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Back to the Basics: Best Practice Strategies for Creating a Highly Efficient and Effective Support Organization
Tuesday, April 12, 11 AM PST/ 2 PM EST
Service organizations are confronting continuous pressure to drive productivity gains and need to revitalize their service strategies. They must launch permanent improvement initiatives that are tightly linked to performance and financial metrics. Please join industry thought leader Peter McGarahan as he discusses and prescribes best practice strategies for creating an efficient, effective service delivery organization.
Attend this live, interactive webinar to discover:
- Key steps for assessing needed improvements in your organization
- How to ensure your service strategy is aligned across all components
- Proven practices for achieving better efficiencies with your resources
- And more...
WorkForce Software Announces EmpCenter Express Workforce Management Solution
WorkForce Software, a provider of workforce management solutions for organizations, announced EmpCenter Express -- a comprehensive workforce management solution designed specifically for mid-market businesses and organizations. Deployed via WorkForce Software's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, EmpCenter Express leverages WorkForce Software's policy templates that deliver best practice configuration for virtually every industry -- including financial services, high-tech, manufacturing, legal services, and utilities. Designed to automate 100% of an organization's workforce management activities without costly customization, EmpCenter Express provides enterprise-grade time and attendance capabilities, robust labor reporting, and tools for ensuring compliance with labor laws and union agreements.
InTouch Credit Union Delivers Exceptional Service With AltiGen
AltiGen Communications, Inc., a provider of software-based Unified Communications solutions, announced that InTouch Credit Union has centralized contact center operations nationwide utilizing AltiGen's unified communications and Microsoft based contact center solution. InTouch Credit Union routes all incoming member calls from across the country to contact centers in Texas and Nevada. The credit union also leverages AltiGen's full time call recording capability for training and quality control.
Five9 Virtual Call Center Software Fuels Rapid Growth at Vivint
Five9 Inc., a provider of on-demand call center software, announced that Vivint, one of the nation's largest home automation companies, has significantly increased its number of call center agents and their productivity while reducing costs, after deploying the Five9 Virtual Call Center. The switch to the Five9 Virtual Call Center software and Predictive Dialer has enabled Vivint to increase staff and, in turn, increase sales. In addition, the Five9 solution gives Vivint the ability to manage its leads more effectively by enabling agents to determine when the system dials or redials phone numbers based on call result.
Please Participate: SupportIndustry.com 2011 People Issues in Service and Support Survey
SupportIndustry.com's latest survey is dedicated to capturing valuable information related to various aspects of people issues in your support operation. We know you are busy, so we kept the survey as concise as possible as to not take up much of your time - it shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes. In addition, all participants will receive a copy of the survey results.
To participate, click below. Responses are requested by March 31, 2011.
New Benchmark Study on Strategies for Project Recovery Reveals the Average Firm Risks Losing At Least $74 Million in Failed Projects Each Year
Revealing new data from a recent PM Solutions' benchmark study shows that organizations have a lot at stake in insuring that their projects are successful. The study, "Strategies for Project Recovery," finds that the average firm manages US $200 million in projects each year, and more than a third of those projects -- $74 million worth -- are at risk of failing. The good news is that when project managers take specific actions to overcome these troubled projects, they are successful at least 75% of the time, according to the study.
The study reveals that while there are many factors that enter into the success of project recovery efforts, the project manager is one of the most important. The full report identifies the major causes that put some projects in jeopardy of failure:
- Requirements that were unclear, contradictory, ambiguous and lacked agreement;
- Insufficient resources, conflicts, turnover;
- Unrealistic schedules, too tight, overly optimistic;
- Poor planning, based on insufficient data or details, poor estimates; and,
- Unidentified, assumed, or unmanaged risks.
In addition, according to the survey, the most common obstacles that interfere with recovering failed projects are:
- Getting stakeholders to accept the changes needed to bring the projects back on track-whether they are changes in scope, budget, resources, etc.
- Poor communication and stakeholder engagement; lack of clarity and trust.
- Conflicting priorities and politics.
- Finding enough qualified resources needed to complete the projects.
- Lack of a process or methodology to help bring the project back on track.
Yankee Group Predicts Consumers Will Drive $2 Trillion Technology Market by 2014
Yankee Group predicts the growing deployment of wireless and wired connectivity globally is fueling a consumer revolution that will drive $2 trillion in technology spending by 2014. Ubiquitous connectivity, truly mobile devices, content in the cloud and a plethora of apps are enabling consumers to live, work and play on the go. In this new environment, consumers are the new power brokers: They decide which technologies and experiences succeed -- and which ones don't.
Yankee Group calls this the era of the connected user, and its new report "The Next Tipping Point: The Connected Experience," defines how the connected user experience is driving not only technology spending, but also technology innovation.
