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Webinar: How to Give GR8 Service & Have Your Followers ‘Like’ You in All Social Channels
July 22, 2010 11:00 AM PDT / 2:00 PM EDT
Customers are increasingly turning to social media to air their service issues - especially when they feel companies could give a tweet about them through other channels. In the process, your service reputation is now out in the open for everyone to see. But some companies are leading the charge to use services like Twitter, Facebook, and virtual communities to brand their 21st century service identity. This webinar, featuring industry expert and author Rich Gallagher, will show you how to leverage social media for better service if you're new to it, and how to sharpen your virtual service image if you're an old pro. Topics we'll cover include:
- Why your service is going public and going viral: a look at today's digital consumer
- Social media service success stories: Comcast, Southwest Airlines, Zappos, and more
- Understanding virtual service channels
- Do's and don'ts: How to communicate effectively in a cyber service world
Qwest Fires up Call Center Portfolio with Cloud-Based Enhancements
Qwest Communications announced it has added Qwest iQ(R) On Demand IVR (Interactive Voice Response) service to its Qwest iQ(R) Contact Center, call center suite of services. This new product is a portal-based application development tool that enables Qwest customers to create and manage automated contact management applications to caller experience, reduce the cost of new and on-going application development, and leverage business' existing data.
Altitude Software Launches Altitude vBox 4.0
Altitude Software, a global contact center solutions vendor, announced the release of Altitude vBox 4.0, a new version of Altitude's full-featured SIP Server optimized to enable organizations of all sizes to deploy powerful, state-of-the art multimedia IP contact center solutions on a short time-frame. The Altitude vBox is based on Asterisk, the world's most popular open source IP PBX. It's an infrastructure solution optimized by Altitude Software to enhance contact centers' performance, scalability, usability, and enable direct integration with Altitude uCI, Altitude's customer interaction management suite.
CDC Software Launches CDC Pivotal Social CRM
CDC Software Corporation , a hybrid enterprise software provider of on-premise and cloud deployments, announced the availability of CDC Pivotal Social CRM 6.0, a new application enabling integration with today's popular social media sites so enterprises can better identify qualified leads, gather sales intelligence through increased collaboration with customers, develop effective sales campaigns, help close more deals, and ultimately, improve customer service.
Webinar: Measuring and Managing First-Contact Resolution: Challenges & Techniques
Thursday, August 5 at 11 AM PDT/ 2 PM EDT
First contact resolution, or FCR, is the key to superior support and operational efficiency for an organization. Get is right, and you win with customers, but get it wrong and it wreaks havoc across the company. So how do you effectively measure and manage this crucial metric in order to grow your success? Join industry expert Dave Brown, author of "Optimizing Support Center Staffing," and Brenda Dentinger of Citrix Online to learn why FCR should be a top priority and how to accurately assess and measure.
Attend the Webinar to learn:
-- The growing importance of FCR
-- Methods for capturing and calculating FCR
-- How to align your measurements with industry benchmarks
-- The relationship between FCR and other performance factors
Gartner Trims Worldwide IT Spending Growth Forecast to 3.9 Percent for 2010
Worldwide IT spending is forecast to total $3.350 trillion in 2010, an increase of 3.9 percent from 2009 spending of $3.225 trillion, according to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. Gartner has lowered its outlook for the IT industry from the first quarter of this year when it forecast worldwide IT spending to grow 5.3 percent, primarily due to the devaluation of the euro versus the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year.
Worldwide computing hardware spending is forecast to reach $365 billion in 2010, up 9.1 percent from 2009 spending. In software, IT services and telecommunications, the appreciation in the value of the U.S. dollar, especially against the euro, has acted to dampen U.S.-dollar-denominated growth in 2010.
More...
CIOs Should Have a Plan in Place Now to Tackle a Second Economic Downturn
In 2008, most CIOs were forgiven for being unprepared to deal with the global recession, but if another recession unfolds in the next 12 to 18 months, no CIO will be forgiven for being unprepared a second time, according to Gartner, Inc.
In May 2010, investor doubts about the health of the global economy returned to the world's capital markets with a vengeance. The possibility of nations defaulting on repaying massive loans, high unemployment rates, depressed housing prices, limited access to consumer and business credit, a growing belief that a sustained economic recovery may not be possible this year, and an array of other factors have all combined to shake investor confidence to its core.
