The cloud is a strong contender for contact center technology today, and the market hype makes it look as simple as buying a mobile phone app! While it may look “fast and easy” on the surface, centers of any size or complexity need to do more than just turn on some software licenses and hope… Read More »
The “Cloud” contact center technology market is maturing and the vendors are all in. A solid, experienced set of cloud-only players set the competitive stage, led by companies like 8×8, Five9, inContact (recently acquired by NICE), LiveOps, and Transera. These companies have enough market presence to make Gartner Magic Quadrants or other analyst evaluations. There… Read More »
Every small center aspires to deliver good (or great!) service to customers and offer a good (or great!) place for employees to work. The realities of small centers and big technology can make these rather simple goals feel rather daunting. Although sophisticated contact center technology has been available a long time, robust solutions at an… Read More »
The entry point to the contact center – identification and verification (aka authentication), along with routing – is a make or break moment for the customer experience. All too often it is unpleasant at best, and downright irritating at worst. Prompts are arguably the most hated and frustrating part of any contact, with routing to… Read More »
I wrote a blog on Net Promoter Score (NPS) last year and continue to get into discussions about it with clients and colleagues. Martha Brooke of Interaction Metrics is a great dialog partner as she’s an expert on customer surveys and actionable customer feedback. She also shares my passion for this topic. So we put our… Read More »
As I reflect on the hundreds of contact centers that I’ve served across 28 years in this industry, one thing stands out: Most contact center leaders aspire to be “best in class” (or “world class”). Beyond the obvious bragging rights, they have a sense that excellence produces superior customer (and agent) experiences and delivers tangible… Read More »
For most contact center leaders, time is not on their side. The rate of change combined with unrelenting competitive pressure forces decision making at light speed. Deadlines loom before they’ve had time to consider and evaluate alternatives. Moreover, the breadth of their operational responsibilities and daily dose of fire-fighting often rob them of precious time… Read More »
Mainstream technologies get a lot of press. As the backbone of contact center operations, they’re on everyone’s radar and they need to function at peak efficiency. But I’d like to put a spotlight on a few niche technologies and tell you why I find them intriguing Desktop and process analytics (DPA) captures and analyzes all… Read More »
When President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law, the healthcare industry was given the mandate to expand public and private insurance coverage while reducing costs and improving outcomes. As the legislation took effect, insurance companies and healthcare providers needed to support a more diverse patient population. Given the… 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 »