Contact consolidation is not for the lighthearted. For years, contact centre management has been attempting to control costs by reducing the number of agents, physical sites and consolidating software and hardware solutions. Often these attempts are in conflict with customer and corporate demands. So, how do we increase contact centre availability? Improve customer satisfaction? Reduce operational costs? 11 Mar 2008
E-commerce suppliers face a difficult challenge. They must cultivate loyal customers, but that is becoming more difficult as the Internet enables consumers to roam freely from retailer to retailer. Now more than ever, the customer is in control, and that change is forcing many e-tailers to turn to customised shopping experiences to build brand loyalty. 10 Mar 2008
In travel, it is important to recruit good talent, develop it, retain it and recognise it. 6 Mar 2008
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is not just a technical approach to building, integrating and delivering software systems. It's an initiative that will have impacts on IT processes (planning, project management, design, development, deployment, operations, and change management) and on the IT organization (bodies that have responsibility and authority to drive service reuse, manage quality issues and collaborate with business teams). 5 Mar 2008
Late 2005 saw the first malls in South Africa go live with Bluetooth as location-based marketing communication medium. The idea is to use Bluetooth to communicate relevant retail and mall communications to accepting customers' cellphones. 5 Mar 2008
After reading the book Mindset: The Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol S. Dweck, I began to wonder if her concepts of fixed versus growth mindsets were either accentuated or diminished when it came to customer relationship strategies enabled with SaaS-based applications. 3 Mar 2008
I am not proud to say that my health insurance company probably hates me - more specifically, the poor customer service representative who happened to answer the phone when I called with a problem. She probably wishes she was on break at that time. Why? Because I was one of those "difficult" customers. One of those customers we have all had and wished we didn't have to deal with. The kind that sometimes we just want to put on hold, or allow to hear us bang our phones against the desk because we just can't deal with their complaints. 15 Feb 2008
USA - The truth is that call centres are expensive, and they don't usually show positive returns except for the fractional payback you get when you can boost productivity by handling more calls. Also, with so many moving parts, it really is easy to believe that the system you've nursed along for years is as good as anything out there - or certainly good enough. 11 Feb 2008
Critics thought it was over the top when Amazon.com expanded from books into music in 1998. When the Web retailer let competitors start selling things alongside its own inventory in 2000, they said Amazon had gone nuts. In both cases, Amazon proved them wrong. 5 Feb 2008
USA - Was it the "Year of the Frustrated Customer?" Here are a few highlights: Airline passenger complaints to the US Department of Transportation were up 70%, as last summer saw the worst delays in 13 years of record-keeping; Verizon was ordered to pay US$1 million to customers the company terminated for "excessive use" on a plan that was advertised as "unlimited"; and the state of Minnesota is body slamming Sprint with a lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of its residents who claimed the carrier extended its contracts without their informed consent. 8 Jan 2008
Even the titans of online retailing struggle with how to tackle the challenge of delivering personalisation. Most techniques for generating personalised product recommendations involve identifying which items tend to be purchased together. While this approach effectively groups products by interest, it doesn't get to the heart of treating each consumer as an individual. 30 Nov 2007
Despite geopolitical tensions, economies are thriving in the Middle East resulting in an increasing focus on customer service in the region presenting opportunities for contact (call) centre vendors. 28 Nov 2007
Barrows has introduced an online collection of instore display solutions which have been vigorously value-engineered both in terms of materials usage and production efficiency. 15 Nov 2007
Consumer complaints website, PissedConsumer.com, has launched a new consumer advocacy section offering consumer tips and advice just in time for the holiday buying (and selling) season. 12 Nov 2007
What can retailers - both online and in stores - do to prepare for post-holiday returns? The first thing is to do everything they can to minimize return levels in the first place, Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, told CRM Buyer. Shop.org is the National Retail Federation's digital division. 12 Nov 2007
Mobile CRM brings many advantages to an organisation, some of which are yet to be discovered. Suffice it to say that it does much more than enable mobile access to e-mail and text messaging. This is about access to real data and the ability to manipulate it in real time, as well as the ability to conduct transactions remotely. 7 Nov 2007
The starting point for loyalty is satisfaction. Yet customer satisfaction in itself does not lead to a loyal relationship, and investing in improvements beyond industry benchmarks of satisfaction will not necessarily increase loyalty. The message is simple. Be careful not to over-invest in satisfaction. Once customers are satisfied, business partners need to establish shared values. 7 Nov 2007
Regardless of challenges that lie ahead, it appears the industry is determined to make the remote agent model work, perhaps because, when done properly, the home agent model has such limitless potential, and technological innovation has a way of overcoming obstacles. This will certainly be a model to watch in the future. 5 Nov 2007
As the increasing number of organisations understand the importance of positive customer experiences and strong customer relationships, the market for customer relationship management (CRM) applications continues to expand. In 2006, the global CRM* software market was worth just under US$3.6bn** in licence revenue alone. 1 Nov 2007
When a business or organisation decides to go the cause marketing route, it's extremely important to choose an issue/cause that is relevant and closely related to your products or services. It's quite crucial to your success that your customers understand why you are supporting the pressing issues. Because CRM can have a big impact on loyalty, it can be extremely targeted and customised for your customers. 31 Oct 2007
