In November 2008, the idea of creating a magazine for the contact center industry was born. I had left my job after a number of years in the industry working on training, membership, consulting and publications. My husband Steve and I had sold our family home, purchased a 46-foot Cheoy Lee Trawler and we were headed out to sea. Five months in… I was feeling a little restless coming off such a busy work schedule. I heard from my former colleague Susan Hash that she had left her job and was doing freelance work. A few weeks later, an idea was born! The idea of a magazine. A contact center magazine. I was really excited. I could do it from anywhere and, at the same time, serve a purpose in trying to lead discussions on how our customer experiences can fuel our businesses.
Steve and I spent three months docked in Jekyll Island, Georgia (what a beautiful place to spend time), developing a website, back-office, database and ecommerce component. Susan agreed to work with us, and we named our baby Contact Center Pipeline, and started to work. Frank Priola came to work with us to talk to sponsors about our idea and raise some support. Mark Knight came onboard to make the magazine and website “look pretty” (my words, not his!).
Our first issue was published in March 2009! As they say, the rest is history.
The magazine has been a tremendous journey and opportunity for me. As the magazine grew, Ellen Herndon and Sarah Kleinman joined our team. If I have learned anything in these last 10 years, it is that without great people surrounding you, without great people who can work as a team and without great people who share the vision and purpose… it can’t work.Through our ups and downs (losing loved ones, the births of babies and grandbabies, losing pets, divorces and weddings) our small team hasn’t missed an issue and never once complained when they needed to pick up a little extra load. It is the biggest leadership lesson to be learned. In that spirit, this 10-year celebration is as much about them as Contact Center Pipeline!
To our team, our writers, our readers, our sponsors… to the contact center industry, thank you for making Contact Center Pipeline possible!
With sincere appreciation,
Linda Harden
Publisher
Contact Center Pipeline
