TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

The new year has started out with a bang on multiple fronts in the contact center solutions sector. In fact, in our Editor’s Choice section, Tracey Schelmetic put the spotlight on how social media will be a key component for contact centers in 2012.

The end of the week saw significant news from Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert) with its purchase of select assets of ATIO, its South African reseller. The move enhances Interactive’s push into growth markets around the globe. 

Industry trends were of note this week. When the best time to call customers is a question that is always top of mind in the out-bound side of the business, and new research from outsourcing giant Convergys provided some insights.  At the same time, Contributing Writer Oliver VanDervoort featured a piece on why more financial institutions are seeing CRM as a benefit.

In news from around the industry:
 

• TMCnet Executive Editor, Paula Bernier had a great feature on workforce optimization software applications company Calabrio’s (News - Alert) release of  version 8.8 of the Calabrio ONE suite which gives supervisors more capabilities in fewer clicks.
• Our own Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Magazine awarded LogMyCalls with a coveted 2011 Product of the Year Award.    
• The integration of lead management and sales management by RedHorse, caught the attention of TMCnet Contributor, Carolyn Dawson.
• JetJaw (great name) caused a stir with the addition to its suite of customer feedback solutions of a new capability to allow customers to push feedback to social networks.

Around the world saw interesting developments coming out of the Philippines and the UK. In fact, the Philippines which saw 2011 growth in contact center solutions exceed expectations, also is girding itself from the possibilities of the “Call Center and Consumers Protection Act” in the U.S. congress (HB 3596) as a threat to their contact centers and believe Philippine centers to be on the safe side should be making contingency plans if the bill passes.

Finally, if you know a contact center solutions pro who lives in the UK take a read on the problems BT (News - Alert) is having on filling job openings  at its West Bromwich call center.  This is an area of the UK with high unemployment. Yet, despite the perception that agent positions can be easily filled, especially given the number of people looking for work across the West Midlands area of England, BT is having trouble finding qualified candidates. This is interesting because it speaks to the fact that as contact centers transform, skills and training will become paramount and finding qualified applicants may become an issue despite the ease-of-use, support and other efforts the industry is developing to mitigate such challenges.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO, click here.

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