| [View Past Issues] | July 14, 2009 |
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Featured Webinar: First Contact Resolution - The Metric That Matters!
Thursday, July 30 at 10 AM PDT/ 1 PM EDT
In this live webinar, narrated with industry insight and analysis, Peter McGarahan, President of McGarahan and Associates, and Jeff Moloughney, Senior Product Marketing Manager, GoldMine Division, will share proven techniques and specific examples of how you can improve First Contact Resolution in your organization. Attendees will be able to benchmark their own organization against best practice levels and see how others in the industry are performing.
**Bonus: Attendees will also receive a free white paper entitled "First Contact Resolution - The Metric That Matters!".
Google Plans to Launch Operating System for PCs
Google Inc. is preparing to launch an operating system for personal computers, a direct assault on the turf of software giant Microsoft Corp., which has long dominated the market for software that runs PC applications. The Silicon Valley Internet giant announced the new move in a blog post late Tuesday night. It said the software, which will initially target low-end portable PCs called netbooks, would be based on its Chrome Web browser and available to consumers in the second-half of 2010.
Source: WSJ
AOL Shuts Down CompuServe
CompuServe, the first major online commercial service, has been shut down by AOL. The announcement that the Internet service, which has had several iterations and name changes since its earliest origins in 1969, was closed brought a wave of nostalgic messages from users of the once-dominant service. Many of its subscribers are planning to cling to the service. CompuServe's pioneering e-mail service gave many consumers their first taste of Internet connectivity circa 1989. Later it introduced thousands of forums, moderated by system operators or "sysops." The forums ranged far and wide from sports and stamp collecting to electronic gadgets and photography. AOL, itself slated to be decoupled from Time Warner, said CompuServe Classic has ceased operating as an Internet service provider and its services are slated to be taken offline.
Convergys Renews Contract with U.S. Postal Service For Customer Service Support
Convergys Corporation , a provider of relationship management, announces a contract renewal with the United States Postal Service. Since 2003, Convergys has provided the Postal Service with customer service support at three U.S. contact centers. This extension is the second two-year renewal of the contract. Convergys will provide the customer service support by leveraging its relationship management solutions portfolio, which includes Customer Service Solutions (live agent support), Multichannel Automation Solutions (automated speech, e-mail) and Back Office Solutions. Convergys will also continue to answer the popular (800) ASK-USPS toll-free number and provide analytics for a customer intelligence program that constantly measures customer satisfaction.
White Paper - Using Web-based Support Tools to Improve Customer Service
Using Web-based Support Tools to Improve Customer Service explores how Web-based applications have empowered the population with a voice to broadcast their sentiment loud and clear across a range of media. Some of the loudest voices stem from service and support transactions - to the joy of some companies and the horror of others
Organizations must strive to remain the leading service destination so they can hold the most influence over their own brand, impressing existing and potential customers with options to self-serve via knowledgebases and downloads, live chat sessions, and easy escalation paths.
Worldwide IT Spending on Pace to Decline 6 Percent in 2009
Worldwide IT spending is on pace to total $3.2 trillion in 2009, a 6 percent decline from 2008 spending of $3.4 trillion, according to Gartner, Inc. Continued weak IT spending because of the economic situation combined with the effect of exchange rate movements has resulted in Gartner lowering its 2009 forecast from its 1Q09 projection. In March of this year, Gartner had forecast 2009 IT spending to decline 3.8 percent.
All four major segments of IT -- hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications -- will experience declining revenue (see Table 1), something that did not happen in the 2001 downturn. The computing hardware segment will experience the steepest decline in 2009, with spending projected to decline 16.3 percent. The software segment will show the slightest decrease in 2009, with spending forecast to drop 1.6 percent.
Economy Drives Midsize Companies to Work Smarter, Leaner: IBM Study Reveals Top 5 Trends
A new study by IBM of midsize organizations in 17 countries shows that companies have not been deterred from their plans for strategic IT initiatives, which range from information management and security management to social media and cloud computing -- despite a clear recognition of the need to cut costs in a difficult economy.
Conducted in April - May 2009, IBM's "Inside the Midmarket: A 2009 Perspective" study reveals five key trends:
1. The highest-priority technology solution, chosen by 75 percent of respondents, is Information Management, which turns mountains of data into meaningful insights
2. The most pressing business challenges include increasing efficiency and productivity (80 percent), improving customer care (74 percent) and better use of information (72 percent)
3. The impact of the economy on IT budgets has caused 53 percent to actually increase or re-prioritize their spending, with 37 percent reporting a decrease
4. Despite the economy, more than two-thirds of those surveyed are planning or currently implementing their top IT priorities
5. A majority of firms view their primary IT provider as a technology advisor or IT and business consultant, with 25 percent seeing the relationship as purely transactional
Information management was ranked as the most critical IT priority for improving business performance by the largest majority of participants (75 percent). At a time when digital information is growing every day at a rate eight times the volume housed in all U.S. libraries, organizations need smarter ways to cope with today's increasing information overload by turning this data into real intelligence.
Not surprisingly, 83 percent of midsize companies say improving efficiency is a key priority. Enhancing customer service and prospecting for new customers are also high on the priority list, however (74 percent). A third set business priorities center around improving business agility and decision making, with close to three out of four study participants giving high priority to improving their ability to predict market trends.
