| [View Past Issues] | March 23, 2010 |
Featured Link
Analyst/Bytes & Statistics
In Other News
Required Reading
Our News
About Us
SupportIndustry.com 1-Minute Survey
Welcome to SupportIndustry.com's latest 1-minute survey. We get many requests for metrics on all aspects of running a support center. In response to this, our latest survey tackles the topic of Cost Per Contact (Phone & E-mail) for Levels 1 and 2 in the Contact Center.
This survey is very brief and should take about a minute to complete. We do not require you to provide any contact info, and we will make the results freely available. The more responses, the more valuable the data! In addition, you can provide your suggestions for questions to be addressed in future surveys.
Click here to get started. Remember, this should take a minute to complete!
FrontRange Solutions debuts next generation of HEAT help desk solution
FrontRange Solutions, a developer of Service Management solutions for medium-sized and distributed enterprises, announced the next generation of HEAT help desk solution. The Call Logging Dashboard in HEAT 9.5 now features a 'My Assignments' view, to help individual users better manage their active incidents. They can also choose to restrict views and turn off unused reports. Alongside the core product, the value-add HEAT Self-Service module has also been enhanced. The Self-Service interface now allows the ability for customers to run issue templates, making it quick and easy for users to request routine services. A new banner feature makes it easy to advise users of high profile issues, and users can choose to subscribe for updates to particular issues.
UTOPY Announces Three New Solutions
UTOPY, Inc., a provider of Customer Intelligence and Performance Optimization solutions powered by Speech Analytics, announced three new solutions that harness the power of Speech Analytics to deliver principal insights that contact centers can leverage to maximize operational efficiency, employee productivity and customer satisfaction, and reduce operating costs. The solutions -- UTOPY First Call Resolution, UTOPY Handle Time Optimization and UTOPY Call Volume Reduction -- expand on UTOPY's pace-setting cache of offerings that are built upon its Speech Analytics platform.
FirstMerit Corporation Rolls Out GMT Workforce Management Software Enterprise-Wide
GMT has announced that FirstMerit Corporation, a diversified financial services company, is proceeding with the rollout of GMT Planet(TM) workforce management software to manage staffing levels and scheduling throughout the bank. In addition to retail branches, FirstMerit is now using GMT Planet to bring workforce management to contact centers and to diverse back office areas, including item processing, lockbox operations, and its transportation department. GMT Planet provides an integrated staffing model and scheduling process that will span our entire organization.
ClickSoftware Ships ClickRoster Version 8.1
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. announced immediate relief for human resource departments and department heads tasked with scheduling shift-based labor forces, with its latest innovation, ClickRoster version 8.1. The provider of workforce management and service optimization solutions now delivers a highly sophisticated solution for shift planning and management to strike the perfect balance between staffing levels needed to serve customers, manage labor costs, and employee preferences. Its powerful algorithms and simulation capabilities quickly and effectively take into account numerous factors, including rules and regulations, expected demand, cost, employee working preferences; and the need to balance undesirable shifts to create shift rosters aligned with strategic business goals.
SupportIndustry.com Research Insight: First Contact Resolution
The results of SupportIndustry.com 1-minute survey are in! We tackled the topic of First Contact Resolution, and we want to thank the nearly 100 people who participated.
We took the results and created a SupportIndustry.com Research Insight on the topic of First Contact Resolution, which found that 59.7% of support professionals responding indicated their company currently measures FCR.
Survey Shows 85 Percent of Organizations Anticipate Spending on External Service Providers Will Increase or Stay the Same When Economy Recovers
Signs of increased spending with external service providers (ESPs) when the economy recovers, point to a return to growth in the IT services market in 2010 and beyond, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey showed that when the economy recovers, 85 percent of organizations anticipate that their spending with ESPs will increase or stay the same.
Furthermore, in their business planning, 76 percent of organizations surveyed are optimistic about the economic recovery time frame, indicating that in their planning cycles, they are seeing that the recovery already began in 2009 or will occur in 2010.
Service providers that prioritize understanding the marketplace and monitoring the changes in their client and user environments will be best-prepared to capitalize on growth. The days of "low-hanging fruit" and sole-source decision making in IT services are largely over; however, through deep relationships, providers still rely on new opportunity leads and expansion of services from existing client relationships, often as sole-source opportunities.
According to Gartner, to be successful, highly disciplined service providers must focus on the following:
Balance: Service leadership will need to focus on balanced strategies of being aggressive/proactive to capture growth, but also highly attentive to monitoring changes in their client environments and the economies and vertical markets they serve to know how and when to react. Prioritizing market/client knowledge and insights to drive internal optimization of strategies, processes, delivery, skills, and reaching clients will separate the leaders from the followers.
Agility: Sales, marketing and service delivery teams must work closely to deliver on the promises made to win deals. Yet accounts are never static, and more than ever providers must be agile to respond to changes in the competitive market, in economic conditions, in vertical sectors, in the talent pool, and in technology. Failure to respond quickly will compromise relevance to their clients. Ensuring the right investments in their own internal operations to achieve this agility will be a task that providers will need to take seriously.
Cost-competitiveness: Pursuit teams must recognize that their clients want, need and expect cost-competitive answers to their IT needs. This does not negate the value and business insight that providers can and must bring — but without cost-competitive responses, providers will never begin to build trust and gain a position to communicate their value message. Pursuit teams must hone their skills to identify which deals are the right ones to pursue, and which are the ones to walk away from.
Survey Reveals Resurgence in Growth for Global Outsourcing Markets
Horses for Sources, a research advisory organization focused on global outsourcing strategies, launched its first major research report that analyzes the adoption intentions and experiences of 1,055 senior executives involved in the buying and selling of both IT and business process outsourcing services.
