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Biographical Information
Coreen Bailor
(former) Associate Editor, CRM Magazine
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Coreen covered customer service, contact centers, self-service, and related strategies and technologies for CRM magazine and destinationCRM.com. She received an Award for Publication Excellence (APEX ) for her feature story on homeshoring, entitled "Home Bodies," in CRM magazine's January 2007 issue. Her work is also occasionally featured in CRM magazine's sister publication, Speech Technology magazine and on www.speechtechmag.com . A graduate of Rutgers University, double majoring in journalism and economics, she has worked as a reporter for various Rutgers publications, including The Daily Targum and Alum-Knights.
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Articles By Coreen Bailor
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11 strategies to ensure that you're hearing your customers loud and clear.
SAP Business ByDesign is the company's new on-demand midmarket product; much of its success hinges on SAP's channel strategy.
The company's planned acquisition of analytics powerhouse Business Objects represents the largest in company history.
With Antenna Software, the sales force for satellite-service provider DirecTV gets information when it's most needed.
Rockler.com has improved its Web site's browser-to-buyer conversion rate by 30 percent.
The mortgage division of a financial-services firm credits proactive communications with lowering its delinquency rate.
The industry rebel -- and founder and chief executive officer of RightNow Technologies -- sits down for a chat.
Contact center performance management provides a holistic view of agent performance; use that data to spur desirable behaviors that will help reps beat center and corporate goals.
Oracle connects its Siebel Contact Center application to its Oracle Adverse Event Reporting System, targeting pharmaceutical companies.
Posted 10 Oct 2007
The company will begin rolling out by year's end the latest version of its IP business communications software platform -- a release focused on security, integration, simplified deployment, and mobility.
Posted 09 Oct 2007
"Triple-play" subscriptions will shoot up 52 percent in 2007, but in the short term it will not boost the industry's profit margins.
Posted 03 Oct 2007
The networking giant's acquisition of Latigent, a provider of contact center business intelligence software, extends the reach of its Customer Contact Business Unit.
Posted 02 Oct 2007
Web self-service means having your customer become her own customer service rep -- but without making her resent doing what a real CSR can do in a fraction of the time.
The latest Siebel CRM On Demand highlights the software giant's interest in the on-demand market and underscores the strength of the Siebel name.
Only 4 percent of CRM systems are very successful; the software-as-a-service market almost doubles across most of the Asia-Pacific region; and other numerical news from the month online.
A technology-infrastructure specialist saves about $60,000 in one year by implementing a Web-based service management application from BlueFolder.
Companies will shell out 16 percent more on customer management apps next year, but nearly one-third of companies have experienced failed implementations -- and 25 percent of all CRM licenses go unused.
Posted 26 Sep 2007
The software vendor's ERP unit unveils both a product upgrade and a technology alliance aimed at bolstering its presence among SMB manufacturers.
Posted 25 Sep 2007
The German giant's "A1S" product -- officially known as SAP Business ByDesign -- targets companies with between 100 and 500 employees.
Posted 19 Sep 2007
Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, and Nortel retain their positions as leaders, but Cisco Systems and Siemens fall out of the top quadrant; Interactive Intelligence moves up a notch.
Posted 17 Sep 2007
Interactive Intelligence moves back into the top quadrant, joining Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Genesys, and Nortel.
Posted 13 Sep 2007
Software-as-a-service, focus on customer retention and acquisition, and verticalization are factors enabling the market's healthy growth.
Traditional marketing wisdom has been that a dissatisfied customer tells 10 people. But today that customer has the capacity to tell 10,000 people -- or 10 million.
Posted 30 Aug 2007
The vendor's newest release adds emotion detection, sitemap functionality, personalized routing, and a bundle of new chat features.
Posted 29 Aug 2007
The emergence of the always-on, always-connected consumer calls for companies to rethink their CRM strategies, says destinationCRM2007 speaker.
Posted 24 Aug 2007
Well-defined structures and roles are key to maximizing community involvement in Web 2.0 initiatives such as forums, blogs, and chats; a destinationCRM2007 exclusive.
Posted 22 Aug 2007
Two sessions at SpeechTEK 2007 center on the importance of speech as a self-service enabler and its ability to serve as a gateway to CRM applications.
Posted 21 Aug 2007
With customer service playing an increasingly important role as a competitive differentiator in the healthcare industry, facilities must place greater emphasis on customer interactions.
Posted 15 Aug 2007
The site, known for its strong portal business, has unseated perennial leader Google.
Posted 14 Aug 2007
The company's Qfiniti Explore Version 3.5--the latest version of its multichannel interaction-analysis application--features sentiment analysis, voice processing, trend spotting, and real-time notification--and gives analytics a whole new look.
