TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

It was a busy week in the Contact Center Solutions community spanning all aspects of the business as well as the globe. Given the breadth of activities the thing that caught my eye was actually something that happened early in the week with the announcement from Nuance, famous for building Siri for Apple, that there is now a customer service rep called “Nina” that can live inside your credit card app. Very cool!

News

 Now for what was a very eclectic week of news. A great place to start is with TMCnet’s discussion with Jan Ryan, cofounder and president of Social Dynamx about her views on contact center industry evolution and what she is calling the Data Wave phase that is now upon us. And, speaking of the future of the industry, specifically about what will transpire in the U.S. which will have significant ripple effects around the world,   Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) reiterated the need for their proposed legislation that aims at keeping medical services bill processing capabilities from being outsourced. 

 Business growth was indicated by:

• Sitel saying it will be hiring for 350 new positions at its customer care call center in Las Vegas. 
• Interactive Intelligence helped Credit Union of America complete its move into a new headquarters building in Wichita, Kansas, including all of its key contact center employees, and continued to spread worldwide, in South Africa as noted by Deon Scheepers, Interactive Intelligence's head of sales and business development. 
• United HealthCare expanded its call center presence in Wisconsin.  

In the areas of company recognition and new capabilities there was an impressive amount of activity. For instance in the area of recognition:

• Usablenet, a provider of leader in mobile and multi-channel customer engagement solutions, was featured on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America.
•  Zoho (News - Alert) stated that it was enjoying growth through the personalization of mass messaging campaigns.  
• Interactive Intelligence revealed that the federal Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) has certified the latest versions of Interactive Intelligence's all-in-one IP communications software, Customer Interaction Center (CIC) for use in the future by the U.S. Department of Defense.  

In new capabilities activities included:

• MyAssist, a live-agent concierge service for individuals and companies, signed a new partnership with ESCORT, a manufacturer of high-performance radar and laser detectors, through which MyAssist will deliver live-agent concierge services to ESCORT Live users.
•  Jacada (News - Alert) offered a new mobile agent solution app that reduce inbound call volume and handle time by offering sophisticated self-service capabilities to smartphone and mobile device users.
• Multichannel Callback Solution from VHT Helps End Frustrating Customer Self-Service Dead Ends
• Virtual Hold Technology (News - Alert) (VHT) demonstrated its new Conversation Bridge solution that enables customers to request a callback from customer service through Internet-connected smartphones, televisions and other devices to customers of Genesys, a reseller partner.
•  Apriva, a provider of end-to-end wireless transactions and secure information solutions, introduced the Apriva Customer Education (ACE) portal, an intuitive self-help and customer support portal.

In other industry news:

•  Interestingly contact center solutions providers tend to be some of the most highly involved members of local communities when it comes to volunteerism and charitable activities. A good example is Knowlagent who released results of their charitable community efforts in the Atlanta, CA (News - Alert) area.
•  Project Management Academy (PMA) introduced a new online certification training course for project managers that teaches agile fundamentals and prepares students for the PMI-ACP exam.
• TIME dotCom Berhad (TIME), a Malaysian provider of fixed-line telecommunications network and solutions, deployed CallidusCloud's Configure Price Quote (CPQ) and Sales Enablement Platform solutions to maximize its sales success and drive performance across all channels. 

Weekend browsing  

If you have time this weekend, be sure to investigate everything the community has to offer including: the glossary of terms, featured demos, eBooks, podcasts, and whitepapers.  In addition, if you have not, be sure to sign up for a free Contact Center Solutions eNewsletter, and check out the latest news on the community’s affiliated channels — Accounts Receivable Management, Business Process Automation, CaaS, Cloud-based Contact Centers and Insurance Technology. 

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.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.