TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

It is almost difficult to know where to begin, given all of the interesting contact center activities around the world.  However, a great place to begin is with the Editors Choice feature by TMCnet contributor Tracey E. Schelmetic about a terrific webinar sponsored by Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert), “2012: Key Contact Center Trends and Priorities for the Upcoming Year – How you can be read.”  The webinar  featured Forrester Research principal analyst Art Schoeller, Interactive Intelligence senior vice president Joe Staples, Sheila McGee-Smith, founder of McGee-Smith Analytics and Don Van Doren, founder and president of Vanguard Communications. 

This is a must watch for everyone who wants to have insights on the year ahead from some of the industry’s smartest observers.   And, based on the Q4 earnings Interactive Intelligence reported, they are already riding the momentum of trends brought up on the webinar.

In industry news, the transformation of contact centers from cost creators to revenue generators continues to be reflected various announcements
:  

• TMCnet Contributor Meenakshi Shankar highlighted how DOW Networks is preparing itself to meet the demands of clients by adding VoIP support.
• Latitude Software, an Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. company, announced it has joined forces with PaymentVision to offer an integrated debt collection and electronic payment solution that will manage all pre- and post-charge-off accounts and the entire collection workflow process. Improved IVR call capture is a key component.
• As proof of the value of having a well-run contact center, the UK's TalkTalk Group raised its earnings forecast after reporting third quarter revenues of £422 million (about $668 million).
• In fact, the UK was the site of another interesting feature on the value of contact center solutions and their importance to local economies with the announcement that Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has opened a “guest contact center“ at Britain's Manchester airport. The new facility, which will employ 160 local people, will offer reception for visiting government officials and local business leaders. The contact center, which will be based at the airport's Voyager Building, it will be the airline's first in Europe and fourth in the world.

The news was not restricted to contact center expansions and positive outlooks about the coming year. On the technology front, TMCnet Contributor Mini Swamy provided a feature on Voxware’s (News - Alert) new  Voice Management Suite version 5.0 (VMS). It  bridges the gap between static dashboard reporting and real time action.

And, certainly of note was SpeechCycle (News - Alert) receiving U.S. Patent No. 8,041,019 B2 on October 18, 2011 for its technique and equipment to analyze customers' temperaments during call backs. This analyzed information can be used to enhance the customers' Interactive Voice Response or IVR experience. Organizations can therefore modify the caller experience on the basis of the prior communication history.

I would also like to draw your attention to some items you may have missed recently. This includes the recent conference call by the sponsors of the “U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act,” that noted the continued bi-partisan support for the bill. I also continue to recommend the right hand side of the community under Featured Resources. The podcasts are invaluable, especially the one featuring the Interactive Intelligence “Ditch the Frustration Campaign,” and there are some excellent white papers as well. 

Finally, I’d like to put in a pitch for my friend Blair Pleasant (News - Alert). Her post on Interactive Intelligence’s on its Microsoft (News - Alert) Lync integration is a great companion piece to my feature on the subject a few weeks ago.