July 17, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Back to Cost Displacement Basics Easiest cost-saving measure to justify: replacing a manual process with a computerized system. Next easiest: upgrading software and hardware to increase scalability and performance. While it’s generally understood (with one notable objection!) that IT investments boost productivity, you won’t need complicated ROI models to justify remote agent software for your contact center.
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April 30, 2008 | Author: Andy Green Best of the Web During my Web journeys over the last few months, I’ve been inspired by many interesting sites. Too many, in fact, to cover in the course of my blogging. Rather than hold back any longer, I'm launching a "Best of the Web" post to cover great sites that are currently on the top of my favorites list. Enjoy! More >> Permalink | Comment Now >>
April 11, 2008 | Author: Zack Taylor The New and Improved Suggestion Box
Unlike the TV show "The Office," where additions to the HR suggestion box are never forwarded to corporate, a new era of customer input is shaping up. More >> Permalink | Comment Now >>
March 06, 2008 | Author: Zack Taylor The Experts Agree: Maintain the Gain, Remove the Pain Last week marked the release of two important assessments of customer service satisfaction. The first, BusinessWeek’sCustomer Service Champs, is an annual ranking of companies that "know how to keep front-line folks happy, make tech investments that help rather than hinder consumers and have leaders who make service a priority." Not a bad recipe for customer service excellence! The second, the University of Michigan's ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index), is a "national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States.” More >> Permalink | Comments (2)
February 13, 2008 | Author: Zack Taylor Facing Up - Social Networks Coming to an Interaction Near You The ever-growing popularity of social networks is allowing sites like Facebook to thread their way into more mainstream brands. On January 30th, the Wall Street Journal added a feature that allows subscribers to see which WSJ stories are popular among their Facebook friends. More >> Permalink | Comments (3)
February 01, 2008 | Author: Andy Green No Questions Asked With no questions asked, Amazon replaced a $500 PlayStation 3 that New York Times business writer Joe Nocera had purchased as a Christmas present for his son. Tracing the package from the Amazon site, Nocera realized his gift had been delivered and signed for by a neighbor in his apartment building. But the package was misplaced and eventually stolen. He called Amazon’s customer service number, pleaded for mercy, and to his surprise, the agent agreed to send Nocera another one. More >> Permalink | Comments (3)
December 05, 2007 | Author: Zack Taylor Monday, Monday For years, the day after Thanksgiving has been the bane of contact center staffing and networking engineers. And now, an interesting new twist has emerged: Cyber Monday – the Monday after Thanksgiving.
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December 05, 2007 | Author: Andy Green Fast Forward to Blended Reality Contact Center After the post on Second Life and virtual reality contact centers, my expectation was there’d likely be relevant industry news, but not anytime soon. Wrong. In an article in the New York Times, a Cambridge-based company now lets users navigate through 3D cityscapes of New York and Boston, rendered with special video cameras. More interesting: you can walk through the interiors of selected stores. It’s called blended reality, combining virtual reality and video representation of real-world scenes. Interactivity is not available yet, but it’s clearly the next step. Could the following scenario become reality next year (or next month)? Customer views video of his favorite book store from his home computer or iPhone. He navigates to cooking aisle, clicks on a book, peeks inside, and then clicks again for help. A window then pops up with a real-time video connection to a salesperson. More >> Permalink | Comment Now >>
NeoAndy Habilis—my avatar—examining digital cameras at the Circuit City store in Second Life. Products are linked to URLs at Circuit City’s web site.
Bored with the social networking in Web 2.0? Try escaping to Second Life. Your avatar can walk around the digital neighborhood, visit and chat with avatar friends, and shop in specialty stores. Does Second Life’s immersive virtual world hold the key to the future of the contact center? More >> Permalink | Comments (2)
Unlike the TV show "The Office," where additions to the HR suggestion box are never forwarded to corporate, a new era of customer input is shaping up. 