Posted 07 Aug 2007
Contact center consolidation, voice portals, hosted contact centers, and unified communications are driving much of the movement.
Posted 02 Aug 2007
Retailers are toiling to make their email subscription procedures easy, quick, and more transparent; subscription incentives seem to be slipping in popularity.
Posted 01 Aug 2007
Barclaycard Business: Financing workforce management.
Financial services companies must focus on shifting away from siloed processes across departments and channels.
A $9 billion printing-solutions company turns to AchieveGlobal to develop a comprehensive agent-training program
Oracle reverts to the Siebel moniker for the newest version of its CRM On Demand product, which features several usability, customization, and integration enhancements.
Posted 25 Jul 2007
And two-thirds of the laggards plan on using some form of IP within two years, a new study finds.
Posted 24 Jul 2007
Europeans are set to double their online marketing spend over the next five years, thanks to consumer interest in the Web and marketers' growing affinity for online ads.
Posted 18 Jul 2007
Big Blue will leverage DataMirror software to support IBM Information Server and integrate the acquisition with its Information Management Software unit.
Posted 17 Jul 2007
The customer management applications market rose 8 percent in 2006, as it did in 2005; SAP and Oracle continue to lead, but their revenue figures don't tell the full tale.
Posted 13 Jul 2007
A report argues that as companies engage in survey overkill and collect skewed information, the value of customer feedback will likely fade.
Posted 11 Jul 2007
The worldwide CRM market grew 11.5 percent in 2006 to just under $6.5 billion in revenue; while SAP continues to dominate, Oracle Corp. sees both its revenue and its market share slip.
Posted 10 Jul 2007
A new report says the market for quality management/liability recording suites--essentially workforce optimization--more than doubled in 2006.
Posted 03 Jul 2007
The business apps juggernaut emphasizes its enterprise services strategy and the significance of coinnovation.
A turnkey framing company looks to mobile workforce management technology to automate its method for capturing timesheet and job status data.
The company releases its first major offering of the IP contact center product from its Telephony@Work acquisition.
Posted 27 Jun 2007
Forrester's Finance Forum highlights the importance of interacting independently with target customers.
Posted 26 Jun 2007
When it comes to satisfying customers--that is, citizens--e-government Web sites fare better than the overall federal government does, but they still trail the private sector.
Posted 20 Jun 2007
The business apps juggernaut has announced new and enhanced mobile applications intended to help companies extend SAP business processes to information workers through mobile devices.
Posted 19 Jun 2007
Hispanic online buyers will spend more on retail spending than any other minority group until at least 2011; incorporating customer product reviews is one way to cozy up to that market.
Posted 13 Jun 2007
Retail catalog call centers are doing a better job of satisfying their callers than call centers for banks, cell phone services, cable and satellite television companies, insurance firms, and PC companies.
Posted 12 Jun 2007
Two private equity firms rather than a competitor are acquiring the company in a deal valued at about $8.2 billion; analysts see it as positive, but wonder what might have been under a rival.
Posted 06 Jun 2007
The two companies' pairing results in Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords, an integrated product for small businesses.
Posted 05 Jun 2007
The retailers that focus on delivering a seamless customer experience have a markedly stronger chance of cultivating customer loyalty.
Knowledge management processes increasingly work as part of an organization's resolution of a core contact center conundrum: improving service experience while trimming costs.
Productivity improved with benchmarks for customer service.
Salesforce.com helps a company specializing in energy and security management services connect the field to the office.
The market for mobile applications hasn't reached mainstream adoption just yet, but is poised to hit the $9 billion mark by 2011; device makers, service providers, and software vendors all may contribute.
Posted 30 May 2007
Poor treatment or lack of branches or ATMs when they move are some reasons why bank customers switch banks; consider boosting loyalty by offering and promoting sticky services, one analyst says.
Posted 29 May 2007
This form of mobile marketing can be effective when customers can opt in and messages are relevant; avoid slamming the customer with too many alerts to avoid consumer frustration.
Posted 23 May 2007
Executives at high tech companies tend to have a more positive perception of the customer service experience they deliver than what their customers actually experience.
Posted 22 May 2007
Although overall customer satisfaction is high, several companies are lagging; the airline industry is among the sectors continuing to struggle.
Posted 17 May 2007
SAPPHIRE '07 International: The company acquires Finland's Wicom Communications; expect to see more large CRM firms buying contact center companies down the pike, according to one analyst.
Posted 16 May 2007
The company has beefed up its SaaS functionality by making available hosted automated outbound notification services and all of its contact center applications.
