The customer support (CS) department is an important department as it helps in customer retention and customer satisfaction. According to a research, it was found that 78% of customers indicate competent CS agents are the key in keeping their satisfaction levels high. Contact center software plays a crucial role. If the software is updated if one wants to invest in a positive customer experience and increase employee engagement. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/your-customer-support-department-would-kill-for-these-contact-center-features-70686

IVR has become important for call centers. It acts as a doorway to your company. IVR includes call routing, prompts, voice talent and more and these must be optimized in order to initiate the best customer service possible. IVR is efficient for the company and effective for the customer, if it is installed properly. Read more at - http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1096/Default.aspx

Companies are finding that online fraud includes a phone call by the fraudster. Fraudsters call the bank or card issuer to check the available credit on stolen cards before making fraudulent purchases online. Banks are building a database of known fraudster voice prints in the call center with a new generation of voice biometrics. Passive voice biometrics can collect and examine a caller’s voice print in the background of a normal call. Banks can now detect fraudsters by voice, e.g.  They can detect calls like available credit inquiry by screening live calls against the fraudster database. When a known fraudster’s voice is detected, banks can flag the customer account as possibly compromised. Read more at: http://www.paymentssource.com/news/paythink/biometrics-in-the-call-center-can-combat-digital-fraud-3022703-1.html

Speech analytics is helping companies in recording customer experience. Cloud-based speech analytics also utilize audio mining technology to give contact center leadership an easy to implement platform that can analyze thousands of calls in real time. Agent knowledge assessments help companies to improve training practices that in turn increase revenue and productivity. Customer comment analysis adds “voice of the customer” observations that help in improving products and services. Jeanne Landau (author) in her article writes how leading companies are using speech analytics to enhance their customer engagement strategies at:  http://customerthink.com/three-ways-leading-businesses-use-speech-analytics-to-improve-their-customer-engagement-strategies/

Nowadays, the demand for home-based agents and hosted contact services is increasing and is affecting the dynamics of the provider ecosystem, which results in contributing new challenges and opportunities. According to a survey, it was found that the employee population, as a whole, grew by 1.8% from 2014 to 2015, while the employee population that telecommutes grew an impressive 6.5%. A new forecast issued by International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that U.S. spending on customer care BPO using home-based delivery resources is increasing at a CAGR of 25.1% to $6.1 billion in 2017. Dave Walsh (StatesideBPO), writes in his article about why businesses are embracing the home-based agent model. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1087/Default.aspx

Remote agents are becoming important these days. There are three reasons for that: lower contact center costs; improved customer service; and, improved employee satisfaction and retention. The other reasons are lower operating costs, less need for brick & mortar facilities, support staff, increased labor pool, and reduced training costs. But, proper tools must be used in order to maximize the use of agents. There are three essential tools for managing remote agents. They are: Agent Self-Scheduling Tools, Real-time Agent Adherence, and Online Productivity Tools. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1054/Default.aspx

In today’s business world, customers are the most important. If you are not providing good customer service, they will tell the negative experience they had with your company. Hence, customer experience has become the most important part of business initiatives. So, in order for a customer experience initiative to be executed properly, it requires an investment in time and resources. Jeanne Landau (Director of Marketing, 800response), writes in his article about four things companies need to do to satisfy their customers and earn repeat business. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1020/Default.aspx

Companies who want to save money for their call center, employ at-home workers. But, they should also take into consideration about the security aspect of the company. A cloud-based call center will combat security concerns. To know more about call center security, follow: http://www.blogher.com/ins-and-outs-call-center-security?wrap=blogher-topics/news-politics/technology&crumb=29

Remote agents are becoming popular in today’s business world. They are becoming popular because of lower contact center costs; improved customer service; improved employee satisfaction and retention. The other advantages are - operating costs such as lower starting wages and reduced benefits, less need for brick and mortar facilities and support staff, increased labor pool with flexible scheduling options, and reduced training costs associated with increased agent retention. There are three essential tools for managing remote agents. They are: Agent Self-Scheduling Tools, Real-time Agent Adherence, and Online Productivity Tools. To know about these tools, follow:  http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1054/Default.aspx

Customers or clients are important in today’s world. If a customer doesn’t have a good experience, they will not only leave your company, but also tell about their negative experience. That is why customer experience has become important for any competition. Jeanne Landau (Director of Marketing, 800response), in her article writes about four things companies need to do to satisfy their customers and earn repeat business. They are: Engage in a dialogue with customers; properly train your employees; provide a seamless cross-channel experience; and invest in the right tools. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1020/Default.aspx

