TMCnet Contact Center Solutions Week in Review

This week in Contact Center Solutions, the business of the business took center stage, as opposed to the usual mix of such events with industry trends, awards, M&A activity. And in the run up to the holidays, there is certainly a lot going on.

I wanted to make special note for those of you who may not have missed what I thought was a game-changing announcement from host Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert) of its e-commerce website, Marketplacecustomer relationship management solution for the healthcare industry. . The company made news with the announcement of a partnership with hc1.com, a provider of a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

News

In other industry news, Microsoft Lync collaborations were a hot topic:

• AltiGen (News - Alert) Communications, Inc and Insource Technology Corporation announced they would collaborate to provide AltiGen's MaxACD Contact Center for Microsoft Lync. 
• Ordina and Aspect (News - Alert) signed a cooperation agreement in which Ordina implements and integrates Aspect software with Lync Servers at contact centers across the Netherlands. 

Staffing issues also made news:

• Avia now has a solution that gives staff easy access to pensions through its Work:Life by Staffcare.
• The proper staffing of E-911 has come to the fore in Brown County in Wisconsin.  
• Having staff get a better handle on data on customer concerns has been made easier with the introduction by Confirmit (News - Alert) of enhancements to its Active Dashboard solution.

In other news:

• Affinion Loyalty Group's MotivEngine product has been selected by Delta Air Lines for service recovery when Delta customers have to face a non-weather related travel issues. 
• Astute Solutions, a provider of customer experience technology solutions, announced the launch of a social relationship management (SRM) tool under the name Astute SRM.
• Cloud-based self-service specialists Contact Solutions unveiled an infographic that highlights the costs involved in using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and the savings potential.  
• eGain, the provider of multichannel customer engagement solutions, made available an enhanced chat solution for contact centers, eGain SuperChat. 
• TCN Inc. announced new features in campaign linking that takes the guesswork out of scheduling outbound calling campaigns, ensuring no downtime. 
• Motilal Oswal Securities Limited (MOSL), an India-based financial services firm, chose Sangoma's Ameyo Call server solution to act as a central management hub for all call activities at key MOSL locations. 
• The 56 Group, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm focused on CRM strategies, discussed just how different contact centers are than they were a decade ago.
• Plantronics selected Magnetic North's blended contact center solution.

Weekend reading  

For your weekend enjoyment, check out all of the resources on the community, which is filled with updated materials that include new videos, whitepapers and podcasts on a variety of subjects. In fact, if you’re a Microsoft Lync customer, download the featured whitepaper from the community on integrating Lync with Interactive Intelligence’s CIC. 

I also recommend 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 (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.