Posted 08 May 2007
The e-service player enters into a definitive agreement to grab management consultancy and systems integrator eVergance Partners; KANA will operate eVergance as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Posted 07 May 2007
Industry consultancy ISM announces the eight winners of its real-time CRM awards, applications that are delivering noteworthy capabilities as the clock ticks.
Posted 02 May 2007
The company's latest version of its CIM suite highlights functionality surrounding email management, collaboration, reporting, and the agent desktop.
Posted 01 May 2007
Text chat is no longer exclusively for the tech-adept, buddy-list teen set--it's picking up steam as an enterprise touch point to facilitate multichannel strategies for service and sales efforts.
Accepting responsibility is a key component of staying aloft during a PR nightmare.
A telecommunications company combines speech with CTI and increases customer satisfaction, agent efficiency, and self-service adoption as a result.
The two IT juggernauts are deepening their partnership by extending their blueprint for making available future versions of Duet software for Microsoft Office and SAP.
Posted 25 Apr 2007
SAPPHIRE '07: The business software giant highlights its enterprise services strategy and champions the importance of business network transformation.
Posted 24 Apr 2007
The global launch of Customer Interaction Express, a contact center suite targeting companies with no more than 150 reps, helps the company muscle up.
Posted 20 Apr 2007
The Siemens AG subsidiary releases a solution to capitalize on the agents-anywhere concept, and delivers additional presence and collaboration capabilities.
Posted 19 Apr 2007
The acquisition, which is expected to close within two weeks, will help expand CDC Software's portfolio of vertical-specific CRM solutions.
Posted 18 Apr 2007
Automating lead-to-sales conversion initiatives can improve the number of quality leads, give a shot in the arm to marketing ROI, and trim sales cycles.
Posted 12 Apr 2007
Magic Quadrant for MCM '07: SAS Institute, Teradata, and Unica maintain positions as leaders in the space, while Oracle's Siebel Systems gets bumped up.
Posted 11 Apr 2007
The deal may help Software AG's position in the SOA/BPM landscape, while moving it closer to its aim of being a billion-euro company.
Posted 10 Apr 2007
Now Vovici, the change refers to the importance of listening to customers when it comes to molding company direction; the company also launched its EFM Continuum suite.
Posted 03 Apr 2007
The industry's performance experiences a skid, thanks to weaker ratings in baggage handling, on-time arrivals, and involuntary denied boardings; overall, overall, Hawaiian Airlines did the best.
Posted 02 Apr 2007
It's simply not good for companies to provide a substandard service experience. As more consumers make purchase decisions based on interactions with companies (thanks in large part to technology improvements and increased customer expectations), chances are that
a company falling flat in delivering an exceptional customer experience will ultimately fail to deliver an improved bottom line. We honor those CRM vendors and their customer companies committed to making the end-user customer the business priority.
There are customer service technology vendors making dynamic acquisitions and expanding their broad product portfolios that don't necessarily fit neatly into one of the seven Service Leader categories. In keeping with that our third annual Service Excellence award recipient, M2M Holdings, made two smart deals that plunged it directly into the full-suite CRM and knowledge management arenas. Also, we present our second annual Rising Star awards, spotlighting under-the-radar tech providers that are making serious strides to deepen their competitive footprint.
It's clear, as the impact of commoditization continues to sweep across various verticals, that devoting serious energy to customer care processes is a bona fide strategy for strengthening brand loyalty. CRM magazine acknowledges five companies that realized eye-catching returns on their contact center services and technology investments with service-and-support deployments in the areas of Web-support services, workforce optimization, speech solutions, hosted contact center services, and agent-facing universal desktop.
The customer care market in 2006 evolved at an enthralling rate, as providers of service-and-support technologies and services toiled to bolster their capabilities through strategic partnerships, head-turning mergers and acquisitions, and deepened research and development--all with the goal of helping companies provide stellar service. At the forefront of these developments are our 2007 Service Leaders--the contact center market's leading vendors in seven areas: computer telephony integration, interactive voice response, Web-support services, workforce optimization, quality monitoring, agent-facing universal desktop, and outsourcing services. The results are based on a blend of weighted criteria comprising analyst ratings for customer satisfaction, depth of functionality or services, and company direction, coupled with financial strength throughout the past year evidenced by revenue and revenue growth.
