TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

It was a busy week in the Contact Center Solutions community with lots of news on deals, industry recognition, market trends and even some insights into “Cyber Monday (News - Alert)” performance. Before getting to this, however, I would like to highlight the item on the U.S. Government Accountabilities Office (GAO) report on the need for the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) to improve its customer complaint processes.   As I noted in the article, this looks like a terrific opportunity for some member(s) of the community to investigate if the TSA would like a helping hand.

News

The broad expanse of the community is certainly reflected in the diversity of the news.  An interesting place to start is with TMCnet Contributor Tracey Schelmetic’s look at which companies do a great job with customer care on “Cyber Monday.” The list of good performers and their response times is to say the least illuminating. Another article to get your thought processes in high gear is the new study by the Customer Contact Association (CCA) which underlines the need for more collaboration across enterprise to enable contact center agents to be productive.

Contact center growth along with performance, or lack thereof, made the headlines:

•  Illinois-based APAC Customer Services Inc. said it plans to add about 275 jobs focused on inbound customer service in Green Bay, Wisconsin immediately.
•  Reflecting the international application of contact center technology, in Australia the Bulawayo City Council improved its citizen interactions with the help of the Australian government.
• Not everything works perfectly as was highlighted in a look at what large UK-based electric power company First Utility was having in providing what it thought were new customer service capabilities.  

There were deals and partnerships aplenty:

• AltiGen Communications, Inc., a provider of software-based Unified Communications solutions, announced that its MaxACD Contact Center for Microsoft Lync has been selected by Insource Technology Corporation. 
•  Mediacom Communications signed an agreement with Synchronoss Technologies (News - Alert), a company that provides software-based activation and mobile content management solutions to improve customer relationships. 
• CPP North America, a white-label provider of life-assistance products and services, and MyAssist, a live-agent personal assistance and concierge service for individuals and companies, revealed a partnership to offer personal assistance as a branded, preferred customer program. 
•  Nordic TeleCom, a Finnish company specializing in unified communication services, signed a technology cooperation agreement with Cisco Systems Finland, which will connect new value-added solutions with Cisco collaboration products via Nordic TeleCom's cloud services. 
• Indosoft (News - Alert) Inc., developer of Q-Suite, the call center ACD for Asterisk, announced a partnership with Vidanetwork.

In other industry news, ValidSoft, a supplier of telecommunications-based fraud prevention, authentication and transaction verification solutions, was recognized by Opus Research for its voice biometrics capabilities.   Fusion Sunderland launched its next round of its Apprenticeship Program. And, saving what may be one of the more significant developments for all community members for last, note that STELLAService unveiled STELLA Monthly Benchmarks, a unique ranking on a monthly basis of the top performing customer service providers nationwide.

Weekend reading  

For your weekend enjoyment you should check out my article in “Editor’s Choice” on community host Interactive Intelligence’s (News - Alert) launch of its Marketplace initiative. Plus, the community is filled with updated materials which include new videos, whitepapers and podcasts on a variety of subjects. In fact, if you are a Microsoft (News - Alert) Lync customer, download the featured whitepaper from the community on integrating Lync with Interactive Intelligence’s CIC. 

Other recommended items include: The “Ask the Experts” item on mobile customer service; the recently concluded webinar, Best Practices for Evaluating a New Contact Center Solution: Leading Analysts Share Their Insight and Research, as well as the webinar, The Call Center is Dead, Long Live the Contact Center! 

And, please don’t’ forget to that more focused information is available on our 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 Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.