Our annual challenges and priorities survey, as well as our project experience, show that high attrition, absence and adherence issues, and the uphill battle to gain budget approval for additional staff remain pain points for many centers. While technology is not a “white knight” riding in to solve the staffing problems, it can be used… Read More »
SIP is a protocol standard for initiating and managing “sessions” or connections between point A and point B. It is one of many standards that have been defined over the years, and is competing with or replacing predecessors such as H.323. SIP fits with “Voice over Internet Protocol” (VoIP), which is the way most voice… Read More »
If you’ve spent any time around contact center conferences and trade shows, you can’t help but notice that the cloud is all the rage. Cloud-based technology appeals to contact centers that lack sufficient resources to manage their specialized technology. Centers also gain the freedom to turn capabilities and capacity on and off, while continuously benefiting… Read More »
Contact center leaders often express frustration with their current technology. Yet in our experience, they have substantial opportunities to optimize efficiency and improve the customer experience by getting more out their current investments. Here are some high-impact strategies for success. Expand the Role of Data Contact centers should review the information contained in their enterprise… 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 »
In spite of the fact that nearly every “call center” is now a “contact center,” we observe little substance to the discussion – much less action – around multi-channel Workforce Management (WFM). With “omnichannel” one of the most frequently heard buzz words in our industry, we decided it was time to look at planning, forecasting,… 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 »
Every contact center looks for ways to be more effective and efficient in handling customer contacts. Process improvement is a high impact opportunity. Yet we see few centers focus attention on the agent desktop, a common hindrance to smooth processes and a ripe target to enable dramatic changes. Given the potential payback, agent desktop optimization… Read More »