The customer care market in 2006 evolved at an enthralling rate, as providers of service-and-support technologies and services toiled to bolster their capabilities through strategic partnerships, head-turning mergers and acquisitions, and deepened research and development--all with the goal of helping companies provide stellar service. At the forefront of these developments are our 2007 Service Leaders--the contact center market's leading vendors in seven areas: computer telephony integration, interactive voice response, Web-support services, workforce optimization, quality monitoring, agent-facing universal desktop, and outsourcing services. The results are based on a blend of weighted criteria comprising analyst ratings for customer satisfaction, depth of functionality or services, and company direction, coupled with financial strength throughout the past year evidenced by revenue and revenue growth.
Craft applications with touch-tone and speech-enabled IVRs based on customer needs.
RightNow Higher Education, the vendor's first vertical-specific solution, is aimed at helping institutions recruit, retain, and inform students; additional tailored offerings will follow.
Posted 28 Mar 2007
Government agencies were among the first entities to gravitate to speech analytics applications, but the technology is gaining traction in the contact center at noteworthy rates.
Posted 27 Mar 2007
CallMiner's newest speech analytics solution, CallMiner Eureka!, is aimed at helping organizations understand why customers call and how calls are handled.
Posted 21 Mar 2007
North American contact centers trail their counterparts throughout the world when it comes to areas like average wait times, establishing SLAs, and crafting business continuity plans.
Posted 20 Mar 2007
The company will grab enteo Software, which develops PC life-cycle management and Citrix management solutions; the deal is strategically sound and a "competitive necessity," says one analyst.
Posted 15 Mar 2007
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers '07: The vendor leads all evaluated companies in Gartner's annual report, while more than a dozen players chart as visionaries.
Posted 07 Mar 2007
Telecommunications companies are communicating better with their customers online, but still lag tech and retail outfits, according to The Customer Respect Group.
Posted 06 Mar 2007
Learn these WFM lessons to breed the best contact center forecasting, scheduling, and managing efforts.
Companies should plan and implement a formal approach to collecting feedback and inserting the customer's voice into the business strategy.
A nonprofit agency is outfitted with a more reliable network, enabling staffers and volunteers to stay connected in any location
Salesforce Wealth Management Edition, slated to be available in Q3, caters to the financial advisor crowd; the on-demand vendor nabs Merrill Lynch, its biggest customer, with 25,000 seats.
Posted 28 Feb 2007
Perhaps indicative of Verint Systems' intent to continue its pre-Witness initiatives, the company's latest performance management solution caters to the front office, back office, and enterprise departments.
Posted 27 Feb 2007
The company's SOA framework will fuse its own capabilities with those acquired from workforce management player IEX and performance management specialist Performix Technologies.
Posted 21 Feb 2007
While overall satisfaction with e-commerce continues its upsurge, the online travel industry is feeling the competitive pressure from airline and hotel sites, and travel search engines.
Posted 20 Feb 2007
Magic Quadrant for E-Commerce '06: ATG and IBM WebSphere Commerce top the new quadrant, an examination of vendors delivering B2B and B2C e-commerce offerings.
Posted 14 Feb 2007
Email marketing turns out to be highly effective at connecting with and gaining mind share with small businesses, second only to magazine ads; marketers must tailor tactics to the B2B target.
Posted 13 Feb 2007
Total software revenue is forecasted to hit the $1.1 billion mark by 2011; more vertically focused and line-of-business offerings and additional delivery models are driving the market.
Posted 07 Feb 2007
Demand for a technology in the small-business segment depends on installed base, perceived need, and business size, according to a Jupiter Research report.
Posted 06 Feb 2007
Increased B2B emphasis on the customer experience and continued CRM investment from midmarket companies are two reasons behind expected 2007 spending of more than $1 billion.
Exhausting customers in a fierce business environment erodes profits through loyalty loss; here, some winning ways to help combat customer fade.
A $3.2 billion Arkansas telco turns to self-service and remote troubleshooting to better serve its nontechnical customers.
The latest version delivers improvements to a number of key applications, and includes certification with Oracle Fusion Middleware.
Posted 31 Jan 2007
The companies forge a strategic alliance that may bolster Salesforce.com's efforts to add more enterprise-size organizations to its client roster.
Posted 30 Jan 2007
The BPM vendor will acquire predictive analytics vendor Decisioneering, which should help beef up its risk management functionality.
Posted 24 Jan 2007
Altitude Software unveils the latest release of its Altitude uCI contact center suite with most of its shored-up functionality focusing on virtualization, service, and agent productivity.
Posted 23 Jan 2007
Cost-cutting remains the top reason why companies outsource business processes, but other drivers include supporting growth and driving innovation.
Posted 17 Jan 2007
Clementine is equipped with nearly 50 major enhancements spanning data preparation, graphs, modeling, output, security, performance, scoring, and more.
Posted 16 Jan 2007
Market penetration has been slow, but the benefits of contact center performance management applications to the contact center and other enterprise departments are expected to help spur growth.
