I hope our April issue finds you safe and well. You may have seen Mr. Rogers’ quote that is so applicable for our times: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
That quote has never been more true. There are “helpers” everywhere. I want to acknowledge the heroic efforts being put forth by so many, from our health care workers, police, EMS, truck drivers, grocery store workers, communications staff… and our contact center industry. Our thoughts are with those so deeply affected by the Covid crisis.
We are a major engine right now in this effort to keep our communication lines available and open. With millions of people told to shelter in their homes, contact centers have an opportunity to lead in an unprecedented way.
The contact center industry is typically an environment that experiences lots of change. There are hundreds of events that effect our centers, keeping us flexible and fluid. However, these are certainly unusual and challenging times for you and your organization. Most of your centers right now are handling unprecedented workloads while scrambling to set up successful remote environments and keeping your employees safe. Along with that pressure and stress, we face situations in our personal lives with elderly love ones, young children home from school and personal concern for our family and friends.
Yes, it is a trying time, no doubt. I am encouraged by our vendor community. I receive emails daily with creative offers to help keep our teams engaged and our customers served. This week we will be launching a new COVID-19 portal on our website giving vendors a way to share special reduced or free service offerings to help in our virtual environments.
We are also providing our educational content on the COVID-19 portal. Our curated content is quick and easy to find. You’ll find information on setting up virtual operations, while keeping your staff engaged and responsive to your customer needs. We are sharing tips and techniques to help manage our virtual teams. We will continue to add to these resources with the aim of providing information to help.
For further information on COVID-19 contact center resources, please visit our website at www.contactcenterpipeline.com.
I hope you, your family, friends and loved ones stay safe. Take care of yourselves and each other. We’ll get through this. Let’s do our part, follow local guidelines, stay home, help save lives.
Here is what you will find in our April issue.
Download the Full Issue
Contact Center Pipeline April 2020
To download the full issue and view all articles, a subscription is required. Your subscription helps us continue to publish in-depth, independent articles for the contact center industry that you won’t find anywhere else. We appreciate your support.
FEATURE
Upskilling the Contact Center Workforce
By Susan Hash
Why it’s important to plan for your agents’ future in an era of uncertainty.
PIPELINE WALL OF FAME | Kathleen Peterson
Celebrating Our VIP Authors
By Pipeline Wall of Fame
In recognition and appreciation to Kathleen Peterson, Chief Vision Officer, PowerHouse Consulting, our April 2020 Wall of Fame Author.
IDIOM INSIGHTS
Hold On, I’m Comin’: What to Do with Callers on Hold
By Kathleen M. Peterson
A look at the current options for putting callers on hold and their effectiveness.
THE VIEW FROM THE SADDLE
On-Trend: At-Home Agents
By Paul Stockford
Work-at-home represents one of the strongest trends in the contact center industry over the past decade. What’s driving it? A Q&A with Michele Rowan.
ECONOMICS VS. HUMANITY
Don’t Reduce People to Numbers… or Should You?
By Mike Dershowitz
Numerical assessments are one of the best predictors of success and growth in the contact center.
INSIDE VIEW
Purchasing Power
By Susan Hash
Award-winning team enhances customer loyalty by restructuring the complaints and escalations process.
SUPERIOR SERVICE
Differentiate Your Brand Through Proactive Customer Service
By Fara Haron
Effective technology and skilled CSRs complement each other to deliver value to customers and the business.
REMOTE WORKING
Top 5 Mistakes Companies Make with Remote Work
By Michele Rowan
The trends and key learnings that companies have experienced in recent months.
LEADING THOUGHTS
The InsideOut Approach: Three Ways Managers Can Improve a Contact Center Culture
By Bill Bennett
A coaching culture empowers agents to take ownership of their growth. A model for managers and agents.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Accomplishing Call Center Transformation with Unified Communications Softphones
By Todd Carothers
Leverage UC softphone capability to add value today and as you plan for the future.
PERFORMANCE MATTERS
Go Beyond Net Promoter Score to Measure Customer Experience Effectively
By Jim Iyoob
Essential metrics to help you understand how customers experience your brand.
Please note: Contact Center Pipeline is a subscription magazine. To view all articles, please consider a subscription.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT | BBC Technology Solutions
Coronavirus = Business Continuity Plan
By Michael Sutter & Roger Lee
Do you have the appropriate technology for your staff to work from home during a disease outbreak?
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT | Jacada
How to Promote Customer Loyalty in the Age of Complexity
By Jacada
If removing friction from the customer journey is your goal, then it’s time to consider using intelligent automation.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT | Verint
AI and KM: From Knowledge Management to Knowledge Automation
By Heather Richards
An AI-infused KM system delivers “knowledge at your fingertips,” making it easy for customers to access the right information 24/7.
Thank you to our April sponsors: 2Ring America, BBC Technology Solutions, Bold 360 by LogMeIn, CallShaper, Clarabridge, Customer Contact Strategies, Human Numbers, Jacada, Panviva, PowerHouse Consulting, Service Agility, Strategic Contact, Stream Realty, TASKE Technology, and Verint.
They help make Contact Center Pipeline possible!! Please visit all our sponsors in our Pipeline Directory!
