Strategic Contact has facilitated an annual survey on Credit Union Contact Center best practices for the last two years. (If you don’t have the latest results, click here!) This year, we are doing some “bite-sized” surveys to enable us to dive deeper into specific issues of interest to CU contact center leaders. Our first topic… Read More »
Both Human Resources and the Contact Center play a key role in optimizing the “talent acquisition” process. HR has broad responsibility and perspective to support enterprise-wide needs, and its pursuit of technology generally aligns with that charter. But the Contact Center often struggles to get value from HR’s enterprise-wide tools and services, or seeks its… Read More »
If you’re launching a new sales contact center or looking to bolster lead conversions in an existing center, it’s well worth the effort to institute contact center “best practices” to get the most out of your investment. Your staff’s core knowledge of your products and services is an excellent base upon which to build a… Read More »
Maxed out. That’s how we find many contact center leaders and their IT counterparts. Too much to do, not enough time to do it, and the urgent always trumping the important. Sound familiar? Most centers find ways to attend to their technologies’ daily demands, some of which are routine (e.g., run reports, build schedules) and… Read More »
Technology is so easy to blame. For what? For not meeting metrics, keeping costs under control, delivering great service, driving enough revenue? The list goes on. Center leadership, staff, and support team members often exclaim, “If we only had …!” as they point at technology as the culprit. They don’t have what they need, don’t… Read More »
In 20 years of consulting and hundreds of projects, I have seen some typical scenarios play out in client environments, often based on the communication and collaboration – or lack thereof – between IT and the contact center. Stalemates ripe with finger pointing are common situations. IT stands in one corner declaring “tell me what… Read More »
Contact centers can’t function without technology. They rely on a sophisticated collection of tools to enable the operational strategy that achieves business goals and meets customer needs. And given the wide spectrum of tools and sourcing options, it’s no surprise that lots of folks write about it. There’s a lot to say! But there’s a… Read More »
“Come gather ’round people, Wherever you roam…” Yes, folks. The times they are a-changin’ for contact center technology management. Here’s just a few of the reasons why: IT has an increased burden on its time and resources driven by business needs… and most IT shops have not been able to staff up to handle the… Read More »
Contact center personnel often feel like the ill-fated crew on “Gilligan’s Island” – cast away on their own island. Lacking connection with the “mainland,” they leverage their own resources to devise tools and processes that meet their immediate needs. Everyone knows that this situation is far from optimal, but the organizational chasm always seems too… Read More »
We define seven key areas when considering contact center support functions. While the nature of these functions can vary greatly based on factors such as size, number of sites, type of business and business goals, culture, and other organizational roles and responsibilities, any center should be able to point to these functions and know how… Read More »