Posted 10 Jan 2007
NCR will spin off its Teradata division, in a move to enable both soon-to-be independent companies to better focus on their customer base, business strategy, and operational needs.
Posted 09 Jan 2007
The supply and demand talent dynamic for technology-based industries is one of the main factors behind expected growth in wages in 2007, a talent and outsourcing services provider says.
Posted 03 Jan 2007
North American enterprises devoted about one fourth of their 2006 telecom and network services budgets to mobility, but most of these budgets are still going to landline services.
Posted 02 Jan 2007
E-learning deployments earn straight A's when used in conjunction with formal classroom training.
Cut contact center operating costs, reduce churn rates, and up flexibility--a serious look at the at-home agent model.
Lagan Technologies helps Minneapolis launch a 311 system to provide information on municipal issues and nonemergency services.
Phone-based advertising can enhance a company's bottom line, but there's a chance of adding to customer frustration if it's not done right.
A recent study ranks information compromise and terrorism the top executive worries, trumping "traditional concerns" like product recalls.
Posted 26 Dec 2006
The e-service vendor's latest release eyes unifying email and chat capabilities to provide agents with a holistic view of the customer.
Posted 20 Dec 2006
Loyalty leaders outperform loyalty laggards in payment options, item delivery, and post-sale customer support; Victoria's Secret and Walgreen's are click-and-mortar standouts.
Posted 19 Dec 2006
The region's enterprise telephony application market is set to realize a seven-year CAGR of 33.7 percent, thanks largely to interest in leveraging IP platforms to spur productivity and slash costs.
Posted 13 Dec 2006
The services will provide partners with the ability to market, sell, invoice, and deliver applications to customers through the AppExchange, and customers with one source for trying, buying, and deploying applications.
Posted 12 Dec 2006
The quality management and liability recording market is projected to exceed expectations, thanks in large part to the space's competitive landscape and product innovation.
Posted 07 Dec 2006
Magic Quadrant findings ping Avaya, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Intervoice, and Nortel as leading the sector; reduced complexity and tight integration are hallmarks of advancement.
Posted 06 Dec 2006
Telemarketers taking the ostrich approach to DNC compliance is a nonstarter for enterprises. Refresh marketing initiatives to ensure that the rules are followed and reach your target audience more effectively.
Some energy companies are deploying CRM systems for cost cutting; others are focusing on customer acquisition and retention.
UPC Nederland's unified approach to agent scheduling leads to cost savings and upped customer satisfaction
The financial management software vendor will acquire on-demand banking services provider Digital Insight, which will allow Intuit to blend financial management workflows with online banking.
Posted 30 Nov 2006
Centive unveils the latest release of its on-demand sales compensation management system, featuring custom reporting and operational enhancements.
Posted 29 Nov 2006
Banks must focus on listening to their customers and tweaking their services to help improve retention and cross-sell initiatives; a study says that Wachovia leads in online banking satisfaction.
Posted 22 Nov 2006
The vendor delivers Usability Release 2006, the latest update of its on-demand CRM suite, and is getting set to release Rave CRM, a sales optimization application featuring offline synchronization.
Posted 15 Nov 2006
Pepsi and Cadbury Schweppes tie for high soft-drink satisfaction scores, surpassing Coke in ACSI's manufacturing/nondurable goods examination; the category as a whole realized its best score ever.
Posted 14 Nov 2006
Refreshed interest in the contact center is spurring investment in VoIP, speech recognition, data integration, and performance analytics.
Posted 10 Nov 2006
Consumers can get ill over bad service experiences, but there is a silver lining: Most of them buy more from a company because of a good service experience.
Posted 08 Nov 2006
Many European businesses are classifying mobility as a core component of their strategic initiatives, but are concerned primarily with cost and reliability factors.
Posted 07 Nov 2006
Budgets will grow by 12.3 percent next year, thanks to factors like healthy IT spending, enhanced functionality, and continued interest from SMBs and midmarket companies.
Posted 02 Nov 2006
Thanks to convenience and consumer comfort with online shopping, a report states that this year's online holiday retail sales may touch $27 billion.
Posted 01 Nov 2006
The country's vast population and growing economy are just two of the reasons for the expected uptake.
Consumers in their mid-60s and older are marketing's underserved age bracket, and campaigns usually miss the mark with this generation. Read on for tips on how to fix these efforts' misfires.
Fluency Voice Technology helps a travel services company provide its customers with more communication choice.
Ardence centralizes a cable outlet with app streaming.
The vendor makes available its newest upgrade to its Service suite, which features nine new applications catering to self-service, assisted service, and process automation.
