Supportindustry.com Resource: Analyst and Research Group Listing

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Promero Announces Hosted Hybrid Model for Oracle's Contact Center Anywhere Software
Promero, a member of the Oracle Partner Network, announced the Hosted Hybrid hosting solution for call centers using Oracle's Contact Center Anywhere Call Center Software and Predictive Dialer. Different than a pure hosted solution, the Hosted Hybrid offers the benefits of lease-purchase and experienced management services. For medium-to-large call centers [100-plus agents], the financial benefits of leasing the Oracle software and then hosting the software at Promero's managed, Category 5 data center is an excellent option for growing call centers.

Law firm Herbert Smith Selects Infra Global Service Desk Software
International law firm Herbert Smith has selected Infra Corporation’s ITIL Service Management software, infraEnterprise, for its global service desk solution. Using the Infra system service desk, analysts can proactively manage the Incident/Problem/Known Error lifecycle. This has resulted in significant efficiency gains, with frontline staff in London, Europe and Asia now easily able to resolve 75 per cent of all calls logged. Several non-IT departments within the firm have also elected to use infraEnterprise as their preferred solution for recording and tracking ‘jobs’.

CosmoCom Selected by VisitBritain
CosmoCom, a provider of Call Center Consolidation 2.0, announced that VisitBritain, the national tourism agency that promotes Britain internationally in 36 countries, has developed a global virtual contact center using CosmoCall Universe (CCU). The global system has thirteen points of presence that consolidate the contact center technology infrastructure of its regional operations. VisitBritain now has sites at in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Delhi, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Milan, New York, Paris, Sydney, Stockholm and Tokyo. Potential tourists call their nearest center and reach the next available agent. Even though the system intelligence that routes the call is located in London, a call originated and answered in Hong Kong, for example, remains a local call. Calls are usually handled by a local agent, but the global virtual nature of the system makes it possible for any agent, anywhere in the world, to accept the call via low-cost IP links.

EEOC decides to use federal employees at call center
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will bring its outsourced call-center operations back in-house by the end of the calendar year. The commission reached the decision Aug. 10, in the face of strong congressional opposition and pending budget bills that would forbid EEOC from spending any money in 2008 on a call center operated by Vangent Inc. of Arlington, Va. If the Commerce, Justice and science appropriations bills that would ban outsourcing EEOC’s call center operations are approved by Congress and signed by President Bush by Oct. 1, EEOC would not be allowed to extend Vangent’s contract.

“Strategies for Service Excellence”
Las Vegas, NV, November 5-7, 2007

Join us in Las Vegas for the Services Industry Summit - “Strategies for Service Excellence”, at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, November 5-7, 2007. Network with industry leaders, who will share their strategies for delivering world-class service and support. Presentation topics include Service Excellence by Design, Mergers and Acquisitions - Strategies for Successful Integration, Strategies for Managing Staff Performance, Service Excellence and the Trusted Advisor, and more.

Don't miss this event! Click here for details.

Worldwide Software as a Service Revenue in the Enterprise Application Software Markets to Grow 21 Percent in 2007
Worldwide total software revenue for software as a service (SaaS) within the enterprise software markets is projected to surpass $5.1 billion in 2007, a 21 percent increase from 2006 revenue, according to Gartner, Inc. The market is poised for strong growth through 2011, when worldwide revenue will reach $11.5 billion.

Gartner analysts said adoption of SaaS varies widely across software markets, contributing as little as 1 percent of total software revenue in some markets and more than 75 percent in others. For example, in enterprise content management (ECM) and search, SaaS adoption is in the range of 1 percent to 2 percent of total software spending. Within e-learning and Web conferencing, SaaS accounts for more than 60 percent and 70 percent of total market revenue.

Gartner defines SaaS as software that is owned, delivered and managed remotely by one or more providers. Gartner’s forecast is focused on enterprise application software and does not include the infrastructure software markets, such as application development and project and portfolio management (PPM); data management and integration; and IT operations software. Enterprise application software markets included in the forecast are content, communication and collaboration; CRM, digital content creation and office suites; enterprise resource planning (ERP); and supply chain management (SCM).

SaaS offerings are gaining market presence in emerging areas, such as compliance, risk management, office administration, sales and service automation, procurement optimization, and small integrated business systems, in which their multitenant networked architecture offers advantages such as speed of deployment, ease of use and embedded service management.

Although SaaS as a percentage of total software revenue is expected to grow in most markets, other major forces will also impact market development during the forecast period, acting as either proponents or deterrents to growth.

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Mobile Enterprise Deployment to Realize Cost Savings
To realize the true potential offered by mobile working, organizations must move towards delivering secure access to real-time, line-of-business applications. With a plethora of new devices, software and innovations coming to market the mobile workspace is constantly evolving. However, mobile and wireless technologies are notoriously averse to standardization -- users consistently experience technology fragmentation, interoperability issues and rapid obsolescence.

