Author:  Jim Mitchell
When Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Bank recently postponed their concert dates in Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, FL, Ticketmaster proactively reached out to concertgoers to let them know. 
There was, of course, the public notification. Someone shared the information with the media who then communicated it to the public-at-large.  But, what if a […]

Author:  Roger Sumner
I recently spent several days in Atlanta with more than 600 of our customers, attending our annual user conference, the Aspect Customer Experience (ACE).  Despite the fact that I was greeted by snow when I arrived (I was hoping for a radical departure from this year’s blustery Chicago winter), I learned a lot […]

Author:  Gary Barnett
Each day, your agents receive a large number of phone calls probably focusing on a wide range of issues.  Some customers may have basic needs, such as getting their bank account balance, checking on the status of an order, or changing their addresses.  Others may have more complex issues, like over-the-phone computer tech […]

Author:  Roger Sumner
Themed shopping and dining experiences have been popular for quite some time.  Now some companies are using the same concept to add fun to their customer’s contact center experiences. 
What am I talking about?  In concrete terms, think of the Rainforest Café – “A Wild Place to Shop and Eat.”  From the moment you […]

Author:  Gary Barnett
It’s been about a year since I made my 2007 predictions, and I was thinking it might be fun to take a look back and see if my trusty crystal ball was accurate. 
Last year, I stated that contact centers would take new approaches in four specific areas: Unified, performance management, agent retention, and […]

Author:  Roger Sumner
As you know, I like to share everyday experiences when I hear about friends or colleagues interacting with companies or organizations through the contact center.  Typically there are lessons, both good and bad, that can be gleaned from each of these interactions.  Here’s a recent example.
One of my colleagues – we’ll call him […]

Author:  Gary Barnett
I recently read that quality monitoring (QM) is leading to a decrease in customer satisfaction.  According to the article that made the above statement, QM is making employees more stressed and unhappy, which in turn is resulting in less effective service.
I believe the premise of the article was wrong - it’s not QM […]

Author:  Roger Sumner
I did quite a bit of shopping this holiday season. Happily, I can say that I was able to buy almost everything I needed online, from the comfort of my own home. Apparently, I wasn’t alone.
“Black Friday” is a concept that’s constantly talked about  – the day after Thanksgiving when U.S. consumers visit […]

Author:  Gary Barnett
With the holiday spending season upon us, I thought today was an appropriate time to share with you a true but disconcerting tale that I just heard about an online shopper, her incorrect order, and her inability to reach a contact center for much needed assistance: 
‘Twas a few weeks before Christmas and Alice […]

Author:  Gary Barnett
We’ve been talking about the value of a unified approach for quite some time now, but I still often receive questions about what, exactly, a unified approach really means. The questions mostly stem from confusion around the term “unified” – it means different things to different people.
Many people automatically associate “unified” with unified […]