| Call Center Research |
28.10.2008
Call Centre Management and Customer Service Initiatives – Are they serious?
How often have we heard the message “Your call is important to us”? An often cited joke is to add “…but not important enough to take it straight away, so please hold the line for a couple of minutes.”
It is a difficult time for Call Centre Managers these days. Thanks to the Credit Crunch, budgets are cut everywhere. The single most important issues in Call Center Management are (as usual, one might say) to increase Call Centre Agent Productivity and to cut operating costs.
During the boom phase we had in the last couple of years, one of my thoughts was: Why do they spend so much money on Brand Awareness with their Advertising campaigns (both online and offline) – only to “burn” the valued prospects on the queue, via email or letters that never seem to be answered?
In my view there is some serious issue with the budgeting process in many companies. It is understandable that many of them pay attention to their Sales Divisions first. I would do much the same. And if “Sales” say, they need more leads to convert - then obviously we need to run lots of campaigns to generate them. So far: no objections.
But here comes the point: Sales people are being motivated by commissions per sale, most of the time to new prospects, who have been gained via Marketing campaigns. Online Marketers are incentivized, too. But Call Centre agents who motivate existing customers to stay with the company, to recommend the company to their peers, or who even sell more or other things to them? No commission, if they sit in the inbound division, sorry guys!
The same thought applies to Call Centre agents who deliver exceptional service, so customers will stay tuned and their Customer Lifetime Cycle goes on, and on… In every single Call Centre Training we tell our Customer Service Representatives, it is four times more expensive to win new customers that to retain the existing ones (and keep on selling to them). But are we considering that very thought when budgeting time comes?
Why is all that? Here is my theory:
1) Call Centres don’t have the standing of the “traditional” departments such as Sales, Marketing, HR and the like. Why? Probably because
2) …they are cross functional divisions. They touch almost every other department with an interface. That makes it so hard to allocate good Call Centre Performance: A good Service Level, ok. A brilliant First Contact Resolution Rate? Nice. But: a share of the success when running (Direct) Marketing campaigns to retain and upgrade customers? Or to win new ones? Hard to measure.
It all boils down to measuring the contribution of Call Centres to the gained value of the company.
Comment this article now! Send your comment to service@softigator.net and we post it for you!
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23.10.2008
Sword ciboodle cited as leader in process-centric customer service software
CRM software product receives highest score for time-to-value
Glasgow, UK – October 22, 2008 – Sword ciboodle, provider of customer-oriented business software and services, today announced that it has been named as the sole leader in process-centric customer service software by independent analyst firm, Forrester Research. Sword ciboodle was among the select companies invited by Forrester Research to participate in its October 21 report, "The Forrester Wave: Process-Centric Customer Service Software Solutions, Q4 2008".
Opening the section on process-centric products, the report says, "As organizations are realizing the importance of truly integrating end-to-end customer-facing processes from front office to back office, they are turning to solutions with native BPM capabilities that can support highly unique — and flexible — process flows."
After identifying the company as the sole leader in the process-centric segment, the report states that, "Sword ciboodle, a relatively new player in the United States, has advanced workflow capabilities coupled with deep professional services expertise in utilities and finance."
The report also states, "Under its former name (Graham Technology), the company had achieved a growing reputation as a leader in the field of customer interaction management, with a focus on contact centers."
Furthermore, ciboodle received the highest score in the report for time-to-value.
"Focusing our product development on delivering exceptional process-based CRM software has been the driving force behind Sword ciboodle’s business strategy for several years now, and we are delighted to have emerged as the sole leader in the process-centric part this Forrester Wave report," said Paul White, sales and marketing director, Sword ciboodle. "It was also excellent to see that we have achieved the highest score in time-to-value, which we know from several recent client successes is a factor that is of increasing importance to potential customers in the current economic climate."
Sword ciboodle is the award-winning business-process-driven CRM software product for multi-channel contact centres. Targeted primarily to large companies in sectors such as banking, insurance, utilities, telecommunications and retail, it is the only BPM-based CRM product that enables all service channels natively from a single platform.