Posted 31 Oct 2006
Marketers struggle with using Web-site clickstream behavior in email due in large part to lack of expertise, data overload, and integration issues.
Posted 25 Oct 2006
A private equity firm has entered into a merger agreement; the deal is the latest in a trend toward building a service life cycle management suite, according to one analyst.
Posted 24 Oct 2006
It will be a cautious spend that won't match the U.S.'s expected 2006 layouts, but European IT's 2007 growth rate will be larger.
Posted 18 Oct 2006
The company has made generally available new features and enhancements to its multichannel product suite; the functionality focuses on deeper integration and beefed up content authoring and search functionality.
Posted 17 Oct 2006
Spanlink unveils its Mobile Supervisor Workstation product, arming contact center supervisors with a tool to monitor and manage schedules and interact with agents without having to be in front of their desktop.
Posted 11 Oct 2006
Unified CVP 4.0 features operations, administration, management, and provisioning capabilities, along with service creation environment enhancements.
Posted 10 Oct 2006
Working from home or from a satellite office continues to gain traction thanks in large part to efforts geared toward attracting and retaining high-impact employees.
Posted 04 Oct 2006
The WFO solutions provider acquires two WFM vendors that play in the financial services space; the move extend its solutions beyond the contact center and into the enterprise.
Posted 03 Oct 2006
National Customer Service Week '06: Delivering a seamless, straightforward customer experience that lives up to its promises can help companies get repeat, more profitable business.
Knova 7 is part of the company's efforts to move from its traditional SRM space into the broader area of managing the customer experience.
Posted 27 Sep 2006
The billion-dollar market is expected to continue its growth streak thanks in large part to innovation, solutions' ability to address specific contact center issues, and the abundance of best practices.
Posted 26 Sep 2006
The company will beef up its on-demand initiatives through the acquisition with capabilities that are particularly attractive to retailers.
Posted 20 Sep 2006
An industry luminary and keynote speaker at the destinationCRM 2006 conference champions real-time CRM as the muscle that will push CRM to new heights.
Posted 18 Sep 2006
Envision Telephony targets contact center security; etalk unveils Qfiniti Assist; Verint ties together technology and methodology; and more.
Posted 15 Sep 2006
The IVR and speech app specialist looks to IP contact center functionality to help it compete more effectively in the general contact center space.
Posted 06 Sep 2006
UCN helps a pharmacy benefit manager handle an expected uptick in call volume.
Firms must struggle with compliance, fraud, and market saturation, while keeping improved customer experience top of mind.
Data bandits gained access to personal data of AT&T customers who bought DSL equipment from the telecommunications giant; a potential fraud threat is up for several thousand customers.
Posted 30 Aug 2006
Business continuity, security concerns, and the expanding mobile workforce are the main drivers behind the projected growth of the remote access services market.
Posted 29 Aug 2006
The groundbreaking Web auction site has been experiencing slowed growth in its auction business, but continues its push into text-based advertising and click-to-call functionality.
Posted 28 Aug 2006
Avaya updates its VPNremote phone and IP multimedia contact center offering; NEC unveils a managed IP telephony service for SMBs; Verizon Business furthers its push into IP with three offerings; and more.
Posted 25 Aug 2006
Successful closure will help Comverse extend its real-time billing and customer management solutions, offering Netonomy as both standalone and integrated into Comverse's capabilities.
Posted 23 Aug 2006
Google's satisfaction score took a slight dip, but thanks to Yahoo!'s fall, largely attributable to its option-heavy homepage, Google widens its lead.
Posted 22 Aug 2006
The VoIP solutions provider gains the established multisite, multichannel, and multilingual functionality of Calabrio, and a customer base spanning Africa, Europe, and South America.
Posted 16 Aug 2006
VoIP's ability to help call centers more effectively and efficiently manage geographically dispersed agents is a key reason for expected growth.
Posted 15 Aug 2006
Speech Server 2007 will be part of the broader Office Communications Server 2007; Windows Vista will have speech recognition in eight languages, a Windows first.
Posted 09 Aug 2006
Customer frustrations with automated phone systems abound, but easy-to-use systems that provide customers with the option to speak with live reps can help build loyalty and enhance the brand.
Posted 08 Aug 2006
Etalk's newest installment of Qfiniti Expert, a tool designed to automatically deliver targeted online programs to agents, tackles a big issue facing e-learning today.
Posted 02 Aug 2006
The direct marketing company acquires a data quality specialist, but one analyst says it will take time to integrate it into Trillium Software.
Posted 01 Aug 2006
Highlights of a contact center capability model.
