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The Hosted/Cloud-Based Contact Center Infrastructure Market Hits its Stride
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by Donna Fluss, DMG Consulting
Hosted, software-as-a-service (SaaS) or cloud-based solutions -- whatever you'd like to call them -- have caught on in the contact center world. This has happened while some of the market leaders continue to look on skeptically and enter the hosted market too slowly to satisfy many of their customers. Given the pace of adoption for hosted/cloud-based solutions in the technology market, it was inevitable that contact center buyers would participate; the only question was timing. This question was answered in 2011, as adoption of these solutions hit its stride.
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[Full Article]
Nov-14-2011 |
Why Unified Communications is in Your Future
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by Donna Fluss and Randy Brewton, DMG Consulting
Unified Communications (UC) is a term that we hear vendors discussing. But few business managers appreciate what it means and why it’s important. The primary reason why UC deserves attention is that it will soon play a leading role in the handling of most customer interactions, whether via phone, email, Web, chat, video, or other channels. IT managers have to care about UC because they will need to support a variety of UC-based technologies and applications, including private branch exchanges (PBXs), unified messaging, email, chat, SMS, real-time video, and an assortment of enterprise collaboration tools and applications.
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[Full Article]
Aug-25-2011 |
Nothing Soft About It
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By Rich Gallagher, Point of Contact Group
Could you imagine what Starbucks would be like if its CEO hated coffee? Or what if you started a rock band and never listened to rock and roll? These are examples of what, in my mind, is the single biggest problem with the customer support industry today. I recently spent two days at an executive retreat with support leaders from some of the biggest names in technology, as an observer. I heard lots of things about metrics, processes, and systems. But customers? Nary a word. So why is it that in a business that has "customer" as its first word, its C-level executives often seem to care about the customer experience?
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[Full Article]
Aug-17-2011 |
How to Get the Most Out Of Proactive Customer Care
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| Proactive customer care (PCC) is an exciting concept that, when done properly, delivers benefits to both enterprises and their customers. Customers want to hear from preferred retailers, healthcare providers, airlines, delivery companies, etc., as long as they consider the communicated information beneficial. The challenge for businesses and other organizations is to create useful communications that their customers welcome, and to deliver these messages in each customer’s channel of choice – phone, email, SMS, fax and, in the future, video. |
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[Full Article]
May-10-2011 |
The Last Customer
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by Rich Gallagher, Point of Contact Group
What if you had one simple rule – for you and your support team – that would guarantee excellent service? I recently completed a new business fable (stay tuned!), with a charming story that was based around just such a rule. Here it is: Treat every customer like they were your very last customer.
That's it. No policy manuals. No committees. No balanced scorecards. Just one simple rule that clarifies all of your actions and all of your policies, now and in the future. A compass that will always point you on the shortest path toward success and profitability. And a guiding principle you can teach everyone on your team in less than five minutes.
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[Full Article]
Feb-09-2011 |
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