This is the latest industry analyst report to feature ciboodle – the company has featured extensively on analyst reports and evaluations over the years, and this history can be viewed at www.ciboodle.com/reviews.
About Sword ciboodle
Sword ciboodle helps improve the way large organisations interact with their customers. The combination of award-winning, process-managed CRM software and specialist consulting and delivery services help Sword ciboodle’s clients achieve higher revenues from their customers and reduce operational costs. Sword ciboodle is consistently recognised by industry analysts as one of the world's leading customer-centric technology providers. For more information, please visit www.ciboodle.com.
Media and analysts contact:
Danny Sullivan
inmedia Public Relations Inc.
Tel (UK): +44 (0) 141 404 6478
Tel (US): +1 613 686 5657
Email: dsullivan@inmedia.com
Leo Valiquette
inmedia Public Relations Inc.
Tel: 613-234-7227 x226
Email: lvaliquette@inmedia.com
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15.10.2008
InVision Enterprise WFM Now Rated “Avaya Compliant”
- InVision Software’s workforce management application is compatible with key Avaya contact centre solutions
- Helps contact centres balance excellent customer service with efficiency and cost
Ratingen (Germany), 8 October 2008 – InVision Software, a world-leading supplier of enterprise-wide workforce management solutions, today announced that its InVision Enterprise WFM is compliant with key contact centre solutions from Avaya, a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services.
InVision Enterprise WFM helps businesses to reduce personnel costs, increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction and to boost revenue by leveraging better customer service. The solution allows the staff planner to optimise staffing by creating schedules that at all times conform to the actual requirement. At the same time, it helps users to observe all relevant legislation, local agreements and the contracts of individual employees. Its modular architecture supports the whole of the demand-oriented workforce management process that goes all the way from forecasting to scheduling, optimisation, time management and monitoring. The application is now compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with Avaya Call Management System.
“InVision Enterprise WFM is a perfect match for Avaya Call Management System,” said Peter Bollenbeck, CEO of InVision Software. “Avaya certification ensures our common customers the peace of mind that their InVision workforce management solution will integrate seamlessly within their existing Avaya environment to help them achieve demand-oriented and customer-centric agent scheduling."
InVision Software is a member of the Avaya DevConnect program – an initiative to develop, market and sell innovative third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a company’s investment in its network. As a Gold member of the program, InVision Software is eligible to submit products for compatibility testing by the Avaya Solution Interoperability and Test Lab in Lincroft, N.J. There a team of Avaya engineers develops a comprehensive test plan for each application to verify whether it is Avaya compliant. Doing so ensures businesses can confidently add best-in-class capabilities to their network without having to replace their existing infrastructure – speeding deployment of new applications and reducing both network complexity and implementation costs.
“By offering compliance testing to the many innovative companies like InVision Software who are members of our DevConnect program, Avaya promotes fully interoperable solutions that help businesses unleash powerful new possibilities,” said Eric Rossman, vice president, developer relations and technical alliances, Avaya. “They are able to use Intelligent Communications to connect employees and customers to information from wherever they are, over whatever device they have available – getting more out of their multivendor network and delivering new value to their bottom line.”
About Avaya
Avaya delivers Intelligent Communications solutions that help companies transform their businesses to achieve marketplace advantage. More than 1 million businesses worldwide, including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®, use Avaya solutions for IP Telephony, Unified Communications, Contact Centres and Communications-Enabled Business Processes. Avaya Global Services provides comprehensive service and support for companies, small to large.
For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com.
For more information on the Avaya DevConnect program, visit www.avaya.com/devconnect.
