“Bad guys” seem to be lurking around every corner these days. They steal customer information and break into networks and systems. The recent massive data breach at Equifax has spurred action by a host of companies to plug leaks in security. At the same time, contact centers face a growing array of compliance requirements, rules,… Read More »
In the era of “five nines” of reliability, contact center leaders didn’t worry too much about the resiliency of their technology: it was always up. Yet several factors have elevated the need for improved contact center resiliency: Delayed technology investments come home to roost when a formerly reliable machine starts to have bad days, or… Read More »
If you are in the throes of platform replacement, you may find the evaluation and selection process daunting. There are many vendors and a dizzying array of options from which to choose. And if your need for new contact center technology functions pushes you into a PBX upgrade, things can get even more complicated. There… Read More »
Technology procurement is a mission-critical task for a contact center. If you score the right enabling technology with the right vendor partner, your center can be on the path to greater agent productivity, improved customer experience, and heightened insights into operational performance. Make the wrong choice, and you risk a painful implementation, suboptimal performance, and… Read More »
Contact centers have matured in their operational requirements and sophistication, as evidenced on a few fronts. Siloed multichannel, multimedia offerings are giving way to the quest for seamless, integrated, omnichannel service delivery. Managers join folks on the front-line in the quest for better desktop applications and knowledge sources. Managers are placing increased emphasis on performance… Read More »
Both Human Resources and the Contact Center play a key role in optimizing the “talent acquisition” process. HR has broad responsibility and perspective to support enterprise-wide needs, and its pursuit of technology generally aligns with that charter. But the Contact Center often struggles to get value from HR’s enterprise-wide tools and services, or seeks its… Read More »
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 »