TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

This week was dominated by a number of features that looked at the practical advice on such things as social media, along with opinions about challenges and opportunities for the contact center solutions community. 

Considering all of the buzz around social media and its role in the transformation of contact centers, a great place to start your review of this week is with TMC (News - Alert) Executive Editor Paula Bernier’s interview with Interactive Intelligence CMO, Joe Staples on industry trends and the impact of, not only social media, but also things like speech analytics and mobility on contact centers.

Attention should also be paid to:

• What the Corporate Executive Board is recommending for contact center administrators in terms of adjusting their approach to providing compelling customer experiences.
• Research from the Customer Contact Council that once again highlighted that at the end of the day customer loyalty is a function of how fast resolution times are regardless of channel used. 
• Why business process automation is critical for providing better customer services.  

At the risk of sounding self-serving, I also think readers will be interested in my own take of the frustrations of getting customer service whether when interacting with a web site or a person, and why this is not about having a technology checklist, but having a well thought out and executed plan for listening, learning and acting.

News

Along with the expert opinions, there certainly was no shortage of news this week:

• TMCnet Contributor Carolyn Dawson reported on TargetX’s  release of two cloud-based tools aimed at the education sector in the area of student-retention that have been developed on the popular and well-accepted Force.com platform of Salesforce.com.
•  CallMiner unveiled its v9.0 of Eureka! cloud-based speech analytics solution.  
• AMC Technology, a provider of enterprise and contact center application integration software, announced support for Cisco Mobile Agent to its Contact Canvas salesforce.com CTI (News - Alert) Adapter.
• KANA Software Inc., a global player in customer service solutions delivered on-premises or in the cloud, drew significant attention with its acquisition of process-based contact center provider, Ciboodle, from the Sword Group. 
• Interactive Intelligence and TechnologyOne have partnered to focus on IP business communications and customer relations management solutions for public sector organizations in Australia and New Zealand.

Finally, there was a forecast from Ovum (News - Alert) that predicts 100 percent growth for home agents by 2015. Inventions around security, vertical market development and advances beyond the conventional U.S. market will be key contributors. And, be sure to read Paula Bernier’s interview with Jon Arnold (News - Alert) in our “Ask the Expert” feature for his view on the role digital signage can play in targeting customers.  

Watch and learn  

For your weekend viewing, our latest addition to our community, “Video Showcase,” is a great place to pick up best practice. Plus, as always you are invited to review all of the other valuable resources on the community —our glossary of terms, featured demo, eBook, podcasts, whitepapers.  And, if you have not, please sign up for a free Contact Center Solutions eNewsletter.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. 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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