About InVision Enterprise WFM
InVision Enterprise WFM (iWFM) is a web-based software solution and currently available in twelve languages. It allows the staff planner to optimise staffing by creating schedules that at all times conform as closely as possible to the actual requirement. At the same time, it helps users to observe all relevant legislation, local agreements and the contracts of individual employees – including work/life balance guidelines. Furthermore, it allows for employee involvement in the planning process via its employee web portal ‘Infothek’. Its modular architecture supports the whole process of demand-oriented workforce management, all the way from forecasting to scheduling, optimisation, time management and monitoring. The software is highly flexible and applicable in all industries and all sized companies. It is just as suited to scheduling under 100 employees as it is for reducing personnel costs and increasing productivity when planning hundreds of thousands of employees globally. Thanks to its open interfaces, it can be integrated smoothly into existing IT environments and connected to numerous external systems. The software solution holds a unique, patent pending technology for demand-oriented and time-saving planning of multi-skill environments. Due to the fact that the sophisticated technology behind this is not based on the generally applied ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) routing logic, a considerable amount of time can be saved. In addition to the software solution and maintenance, InVision offers a comprehensive Professional Services portfolio to ensure rapid return on investment: analysis of user requirements and solution design, project management, system integration, programming of user-specific add-ons and hands-on support in the use of InVision Enterprise WFM.
Press contact
Jutta Kropp
InVision Software AG
Head of Corporate Communications
Halskestrasse 38
D-40880 Ratingen (Germany)
phone: +49 (0)2102 728-252
fax: +49 (0)2102 728-111
email: pr@invision.de
Lynn Newman
Avaya
phone: 908-953-8692
email: lynnnewman@avaya.com
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13.10.2008
Frost & Sullivan Honours InVision as Leader in Agent Performance Optimisation
Ratingen (Germany), 9 October 2008 – InVision Software, a world-leading supplier of enterprise-wide workforce management solutions, received the 2008 EMEA Agent Performance Optimisation (APO) Competitive Strategy Leadership Award of Frost & Sullivan. The analyst firm recognises the striking success of InVision in leveraging its advanced technology and regional expertise to seize a significant chunk of the EMEA workforce management software market, including some very high profile large-installation customers.
“InVision has demonstrated mastery of the European market for workforce management software by concentrating on its unique strengths: diverse language and software localisation capabilities,” notes Keith Dawson, Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst, Contact Centres. “InVision has been both market savvy and technologically innovative, emphasizing the flexible, browser-based nature of its software at a time when companies in EMEA are looking for ease of use and deployment. InVision has not allowed itself to be painted into a ‘niche’ corner by larger competitors; the company's strategy for growth, which bucks the trend towards consolidation and suite-building in contact centre software, has immense potential."
“The Frost & Sullivan award confirms our leading position in technology, innovation and go-to-market strategy,” said Peter Bollenbeck, CEO of InVision Software. “The open architecture of our solution InVision Enterprise WFM offers user interfaces to all industry specific applications for seamless integration in existing IT environments as well as the ability to customise the system. This is particularly important to our overall goals as we are rapidly moving to bring our workforce management system to executives and professionals in non-contact-centre contexts.”
InVision has fashioned a two-tier strategy: On the one hand, the company has built a best-of-breed tool that meets the increasing needs of contact centres for advanced scheduling; and on the other, a system that is adaptable, flexible and moves beyond the niche that many of its competitors occupy. This has positioned InVision to successfully resist the trend towards consolidation and suite-building that has been moving through the APO marketplace in both EMEA and North America.
About InVision:
InVision Software is a world-leading supplier of enterprise-wide workforce management solutions which enable companies to optimise their staff planning and scheduling processes. InVision empowers customers to reduce personnel costs, increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction and to boost revenue by leveraging better customer service. Founded in 1995 and based in Ratingen (Germany), InVision currently employs more than 200 WFM specialists and has offices across Europe, North America, and South Africa. InVision Software AG (IVX) is listed in the Prime Standard Segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Among InVision's clients are numerous international blue chip companies, such as ABN Amro, Allianz, BMW, Deutsche Telekom, IKEA, Sky and Vodafone.