Don't allow the customer information that lies in recorded calls to go unreported and unnoticed--incorporating speech analytics can help improve business areas enterprisewide.
The enterprise software company underscores its on-demand CRM capabilities while continuing with its enterprise services architecture approach
Aspect's latest upgrade focuses on support for outbound and blended contact center environments, while Witness Impact 360 Version 7.7 targets recording and optimization.
Posted 26 Jul 2006
About two-thirds of skills gaps are in customer handling, and training initiatives haven't changed patterns in the workforce.
Posted 25 Jul 2006
The partnership includes joint R&D, sales and marketing, and systems integration efforts, but the joint rollout won't hit the market until 2007.
Posted 19 Jul 2006
The company refreshes its flagship product with per-caller personalization, an application execution environment, Web services support, and multimodal support.
Posted 18 Jul 2006
The bulk of the enhancements focuses on personalized responses, speedier resolution, and strengthened revenue generation capabilities.
Posted 12 Jul 2006
Sales methodology and training specialist Select Selling has grabbed the former Siebel division to form a new sales effectiveness company.
Posted 11 Jul 2006
The on-demand delivery model, focus on the midmarket, and continued consolidation are some of the common threads in these markets today.
Posted 05 Jul 2006
This time, CDC is offering an all-cash deal to try to stop a signed acquisition agreement between Onyx and M2M Holdings.
Posted 03 Jul 2006
The software giant hopes to end the struggle with the development, management, and TCO of speech-enabled apps.
Deploying a hosted solution helps a retailer with a diverse inventory monitor and train its seasonal staff.
The Chrysler Group talks to site visitors through eStara during potential purchase opportunities.
Its Global Services initiative includes an offering aimed at creating a more exact experience and another focused on consistency across channels.
Posted 28 Jun 2006
The enterprise software giant keeps its commitment to deliver new PeopleSoft functionality, while continuing to keep its eye on SOA.
Posted 27 Jun 2006
Given Onyx's previous rejections of CDC's offers, some may say that this proposal will experience the same fate.
Posted 21 Jun 2006
Among the country's SMBs, hosted apps buys will grow by 23 percent in 2006, thanks in large part to SaaS-based CRM.
Posted 19 Jun 2006
Worldwide, CRM software realized about 14 percent growth in 2005; drivers include consolidation, vertical market solutions growth, and midmarket growth.
Posted 14 Jun 2006
Big Blue becomes the first vendor to land in the leaders circle of a CDI hub quadrant, but must improve its ability to execute.
Posted 07 Jun 2006
A holding company wins the bid, and will take the company private; CDC loses out on the chance to acquire its CRM competitor.
Posted 06 Jun 2006
VoIP protocol SIP's potential in the contact center comes with both benefits and caveats.
Overlooking these simple partnership practices may scrap any hope of delivering a seamless customer service experience.
CosmoCom helps hearing impaired callers stay connected.
Perhaps Michael Fields's most intriguing decision was to bring outsourced engineers back in-house.
The e-service specialist earns high marks for the breadth and depth of its offerings, but the company must continue to improve how it works.
Posted 31 May 2006
Some household-name banks and full-service brokerages struggle with customer advocacy, while credit unions and insurance firms connect with consumers.
Posted 26 May 2006
Genesys highlights its Genesys-VoiceGenie integration road map at G-Force, its annual user conference.
Posted 24 May 2006
SAPPHIRE '06: The company highlights its hybrid on-demand/on-premise CRM offering, while persistently promoting its enterprise services architecture strategy.
Posted 19 May 2006
SAPPHIRE '06: Amid "the industrialization of software," the German juggernaut continues its service-based strategy.
Posted 17 May 2006
Crafting a well-defined customer data management initiative is essential to supplying a holistic view of the customer.
Posted 12 May 2006
The BI giant, with an eye to extending its on-demand presence, has made available five offerings through that delivery model.
Posted 10 May 2006
Many online marketers launch search engine campaigns as online sales generators, but neglecting the offline potential of such initiatives may shut doors.
Posted 03 May 2006
Oracle's Siebel field service management functionality is deemed the space's leader, but may struggle to maintain that status as part of a larger conglomerate.
Posted 02 May 2006
Making your IVR system as user friendly as possible will help increase customer loyalty and keep costs down.
IBM and Call Design help St. George Bank reap the benefits of a speech-user interface.
The Houston-area BBB chose Dovarri for its cost-effective, time-sensitive implementation.
Rollouts and road maps are signs of Oracle's emphasis on enhancing existing product lines as the company deepens its SOA initiative.
Posted 26 Apr 2006
The technologies, products, and services provider for wireless networks unveils functionality for the enterprise contact center.
