http://aspectblog.12hna.com Views from industry luminaries Gary Barnett, Roger Sumner and Jim Mitchell. Fri, 02 May 2008 15:47:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/05/02/there%e2%80%99s-something-to-be-said-for-proactive-customer-service/ Author:  Gary Barnett In my last posting, I spoke in detail about why I strongly believe your contact center should be leading the unified communications (UC) effort within your enterprise.  Simply put, your center already has the technology, expertise and experience your company needs to successfully connect its people.  I think it’s ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/04/08/your-enterprise-can-learn-an-awful-lot-from-your-contact-center/ 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 ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/04/01/ace-%e2%80%93-what-did-you-miss-besides-the-snow/ Guest Author: Mike Sheridan During the past few weeks, we’ve been talking an awful lot about unified communications.   In fact, just today Aspect Software made another announcement about how we plan to support our Unified Communications for the Contact Center strategy through our partnership with Microsoft. We’ve outlined what it is and ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/03/18/unified-communications-%e2%80%93-taking-the-next-steps/ Author:  Gary Barnett Earlier this week, Aspect Software announced that we are now offering UC for the contact center. With this announcement, I felt the need to come clean.  I’ve seen far too many companies with plans to begin their UC deployments in the non-customer facing parts of their enterprises. I strongly believe that your contact ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/03/13/take-the-reigns-%e2%80%93-it%e2%80%99s-time-for-you-to-lead-your-company%e2%80%99s-unified-communications-strategy/ Guest Author:  Mike Sheridan, SVP of Strategy for Aspect Software A big thanks to the three luminaries for giving me the floor this week for my first blog posting!  I have to admit that I’m excited about the topic but I’m also thrilled that I’ve been entrusted to make an extremely ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/03/10/unified-communications-for-the-contact-center-%e2%80%93-what%e2%80%99s-it-all-about/ 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 ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/03/04/asking-for-help-can-cost-your-company-big-bucks/ 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 ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/02/28/themed-customer-service/ 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, ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/02/13/are-we-making-progress/ 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 ... http://aspectblog.12hna.com/2008/02/05/the-outsourcer-as-an-extension-of-your-contact-center/