Further information at: www.invisionwfm.com
Press contact:
Jutta Kropp
InVision Software AG, Head of Corporate Communications
Halskestrasse 38, D-40880 Ratingen (Germany)
phone: +49 (0)2102 728-252, fax: +49 (0)2102 728-111
email: pr@invision.de
Local contact:
Chris Dealy
InVision Software Ltd., Sales Director
Baskerville House, Centenary Square, B1 2ND Birmingham (UK)
phone: +44(0)121 503-2620, fax: +44(0)121 503-2621
email: chris.dealy@invisionwfm.com
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08.10.2008
Noble® Composer Web Agent Offers Flexible Web-based Agent Desktops
Noble Amcat helps streamline agent workflows and improve productivity
Manchester, UK – October 7, 2008: Noble Amcat, part of Noble Systems Corporation, a global leader in innovative contact center technology solutions, introduces Noble® Composer Web Agent, a powerful agent workflow design and desktop unification tool for web-based agent environments. Noble Composer Web Agent helps companies improve agent productivity, reduce training costs, increase customer service quality, and leverage technology investments.
Noble Composer Web Agent uses the flexible desktop design tools introduced in the award-winning Noble Composer product and expands them to add more functionality for use in browser-based applications. Composer Web Agent is designed using the Microsoft Windows .NET framework for unmatched flexibility, and supports multiple browsers running under multiple operating systems. Composer’s ability to merge multiple applications into a single, consolidated workspace unifies the agent environment to streamline processes and workflows.
Noble Composer Web Agent features and benefits include:
• Multiple Browsers Support (including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and others) – leverage your existing investments
• Multiple Operating System Support (including Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) – provide flexibility and reduce costs
• Easy Deployment and Maintenance – use the internet to access agent workflows
• Agent Desktop Unification – consolidate data from multiple sources into a single workspace and simplify workflows
• Consolidate Applications and Information – build data accuracy across systems, improve customer service and reduce average call handling times (ACH)
• Improve Agent Productivity and Reduce Costs – standardise ‘best practices’ and business processes to reduce training time
Colin Chave, General Manager of Noble Systems EMEA says, “Noble Composer Web Agent reduces the barriers to web-based agent environments. Our flexible architecture reduces licensing costs, and our broad-spectrum support for browsers and operating systems is unparalleled. The Composer Web Agent option helps contact centers leverage investments in their existing applications and technologies to give agents easier access to workflows, data, and tools to increase productivity and improve the customer experience.”
About Noble Systems
Noble Systems is a global leader in contact centre technology solutions, providing innovative products since 1989. Tens of thousands of agents at 1000’s of client installations worldwide conduct business using the award-winning Noble platform for inbound/outbound/blended communications. The scalable, integrated Noble® Solution includes advanced ACD and predictive dialling; unified contact processing for voice, email, and web; and integrated IVR, digital recording, messaging, quality control/monitoring systems, scripting, and real-time reporting and management tools. Noble Systems was the first vendor to offer an open, scalable, fully-distributed platform. For more information on this item or the company, contact us at +44 (0)161 772 7100 or visit Noble Amcat online at www.nobleamcat.co.uk.
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07.10.2008
2009 U.S. Telemarketing Services Industry Report
Analysts researchandmarkets.com have announced their new Telemarketing Services Industry report. Published annually, it contains timely and accurate industry statistics, forecasts and demographics. The report features 2009 current and 2010 forecast estimates on the size of the industry (sales, establishments, employment) nationally and for all 50 U.S States and over 900 metro areas.
The report also includes industry definition, 5-year historical trends on industry sales, establishments and employment, a breakdown of establishments, sales and employment by employee size of establishment (9 categories), and estimates on up to 10 sub-industries.
For more information please click on:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/fcc51b/2009_u_s_telemarketing_services_industry_rep
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06.10.2008
The intelligent Customer Front Door Roadshow by Genesys
Genesys have sent their last call today, for participation on their Road Show:
Discover how leading companies are implementing intelligent customer service.
