Customer Interaction Solutions

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Suppliers: kiss your customers.(Headset)
Here's a scene that's been replayed time and time again in contact centers: vendors develop a technology that's awesome and revolutionary. Unlike anything ever seen before, it promises to transform . . .

VoIP is taking off.(BLOGS)
In his On Rad's Radar, Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc writes: Although there have been analysts who think that IP Lines will slow down, I have to think that in the economic reality we are facing . . .

Can we learn from the Nortel fire sale?(BLOGS)
In his Communications and Technology Blog, Rich Tehrani writes: Nortel, a once-great company with a market cap of $250 billion is effectively being sold off at bargain-basement prices. In fact Nok . . .

Birst.(NEWS)
Birst (www.birst.com)'s sales and enterprise analytics solutions are now available on the Force.com AppExchange. Birst has developed Salesforce Connect, a data connector that allows salesforce.com c . . .

SIP Print.(NEWS)
SIP Print (www.sipprint.com) has formed a separate organization and associated certification program to test and verify interoperability between various VoIP phone systems and the SIP Print call rec . . .

Visioning UC in rough waters.(CALL CENTER Technology)(Company overview)
Identifying and tracking trends in this economy is akin to plotting courses in very rough waters. One is so intently focused on keeping afloat while being battered by the currents and winds that it . . .

Training to survive.(WORKFORCE Optimization)(Company overview)
Training contact center staff: agents in soft skills such as empathy, and hard ones like selling and support, and supervisors in getting most out of their agents, is arguably the best set of tools a . . .

Suppliers going green.(SPECIAL FOCUS)
There are many products and services in the market that help buyers 'go green': reduce energy consumption, air and water pollution, cut e-waste, and shrink the space they need for their businesses a . . .

Answering the call: 2009 ATA Convention and call centers CARE program.(On The Line)
This year, the theme of the ATA Convention and Expo, which will be held in New Orleans on Oct. 4-7, is "Answering the Call." Answering the Call is about understanding how to maximize the value of ev . . .

Proving out alternative CRM.(CRM, BPO & Teleservices)
There is a growing trend in the CRM space towards alternative delivery and design methods, versus traditional on-premises applications written to proprietary software. These Software-as-a-Service (S . . .

Tougher actions to save telemarketing.(Logout)
Here we go again ... there has been a spate of stories on telemarketing abuse that will inevitably lead to calls for more legislation and restrictions on telemarketing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Th . . .

The death of the sales manager.(Publisher's Outlook)
To do justice to this subject matter, one must make reference to Arthur Miller's legendary play entitled, The Death of a Salesman. To refresh your memory, Miller won a Pulitzer Prize for his work, w . . .

15 ways to keep your job.(High Priority)
Despite the trillion-plus dollars spent by two administrations, job losses in the U.S. and around the world are at record levels. Most companies are not prepared to make it through this environment. . . .

Aren't centers already unifying communications?(Headset)
Several major vendors have developed significant product offerings for the contact center that hinge on bringing unified communications (UC) applications into that orbit. Yet contact center professi . . .

Convergys.(from the TMC net[TM] BLOGS.)
In his "First Coffee" blog, TMCnet's David Sims writes: Convergys has announced the availability of a platform-independent On-Demand Voice Authentication product, which Convergys clients and non-C . . .

Can UC save you real dollars?(from the TMC net[TM] BLOGS.)
In his On Rad's Radar, Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc writes: We hear a lot about Unified Communications today. UC this and UC that. Even Cloud Telephony and UCaaS. The main buzz is around the . . .

Don't cut customer outreach in a recession.(from the TMC net[TM] BLOGS.)(Brief article)
In his Communications and Technology Blog, Rich Tehrani writes: It is fascinating to hear industry execs speak of how most of their customers are cutting back on their spending so in response they . . .

Five nine.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Virtual Call Center Suite 7.2 )(Brief article)
Five Nine (www.fivenine.com) has released Virtual Call Center Suite 7.2 that adds preview dialing to the hosted/SaaS solution, which has predictive dialing, thereby giving collection, customer care, . . .

GMT.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Planet workforce optimization suite)(Brief article)
GMT (www.gmt.com) has a new version of its GMT Planet workforce optimization suite, the Lanier edition, which includes several major enhancements and new capabilities. It has an enhanced forecasting . . .

Interprise Software Solutions.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
Interprise Software Solutions (www.interprisesuite.com) has launched a software as a service (SaaS) version of its Interprise Suite ERP/CRM/e-commerce solution. The SaaS program, branded as Interpri . . .

Noble Systems Corporation.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Outbound WFM module )(Brief article)
Noble Systems Corporation (www.noblesys.com) has introduces Outbound WFM module for Noble[R] Workforce Management. It has several features and tools targeted for outbound and blended outbound/inboun . . .

CRM solution.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
Salesforce.com's (www.salesforce.com) new Summer '09, the company's 29th generation release of its famed hosted CRM solution, has several new features. New to the Service Cloud are real time partner . . .

SPSS.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(PASW Data Collection 5.6 )(Brief article)
SPSS (www.spss.com) has introduced PASW Data Collection 5.6 (formerly Dimensions), the latest version of its feedback management and survey research software. PASW Data Collection 5.6 introduces new . . .

Syntellect.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Customer Interaction Management)(Brief article)
Syntellect (www.syntellect.com) 's latest release, Syntellect Customer Interaction Management (CIM) version 7.0 includes more than two dozen new product enhancements, including a redesigned graphica . . .

Verint.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)(Impact 360 Speech Analytics )(Brief article)
Verint (www.verint.com) has come out with the new Impact 360[R] Speech Analytics solutions aimed at bringing speech analytics technology into mainstream contact center operations without costly setu . . .

