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and what they each did to address them within their own organizations.

During this Webinar you will:

• Compare notes on the challenges of managing an enterprise wide service desk
• Discuss current strategies that are being employed to address these challenges
• Understand how service desk leaders are driving innovations and service delivery through automation

Don’t Miss this Opportunity to Learn from Industry Leaders.

Customer Roundtable
December 13, 2007, 11:00 am PST
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LiveTime Announces VMware Virtual Appliance for its Help Desk and Service Management Suite
LiveTime Software, a provider of ITIL certified Web 2.0 Service Management, Help Desk and Customer Support Software, announced that LiveTime applications will be available as VMware virtual appliances in the first quarter of 2008. Based on LiveTime's custom Linux distribution optimized for Java runtime environments and virtual machines, organizations can deploy LiveTime on existing VMware servers or VMware player. Organizations can now leverage LiveTime's highly scalable ITIL Service Management software with the ease of installation of traditional software. The virtual appliance provides the necessary scalability and security that is difficult to achieve when deployed on existing hardware and operating systems. Since the system has been hardened at the operating system layer, LiveTime provides Just Enough Operating System (JeOS, pronounced juice) for its needs.

HP Aims to Automate Routine IT Operations
Hewlett-Packard has rolled out new tools designed to automate routine updates of software and antivirus applications that would otherwise consume expensive staff time. HP Automated Operations 1.0 software suite is itself split into three main applications: IT Service Management, Business Service Management, and Business Service Automation. The suite is the fruit of HP's aggressive acquisition strategy and comprises various components from HP OpenView, Peregrine, Mercury Interactive, and Opsware. HP's Business Service Automation software is a single platform intended to automate all IT processes and to help drive change across applications, servers, networks, storage, and clients. The platform also provides a central configuration management database (CMDB) for reporting, which HP says will also reduce the cost and risk of change while providing audit and compliance capabilities.
source: CNET

Amdocs Unveils Amdocs Smart Agent Desktop
Amdocs, a provider of customer experience systems(TM), announced the release of Amdocs Smart Agent Desktop, a comprehensive, agent-guiding solution designed specifically for companies with high-volume, high-attrition call centers that use multiple, disparate customer management applications. Smart Agent Desktop unifies agent desktop applications and provides real-time agent guidance specifically addressing the vital needs in today's call centers, such as agent efficiency and cost reduction, revenue generation, and long-term customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, Smart Agent Desktop runs on Amdocs Smart Client Framework, a new technology framework that provides a single, enhanced user interface for all front- and back-office employee desktop applications.

Verizon Business Enhances Customer Portal
Verizon Business is making it easier than ever for large-business and government customers to do business with the company through its online portal, the Verizon Business Customer Center (VBCC). Enhancements to Verizon Business' popular Dashboard and a new document-management capability enable customers to better collaborate and more closely manage their relationship with the company. The VBCC Dashboard -- a customized network-monitoring tool that provides customers a comprehensive, at-a-glance view of their communications landscape -- now features two major enhancements. The first enables customers to track how well Verizon Business' IP services performed against service level agreement (SLA) standards. The second new feature, called the LEC/PTT Performance Report, provides Verizon Business customers visibility into Enterprise Trouble Management System tickets referred to local exchange carriers (LECs) and foreign carriers (or PTTs) for resolution.

IQPC Announces the 3rd Annual Call Center Summit: Leveraging Measurements and Technology to Drive Performance and Improve the Customer Experience
January 28 - 31, 2008* Colonnade Hotel Coral Gables* Miami, FL
From the creators of the SOLD OUT Call Center Week – IQPC brings you the 3rd Annual Call Center Summit. This year’s annual conference promises to be another exiting Call Center IQ event - with new speakers, new tracks, hot topics and new site tours this is a conference you can not miss! For more information, click here:
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Best Practices for Providing World-Class Support: Webinar 12/13

How can service and support professionals cut costs while significantly improving time to resolution and customer satisfaction?

Join us for a live Webinar on December 13 to explore the advantages of implementing remote support and learn how companies from a variety of industries are using Citrix® GoToAssist™ remote support to achieve lower operating costs, higher service levels and increased customer satisfaction.