Despite the current economic environment, an unexpectedly large percentage of organizations are rethinking, not reducing, when it comes to budget. A total of 53 percent report that their IT budgets are actually increasing (14 percent) or remaining the same but with changing priorities (39 percent). Ten percent report no change, while 37 percent are reducing their budget. According to study data, most are holding or increasing their budgets to use IT to help drive efficiencies or reduce costs in other areas of the business or better connect with customers.
In spite of the current economic climate and concerns about barriers to successful implementation of IT projects, more than two-thirds are planning or currently implementing their top IT priorities, led by Infrastructure Reliability (75 percent), Disaster Recovery (72 percent), Information Management (71 percent) and Security Management (68 percent).
This year's survey also illustrates the growing role of emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, green IT, and social media -- areas that were not even included in a similar IBM study conducted in 2007. While lower on the scale of critical priorities, midmarket companies are actively pursuing several emerging technology areas to improve performance. The survey shows that 79 percent intend to implement, have established goals, or have started/completed implementation of Green IT solutions, followed closely by social media/Web 2.0 (71 percent) and Cloud Computing (69 percent).
More...
Large and Medium-size Businesses Anticipate IT Growth
Large and medium-size businesses are increasingly planning to invest in IT products and staff as confidence among IT decision makers begins returning to the corporate sector. However, earlier signs of IT investment among small businesses have slipped.
In the government sector, federal government IT decision makers are showing an even higher leap in confidence.
Sentiment remains stable across the broader IT marketplace, according to the latest CDW IT Monitor, with gains in some areas balanced by uncertainty among the small business and local government sectors. The overall CDW IT Monitor score across both corporate and government sectors remained flat at 69 for the third consecutive reading.
Signs of anticipated growth in investment that first appeared in the April CDW IT Monitor are now becoming much more visible. Eighty-three percent of medium-size businesses expect to purchase new software in the next six months and 28 percent of large businesses expect to hire additional staff in the next six months, both up five percentage points since April. Additionally, 52 percent of federal IT decision makers anticipate budget increases in the next six months, an increase of 17 percent since April and the largest leap in the government sector to date.
However, this rising sentiment is not shared by all sectors. After signs of increasing confidence earlier in the year, fewer small businesses and local government organizations anticipate budgets to improve. Only 21 percent of small business IT decision makers and 17 percent of local government IT decision makers expect IT budgets to increase in the next six months, down eight and six percentage points, respectively, since April.
More...
IT's Real Value
In some organizations, it's can be hard to tell exactly what that technology costs are because all of the budgetary planning isn't under a single group's control. Handheld and mobile devices within an organization are frequently billed to an employee's business unit. And IT is often billed out to various departments based upon usage, so cost control is far less centralized. That makes it much easier to justify buying technology, because the bills are lower and the department using the technology is actually paying for it. But it doesn't answer the underlying question: What is the real value of information technology?
Full Article...
The Diplomacy of a Service Level Manager
The Service Level Management (SLM) manager responsible for managing the process must have technical skills, an understanding of the organization and the Service Delivery structure. But more than any of the other ITIL process area managers, the SLM manager will need to apply people and diplomatic skills. This article will provide a perspective into using these skills to support the process of Service Level Management, and how diplomacy skills can be exercised, focusing on the negotiation phase.
Full Article...
A Scrip for Scripts
A number of companies are offering scripting tools for agents, and the use of these solutions is expanding. This is a positive first step on the road to improving agent output measures. However, because of their inherent limitations, scripts often overpromise and under-deliver the desired improvements in process adherence, call resolution, customer satisfaction, and call and handle time. This essay, then, is a scrip (as in prescription) for addressing the shortfalls in scripting tools to ensure they deliver the desired improvements in agent output measures.
Full Article...
How Government's Driving Cloud Computing Ahead
Cloud computing may still be emerging as an IT delivery model, but U.S. government agencies are forging ahead with plans to adopt cloud services or build their own. The attitude among government technology decision makers seems to be that the benefits outweigh the risks and that the risks can be mitigated with planning and careful implementation.
Full Article...
12 Principles that Drive Profitable Customer Relationships
Building profitable customer relationships will never go out of style. From the days of the corner store in centuries past, to the global enterprises of the future, the 12 principles in this article will remain the backbone of building a successful business. Each is both compelling on its own and intertwined with the others -- there is no question, though, that customer relationship management as an integrated whole is greater than the sum of these parts.
Full Article...
Not by the Seat of My Pants!: Leadership Lessons for the Call Center Supervisor
by Anne G Nickerson
Not by the Seat of My Pants! is a compelling, real-world story of the trials, transitions and leadership lessons of the call center supervisor. It provides leaders, managers and new supervisors an inside look at the interplay of roles, goals and changing expectations that can thwart the efforts of even the most qualified candidates. Through its tips, techniques, tools and practical examples, this book helps readers identify what it really takes to be successful in this high pressure, high stress, high turnover job, and how to create the environment for enthusiastic, productive, satisfied employees. Written as a story, it holds the readers' attention long after the book is closed.
2009 Service & Support Metrics Survey: The Results
Supportindustry.com conducts an annual survey designed to explore the state of enterprise service and support -- technology adoption rates and deployment plans, financial challenges, workforce issues, performance metrics and other industry trends. This year's survey highlights 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. At the same time, however, these organizations continue to battle the ongoing challenges that have come to characterize the service function. Key metrics to benchmark your support operation were also captured and discussed.
Get your copy of the results today!
2009 Service and Support Technology Showcase Now Available
SupportIndustry.com has released the 2009 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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