Top 5 Contact Center Interviews for 2016
Illustration by Barbara Marsillac

In 2015, Pipeline Publisher Linda Harden hosted the first session of Executive Talk interviews at the Northeast Contact Center Forum’s (NECCF) annual conference at Gillette Stadium, just outside of Boston. Earlier this year, back by popular demand, she conducted a new set of interviews. In these brief conversations, Linda speaks with a variety of contact center leaders about industry trends, tips and insights. The following were the five most viewed Executive Talk Videos in 2016.

Executive Talk: Stacey Swim, Unum Insurance
Unum Contact Center Manager Stacey Swim has 29 years of customer service experience, spanning the Insurance and Financial Services Industries. She has spent most of that time at Unum Insurance in Portland, Maine. Stacey is dedicated to the new-hire and onboarding process and feels it is an area that makes a big difference in their center. In this Executive Talk video, she describes the new-hire training program and its impact on the center’s attrition rates.

Executive Talk: Mark Kantor, Lego
In this Executive Talk video, I had an opportunity to talk with Mark Kantor, Lego Operations Support Team Lead. Mark has 20-plus years of contact center experience. He has done everything from frontline agent, manager of frontline agents, contact center manager, fulfillment department manager, and was the manager of an escalation helpline.

Executive Talk: JoAnn Morency, NECCF and Commerce Bank
JoAnn Morency is a founding board member for the NECCF (NorthEast Contact Center Forum), and Senior Vice President and Director of Retail Banking at Commerce Bank. In this Executive Talk session, JoAnn tells me why the NECCF was started, and how it has grown and evolved into a valuable resource for contact centers in the Northeast.

Executive Talk: Kristi Holcombe, Travelers
In this Executive Talk interview, I had an opportunity to chat with Kristi Holcombe, Director of Workforce Management at Travelers. Kristi has over 20 years’ experience in the contact center industry. She has worked in a variety of industries and operation sizes in different job roles. Through her varied work experience, Kristi brings unique insights that one solution doesn’t fit all centers.

Executive Talk: Michael Pace, Pace of Service
Michael Pace is the Owner and Principal of The Pace of Service, a consultancy that assists organizations to realize the full benefit of customer service, social business, business process management and people leadership. One thing that always drives our call center environments is change. Like it or not, we’re forced to keep pace with our customers delivering service how, when and where they want it. In our Executive Talk discussion, Michael shared his views on our changing atmosphere and where he sees new challenges for call centers.