Click here to Reserve Your Webinar Seat

The full poll results are:

What percentage of your security team’s time is devoted to supporting compliance efforts?

• Less than 25% - 40%
• 25 - 50% - 29%
• 51 - 75% - 16%
• 76 - 100% - 15%
  Total Votes: 103

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Common Characteristics of Best-in-Class Contact Centers
According to a recent Aberdeen study, “Contact Center Analytics,” Best-in-Class firms are more likely than Laggard companies to not only act on performance data (57% versus 36%), but also implement performance monitoring (43% versus 24%) to measure the success and failures of their actions. These results demonstrate, in part, why Best-in-Class firms are more effective at improving key performance indicators such as customer satisfaction. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Best-in-Class organizations have seen an improvement in this area compared to six percent (6%) of Laggard firms.

The report also iterates that Best-in-Class organizations share several common characteristics such as installing quality monitoring and providing training for their agents. It is Aberdeen’s conclusion that quality monitoring directly impacts customer satisfaction levels as well as reduces costs. It does this by identifying areas for current process improvement and agent training as well as unveiling potential issues that might unnecessarily arise without constant monitoring. The survey also indicates that sixty-five percent (65%) of Best-in-Class have call recording, but only five percent (5%) have speech analytics in place. Aberdeen believes that in order to maintain, or ultimately achieve Best-in-Class status, firms need to look toward speech analytics.

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IT Staff Love Their Jobs, Research Show
IT staff members are over 3 times more likely to ‘feel appreciated’ than other corporate staff, according to a survey released today. The research, by business email provider Intermedia, also found IT staff 21% less likely to say ‘I am considering quitting my job’.

Despite a widespread perception that IT departments are dissatisfied and subjected to daily abuse, the poll of 500 corporate staff found that IT workers are verbally assaulted 20% less than other colleagues, as well as 10% less likely to take the heat – undeservedly – for a project delay.

The survey of staff at small and mid-sized businesses also reveals that:

• Only 3% of general office staff have recently ‘felt appreciated’, compared to 11% of IT staff
• Only 11% of IT staff members have considered quitting their jobs in the last month, compared to 14% of other workers

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Wireless ‘Push’ E-mail Installed Base Grows By 108% in 2007
The latest study by The Radicati Group, Inc., “Wireless E-mail Market, 2007-2011,” offers an in-depth analysis of the worldwide market for wireless push e-mail. It looks at the market as comprised of three key segments: Wireless E-mail Solutions, Wireless OS Platforms, and Wireless E-mail Devices. It provides market size, vendor installed base and revenue market share, four-year forecasts, and much more.

The study finds that currently, only 1% of active e-mail mailboxes worldwide are accessed with a wireless push e-mail solution. However, by year-end 2011, it projects that over 16% of worldwide active e-mail mailboxes will be accessed with a wireless push e-mail solution.

Wireless e-mail is becoming increasing popular, due to the fact that a large number of the global workforce is becoming increasingly more mobile. The technology allows users to instantly view and respond to e-mail as soon as it arrives, which results in gains in productivity, and cuts response times for decision makers.

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Mobility Solutions Not a Priority for Enterprises
A new report by market analyst Datamonitor reveals that growth in the enterprise mobility market has been slower than anticipated. Although there are many planned investments across the surveyed regions and industries, the market is beginning to saturate in some geographic regions. The report ‘Understanding adoption of mobility solutions’ also highlights the fact that mobility solutions are often deployed together as a packaged solution as both investment and penetration levels for mobile management, applications and security are at similar levels. The report expects the largest growth in mobility solutions to come from the healthcare sector.

Datamonitor’s report analyses the results of a survey of 1000 IT decision makers across Europe, North America and Australia to discover their plans for investment in mobility. The report also assesses enterprises’ preferences for mobility procurement and outsourcing. Mobility was discovered to be a low priority for enterprises and out of the eight core enterprise technologies that Datamonitor has included in the survey, it is the least likely to be outsourced.

