequency with which their customer service expectations are met is “sometimes,” “rarely” or “never.”

The gap between service expectations and the services consumers receive translates into lost business. A majority (59 percent) of consumers in developed and emerging economies reported that they quit doing business with a company due to poor service; the figures were significantly higher for consumers in the emerging economies of China and Brazil -- 85 percent and 75 percent, respectively. Additionally, the findings found an increase in the number of U.K. consumers who reported a significant increase in switching service providers due to poor service -- 58 percent, up from 50 percent in 2005.

The study found that customer churn resulting from poor service remained prevalent across industries. Retailers, banks and Internet service providers were the industries most frequently identified by consumers as those where poor service had led them to take business elsewhere -- selected by 21 percent, 21 percent and 20 percent of all respondents, respectively.

To begin to address the service issues identified in the findings, the Accenture report recommends that organizations incorporate the customer’s perspective, values and actions into their business and operations strategy, and into their capability development and execution. For instance, 43 percent of consumers surveyed identified the ability to resolve an issue with a single call rather than speaking with multiple service representatives as one of the most important aspects of a satisfying customer service experience. By contrast, only 22 percent identified the speed of the response.

More than four out of 10 (41 percent) of all respondents reported that the overall quality of service they receive is “poor/terrible” to “fair.” The most severe evaluation of quality was rendered by French consumers, with 60 percent of them saying that the service they receive tends to be “poor/terrible” to “fair.” Although satisfaction with service was highest in the United States, only 7 percent of U.S. respondents rated it “excellent,” and 28 percent said it was “poor/terrible” to “fair.”

Additionally, when asked if they expect better service in exchange for spending or purchasing more frequently from a company, 71 percent of respondents said they expect “much” or “somewhat” better service. The expectation for “much better service” when spending more was particularly strong among Chinese and Brazilian consumers, at 83 percent and 63 percent, respectively. Expectations of consumers in developed countries were a bit lower: 35 percent in the United Kingdom, 38 percent in Canada and 39 percent in the United States.

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Gartner Says Worldwide Outsourcing Market to Grow 8.1 Percent in 2008
The global outsourcing market continues to grow at a steady pace, with a forecast growth rate of 8.1 percent in 2008. But healthy growth rates for outsourcing do not necessarily mean that user organizations are without challenges.

Although outsourcing continues to grow, publicly reported IT outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) contract values decreased overall by 50 percent in 2007. Part of the explanation for this apparent discontinuity is that as the outsourcing market matures and becomes more commonplace, there is less publicity of deals. Companies are simply outsourcing more, but electing to use a multiprovider strategy and more deals are simply smaller in size, with many of these deals not large or ground shaking enough to report.

Buyers increasingly are moving work to lower-cost, offshore delivery centers. Although cost remains a major driver for global delivery models (GDMs), more-mature users are seeking ways to better support their business needs. Indian providers gained traction in Europe in 2007, but faced strong competition from more-established vendors with GDMs. Indian providers are growing approximately 40 percent annually in the U.S. and 60 percent annually in Europe. Although spending on offshore services is three times higher in North America than in Western Europe, the gap is closing.

Gartner believes that the outsourcing market has reached a tipping point with regard to utility delivery models, and that change and innovation will take hold and accelerate in this area through 2008 and beyond. More providers are developing utility-based offerings across infrastructure, application and business process domains. The trend toward software-as-a-service (SaaS) is gaining the most traction, with major software vendors, such as Microsoft and SAP, and large Internet players, such as Google and Amazon, making announcements about new SaaS offerings and mass-customized software platforms. User organizations need to realize that the utility delivery model is a viable alternative to traditional outsourcing, and they should seriously consider utilities in their sourcing strategies.

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Consumers Struggle With Microsoft Vista, Malware and Network Setups
support.com, a remote tech support service, found the majority of consumer tech issues in 2007 fell into three categories: virus and spyware issues (27 percent), tune-ups (31 percent) and simple quick fixes (32 percent), according to its first annual call center issues review. In its inaugural year, support.com found that consumers struggled with Microsoft Vista, accounting for 10 percent of calls. The review findings also indicate an increased consumer demand for tech support in dealing with social networking and virtual game play.