Zultys.(CUSTOMER INTER@CTION NEWS)
Zultys (www.zultys.com) new Version 5.0 software for the MX250 and MX30 Enterprise Media eXchange iP PBX products has several key new features. MXconnect can make any phone number e.g. home or mobil . . .

Videoconferencing (finally) gets here.(CALL CENTER Technology)
Videoconferencing, which has long been a 'tomorrow technology' i.e. much promise, many benefits, but difficult and costly to execute, may finally be here thanks to a perfect blend of increasingly va . . .

Short Message Service (SMS).(Ask the EXPERTS)
Do you remember when accepting emails from customers changed call centers into contact centers? Way back in the dark ages of technology, about 1996. Since then it seems like contact centers, and ent . . .

Performance analytics: critical roles, critical needs.(WORKFORCE Optimization)(Company overview)
There has rarely been a more critical time to ensure that contact center performance is optimal thanks to today's challenging economy that is stressing cost containment and revenue maximization. Per . . .

Supplier Survey: CRM to SMBs.(SPECIAL FOCUS)
This month's Supplier Survey is focusing on CRM solutions to small-midsized businesses (SMBs). After reviewing the responses to questions on market, product, and vendor trends, including in this ins . . .

Getting here from there.(On The Line)(trends in teleservices industry)
There is an old saying that "everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die." Makes sense. If I could get all the benefits without any of the pain, I should take it regardless of the topic, . . .

CRM executives speak out.(CRM, BPO & Teleservices)
These are challenging times for creating, developing, and maintaining customer relationships. More than ever, every customer--one who is willing to spend (and pay on time)--is golden. At the same ti . . .

The ROI to attend IT EXPO.(SPECIAL FOCUS)(return on investment)
Doing more with less is today's mantra. ITEXPO West, which is taking place Sept. 1-3, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center is the best venue to find out how to do this by learning about new and . . .

Get going with hosting.(CALL CENTER Technology)(Company overview)
Few enterprises today own their own buildings, vehicle fleets, or hardware like copiers. Instead they lease them and for good reasons. These include freeing capital expenditures to be used where the . . .

The IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Awards.(AWARDS & Recognition)
Customer Inter@ction Solutions realizes that technology is the key to the success of any call center, as we have been editorially covering call center technology for 25 years. We also realize that w . . .

Ending charity fraud, misrepresentation, and bad practices.(Logout)
If there is a hereafter there should be an especially nasty place for those who manipulate individuals' altruistic instincts by conning them--typically via telemarketing--to hand over cash to bogus . . .

Thoughts on attitude: the breakfast with the legendary Jack Welch.(Publisher's Outlook)
Not long ago, Rich Tehrani, President of TMC, and I had the rare privilege of having break fast with the Hall of Fame CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch. We asked Jack, "How do you rank your sales . . .

Can deflation create U.S. jobs?(High Priority)
Over the past year it has become evident that deflation is a driving force of the U.S. economy. Margins are being squeezed in virtually all businesses. Recently, Paul Krugman had an opinion piece . . .

Insight into the minds of contact center managers.(Headset)
Recently, Frost & Sullivan conducted a major survey of contact center practitioners in which we asked them a wide variety of questions about the tools they use, their plans for the future, and the i . . .

AccuData Integrated Marketing.(NEWS)(Brief article)
* AccuData Integrated Marketing (www.accudata.com) has launched AccuBase, a cost-effective customer and prospect database marketing solution. AccuBase gives marketers total control over their databa . . .

AltiGen[R] Communications.(NEWS)(Brief article)
* AltiGen[R] Communications (www.altigen.com) has released the second update for AltiGen's MAX Communications Server 6.0 VoIP unified communications platform. New and redesigned applications include . . .

BenchmarkPortal.(NEWS)
* BenchmarkPortal (www.benchmark-portal.com) has issued a new report, Technology Adoption Strategies for All-In-One Contact Center Solutions' sponsored by Interactive Intelligence (www.inin.com) tha . . .

Genesys.(NEWS)
* Genesys (www.genesyslab.com) and InQuira (www.inquira.com) have integrated their software suites. The joint solution combines Genesys' customer interaction software with In Quira's knowledge manag . . .

NICE.(NEWS)(NICE Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
* NICE (www.nice.com) NICE Perform now supports SIP-based recording and enhanced virtualization. NICE Perform 3.2's SIP feature set integrates with leading session border controller vendors. Compani . . .

Spectrum.(NEWS)(Brief article)
* Spectrum (www.specorp.com) neXorce Enterprise Software visual data management solution now offers includes a new historical reporting module, automatic version update scheduler, enhanced Failover . . .

Connie Smith.(NEWS)
* Connie Smith, a noted customer service expert and speaker who has helped contact centers for leading firms such as Southwest Airlines, Staples, Cabelas, Nordstrom, Flagstar bank, Alaska Airlines, . . .

Tellme.(NEWS)
* Tellme (www.tellme.com) thanks to working with its parent, Microsoft. has made its hosted speech solutions even more cost effective and powerful, thereby enabling more end customers to stay longer . . .

Thomas L. Cardella Associates.(NEWS)(Brief article)
* Thomas L. Cardella Associates (www.tlcassociates.com) (TLC&A) has begun operations at its new Marshalltown, Ia. contact center. It joins facilities in Cedar Rapids, Coralville, and Keokuk, and Mar . . .

Recognizing the data security is top of mind.(NEWS)
* Recognizing the data security is top of mind and is an underlying concern with hosted solutions Varolii Corporation (www.varolii.com) has raised the security standard for its SaaS-based communicat . . .

Do not call violations snare DIRECTV, Comcast, Dish Network.(NEWS)
It never pays to be an overly eager telemarketer stretching or could be seen pushing and crossing the limits of the law, even if you are or are representing a popular entertainment/communications se . . .