The survey reveals that growth in the enterprise mobility market has been slow. Penetration for the five technologies assessed, which includes mobile management, applications, security, platforms & integration and Telematics, has only increased 5% across the survey base since 2006.

Mobility is popular in financial industries such as retail banking and the energy/utilities sector and the survey reveals that adoption has been highest amongst these enterprises. This stems from a number of factors including a larger mobile workforce and often greater IT budgets. However, the most growth is likely to be in the healthcare industry where penetration may increase as much as 20% over the next two years.

Only 16% of the surveyed enterprises currently outsource for mobility and this figure has not increased from 2006. From looking at a previous Datamonitor report on enterprises’ technology priorities, it is clear that enterprises are more likely to outsource technologies that have a higher cost and visibility within the organization such as enterprise applications or security. However, mobility outsourcing appears to be more popular in Italian and Spanish enterprises; a much higher proportion of these enterprises currently outsource or would consider it in the next couple of years.

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The Costs Of Understaffing Call Centers
If your call center is being asked to tighten its belt these days, you're not alone. Many businesses are feeling the effect of a slowed economy and all departments, including the call center, are being asked to make the most of resources. Since about 75 percent of a call center's operating costs are related to staffing, that is generally the first place the call center manager looks to reduce costs. It is all too common to think of layoffs and reduction in staff as a way to respond to the call from senior management to save money. But before you write up the pink slips, make sure you understand the implications of staff reductions.
Full Article...

Software Industry Group Aims At Piracy
Michael Gaertner worried he could lose his company. The Business Software Alliance had written him to claim that his 10-person architectural firm in Galveston, Texas, was using unlicensed software. The letter demanded $67,000 -- most of one year's profit -- or else the BSA would seek more in court. An analysis by The Associated Press reveals that targeting small businesses is a lucrative strategy for the Business Software Alliance, the main global copyright-enforcement watchdog for such companies as Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc. and Symantec Corp. But technology managers and software consultants say the picture has more shades of gray than the BSA acknowledges. Companies of all sizes say they inadvertently run afoul of licensing rules because of problems the software industry itself has created..
Full Article...

Top Five Coaching Musts for the Contact Center
Contact center executives know that the heart of their operation is, and always will be, the people who answer the phones. Why, then, is this business-critical task not managed like the critical process it is? Coaching agents to higher levels of performance and enabling supervisors and team leaders who manage agents to be efficient and targeted in their limited coaching time are essential activities that are often overlooked in process improvement initiatives, and rarely managed as core competencies.
Full Article...

How IT Failures Wreck Holidays, Special Occasions for Many Companies
Untested information systems. Unforeseen spikes in demand. A combination of both, and more. Trouble comes in many shapes when companies' computers crash, or information systems fail to meet customers' expectations. This article presents a timeline of recent events.
Full Article...

10 Lessons Learned About Outsourcing
Many of us IT leaders face a common situation: IT expenses are mounting, operational budgets are shrinking, and the work just keeps getting more complicated. The urge to outsource can be strong, but is it wise? As CIO of Avnet, a $15.7 billion-a-year U.S.-based global technology distribution company, Steve Phillips learned a long time ago that it's people, not hardware or software, who make the difference in the business of IT. Whether you're considering outsourcing, insourcing, offshoring, near-shoring, or even providing outsourcing services with in-house staff, you'll want to pay careful attention to the potential impact of such decisions on your team.
Full Article...

Becoming an Extraordinary Manager: The 5 Essentials for Success
by Len Sandler

Nearly all managers dream of being inspiring leaders who elicit the most from their people. But while they may understand the skills needed to manage their teams, very few know how to put their knowledge into practice. Now, any manager can get exceptional results and make an important contribution to the organization. Becoming an Extraordinary Manager focuses not just on "understanding" principles of good management, but on taking action. Readers will learn the basic attitude and skills outstanding managers must know, including:

* why it’s critical to be interested in, rather than interesting to, their people * the best ways to motivate their team * effective interviewing techniques * conducting a performance review * time management * introducing change * delegation * thinking and acting about their people positively (the self-fulfilling prophecy) * building a high-performance team * retaining top talent * handling performance problems * listening

More Info...

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