Even with advances in and awareness of computer security, viruses and spyware continue to infiltrate computers, leaving consumers frustrated and unable to protect their computers properly. In 2007, support.com technicians removed an average of 36 viruses per computer. Technicians reported this is due to exposed vulnerabilities once the computer is infected, leaving other viruses to be downloaded without detection.

Other review findings include:

• While virus and spyware removal ranked as the top problem in the call center, slow performing PCs came in second on the list.
• Even with increasing computer "ease of use" it is still hard to actually diagnose and resolve computer issues, which range from home network and printer setup to software installations and setting up data security.
• And in the category of "weirdest issue of the year," the support.com call center reported several calls of a more adult nature. For example, at the request of a desperate consumer, support.com technicians successfully adjusted his avatar's appendage in Second Life, boosting his online popularity.

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Survey: Americans More Wired
About 38 percent of U.S. consumers are watching TV shows online, 36 percent use their cell phones as entertainment devices and 45 percent are creating online content like Web sites, music, videos and blogs for others, according to a new-media survey from Deloitte & Touche.

The "State of the Media Democracy" notes that in Deloitte's first edition of the survey just eight months earlier, 24 percent of consumers used their cell phones as entertainment devices, meaning that usage has soared 50 percent.

About 62 percent of "millennials" (consumers 13-to-24-years-old) are using their cell phones as entertainment devices, up from 46 percent in the previous study conducted February 23-March 6, 2007. And among Generation X consumers (25-to-41-year-olds), the number grew to 47 percent from 29 percent in the earlier survey.

About 20 percent of consumers said they are viewing video content on their cell phones daily or almost daily.

The percentage of consumers watching TV online jumped from the 23 percent figure reported in the previous study. Roughly 54 percent of those surveyed said they are making their own entertainment content through editing photos, videos or music, 45 percent said they are producing that content for others to see, and 32 percent said they consider themselves to be "broadcasters" of their own media.

Among the study's other findings:

• 54 percent of consumers said they socialize via social networking sites, chat rooms or message boards, and 45 percent said they maintain a profile on a social networking site.
  
• 85 percent of consumers still find TV advertising to have the most impact on their buying habits, but online ads are second best, with 65 percent of consumers saying they have the most impact, beating out magazines at 63 percent.

Source: Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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Gaining a complete, single view of the customer is very important but rarely achieved among firms
In to a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by SAP, eighty-six percent of respondents agree that customer relationship management (CRM) is important to their companies. Yet only 5% of respondents claim to have single, all-around view of their customers. The data shows that while companies understand the importance of collecting customer data and improving customer service, few have been able to do a good job in these areas.

Other key findings in the study conclude that more than 40% of respondents admit their firms do not have a formal CRM strategy in place. Of those that do, 44% have seen “acceptable” results from their efforts; while another 22% say CRM has been a disappointment. The survey polled executives of various industries and company sizes from around the globe on their experiences and opinions relating to their CRM strategies. Much of the problem is that most companies lack an enterprise-wide strategy. Nearly one-quarter of respondents say that CRM is driven by individual departments and only 23% can claim their CRM efforts are led by a C-level executive outside the information technology department.

Additional key findings of the survey include:

• Metrics for CRM success may be misaligned. Companies adopt CRM to increase marketing effectiveness (51%), improve service delivery (48%) or drive new revenue (47%). But companies most often gauge CRM success largely according to overall customer satisfaction (49%) and retention (42%)—wholly different metrics. More than 17% do not measure CRM success at all.

• Increased spending on CRM initiatives could improve results. More than 70% say they will spend more or significantly more money on CRM over the next three years. This presents an opportunity to improve data-sharing between departments, although most companies say that spending increases are likely to go toward sales (56%), customer service/support (51%) and marketing (45%), rather than systems integration.