Supervisory roles are important in any contact center. These roles require the ability to lead and inspire both in personnel management and operational competence. “The supervisor role in the call or contact center is the most critical and demanding of all and often gets the least attention,” says John O’Brien, CEO and founder of Sales Talent Group. But, being good at job will not hold good for supervisory role. It was found that contact center turnover rates averaged 30 to 45% in 2014. The costs associated with combating employee attrition are the reason for high turnover rate. These losses can be prevented by implementing strategic supervisor training. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1037/Default.aspx

Workforce management is needed in every company and is very important for contact center success. A contact center is at risk of losing revenue if there is no workforce management. But, in spite of this, there are still confusions that discourage companies from investing in a quality workforce management solution. Bob Webb (VP Sales) writes in his article about some common myths about workforce management. They are: Workforce management is an ancillary application; all workforce management solutions are the same with algorithms that can produce a statistically valid forecast; only large centers benefit from Workforce Management - WFM is cost prohibitive for small centers; internal productivity metrics cannot tie in with workforce management tools; supervisors lose control of at-home agents; and customer data is at risk with hosted solutions. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/1027/Default.aspx

Nowadays, most contact center uses cloud technology and a report by Frost & Sullivan forecasted that this number will increase to 90% by 2016. The reason for shifting to cloud solutions are that they are cost-effective, easier to scale alongside a growing business, and can be deployed in days or weeks, provides flexibility and enable them to be more responsive to customers. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/957/Default.aspx

Personally identifiable information (PII) is needed when a caller personally needs to give credit card or Social Security number. In these scenarios IVR technology can’t be used. So, a new technology is emerging that uses dual tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) to capture PII securely while remaining on the same call , eliminating the risk of exposing data to the agent, the organization or the call recording system and improves call center efficiency and security, and in turn reduce costs and improves customer trust, satisfaction and loyalty. Read more at: http://telecomreseller.com/2015/02/09/new-dtmf-capture-technology-will-revolutionize-call-center-security/

Contact center managers should improve efficiency, reduce costs, and get good agent training, reduce turnover and, above all, an outstanding service experience as defined by the customer. Matt Lautz (CorvisaCloud, President), writes in his article link about some contact center predictions for 2015:  http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/931/Default.aspx

Technology is always changing rapidly. Contact centers are technology driven and therefore in the contact center industry, monitoring of new trends and implementing the changes becomes important. Mobility, social media, video and cloud technology are some of the communication services trends that will be dominating in 2015. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/926/Default.aspx

2014 was the year of mobile apps, mobile payments, and mobile-friendly websites. But 2015 will be a year of customer centricity. Customer centric is all about the customer- understanding of a customer’s value and what their significance to the business profitability. Benoit Gruber (VP Corporate Communications, Sage ERP X3), writes in his article link about the strategies that will ensure your customer centricity: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/918/Default.aspx

Customer interaction analytics is gaining popularity nowadays. It provides information about contact center’s customers, workforce, effectiveness of current system and also strengths and weaknesses. Read more about how customer interaction analytics can benefit your contact center at: http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-article/4-reasons-you-need-customer-interaction-analytics.aspx?md=74f65882-a162-41dd-b17a-b0d20f0af75e&iz=3

A recent 2014 North American Call Center Survey has revealed that approximately 78 percent of today’s call centers are premised-based and 70 percent considering a move to the cloud. It was further found that 52% of consumers utilize three or four channel platforms (phone, email, video, text, chat, social media) when looking for customer care. In recent studies it was found that 67% of customers prefer self-service over speaking to a live representative. Salesforce and Forrester Research group found “Personalizing Customer Service Interactions” is among the top key trends facing customer service organizations. Robert Killory (Chief Customer Officer, 3CLogic), writes in his article about the top customer service trends facing contact centers for 2015. Read more at: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Home/tabid/37/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/395/CategoryID/1/NewsID/899/Default.aspx

TCN, a cloud based call center systems provider, is making its product Platform 3 Vocal Vision to work with Job Access with Speech (JAWS) technology, which allows visually impaired call center agents to navigate TCN's cloud-based contact center suite. This will help to improve agent productivity and also create new employment opportunities for the visually impaired. JAWS assists computer users with visual impairment to operate a mouse and Vocal Vision helps the agent navigate Platform 3.0's workflows via hot keys that use JAWS functionality during both incoming and outgoing calls, while audible tones signal the connection of an incoming call. Features of Vocal Vision support incoming and outgoing calls, agent dashboard along with reporting and call analytics. Read more at: http://betanews.com/2014/12/02/new-call-center-technology-adapts-to-visually-impaired-employees/