I’m pretty sure, regardless of the size of your center or company, you seek to deliver a great customer experience. And I’m willing to bet your customers have a choice of channels. Unfortunately, I’m almost nearly as confident that your customers sometimes feel pain from their inability to easily cross channels and achieve the coveted… Read More »
The Dos and Don’ts of Project Execution and Functionality
Contact center management labors under constant pressure to do more with less… FASTER! The latter often results in hurried technology implementations that fall short of the benefits the center hoped to realize. The following tables summarize the dos and don’ts of project execution and functionality deliver positive results. Project Execution Don’t: Do: Business Impact Launch… Read More »
2018 Challenges and Priorities Survey Results Are IN
In late 2017, we conducted our third annual challenges and priorities survey. Each year we tweak the list based on what we see happening in the market and what we learn from the previous year. We retain substantial consistency so we can identify changes and trends. Participants could select three of each, with no ranking…. Read More »
What is SIP?
SIP is a protocol standard for initiating and managing “sessions” or connections between point A and point B. It is one of many standards that have been defined over the years, and is competing with or replacing predecessors such as H.323. SIP fits with “Voice over Internet Protocol” (VoIP), which is the way most voice… Read More »
Hot Topic: Authentication and Fraud Prevention
Optimizing authentication and preventing fraud are hot topics in the industry. I had the pleasure of facilitating a panel on the topic at the ICMI CC Demo in September. Here are key learnings from that session as well as project work we have been doing to tackle this ubiquitous challenge. I’m going to start with… Read More »
Make Sure Technology Sourcing Fits Your Environment
If you’ve spent any time around contact center conferences and trade shows, you can’t help but notice that the cloud is all the rage. Cloud-based technology appeals to contact centers that lack sufficient resources to manage their specialized technology. Centers also gain the freedom to turn capabilities and capacity on and off, while continuously benefiting… Read More »
Turn Technology Frustration Into Opportunity
Contact center leaders often express frustration with their current technology. Yet in our experience, they have substantial opportunities to optimize efficiency and improve the customer experience by getting more out their current investments. Here are some high-impact strategies for success. Expand the Role of Data Contact centers should review the information contained in their enterprise… Read More »
Contact Center Compliance and Security
“Bad guys” seem to be lurking around every corner these days. They steal customer information and break into networks and systems. The recent massive data breach at Equifax has spurred action by a host of companies to plug leaks in security. At the same time, contact centers face a growing array of compliance requirements, rules,… Read More »
It’s Time to Build a Resilent Contact Center
In the era of “five nines” of reliability, contact center leaders didn’t worry too much about the resiliency of their technology: it was always up. Yet several factors have elevated the need for improved contact center resiliency: Delayed technology investments come home to roost when a formerly reliable machine starts to have bad days, or… Read More »
Measuring Contact Center Effectiveness
Contact centers must rise to the challenge of attaining efficiency and effectiveness. Traditional metrics support the drive for efficiency by measuring average handle time, labor cost, staffing, cost per contact, occupancy, and the like. Effectiveness presents more of a challenge. It demands a careful analysis of data drawn from enterprise applications (e.g., CRM, CIS, ERP,… Read More »