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Conquer the Mobile Workforce Challenge
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BMC takes service desk to the cloud via Salesforce.com
BMC has positioned itself to lead the market in cloud-based service desk technology when the company announced it had partnered with Salesforce.com to deliver its IT management software the Force.com platform. BMC's Service Desk Express will be sold, marketed and available via Salesforce.com, which company executives say will enable more IT departments to take advantage of enterprise level service desk technology.
CustomerImpact Launches Customer-Centricity Audit
CustomerImpact, a solutions and consulting services provider of customer intelligence and dynamic dashboards, has created a comprehensive online assessment vehicle whereby respondents rate how well their company is performing in six critical areas. Based on an assessment of their organization's progress to date, respondents fall into one of four stages, ranging from Product-Focused to True Customer-Centricity. Upon completion of this self-assessment tool, respondents will immediately be told how many points they accumulated and which of the four stages they fall into, along with a brief description of each stage. To take the free audit, click here.
New Version of Numara FootPrints Improves Service Desk Efficiency
Numara Software, Inc., a provider of service management and asset management solutions for IT professionals, announced the release of Numara FootPrints 9.5. The newly optimized user interface -- with quick in-line editing, easy-to-access icons and priority item coloring -- shaves minutes off of the tasks service desks agents perform most frequently, such as updating tickets and monitoring hot issues. In addition, tighter integration with IT asset management and desktop management tools improves visibility and control of the IT environment, while enhanced Change Management, Configuration Management and Service Catalog functionality lets customers increase alignment with industry best practices and improve overall support.
NICE to Acquire Orsus for $22 Million
NICE Systems, a provider of advanced solutions that enable enterprises and security organizations to extract Insight from Interactions, announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the security management solution assets of Orsus, a provider of Security Management Solutions for $22 million.
Check out TeamSupport
TeamSupport is an increasingly popular SaaS based customer service, product management, and bug tracking solution. The well integrated software addresses the very real need for better communication between manufacturers, their customers, and key client focused teams within their organizations. Scalable from a simple help desk assistant to an enterprise wide issue, bug, feature and customer management system, TeamSupport breaks down barriers to the exchange of information, letting all share a common knowledge base. The result: Better products and happier customers.
Survey of 16 countries shows poor customer service costs $338.5 billion per year in lost business
According to a new international survey of consumers the cost of poor customer service in 16 major industrialized economies causes businesses to lose a total of USD $338.5 billion per year when customers defect and abandon their purchases as a direct result of poor customer experiences. The hardest hit industries across all countries surveyed are financial services, cable and satellite TV providers, and a variety of telecommunications companies. The average value of each lost relationship across all countries surveyed is $243 per year. Losses were defined as transaction taken to a competitor (63% of the total) and transactions abandoned entirely (37% of the total).
Consumers across all countries cited key reasons that they leave. Assisted service is well developed, with the overwhelming majority of consumers saying their most satisfying experience occurred because of a capable and competent customer service representative. However, self-service that is not intelligently integrated with assisted service is a key area of concern.
Consumers feel the most significant root causes of poor service are:
-- Being trapped in automated self-service
-- Being forced to wait too long for service
-- Repeating themselves
-- Representatives that lack the skills to answer their inquiry
Some interesting differences occur regionally. For example, in many European locales, including Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, a significant portion of consumers said one of their greatest sources of frustration was being unable to reach customer service without paying a charge for the call: 29% of consumers in Germany said so; and in the Netherlands 25% mentioned this. Nearly 10% of Chinese consumers also cited this as a source of frustration.
Consumers also were asked to identify the factors that make the biggest difference in improving satisfaction levels. According to the data, consumer satisfaction increases when companies meet four key needs:
-- Competency
-- Convenience
-- Proactive engagement
-- Personalization
Proactive outreach emerged as an area in which consumers want greater engagement. More than 86 percent of consumers defined proactive engagement as a "strong benefit" or would "welcome proactive assistance" when stuck on the Web or in some form of self-service.
Leading Service Firms Achieve High Profit Margins and Enrich the Customer Experience
The latest research report published by the Aberdeen Group found that top performing organizations are turning to multiple service delivery channels to meet the needs of their customers. By managing service as a strategic profit center, forward-thinking companies have rejected the traditional approach in favor of a more integrated approach that includes managing resources (people, parts, vehicles), partners (internal, external), contracts and customers with a razor-sharp focus that aligns directly to corporate goals and objectives. Organizations that have successfully employed a strategic service management approach are able to deliver on the four key precepts of a strategic business unit: customer value, competitive differentiation, financial performance, and product quality.
Research findings in The State of Service Management report indicate that top performing companies are twice as likely as all other organizations to systematically share customer and product information with all relevant internal and external partners. As such, these firms exhibited the following:
-- 95% customer satisfaction rate
-- 93% customer retention rate
-- 34% annual service profit margin
-- 25% workforce productivity increase (i.e., number of service calls completed daily) over the past 12 months
The report also finds that leading service organizations are considerably more likely to use an appointment management solution to equip their teams and customers. In addition, leading firms are more likely than others to place a significant focus on business intelligence and analytics in order to better align service-related KPIs with business goals.
Speech Analytics Market Continues to Grow
DMG Consulting LLC, a provider of contact center and real-time analytics market research and consulting services, has published the 2009 - 2010 Speech Analytics Market Report.