IDC predicts that in 2008 businesses will be focused on regaining control over mobility developments — having a clear vision as to how solutions should evolve to achieve flexibility, ease of use and cost savings. "Although a mobile enterprise deployment will require some up-front investment, most companies expect that, over time, the benefits will outweigh expenses, and eventually cost savings will be realized," said Stacy Sudan, research analyst, Mobile Enterprise Software.

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ACSI: Flat Customer Satisfaction Suggests Continued Weak Consumer Spending
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) registers a marginal increase as customer satisfaction slows, according to a report released from the University of Michigan’s National Quality Research Center. The Index edges up 0.1% to 75.3 on ACSI’s 100-point scale, and is up only 1% since the second quarter of 2006.

The ACSI measures a different set of industries each quarter. Industries in the consumer durables and e-business sectors are measured every second quarter, including automobiles, personal
computers, appliances, portals & search engines, and news & information websites.

Personal Computers: New Problems for Apple, More Problems for Dell
Overall customer satisfaction with the PC industry falls 3% to a score of 75. Apple and Dell contribute the most to the decline in customer satisfaction, each dropping 5%. Despite the drop,
Apple still is the industry leader in customer satisfaction, with a score of 79.

After last year’s improvement, Dell’s continuing customer service problems have the company back near the bottom of the PC rankings with a score of 74. Hewlett-Packard’s HP division improved 1% to 76, though its Compaq division is the worst in the industry at 73.

Portals & Search Engines: Yahoo makes a comeback while Google stumbles
Yahoo! improves 4% to 79 to take the lead over Google for portals and search engines. A number of design changes and enhancements are paying off for Yahoo! in higher customer satisfaction, which will be critical to turning around this year’s lackluster financials.

Google falls by 4% from a year ago to a score of 78, but it is still the most popular search engine. Its home page has not changed much, and some users say it looks stale compared to Ask.com, which has a very different display of search results. Ask.com’s ACSI score increased more than any other search engine. It is up by 6% to a score of 75, still well behind Google. But it may well be a factor behind the falling Google scores, as some users compare the two. AOL suffers the largest plunge in customer satisfaction this quarter, down 10% to the lowest score in the industry (67).

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Maximizing the Benefits of Your Technology Investments
In today’s complex environnment, many contact centers feel the need to save money on technology projects. However, this is often done by skimping on services and consulting expertise in favor of internal resources or a “learn-as we go plan.” Not only can this prevent the organization from gaining maximum value from its technology investments, it places unrealistic expectations on managers, coaches and strategists.
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The Future of Work
For global corporations, international success once meant having bodies and factories on the ground from São Paulo to Silicon Valley to Shanghai. Coordinating their activities was a deliberately planned effort handled by headquarters. The challenge now is to weld these vast, globally dispersed workforces into superfast, efficient organizations. Given the conflicting needs of multinational staff and the swiftly shifting nature of competition brought about by the Internet, that's an almost impossible task. And getting workers to collaborate instantly -- not tomorrow or next week, but now --requires nothing less than a management revolution.
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First Call Resolution: The Ultimate Goal
Today's call center managers are faced with a seemingly impossible task: improve the call center's quality while lowering its costs. It's a little bit like being told to do more driving, but use less gas, or to reap more in investment income, but use less capital. However, managers have a lot riding on your contact center agents. They're the gateway to your world of serving existing customers and thousands of possible new ones. So it's a good idea to make the effort to ensure that they've got all the right tools and resources that they need to be performing at their best.
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10 Advantages of SaaS for the Call Center
The SaaS model also means customers can get faster access to new software and features. Most SaaS providers offer a range of software which customers can combine to make their own custom suites. Customers can quickly access and "trial" new applications as soon as they become available. The article outlines 10 advantages of SaaS for the Call Center.
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The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations
by John P. Kotter, Dan S. Cohen

How do you go beyond simply getting your message across to truly changing people's behavior?

Based on interviews within over 100 organizations in the midst of large-scale change, The Heart of Change delivers the simple yet provocative answer to this question, forever altering the way organizations and individuals approach change. While most companies believe change happens by making people think differently, Kotter and Cohen say the key lies in making them feel differently. They introduce a new dynamic-"see-feel-change"-that fuels action by showing people potent reasons for change that spark their emotions.

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This informative white paper from supportindustry.com and sponsored by LogMeInRescue and Parature, examines the latest trends and technologies in using Web-based support tools to improve customer service.

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Multichannel Service & Support Survey of Executives: Report of Findings
Supportindustry.com and eGain Communications Corp. recently conducted a survey of contact center, helpdesk and customer service managers and executives, focusing on multichannel customer service and support -- its importance, the current state of their multichannel capabilities and challenges in implementing and managing it.

To get a complimentary copy of the report, click here.

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Carolyn Healey, Editor - chealey@supportindustry.com

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