December 22, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Interview of the Year E-tailer Zappos has been showing us all how to do customer service in a 2.0 world. Along the way the company has broken a few contact center rules—no agent scripts, and little pressure to keep calls short. Zappos is also using Twitter to build brand and improve customer service. Want to learn how? Don't miss this shmula.com interview (part 1, part 2) with maverick CEO Tony Hsieh.
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December 12, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Web 2.0 Everywhere When one media door closes, another opens. Bred on ink and paper, I was disheartened to hear about the newspaper industry’s financial troubles. Then I read about this interesting combination of Web 2.0 and cell phones. I'm very close to believing that point-to-point is the new mainstream.
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December 08, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Sounds OK Like millions of Americans, I had my share of turkey and pumpkin pie over the holiday weekend. As part of a more recent tradition, I also had a chance to play with my nephew's new iPhone and experience the wonders of powerful graphics and accelerometer chips. This led me to wonder if an old telecom tradition, namely phone audio, could use a technology boost to bring voice quality and customer experience into the 21st century. More >> Permalink | Comment Now >>
November 24, 2008 | Author: Andy Green “Cloudworker” That's the winning entry that came out of the TeleWho contest to replace the venerable “teleworker” term. Along with six other judges, I whittled down over 400 submissions to come up with my top ten. While “cloudworker” was number eight in my list—my first choice was “netouin”, rhymes with “bedouin”—I like the final decision we made.
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November 18, 2008 | Author: Zack Taylor It Froze Over My kids once asked me what I do at work. I explained that I help companies provide personal experiences for their customers through technology and services. I also told him that until the local ATM stopped asking me for my language preference every time I logged in, my work was not complete. More >> Permalink | Comments (4)
November 17, 2008 | Author: Zack Taylor Position vs. Potential Industry analyst Paul Stockford recently wrote about the ongoing challenge that call center leaders have struggled with for years—increasing the strategic value of their operations in an environment dominated by efficiency.
In theory, the advent of UC technologies gives many companies the opportunity to re-think their customer experience strategies in light of what I refer to as "collaborative servicing", a greater reach into enterprise resources. The question from leadership will be similar to other new solution spaces—"why should I do this and what's the return?" More >> Permalink | Comment Now >>
November 16, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Net Promoter Dominoes The measure of a happy customer, according to Fred Reichheld, is how willing he is to recommend a business to a friend or colleague. Delighted customers are more likely to remain loyal, continue making purchases, and therefore return higher profits than new customers. While the focus of the "ultimate question" has been on customer loyalty, there's another question that can be asked: are recommendations effective in attracting new customers?
Our intuition suggests that information from a trusted source is important but not critical in making a purchasing decision. Surprisingly, social factors play a far greater role than might be expected in influencing behavior—enough to turn a crowd into a single-minded herd. More >> Permalink | Comments (1)
November 09, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Slowdown, not Downturn, for US IT Spending It's hard not to notice that the economic storm clouds are now gathering over Main Street. The Department of Commerce reported that GDP shrank in Q3. What about IT Street? Analysts and researchers are offering us some relief. They suggest that the recession will bring reduced growth in computers, software, services, and telecom equipment. IT spending will slow over the next three quarters, but still remain positive.
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October 31, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Mind Reading the Crowd Twitter's "ambient intimacy" emerges from the thoughts, feelings, and observations contained in millions of 140 character micro-posts. It's as close as we can currently get to mind reading on the Internet. More >> Permalink | Comments (1)
October 24, 2008 | Author: Andy Green New Outbound Assignment for Contact Centers Web 2.0 changes the balance of power between customers and companies. Comcast should know. It has received a few sharp and memorable media arrows launched by its customers. Recently a Comcast subscriber was startled to see that his Twitter rant about cable reception received an immediate response. A watchful representative had Twittered a request to set up a service appointment.
With the realization that the Internet can magnify both net detractors and net promoters, businesses are deploying dedicated teams to monitor and respond to social networking sites. Sounds like a job for the contact center.
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October 16, 2008 | Author: Zack Taylor If and When The current climate in the world financial markets makes for uneasy times for many. I've never noticed so many people pausing to check the Nikkei and FTSE Indexes both morning and night!
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October 15, 2008 | Author: Andy Green And the Best Short Video Goes to... The iPhone 3G and T-Mobile G1 phones have given mobile developers an enormous market opportunity. But mobile technology marches forward, and there are other players and technologies outside the Apple-Google axis. To get a sense of what will be influencing customer interactions in the multi-media contact center, I screened a few mobile video presentations. My capsule reviews after the jump. More >> Permalink | Comments (1)
October 10, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Green Contact Center The EPA tells us that data centers and corporate data servers in the US ate up 60 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2006. That works out to a jaw-dropping $4.5 billion annually. Contact centers contribute their share of IT infrastructure through dedicated application servers, routers, and telecom gear. While the electric bill is part of the cost of running a contact center, a deeper understanding of where your dollars are being spent can reduce energy inefficiencies and improve the environment. More >> Permalink | Comments (2)
Welcome
In today's world, customer support extends beyond traditional contact center concerns. Providing an engaging customer experience and great service has moved to the top of the corporate priority list. New technologies have also made it easier for customers to reach the right resource anywhere in the enterprise.
A quick scan of some of the topics our bloggers have covered—Net Promoters, crowdsourcing, interactive video, and Twitter—should give you a sense of how the contact center has evolved. As we continue to invite new experts to the discussion, we hope you'll share your insights, too.