Find out how to put your contact centre in the front line for customer and business success. Learn how to make every customer feel like a VIP and increase acquisition, retention, cross-sell and up-sell success.
Don't miss this unique event, this powerful seminar gives you valuable insights into:
• Delivering the best possible experience for today's customer
• Knowing who the caller is and why they might be calling – then fast track them through the system
• Never leaving your most important customers on hold
• Enhancing the caller experience with video and images
• Proactively contacting customers with important notifications
• How Belgacom, Scottish Power and a leading European airline lead in improving customer satisfaction, reducing calls to the agents and increasing revenues.
This face-to-face seminar is an extension of the highly successful Genesys intelligent Customer Front door Webinar series (iCFD) and the perfect opportunity to gather the essential technical and business insights you need to consider iCFD for your organisation. You can register here
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05.10.2008
Noble introduces forecasting and scheduling solution for centers of all sizes
Manchester, UK – 3rd October, 2008: Noble Amcat, part of the Noble Systems Corporation, a global leader in innovative contact centre technology solutions, introduces Noble® WFM. Noble WFM is a powerful workforce management system that provides a robust and affordable forecasting and staffing management solution that is easy to deploy for centres of all sizes.
Noble WFM delivers a flexible solution with dynamic features and world-class technology that automates every component of the workforce management experience, giving centres the tools they need to succeed in an increasingly complex environment. Noble Amcat provides a comprehensive workforce management system that can accurately forecast call volumes, leverage flexible scheduling processes including both call and non-call activities for call centre and back-office personnel, and produce reports that measure agent and centre performance. The system supports integration to Alcatel, Avaya, Cisco, Nortel, and Siemens and other popular ACDs, and is compatible with other corporate systems and software applications.
Noble WFM helps contact centres automate the process of forecasting call volumes and agent scheduling, ultimately improving service levels and reducing costs. The benefits for a contact centre include:
• Add instant value to your contact centre by receiving better information to make faster, more informed decisions
• Automate the tedious process of forecasting call volumes and agent scheduling
• Manage your workforce across multiple contact centres and locations
• Optimise your workforce at a fraction of the cost and significantly build profitability
• Increase productivity by ensuring that the right skills are in the right channels at the right times
• Improve communication between agents and supervisors to view schedules, monitor performance, and streamline common tasks
Noble WFM is available as an integrated component of the unified Noble Solution suite for inbound and outbound customer communications, including predictive dialer, ACD, recording, IVR, messaging, desktop and workflow design, monitoring, and reporting. Noble WFM will become the cornerstone of the Noble Workforce Optimisation (WFO) Suite, which will combine workforce management with Noble’s award-winning quality assurance, scorecard and speech analytics tools to provide contact centre management with total visibility into quality and performance.
Colin Chave, General Manager of Noble Systems EMEA, said, “We are proud to introduce a best of breed workforce management solution into Noble’s award-winning contact centre platform in a strong end-to-end offering with a mature, proven product. The Noble WFM offering represents the culmination of more than 25 man-years of development time, assuring a complete, full-featured, and robust solution. By unleashing WFM on the large amount of rich data gathered in the Noble contact centre solution, we believe our clients will see dramatic improvements in their ability to manage staffing levels.”
About Noble Systems
Noble Systems is a global leader in contact centre technology solutions, providing innovative products since 1989. Tens of thousands of agents at 1000’s of client installations worldwide conduct business using the award-winning Noble platform for inbound/outbound/blended communications. The scalable, integrated Noble® Solution includes advanced ACD and predictive dialling; unified contact processing for voice, email, and web; and integrated IVR, digital recording, messaging, quality control/monitoring systems, scripting, and real-time reporting and management tools. Noble Systems was the first vendor to offer an open, scalable, fully-distributed platform. For more information on this item or the company, contact us at +44 (0)161 772 7100 or visit Noble Amcat online at www.nobleamcat.co.uk.
