This week in the Contact Center Solutions Community as always was a busy one on numerous fronts. First and foremost is the redesign of the community home page. New look and feel was created for easier viewing and navigation to the content you are interested in. We hope that not only do you find it a place you want to visit often (hopefully have bookmarked), but also that you use it to spend even more time with the wealth of information accessible from it.
Next, rather than save what I believe is the best for last I start with a really interesting announcement by community host Interactive Intelligence. Our hosts revealed this week a contest. It is by no means ordinary in any respect. One lucky winner, of their Customer Experience Makeover Contest, is going to have their contact center literally made over with Interactive’s cloud-based solutions along with training, support and capabilities being supplied by partner sponsors. It is hard to even estimate not just the immediate but long-term value of winning.
Here is what you need to know to participate. Contest candidates can submit an entry form now through April 30. Contest rules and the application form are available at www.inin.com/cxmakeover. All candidates will be considered, except businesses that have already engaged in sales discussions with Interactive Intelligence, or one of its resellers.
Interactive Intelligence also had other significant announcements this week. It saw director of channel management North America, Ben Miller named as a CRN 2014 Channel Chief, and publicized the agenda for its popular INTERACTIONS 2014 event and revealed a new associated event called CX Hot Trends Symposium which is being produced by TMC. The symposium is non-vendor specific and is open to any customer-service professional. It includes presentations from industry experts from firms such as Forrester Research, Frost & Sullivan, Gartner, IDC, and others. It will address the nine hottest technology trends shaping the customer experience.
In addition, research firm Nemertes recognized Interactive Intelligence in its list of affordable IP contact center solutions placing Interactive Intelligence at the top of the list is ACD and call recording.
In other industry news of interest:
We also wanted to take notice of when good things are happening as well as bad. On the good news side of things, Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) recently won a Gold Stevie Award for Customer Service Contact Center of the Year. On the not so great side, ContactCenterSolutions Contributor Tracey Schelmetic looked at how and why outsourcing increases a company's chances of facing cybercrime.
Finally, the subject of improving the performance of contact center agents was the subject of two items this past week. ContactCenterSolutions Contributor Mini Swamy had an interesting item on how Snowfly helps motivate and reward employees. And, ContactCenterSolutions Group Editorial Director Erik Linask has a terrific piece on how to turn employees into loyal team members.
Weekend reading
For your weekend reading enjoyment check out the convenience of our newly designed community home page. The links are to items that are constantly being updated with new eBooks, whitepapers, videos, demos, etc. Plus, for detailed information on specific areas of interest, our affiliated channels — Accounts Receivable Management, Business Process Automation, CaaS, Cloud-based Contact Centers and Insurance Technology — are places to visit frequently and bookmark.
And, if you missed it, the webinar Key 2014 Contact Center Trends and Priorities: How you can be ready, is one you really should consider downloading, and find out what a distinguished group of industry experts had to say about the future of customer service at our recently concluded ITEXPO event.