| [View Past Issues] | February 16, 2010 |
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Webinar: Driving Customer Loyalty through Improved Service Performance
Thursday, February 18 at 11 AM PT/ 2 PM ET
Customer satisfaction and loyalty are two highly desirable results in a support environment. But which performance factors deliver both? Join us for an interactive Webinar to hear Dave Brown, president of Support Center University and author of Optimizing Support Center Staffing, explore the difference between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty and explain why both are critical for success.
Attend this interactive Webinar to learn:
- Which industry best practices are a must-have for your performance program
- How support performance translates into customer loyalty
- Key tactics that will ensure both customer satisfaction and loyalty
- And more...
Google Adds 'Buzz' to Gmail
Google Inc. launched a new service to bring social updates such as photos and Web links into Gmail and some Google mobile products, in a challenge to Facebook Inc. and other social media sites where people go to check up on their friends. Dubbed Google Buzz, the service allows users to post and browse content from people they regularly communicate with over Gmail in a new stream-like interface. People can choose to follow content from other Google users and Google tries to figure out what's relevant, surfacing some updates directly into a users' inbox. People can consume the stream of information through a left hand menu under a user's inbox. Beginning soon, they will also be able to post and view updates from Google's mobile Web site or Buzz mobile software application.
LogMeIn Adds iPhone Email Configuration to Its Latest Update of Rescue
LogMeIn has added a host of new features in the latest release of LogMeIn Rescue, a remote support solution for PCs, Macs and smartphones, including the ability to push email configuration settings to a remote iPhone. The updates in this release of LogMeIn Rescue also include templates for smartphone email configuration and unattended access, which provides technicians with permission-based access to continue their work at a later time more convenient for all or even when the customer or employee is not present.
Jive Social Business Software Improves Responsiveness and Productivity at Swiss Re
Jive, a social business software provider, announced that Swiss Re, a leading reinsurer, has used the Jive Social Business Software (SBS) platform to help client-facing and support professionals throughout the firm respond more quickly and cost-effectively to evolving customer needs through improved global sharing of specialized knowledge and resources. Implemented under the name "Ourspace", the Jive SBS platform helps the firm's professionals work together more effectively across the global enterprise, even as tight global travel budgets and an increasingly virtual workforce reduce in-person contact.
2010 Service and Support Technology Showcase Now Available
SupportIndustry.com has released the 2010 version of our Service & Support Technology Showcase. This in-depth buyer's guide features the latest tools and technologies in the support services industry that enable support operations to deliver superior customer service. To view the listings, click here.
Webinar: Getting Your Worst Customers to Love You: True Tales from the Front Lines of Customer Support
Wednesday, February 24 at 11 AM PT/ 2 PM ET
Most customer support teams are good at handling routine transactions. But what about a customer who is threatening to sue you? Or asks to have you fired? Or an employee who got so fed up with IT support that he smashed his laptop and then ran over it?
All of these are real situations that support professionals reported in a recent survey sponsored by Supportindustry.com and Parature. This interactive webinar, teaming communications skills expert and bestselling author Rich Gallagher with Parature's VP of Marketing Gary McNeil, looks at how to handle situations like these and more. The open panel discussion format will examine the best practices, tools and technology behind handling your worst-case scenarios.
70 Percent of Companies Using Cloud-Based Services Plan to Move Additional Applications to the Cloud in the Next 12 Months
Mimecast, an email management company, announced the results of its Cloud Computing Adoption Survey, which examined the perception and adoption of cloud computing solutions among 565 respondents responsible for managing their organization's IT operations and budget across the U.S. and Canada in the Fall of 2009.
Data from the recently completed online survey highlights the complex, often contrasting, thought process of IT decision makers regarding cloud computing. While security and integration issues are clearly users' biggest fears about cloud computing, these concerns have not dissuaded companies from implementing cloud-based applications within their corporate infrastructure. The well-known fears with cloud computing appear to be at odds with reality, as the survey findings suggest strong satisfaction with cloud computing once it is installed. 70 percent of IT decision makers already using cloud computing are planning to move additional solutions to the cloud -- most within the next 12 months -- indicating that those respondents have come to quickly recognize the inherent ease of implementation, robust security features and cost-savings of cloud computing.
