Hurricane Harvey, the first Category 4 hurricane to hit the United States in more than a decade, has devastated communities across southeast Texas. The water that rained from the skies on Texas has been measured in the trillions of gallons. Trillions. More than Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, combined. The personal and financial losses revealed by the receding flood waters are stunning.
It’s unlikely that any amount of preparation could have prevented Houston and the surrounding areas from flooding, when over a year’s worth of rain fell in the span of just a few days. After the immediate crisis is over, what are the takeaways and discussions that we need to be having in our centers? Unfortunately, with our day-to-day priorities, it often takes a disaster of this magnitude to encourage us to review our contingency plans and ensure they are up-to-date and sufficient. As contact center leaders, we have a responsibility to ensure that we have plans in place to take care of our employees and maintain our operational ability in greater times of need.
Please take this opportunity to review your plans. Look for inspiration in an excellent article this month by Charles Driest, “Creating a Contingency Plan.” Very timely in light of the past weeks events.
Elsewhere in the September issue, we cover the expectations of millennials, skills based routing, fraud prevention and compliance, survey analysis of healthcare contact centers, behind-the-scenes with Valvoline’s award-winning support center, employee engagement, ethical upselling, and the return of the Kachina!
For those of you affected by Hurricane Harvey, please know you are in our thoughts and prayers. We wish for a recovery as quickly as possible. Please remember the folks in Texas… and all affected by Harvey.
Our September issue is packed with a wealth of information. Please check it out.
FEATURES
Making the Millennial Connection
By Susan Hash
Millennials’ expectations have changed the rules of engagement. How to create commitment for your contact center’s mission and goals.
The SBR Balancing Act
By Jay Minnucci
Understanding the various forms of skills-based routing (SBR) is critical to deploying it in your contact center.
What Keeps You Up at Night?
By Lori Bocklund
The contact center plays a critical role in compromising or protecting the company and customers. Tackle fraud prevention, compliance and security to rest easy.
DEPARTMENTS
HEALTHCARE CORNER
Survey Says… Human Factors to Consider
By Kathleen M. Peterson
A recent survey of healthcare contact center professionals sheds light on people management challenges.
INSIDE VIEW
Valvoline
By Susan Hash
A collaborative, people-focused environment drives continuous improvement at this award-winning customer support center.
LEADING THOUGHTS
Creating a Contingency Plan
By Charles Driest
Steps to identify the people, data and resources to bring to bear in an emergency.
PERFORMANCE MATTERS
The Changing Landscape of Employee Engagement
By Mark Brody
Millennial and Gen Z workplace expectations are transforming organizational cultures and practices.
SUPERIOR SERVICE
Ethical Upselling
By Mike Aoki
Building trust and fulfilling needs creates a win-win for customers and businesses. How to encourage the right behaviors in your agents.
THE VIEW FROM THE SADDLE
Return of the Kachina! The 2017 Saddletree Research Kachina Awards
By Paul Stockford
The Kachina symbolizes achievement and innovation among solutions providers. A look at the 2017 awards program.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
What Users Request Most in a Headset
By Dawn Birr
A recent survey identifies the top factors in contact center headset purchases.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
Fast-Tracking Your Journey to Workforce Optimization: Tips for Mid-sized Contact Centers
By Ric Gray
Four considerations for mid-sized centers navigating the WFO solutions selection and purchase process.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SPOTLIGHT
How to Work with Your Local Economic Development Organization to Combat Area Wage Pressures Affecting Your Call Center
By James R. Beatty
Resources for making wage adjustments to attract and retain talent.
Please note: Contact Center Pipeline is a subscription magazine. To view all articles, please consider a subscription.
Thank you to our September sponsors: Calabrio, Contact Center Nation, Customer Contact Strategies, Empirix, Human Numbers, NECCF, PACE Association, PowerHouse Consulting, Sennheiser, Service Agility, Strategic Contact, Stream Realty, USAN and Verint. They help make Contact Center Pipeline possible!! Please visit all our sponsors in our Pipeline Directory.
