Cincom Contact Center Insights

Guest: Pete Blackshaw, VP of Strategic Services, Nielsen Online

Pete Blackshaw is Executive VP of Strategic Services, Nielsen Online, interactive marketing expert and author of the just-released book, “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today's Consumer-Driven World.”

In today’s internet-driven and instant-communication world, customers have more power than ever, and they’re using it. Through what Pete calls "consumer-generated media"—blogs, social networking pages, message boards, product review sites—even a single disgruntled customer can broadcast his complaints to an audience of millions.

In his book Pete reveals strategies to influence the voice of the customer that will ultimately build your brand or tear it down. He shows managers, marketers, and business leaders how to establish and maintain credibility for their brand.

This audio podcast explores some of the hot topics covered in his book and a recent webcast. View the recorded 60-minute webcast at http://www.cincom.com/blackshaw

Also check out Pete’s new web site, http://www.TELL3000.com which has tons of great resources and links for ordering his new book.

Guest: Bob Furniss - speaker, author and highly regarded consultant.

Bob Furniss is part of an elite group of independent consultants who is certified by the ICMI - International Customer Management Institute, he is a member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), and has authored two books. His most recent book, “Ideas at Work– Powerful Ideas to Transform Your Contact Center,” has been called a “simple read with powerful impact” by industry critics.

Bob has a new in-house half-day seminar program called, Operation Impact – a program designed specifically to address the daily struggles of the frontline manager.

You can find more about this program and other happenings with Bob at:
http://www.bobfurniss.com

On his web site you can:
- Sign up for Bob’s newsletter and other free downloads
- Learn more about the seminar and his books
- Find Bob’s contact information

Also make sure you check out Bob's blog on CustomerThink.com where he is one of the top-rated authors on this site:
http://www.customerthink.com/user/bob_furniss

Guest: David Filwood, Founder & Principal Consultant with TeleSoft Systems

While almost everyone can use a telephone, not everyone is cut out to work successfully in a Call Center Environment.

Research demonstrates that 65% to 75% of the costs associated with operating a Customer Contact Center are labor costs, and hiring the wrong Call Center Agent is a significant drain on the Operating Budget, on Customer Satisfaction Levels, on Sales Results, and on overall Call Center Team Morale.

Finding ways to hire better quality Call Center Agents is consistently placed as a priority as far as the needs and interests of Contact Center Directors are concerned.

David Filwood is the Founder & Principal Consultant with TeleSoft Systems www.telesoftsystems.ca, a Call Center Improvement Consultancy based in Vancouver, BC that helps Contact Centers Find, Hire, Train & Keep Better Employees. TeleSoft Systems is also the Publisher of SPAS – Service Personnel Appraisal Software – a Suite of Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Tools.
In this podcast, I talk to David about Best Practices in Recruiting & Hiring Call Center Agents:

- Trends in Maximizing your Pool of Job Candidates
- Telephone/Web-based Candidate Screening
- Skills Testing
- Personality/Job-Fit Assessments

A PowerPoint copy of David’s Presentation can be requested at www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html.

For more information:
TeleSoft Systems
phone: 604.986.4116
email: info@telesoftsystems.ca
web: www.telesoftsystems.ca

Guest: Sheila Wilson, Contact Center Consultant

At this week’s ICCM (The International Contact Center Management) Summit in Orlando, Sheila presented “What to Measure When You’re an Analytical Newbie.”

In this podcast we explore some of the topics Sheila discussed during her ICCM presentation.

In this podcast Shelia talks about topics she discussed in that presentation including:

- The differences between reporting and analytics
- How to get started
- The metrics customers really care about
- The cost savings real companies have identified with analytics

Guest: Louis Columbus, Manager of Enterprise Compliance and Quality Management, Cincom.

Louis Columbus was recently a panelist at the Green Technology World™ Conference where he discussed the environmental impact of virtual contact centers and remote agents.

In this podcast Louis answers some of the questions he covered at the conference including:

- Why are so many companies are adopting green technologies now?
- How does a virtual contact center help companies become more “green?”
- What are other advantages of virtual contact centers?
- How does the virtual contact center improve customer service?
- Where will green technologies be in the next 2-10 years?

Guest: Rick Daley, EVP Business Development, CallCopy, Inc.

CallCopy ( www.callcopy.com ) is one of the fastest growing companies in the call recording/quality monitoring industry.

Recently Rick Daley delivered a webcast titled, This Call May NOT be Recorded! Are You Breaking the Law?

In this podcast, I talk to Rick about a few of the regulations and call recording best practices he addressed in this recent presentation.

You can view the complete recorded webcast -- This Call May NOT be Recorded! Are You Breaking the Law? at:
www.crmxchange.com/webcast/callcopyaug07.asp

You can also download Rick’s latest whitepaper on this same subject at:
www.crmxchange.com/featured-offer/callcopysept07.asp

Guest: Michael DeSalles, Strategic Analyst, Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan has just published a new whitepaper, “THE HOSTED MODEL: Why It’s Revolutionizing the Contact Center Industry.”

The hosted contact center market is moving out of the early adopter stage with immense future growth potential. Some of the topics covered in this interview

- Industry trends and key benefits driving hosted contact center adoption
- Total cost of ownership (TCO) advantages of hosted vs. on-premise
- Key findings in Health Advocate case study (a rapidly expanding service organization that utilizes a hosted contact center)
- Questions to pose to a hosted contact center provider.

This complimentary Frost & Sullivan whitepaper can be downloaded at www.cincom.com/FrostReport

Guest: Trent Fulcher, Cincom Program Director for Customer Experience Management

Trent Fulcher recently delivered a webcast on "How to Create, Manage and Deliver the BEST Customer Experience in your Contact Centre." In this podcast episode we explore some of the topics covered in that 60-minute webcast.

Trent brings a wealth of practical “know-how” to us on this topic from his background as an international consulting manager who specialized in developing customer experience strategies. Trent has held previous positions at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, IBM and Microsoft.

You can view the complete recorded webcast -- How to Create, Manage and Deliver the BEST Customer Experience in your Contact Centre at www.cincom.com/cemwebcast

Based on the Cincom white paper, "Customer experience happens in the contact center: Learn how to optimize every experience and build loyalty with insights from Shaun Smith." Available at www.cincom.com/webcast

Customer experience expert Shaun Smith identifies four criteria that are the base for any sustainable customer experience management effort. A positive, managed customer experience must be based on processes that are:
- Consistent
- Intentional
- Differentiated
- Valuable

Great customer experiences are no accident, as industry-leading companies prove again and again. This white paper discusses and illustrates with real-world observations:
- How complacency is the enemy of customer experience
- How to be a customer experience standout
- The characteristics of a customer experience

Along with the whitepaper, www.cincom.com/webcast also contains the on-demand Webcast: See, Feel, Think, Do: Creating break-through ideas to deliver the perfect customer experience. Shaun Smith reveals the techniques that top companies utilize to develop ideas that solve their customers’ needs. And the best part is anybody can do it!