As these and other factors were unfolding, many economists were still maintaining that 2010 and beyond would be a period of modest recovery and growth. Because so much uncertainty exists about the sustainability of the current recovery, CIOs should confront such uncertainty with clear and decisive action. They should augment current near-term plans by preparing for a second recession.
Gartner recommends that CIOs take the following key actions to ensure that their enterprises are best placed to weather any potential financial storms over the next 12 to 18 months:
Enlist C-Level Action Now -- As IT leaders learned from the recent recession, executives will once again have to make a multitude of decisions to minimize the effects of a second business downturn. Because most official national recession declarations are announced well after the actual start of a recession, IT leaders should suggest that their enterprise executives convene now, so that business downturn response guidelines may be established before capital markets, customers, suppliers, creditors, etc. panic in the wake of bad economic news.
Focus on the Current Fiscal Year -- To save money as quickly as possible in the event of another business downturn, CIOs should work with executives to determine which IT projects scheduled and approved under the current IT budget may be postponed and which may be entirely canceled. Likewise, once all projects for the next fiscal year are identified, CIOs should determine which of those projects may be postponed and which may be entirely canceled.
Focus on the Next Fiscal Year --Once all projects for 2011 are identified, simultaneously determine which of those 2011 projects are relatively expendable and, therefore, may be postponed and which may be canceled, should deteriorating business conditions warrant such steps. Of course, the decision process for determining which projects may be postponed or canceled must include an assessment of the contractual exposures that may exist or arise with IT vendors for hardware, software and services.
Use Zero-Based Budgeting for Projects -- As CIOs begin preparing for their 2011 budgets, they should adopt zero-based budgeting for projects in 2011. CIOs need to strongly suggest to C-level executives that all business unit executives sign documents affirming their understanding of:
The one-time costs that will be incurred to implement their 2011 projects
The annual recurring costs required to maintain those projects once they are completed
Use Zero-Based Budgeting for Existing Applications -- CIOs should compile an inventory of existing applications that are maintained by the IT staff and assign a reasonable estimate of the annual cost incurred to maintain each application. Once calculated, Gartner recommends having the business unit executives sign a document affirming their understanding of the estimated annual cost for overseeing and maintaining their applications.
More...
Selecting a Knowledge Management Tool for Your Contact/Support Center
The smart support center/contact center manager knows that knowledge management, and not case resolution, is the critical process in support organizations. Good knowledge management ensures that we don’t reinvent the wheel every time a customer asks a question. Indeed, good knowledge management allows the customer to instantly recognize a solution to the problem, if one exists, without having to ever contact the support organization. But not all knowledge management initiatives are successful. So what can you do to ensure that your initiative will succeed and you will pick the right technology?
Full Article...
Judging TCO of Enterprise Software Upgrades
Irregular timing. Business disruption. Endless "options." These are just three reasons that enterprise application upgrades remain a "wild card" business scenario for companies, says Forrester's Paul Hamerman--so you'd better understand the key issues.
Full Article...
Top Five Ways At-Home Workers Have Changed Over the Past Decade
The combination of increased competition for at-home positions and tougher qualification requirements has caused a shift in the type of Customer Care Professionals (CCPs) now working for virtual call centers. Here is a look at the top five ways we've seen the at-home workforce change over the years.
Full Article...
Taking the Technology Out of the Changing Customer Equation
New technologies allow you to have new kinds of conversations with customers, but good customer experiences existed before these technologies, and tech alone can't make a company's employees care. In fact, "most employees don't care about customer experience," according to Gartner's Ed Thompson. There are solutions for this, but better technology is only a facilitator for change.
Full Article...
5 Ways to Boost Productivity in the Contact Center
The performance of many support organizations has hit a wall. In spite of a host of investments, whether in telephony, CRM systems, call routing, or workforce management, performance gains have been incremental, if realized at all. How can support teams realize significant breakthroughs in productivity? Following are five keys steps.
Full Article...
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
by Tony Hsieh
The visionary CEO of Zappos explains how an emphasis on corporate culture can lead to unprecedented success. Pay new employees $2000 to quit. Make customer service the entire company, not just a department. Focus on company culture as the #1 priority. Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business. Help employees grow both personally and professionally. Seek to change the world. Oh, and make money too. Sound crazy? It's all standard operating procedure at Zappos.com, the online retailer that's doing over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales every year. Ultimately, the book shows how using happiness as a framework can produce profits, passion, and purpose both in business and in life.
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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...
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