Key highlights discussed in the report, are centered on the following:
- 2010 is primed to be a very strong year for outsourcing adoption
- The key areas of increased outsourcing scope are expected to be in areas with heavy low-cost labor arbitrage support (nearshore and offshore) -- software applications, call center, engineering management, finance & accounting, analytics and human resources. In some cases, half companies interviewed will be increasing outsourcing scope
- The middle-market ($750m-$3000m annual revenues) is poised to be the most active
- The principal drivers behind outsourcing are cost reduction, desire to globalize business operations and to transform/re-engineer business processes
- The main Inhibitors are other priorities brought on by the economic crisis and internal politics/resistance to change
- When evaluating vendors, global scale, financial stability and operational excellence are the tablestakes. Business transformation capabilities are the differentiators
- Customer-willingness to evaluate cloud-based “business utility” offerings is strong as they increasingly look at hybrid IT/BPO solutions
New Research Insight Report on First Contact Resolution
SupportIndustry.com announced the results of a new Research Insight report on the topic of First Contact Resolution. SupportIndustry.com surveyed its members - senior level service and support professionals - in March 2010 and nearly 100 people responded. Key findings include:
- 59.7% of support professionals responding indicated their company currently measures FCR.
- 38% of respondents reported that less than 20% of calls are escalated. Interestingly, nearly 27% reported they do not measure this at all.
- The survey asked respondents what the overall level of complexity was of the products they support, with over half (52.5%) citing their products as complex.
- When correlated to the level of incidents escalated to Level 2, the report found that 23.4% of those who support complex products have 20% or more of their contacts escalated to Level 2.
Customer Service Champs 2010
BusinessWeek's fourth annual customer service awards are a mix of repeat stars and first-timers who know how to treat consumers right. The new No. 1, L.L. Bean, leapt from 24th to first place as recession-weary customers relished its lenient returns policy, inexpensive outdoor gear and clothing, and the fast responses from its Maine call centers. Other newcomers include bookseller Barnes & Noble, the Panera Bread chain, and regional banker BB&T, which stands for Branch Banking & Trust. Click through the slide show of our winners to see the rest.
Full Article...
Mapping out customer experience excellence: 10 steps to customer journey mapping
To stay competitive and survive the changes organizations are presently facing, they need to reassess the way they are structured, function and build relationships with customers. People-centred approaches like Design Thinking, Social Design and Service Design have emerged because it provides us with useful methods and tools to bridge the gap. One of the tools is customer journey mapping. This article explains what customer journey mapping is, and how it is used to improve quality and foster a culture of innovation.
Full Article...
The Democratic Way to Great IT
Frustration over information technology may be one of the most common attitudes among business leaders. From failed projects and systems degradation to costly downtime and data-security lapses, when it comes to IT it often seems that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, sooner or later. At the same time, though, there may be a sense that IT could be great, given precise prioritization, the right managers, and effective communications with them. A new organizational model must evolve that will allow IT to make sure IT is done well without trying to do it all.
Full Article...
An IT Perspective: I Don't Have Time for This Social Computing Stuff!
How well knowledge workers do their jobs includes how quickly they generate new ideas and turn them into solutions, how quickly they find the right person with the right expertise, how well they work together across time zones and geographies, etc. From an IT perspective, this often means that life is messy. Generally, there are many systems that contain profile data. Often, multiple authentication systems are in place. Against this backdrop, it's easy to see why some IT professionals might classify social computing as low priority. But before you go running back to that business sponsor who's been bugging you to get social computing implemented amidst all of the other things you're working on, it's worth taking a step back and considering a few questions
Full Article...
Banish Seven Bad Tech Habits
You floss daily, rotate your tires regularly, file your taxes on time, and exercise at least twice a week. In other words, you have lots of good habits. But when it comes to technology, well, we need to talk. You know all the icons cluttering your desktop, and the passwords you keep in Notepad, and the half-baked backup you make once a month? Those are the results of bad habits--and they're not the only ones.
Full Article...
Achieving IT Service Quality: The Opposite of Luck
by Chris Oleson, Mike Hagan, and Christophe DeMoss
Many IT organizations suffer from poor system and service quality with costly consequences. Every day it seems there's a new media report of a system failure damaging a company's bottom line or reputation. Don't let your business be next. Achieving IT Service Quality demonstrates that achieving superior IT system results is the opposite of luck. Whether you currently employ a service quality framework such as ITIL or not, this book can help your organization.
SupportIndustry.com is Now on Twitter
Check us out and follow us for regular updates on the service and support industry!
http://www.twitter.com/supportindustry
SupportIndustry.com is Now Mobile!
Get the latest service and support news on your mobile device! Our mobile site is ready for you to visit via your favorite mobile device, or you can view it on your personal computer. Our mobile site is optimized to run with Windows Mobile software.
Check out http://www.supportindustry.com/mobile today!
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...
Visit the SupportIndustry.com Blog
The SupportIndustry.com Blog is another way stay on top of the service and support industry. Our blog, updated at least once a week, is dedicated to covering the latest topics related to service and support, call center management, customer experience management, web-based support, help desks, workforce optimization and more.
Check it out today
Log-on to the member's only page and you can to change newsletter formats, remove yourself from the list, or update your member profile.
Editorial suggestions, feedback & comments:
Carolyn Healey, Editor - chealey@supportindustry.com
Advertising Information:
adinfo@supportindustry.com
Thank you for reading SupportIndustry.com's weekly newsletter!