• CRM needs executive leadership. Nearly 60% of companies that describe their CRM efforts as disappointing cite a lack of executive sponsorship as a major obstacle to CRM success, compared with 9% of those whose efforts have been successful.

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How to Stop Your Customers From Defecting Because of Your IVR
Organizations must have a strategy that includes an effective IVR plan in a business environment that does not drive customers to competitors after one negative experience. The short answer is to find a way to self-serve your customers in your IVR better than your competitors and leverage this superior experience to build brand loyalty and additional revenues through up-sell and cross-sell strategies. Better self-service and brand loyalty ultimately lead to higher user satisfaction and ultimately decrease customer churn. There are many avenues you could pursue to determine your strategy. The best would be to consult with your customers and truly understand how they want to interact with your IVR.
Full Article...

Why Firing Your Worst Customers Isn't Such a Great Idea
A new year always brings changes and new challenges for IT managers, and 2008 will be no exception. While there are dozens of emerging technologies that have the potential to disrupt current standards, five that have significant opportunity to lead to major implications for enterprises in the coming year are: virtualization , the role of Apple and managing cross-platform shops, managed data centers, video over IP networks, and presence-aware applications. What all five have in common is the ability to change the course of your IT plans, rework your network infrastructure, manage your desktops, and alter the way you build and deploy your applications.
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Watch Out for Training Costs in ITIL Version 3
In its latest incarnation, ITIL is raising vexing questions for IT professionals contemplating adopting it within their companies. The problem? A lack of clarity as to the cost and extent of ITIL training and certification. Now over twenty years old, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library -- to give ITIL its full name -- is a set of best practice concepts and techniques for addressing the effective management of IT infrastructure, service delivery and service support. The biggest difference with ITIL v3 is the lifecycle approach to service. Version 3 calls for getting service issues factored in at the beginning of a system's life -- its design phase -- rather than figuring out how to service a system once it's been built. But will ITIL v3 prove as popular?
Full Article...

Secrets to E-Commerce Excellence
While the Internet's vast expanse provides companies with the ability to reach more potential customers, it also pits them against more competitors than ever before. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult for companies to convert site visitors into buying customers. To complicate matters, nine out of every 10 users log off without buying anything, according to some estimates. While companies cannot arm-wrestle consumers and force them to buy their products, there are steps they can take to make it more likely that a transaction will occur. This article presents five tips from e-commerce experts that could entice consumers to purchase your products.
Full Article...

Wikia Wants to Shake Up Search
Jimmy Wales isn't entertaining David-and-Goliath delusions when it comes to battling Google at Internet search. Wales, co-founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, knows his new Web-search tool won't come close to reaching Google's market share any time soon. But he's got what may be an even grander agenda: Wales wants to shake up how people search the Web, whatever engine they use. What separates Wikia Search from many other Web-search tools, including Google's, is that it will incorporate human input with methods based on computer programs.
Full Article...

Take No Prisoners: A No-holds-barred Approach to Corporate Excellence
by Marvin A. Davis

Now more than ever, American companies are experiencing a nagging feeling that they could be doing much better. Globalization, digitization, and the development of cellular technology have increased competition by leaps and bounds. As a consequence, skating by on marginal performance isn’t enough. It’s time for businesses to find the tools that will help them excel.
By addressing issues that may at first seem too messy or dangerous, companies can learn how to truly improve performance, increase profits, and boost cash flow. Companies shouldn’t wait until they are in dire straits to make changes; they can alleviate many problems if they act now and meet them head-on. Through real-life examples of corporations who have made these solutions work successfully, Take No Prisoners tells American companies the truth about the state of their business, and how to make it even better.

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White Paper: Using Web-based Support Tools to Improve Customer Service
This informative white paper examines the latest trends and technologies in using Web-based support tools to improve customer service. Get your copy today!

Multichannel Service & Support Survey of Executives: Report of Findings
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