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 [...]

Author:  Jim Mitchell
In my last blog I spoke a bit about the overall results from the most recent Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index Europe, mostly as they relate to contact center personnel. I think it’s also important to explore the business impacts of automation as determined by the research.  Self service is a delicate topic [...]

Author:  Roger Sumner
Outsourcing contact center operations has long been cited for its pros and cons, but it’s not something that’s going away anytime soon. In fact, during the past decade or so outsourcing has expanded beyond country borders, giving companies the ability to tap into less expensive, highly-educated labor forces located anywhere in the world.  [...]

Author:  Jim Mitchell
Consumers across Europe are definitely not ambivalent when it comes to contact center experiences.  When their interactions are good, they’re really good, but when they’re bad, well … you can see for yourself.
This year’s Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index(tm) results for typical contact center experiences in Europe aren’t much different than last year’s, [...]

Author:  Gary Barnett
Walmart.com is getting a lot of attention, or I should say “flack,” for a story that recently appeared in the New York Times. According to the publication, the online retailer is embarking on a “Customer Contact Reduction” program, whereby it will virtually push its customers to help themselves - resolving issues or answering [...]

Author:  Roger Sumner
Regardless of whether they focus on customer service, sales and marketing, or collections, virtually every Aspect Software customer that I have spoken with during the last year has told me that they have, or are thinking about trialing an at-home agent program. I can say without hesitation that a lot of this interest [...]