Posted 25 Apr 2006
More operators in the young Asia Pacific NGEV services market look to deliver these offerings as businesses migrate to IP-telephony platforms.
Posted 19 Apr 2006
The addition will help Amdocs's customers generate revenue through delivering digital content across multiple devices and access methods.
Posted 18 Apr 2006
Purchasing the billing and revenue management solutions provider should strengthen Oracle's go to market offerings for the communications and media industry, and bolster its apps focus.
Posted 12 Apr 2006
The on-demand vendor has acquired Sendia to bring mobility to its AppExchange applications.
Posted 11 Apr 2006
The deal is one of the latest markers of contact center consolidation; details of the cash transaction were not disclosed.
Posted 05 Apr 2006
IBM continues its SOA efforts with a cluster of products and services designed to help bolster SOA-based deployments.
Posted 04 Apr 2006
The contact center industry was hot in 2005, as providers of customer service and support technologies and services strengthened their commitment to delivering first-class service. Many of the industry's players made their presence felt with forward-thinking mergers and acquisitions, while others upped the ante by growing from within and extending strategic alliances. We honor the industry's top-three leaders and one company to watch in the following categories: computer telephony integration, interactive voice response, Web-support services (formerly the Web self-service category), workforce optimization (formerly the workforce management and optimization category), quality monitoring, agent-facing universal desktop, and outsourcing services. The results are based on a weighted formula that includes analyst assessments for customer satisfaction, depth of functionality, and company direction, as well as fiscal health over the course of 2005.
The contact center industry was hot in 2005, as providers of customer service and support technologies and services strengthened their commitment to delivering first-class service. Many of the industry's players made their presence felt with forward-thinking mergers and acquisitions, while others upped the ante by growing from within and extending strategic alliances. We honor the industry's top-three leaders and one company to watch in the following categories: computer telephony integration, interactive voice response, Web-support services (formerly the Web self-service category), workforce optimization (formerly the workforce management and optimization category), quality monitoring, agent-facing universal desktop, and outsourcing services. The results are based on a weighted formula that includes analyst assessments for customer satisfaction, depth of functionality, and company direction, as well as fiscal health over the course of 2005.
Bring specialized agents into the mix to enhance service levels for wireless companies as CSRs work to understand new products and services.
Some organizations grapple with attaching bottom-line value to their revamped Web sites, but crafting ROI models can help.
Posted 29 Mar 2006
Although the tax-collection agency's site did not receive the highest satisfaction index, it did take substantial steps to boost citizen satisfaction with its online presence.
Posted 22 Mar 2006
Although IP telephony in the SMB market is still for early adopters, Mitel and Cisco led the way in U.S. market share of IP telephony station shipments in 2005.
Posted 20 Mar 2006
The technology space is poised for substantial upsurge, but vendors must make the upgrade process as simple and trouble-free as possible.
Posted 15 Mar 2006
Responsiveness is improving, but some travel providers stumble when it comes to the quality of the response, a new TCRG survey reveals.
Posted 13 Mar 2006
The settlement allows RIM to sidestep a potential freeze; the lengthy litigation process may have the company keeping a closer eye on competitors.
Posted 06 Mar 2006
A Gartner analyst predicts "positive but modest growth going forward" for CRM license revenue, as industry players continue to expand their offerings and quench their M&A thirst.
Posted 01 Mar 2006
Organizations no longer have to choose between efficiency and effectiveness as contact center technology evolves. Here, five approaches to service and efficiency equilibrium.
Employees work from home, maintaining a business-as-usual approach, as the 2005 transit strike halts the public transportation system.
The 311 framework allowed the agency to ramp up its agent pool from 500 to about 900, with employees from other departments and agencies.
Unifying customer touch points helps a hotel company specializing in the South Pacific tourism industry reduce costs and boost agent utilization.
The midmarket CRM player, recently acquired by Francisco Partners, unveils IP voice functionality that could extend its relationship with GoldMine shops.
Posted 27 Feb 2006
Not all sectors of online business are seeing substantial uptake in adoption and satisfaction, but the channel continues to gain traction for its accessibility and ease of use.
Posted 22 Feb 2006
The market is expected to become more integrated and to reflect more specific differentiating business objectives.
Posted 15 Feb 2006
Providing online support can boost customer satisfaction while cutting costs, but companies must offer the right services to maximize deployments.
Posted 13 Feb 2006
Households are expected to view more bills online, but companies must work to increase customer awareness of the benefits of Web payment.
Posted 08 Feb 2006
The car company's German site has been removed from the search engine's index for deceptive tactics.
Posted 06 Feb 2006
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