Speech analytics has been one of the fastest growing contact center technology sectors since its introduction in 2004. DMG's research shows that the market grew from 25 commercial speech analytics implementations in 2004 to 1,764 at the end of 2008, yielding a five-year compounded annual growth rate of 190 percent. Speech analytics continues to grow at a rapid rate, despite the global recession, due to its ability to help enterprises provide an outstanding customer experience, cut costs, retain customers and minimize risk. DMG Consulting predicts that this market will continue to grow year-over-year - 45 percent in 2009, 40 percent in 2010, 42 percent in 2011, 32 percent in 2012, and 25 percent in 2013.
10 Tips for Staff Retention in the New Year
Employers may have a common resolution in mind as the new year approaches: keeping top performers on board. As we begin to come out of a difficult recession, many companies recognize that their most valued employees will be presented with other opportunities.
It's clear that potential employee turnover is a concern for many chief information officers (CIOs) heading into the new year: 43 percent of 1,400 CIOs recently interviewed for a Robert Half Technology survey said retaining existing workers will be their number-one staffing priority in 2010.
Robert Half Technology recommends the following 10 tips for retaining your top performers:
1.Re-recruit your best workers. Talk with employees about what might enhance their job satisfaction and remind them of the unique benefits provided by your company. Emphasize what your firm has to offer, whether it's a great corporate culture, solid financial standing or strong industry reputation.
2.Invest in professional development. One in five (21 percent) CIOs polled for the Robert Half Technology survey said they plan to offer more training and professional development for their staff in 2010. Online learning opportunities, mentoring programs and tuition reimbursement are all good options.
3.Provide opportunities for career advancement. Structure positions so employees can grow their careers without leaving your firm. Offer promotions to workers who have demonstrated they can succeed at the next level.
4.Recognize excellence. It seems obvious, but a simple "thank you" and public acknowledgement of your staff's contributions will strengthen their loyalty.
5.Communicate regularly with staff. Maintain an open-door policy year-round. Workers want to hear about company news, in good times and bad.
6.Provide project support. Employees who have lost coworkers to layoffs are, in many cases, now doubling down. If hiring is not an option, consider bringing in project professionals to help alleviate workloads.
7.Encourage more team-building activities. No doubt, many companies have cut back on employee perks, but an occasional group activity, such as a trip to the movies or an offsite lunch, can make them feel more appreciated.
8.Consider compensation. While not all firms can offer employees increased salaries, there may be potential for spot bonuses at the end of a major project or team accomplishment.
9.Promote work/life balance. Give staff members the option to follow a flexible schedule or telecommute one day a week. It doesn't cost anything to implement these changes and workers will appreciate the leeway.
10.Evaluate workloads. While every project may seem like a priority, there are likely some that can take a backseat to more pressing matters.
IT: It's Not Just About Technical Skills
The role of IT has shifted from knowledge provider to knowledge facilitator. We no longer extract and analyze data. Instead we provide tools enabling users to do this themselves. With this shift in roles, IT support must shift from doing to enabling. This means IT has to focus on understanding the user's needs and providing training and tools. It also means understanding the business in order to suggest ways to use technology that meets needs. It involves, dare I say it, empathy, a word not always associated with IT.
Full Article...
Workforce Management: Three Tips for Managing Agent Schedules During a Downturn
Managing call volume is always a challenge for contact centers, but it is especially so during an economic downturn. The state of the economy can increase or decrease contact centers' call volumes outside of normal, annual cyclical changes. Inaccurate staffing levels can lead to preventable personnel costs or too few agents handling calls, resulting in poor service and displeased customers. Contact centers need to make sure they are staffing correctly for the twists and turns the economy can have on customer service.
Full Article...
The Richest CIOs: CIO Magazine's Annual List of Top Earners
Which CIOs are earning the most? What does a top CIO's total compensation look like? The chart in this article details 2008 earnings for the top money-makers at public companies. Methodology note: This list is based on publicly-filed SEC documents. It represents only CIOs from public companies among the Fortune 1000, where the CIO is one of the company's 5 highest-paid officers. The total compensation figure combines value of stock and options awards, incentive payouts, perks, pension contributions and other compensation.
Full Article...
Social media like Twitter change customer service
Hailed as the Next Big Thing, customer service through Twitter is a work in progress. The performance of many companies has been uneven as they try to handle a crush of customer queries, integrate Twitter into their overall strategy and manage the heightened expectations of consumers. however, Twitter should augment customer service, not be some magic bullet.
Full Article...
Crazy Tech Support Stories
All of us in tech support rely on the Mute button to hide our reactions when one of those calls comes in, and on IM to chatter about them quietly, for the need to share as well as to get possible answers from each other. Think about it: I'm on the phone and can't see what you're calling about, yet I have to figure it out and then walk you through the fix. Now that takes some skill, focus, and perhaps obsession! But I have to admit that even the crazy cases usually reveal some new insight on how to solve the next person's problem -- or even my own.
Full Article...
The Promise (and Perils) of Open Collaboration
Companies like IBM and P&G have prospered by opening their borders, but there are cautionary lessons from the quality movement of the 1980s. The biggest obstacle presented by both approaches is that they require companies to make deep changes in the way knowledge is controlled and shared. Companies that implement these changes successfully will command an enormous and lasting edge over rivals that do not.
Full Article...
World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When Technology Triumphs
by Peter A. High
What is an information technology executive to do in order to raise the prominence of his or her department? In World Class IT, recognized expert in IT strategy Peter High reveals the essential principles IT executives must follow and the order in which they should follow them whether they are at the helm of a high-performing department or one in need of great improvement. The principles and associated subprinciples and metrics introduced in World Class IT have been used by IT and business executives alike at many Global 1000 companies to monitor and improve IT's performance.
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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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