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04.10.2008
UK contact centres receive 420 million complaints annually
Vast majority are aimed at the wider business rather than the contact centre
Research carried out by ContactBabel, the industry analysts, shows that 4.3% of calls received into UK contact centres are actually complaints.
“The UK Contact Centre Operational Review - 6th edition (2008)” is a survey of over 200 UK contact centre operations and their HR, technological, strategic and commercial issues. HR-related findings of the report include:
• Although 420 million complaints are received by UK contact centres each year, only 14% of these are aimed at the contact centre itself
• Contact centres report that an average of 67% of their customers give their business a maximum customer satisfaction rating
• The telecoms sector - at 9.2% of all calls - receives the greatest proportion of complaints, and the finance sector (1.2%) the least.
The report’s author, Steve Morrell, commented:
“The vast majority of complaints received by a contact centre are not about the contact centre or its staff, but are caused by a breakdown of process elsewhere in the organisation. However, the contact centre has to deal with the dirty work, and further failures within the complaints procedure (or lack of it) can see customers calling into the contact centre again and again, becoming more irate each time, despite the underlying problem being outside the contact centre.
“One way to alleviate this issue is for contact centres to use call recording in order to understand why they are receiving certain types of call, or to investigate the reason why a single customer calls many times. This would allow them to identify patterns, and reduce the number of unnecessary calls - for example, by placing the answers to a frequently-asked question on the website or in the IVR announcement - or to fix a broken process that customers had identified.”
About the UK Contact Centre Operational Review (6th edition - 2008)
The UK Contact Centre Operational Review is a study of the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of 208 UK contact centre operations. The data are segmented by vertical market, contact centre size, activity and location where relevant.
The full 350-page report costs £250 + VAT, and more details, including a free Executive Summary are available from www.contactbabel.com/ukor.htm
Contact: Steve Morrell
01740 629835
smorrell@contactbabel.com
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01.10.2008
Pressure rises on contact centre staffing levels
Freeze in agent salaries further shrinks the labour pool
Research carried out by ContactBabel, the industry analysts, shows that the contact centre industry is under unprecedented pressure, with the general requirement for more staff going head-to-head with a freeze on salaries and high attrition and absence rates.
“The UK Contact Centre Operational Review - 6th edition (2008)” is a survey of over 200 UK contact centre operations and their HR, technological, strategic and commercial issues. HR-related findings of the report include:
• New agent salaries have decreased slightly in 2008 (£13,949 vs £14,056 in 2007)
• Attrition rates remain around 30%, with finance and telecoms experiencing the highest levels
• A lack of upward opportunities and low pay are the most widely-given reasons for high attrition rates
• Only 13% of contact centre staff leave to work in another contact centre
• 81% of respondents state that they are looking to increase headcount in the next year
• Recruitment and growth is seen as the no.1 issue for respondents - higher even than reducing staff attrition or decreasing costs.
The report’s author, Steve Morrell, commented:
“There are contradictory pressures on the UK contact centre industry where HR is concerned. As ever, attrition is a problem for most operations, and worse, most departing agents do not move between contact centres, and their skills and experience are completely lost to the industry. In addition to this, the majority of contact centres are planning recruitment drives in 2009.
“Yet agent salaries are not increasing - in fact there has been a very slight decline in average starting salaries since 2007 - and this is shrinking the labour pool further. There is a danger that contact centres will have to lower their recruitment standards to meet their headcount targets, which would have the double negative effect of lowering quality and increasing attrition.
“However, the current economic crisis and concerns about future employment prospects may well reduce attrition rates as employees in general will become more risk-averse, preferring to stay in their current role.”
About the UK Contact Centre Operational Review (6th edition - 2008)
The UK Contact Centre Operational Review is a study of the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of 208 UK contact centre operations. The data are segmented by vertical market, contact centre size, activity and location where relevant.
The full 350-page report costs £250 + VAT, and more details, including a free Executive Summary are available from www.contactbabel.com/ukor.htm
Contact: Steve Morrell
01740 629835
smorrell@contactbabel.com
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