Those That Have Used Cloud-Based Services are Coming Back for More
70 percent of companies already using cloud computing solutions are planning on moving additional applications to the cloud-- and a majority of them are looking to do so in the next 12 months. This shows that respondents that have used cloud-based solutions have seen their business and operational value and want to expand that success to other application areas.
Companies' Cloud Fears are Waning...
62 percent of all respondents have considered or are considering cloud computing.
When asked what would change their minds about cloud computing, respondents ranked more mature solutions and better integration with existing systems as their top two needs (33 percent for maturity, 32 percent for integration).
... but Security Concerns and Existing Investments Remain Biggest Roadblocks to Further Adoption
Companies remain hesitant because of perceived security issues. The findings show that security concerns were the leading reason given by respondents in all categories for not moving forward with cloud-based applications. 46 percent of respondents that had considered cloud-based applications chose security as the main reason for not moving forward. This was also true across a majority of industries, including financial services (76 percent), energy (75 percent), government (67 percent), retail (61 percent) and technology (40 percent).
The investments made in current IT infrastructure and worries about integration also prevented companies from taking the next step toward cloud computing. 32 percent of respondents that had considered cloud-based applications named existing infrastructure investments as the reason for not moving to the cloud; while 26 percent said that legacy/integration worries had stopped them from going any further. Between the time and effort spent building their current infrastructure and fears around integrating existing systems into the cloud, respondents and their companies have been afraid to abandon what they know for what they don't.
Cost also continued to be a concern for those considering cloud computing, especially among government (67 percent), healthcare (52 percent) and legal (40 percent) respondents. This may have more to do with this year's decreased IT budgets than the expense of cloud services.
However, of those that have already implemented the cloud, 81 percent of legal, 77 percent of retail, 75 percent of government, 74 percent of technology, 72 percent of healthcare and 68 percent of financial services respondents were planning on moving additional applications to it in the future -- showing that these fears can be overcome.
Email and CRM Applications Add the Most Value
Among the respondents already using cloud computing solutions, email (23 percent) and CRM (18 percent) proved to be the most valuable.
33 percent of this group have moved email management to the cloud, 26 percent deployed cloud-based CRM systems, 26 percent moved email archiving and 22 percent have moved storage functions.
Cost is Still the Primary Motivation for Moving to the Cloud, but Agility is Gaining
Cost savings (54 percent) are still the primary motivation behind the adoption of cloud-based services. However, there is evidence that the other business benefits of cloud computing are gaining ground. One of the major benefits of the cloud is its ability to make an enterprise better prepared to react and respond to unexpected changes -- or to easily add-on new services as needed. The findings show that 49 percent of respondents support this idea, indicating agility/scalability as a main reason for moving services to the cloud. In addition, respondents also rated efficiency (39 percent) and streamlined administration (36 percent) as key reasons. As the adoption of cloud-based services grows, so does the understanding of its value.
'ERROR' Say Tech Professionals To Salary Stagnation
In the face of nearly flat salaries for tech professionals -- a one percent increase in average pay to $78,845 -- technology professionals cited an increase in salary dissatisfaction, according to the 2009-2010 Annual Salary Survey from Dice, a career site for technology and engineering professionals. Further, technology professionals were disappointed with efforts by employers to keep them motivated via non-compensation related incentives during the recession.
Close to half (47%) say their employers are doing nothing to keep them motivated; just 19 percent are being offered more interesting or challenging assignments, and 14 percent are benefitting from more flexible work hours. Nearly a quarter (24%) of surveyed tech professionals said that they received a bonus last year. But those who didn't reported higher levels - at 42 percent - of dissatisfaction with their compensation, than their rewarded colleagues of which just a quarter (27%) were displeased.