For the last several years, Yankee Group has been tracking the tipping point of ubiquitous connectivity--what it calls "Anywhere"--when a region's number of broadband lines exceeds its population. Today nine countries have passed that tipping point, and by 2014, 30 countries around the globe will be Anywhere.
More...
Study: IT Shops Running Way Too Many Applications
Nearly two-thirds of enterprises are supporting more or "far more" applications than they actually need to run their operations, according to a survey by Hewlett-Packard and Capgemini.
Just 4 percent of the roughly 100 IT decision-makers polled consider every system they run to be "business-critical," according to the study.
The simple cost of retiring applications was the leading reason cited for keeping obsolete software in production, since most IT budgets are aligned around areas like maintaining existing applications and new projects, according to the study.
Smaller companies surveyed didn't have the same problems with excessive software. Almost 75 percent of small businesses said they have "just the right" number of applications, and another 23 percent said they don't have enough.
There was a wide disparity in application portfolio sizes as well. Eighty-four percent of smaller companies said they support fewer than 50 applications. Meanwhile, enterprises reported they handle up to 10,000 applications.
Bloated and redundant IT landscapes result from factors like mergers and acquisitions, coupled with a lack of formal processes for retiring software, the study said.
Its respondents were from companies of a variety of sizes and industries, with 63 percent in Europe and 37 percent in the U.S.
More...
How to Gain Higher Profits with Customer Service
The easiest way to be successful with customer expectations is to think about customer service from start. Every company needs to consider the importance of customer service as the basis of its operation. If you treat people right they will tell others. In today's competitive society customer to customer influences are extremely vital to every organization. So much so that almost every website, blog or other electronic communication informs prospective customers through case study and testimonial. When you treat your customers right they tell other customers.
Full Article...
IT Must Create Products, Not Just Cut Costs
For an increasing number of companies, IT is a core part of their products, not a back-end support service that the customer never sees. The Web started this fundamental change, but the mobile Web is raising the stakes even higher. And if IT is part of the product, it makes IT's innovation efforts, and how CIOs organize those efforts, absolutely crucial.
Full Article...
The Fifth "P"
In the flagrantly expansionary economy of the past several years, sloppiness in planning and execution were hidden as business sales and profits went up constantly. These days, you are not only competing with ever-growing sources of supply from competitors all over the world, but all of that supply is competing for flattening demand. In this new competitive reality, any mistake can have significant consequences. The solution must go beyond tightening the screws still further on the supply chain. Now, the precision must occur on the demand side of the equation. One reason for this is a shift in expectations. Today’s customers and consumers expect more precision from business because, thanks to the tech revolution, the world around us has become much more precise.
Full Article...
Software Licensing: There's Gotta Be A Better Way
Can software licensing get any more ridiculous? My company recently concluded a $900,000 software purchase, after reviewing the products of three major vendors. I've been in this industry for many years and understand that pricing models must evolve with the times, but the current situation is utter nonsense.
Full Article...
Multitasking and the Brain: The War on Productivity
Though multitasking may always prove tempting, allowing it to creep into your work routine will impair your ability to get things done. By managing your time, sectioning off tasks, and putting your head down for uninterrupted sessions, you'll be able to get work done more efficiently and with better results.
Full Article...
Not for Free: Revenue Strategies for a New World
by Saul J. Berman
What can you do to ensure that you have a business model that will work today and in the future? Create new revenue models, advises Saul J. Berman in Not for Free. The most important strategy now is wringing new income streams from existing assets, physical and digital, by exploiting new segments, new uses and new value additions.
Berman explores the revenue strategies that are working, and the ones that are failing, in this new world. Drawing on examples from a variety of industries like Progressive Insurance, Rent the Runway, Castrol, Redbox, Mint and many others, Berman guides you through the opportunities and pitfalls of new revenue strategies.
SupportIndustry.com is Now Mobile!
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Check out http://www.supportindustry.com/mobile today!
Free Research on the Service and Support Industry
Are you looking for the latest research available (for free!) on the service and support industry? Then check out the research section of SupportIndustry.com. Some of the current offerings available to members are:
- 2011 Survey Results: How Support Behaviors are Changing for Mobile and Social Media Environments
- 2010 Service and Support Metrics Survey Result
- Research Insight: Self-Service Support
- Research Insight: Average Speed to Answer, Wait Time and Handle Time
- 2010 Service and Leadership Trends in Customer Support
- Research Insight: Effectively Measuring Customer Loyalty
- Research Insight: Cost Per Contact (Phone & E-Mail)
- Research Insight: First Contact Resolution
All of these reports can be accessed by clicking here...
2011 Service and Support Technology Showcase Now Available
SupportIndustry.com has released the 2011 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: http://www.supportindustry.com/vendorshowcase/index.htm
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
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Editorial suggestions, feedback & comments:
Carolyn Healey, Editor - chealey@supportindustry.com
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