TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

This week in contact center solutions had a little bit of everything. There was recognition for leaders in the space, acquisitions, deals and signs that the industry continues to grow despite challenging economic circumstances. We also featured some food for thought pieces.

I start with my reflections and those of Interactive Intelligence CMO Joe Staples on last week’s Interactions 2012 even in Indianapolis. The event was expansive. Along with an update on Interactive Intelligence’s capabilities and roadmaps, it touched on a myriad of top of mind industry issues including premises and cloud, unified communications (UC), mobility, social media integration, business process automation and improving the customer experience. And that’s the short list. 

Interactive Intelligence was also the subject of some other news in the past few days. Reseller Adapt Telephony Services had a great week at the event winning the following recognition: the Conquest Award for securing the most new contact center clients, the Conquest Award for securing the most new enterprise telephony clients, the Pinnacle Award for achieving the highest-revenue among new contact center clients , the Pace Setter Award for achieving the highest total contact center revenue among all global partners, the Hardware Award for achieving the highest total hardware revenue and the Support Award "runner-up" honors for worldwide excellence in technical support.

Interactive Intelligence also announced that it had selected Sangoma’s A10x boards to power the recently released Interaction Edge VoIP gateway.

News

On the food for thought front, you should definitely read a piece by special guest James Wong, CEO at Avidian Technologies – ‘The Times They Are a-Changin' : A Look at the Top Trends Impacting the CRM Industry. Also recommended is Contributing Writer Oliver VanDervoort’s feature on Zynga and its conclusion that call centers need to focus on customer satisfaction and not call completion. 

And don’t miss reading TMCnet Executive Editor Paula Bernier’s discussion with Turgut Aykein, president and CEO of ac2, about the past and future of WFM and customer care. 

Industry news as noted produced  two other recognition announcements:

• Cupola Teleservices (CTS) won the "Call Center OSP (Outsourced Service Provider) of the Year" at the 2012 Middle East Call Center Awards organized by INSIGHTS.  
• Gartner (News - Alert) Group put Neolane in the Visionary Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management for 2012.

In industry activities regarding acquisitions of note was Canadian software and services company, Enghouse (News - Alert) Systems Limited announcing completion of its acquisition of New Zealand-headquartered contact center solutions provider Zeacom Group Limited for a purchase price of $30.6 million. And there was an update on the recent acquisition of SinglePlatform by Constant Contact.

Announcement of new product and services included:

• U.K.-based contact center and unified communications (UC) systems integrator ,Sabio, helping Havering Council, a London Borough, implement a best practice customer services strategy.
• BPMonline announced launch of BPMonline CRM Realty, a new Web-based CRM solution created for real estate agencies, brokerages, developers and property management companies.
• Verint (News - Alert) Systems’ Impact 360 Workforce Optimization software for contact centers has been successfully implemented by the specialty retailer, Cabelas, Inc.   
• TMCnet Contributor Tracey Schelmetichighlighted Kana’s addition of a customer acquisition feature to its flagship product. KANA Adds Customer Acquisition Features to Flagship Product.
• Vidtel announced a partnership with NobelBiz (News - Alert), a contact center provider specializing in value-added long distance services to provide contact centers with a cost-effective, zero-complexity solution for using video conferencing to enhance customer care.  
•  NexxPhase announced a partnership with Covation, Pipkins (News - Alert), VPI and Knowlagent on a campaign to educate contact centers on better serving their customers.

Check out the new videos

Finally, you might notice a new community feature called “Video Showcase.” There is a lot to digest here, but you might start by watching the customer testimonials. In addition, if you have not already done so, sign up for a free Contact Center Solutions eNewsletter, and check out the links on the community to videos, podcasts, eBooks, white papers and other resources.