Technology salaries are up four percent in Washington, D.C. to $89,014. In fact, technology pros in the Government and Defense sector enjoyed a 4.4 percent average increase -- nearly equal to last year's overall 4.6 percent surge in salaries. Silicon Valley still reigns as one of the top metro areas to work in, with a reported average IT salary of $96,299. New York City reported a 1.5 percent increase in average salaries to $86,710, similar to the wage increase reported nationally in financial services.
Continuing to lead the pack in top paid skills is ABAP-- Advanced Business Application Programming ($115,916), followed by SOA -- Service Oriented Architecture ($107,827), and ETL -- Extract Transform and Load ($105,844).
Additional findings of the survey include:
- Seattle technology professionals earned $84,144 on average, an increase of nearly two percent. Dallas tech pros gained on their counterparts in Austin, with a two percent gain to $78,438. However, Austin-based pros still have fatter paychecks, on average earning $81,503, a slight decline year-over-year.
- Applications server skills JBoss and Weblogic joined the $100,000 salary ranks with annual salaries topping $101,869 and $100,313, respectively. Individuals with Solaris ($96,672) and AIX ($95,464) skills were the highest paid operating system skills.
- The highest paid titles include IT Management ($114,874), Information Architecture ($105,247), Project Manager ($103,437), Software Engineer ($91,342), and Database Administrator ($91,283).
The Year of the Customer: Balancing Service and Efficiency
In terms of pure numbers, it is considerably more expensive to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. Forward-thinking companies are positioning themselves for quick performance improvements by planning investments in technologies that help promote customer satisfaction and loyalty, such as speech analytics, better utilization of cross-channel information and smart-agent desktops. Indeed, the contact center holds the key to success in "the year of the customer."
Full Article...
Channel Management in the Call Center: Email
Email management is no longer "the next big thing" for contact centers, but there are still centers out there struggling with mastering the management of this channel. Those contact centers that do it well have several things in common, so take a look at these tips based on their leading practices and attributes.
Full Article...
Five Tips To Optimize New Service-Rep Training
Training new customer service reps to use a CRM system quickly is crucial not just to a contact center or customer service effort, but to the entire company, as well. Often, a service rep is the first contact for new customers, or for existing customers who have problems with a product or service. Having a new rep stumble through an unfamiliar system is the last thing a call center manager wants to see or hear. So, what can be done to help newbie users master your CRM system?
Full Article...
Communicating Your Value in a Tough Economy
In the lifecycle of a client engagement, there are multiple opportunities to communicate your value to a client. In fact, before you've even started to engage with executives in the client organization, you should start thinking about the value of your solution. This article discusses three specific times you can communicate your value to client executives -- opportunities which are of even more important in today's turbulent economic times.
Full Article...
Customer satisfaction is No. 1
Whether on the phone, the Web, or in person, service is the No. 1 factor in determining whether customers will return. In addition, the recession and digital media have returned power to the consumer, and with the Web as their megaphone, many consumers have become activists, taking companies to task for more than a refund -- many want public retribution.
Full Article...
Blow Up Your Service Organization - and Rebuild It With the Customer in Mind
Customer service done right will have a beneficial effect on the business, but putting business priorities first isn't doing customer service right. The customer experience is what counts. If your organization isn't putting the customer's needs and desires first, it may be time to tear down your existing operations and start over.
Full Article...
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
by Seth Godin
There used to be two teams in every workplace: management and labor. Now there's a third team, the linchpins. These people invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They figure out what to do when there's no rule book. They delight and challenge their customers and peers. They love their work, pour their best selves into it, and turn each day into a kind of art.
Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. Like the small piece of hardware that keeps a wheel from falling off its axle, they may not be famous but they're indispensable. And in today's world, they get the best jobs and the most freedom.
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2009 Service & Support Metrics Survey: The Results
This annual Supportindustry.com survey explores the state of enterprise service and support -- technology adoption rates and deployment plans, financial challenges, workforce issues, performance metrics and other industry trends. The results reinforce previous years' findings, highlighting support organizations' continued adoption of better-integrated and responsive technologies, efforts to improve processes, and growing recognition of the strategic role of service delivery in corporate growth. Key metrics to benchmark your support operation were also captured and discussed.
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