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Contact Center Executive Outlook on 2020 and Beyond
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019
Across industries, research reports are predicting that businesses can expect more change in the next five years than in the last 50.
Contact Center Pipeline
Continuum Global Services: Launching A New Contact Center Industry Brand
Contact Center Pipeline
JULY 30, 2019
As customer interactions continue to become more complex, the contact center industry is increasingly turning to mergers & acquisitions as an effective solution to expand scale, improve access to new technologies and enhance geographic coverage.
Trending Sources
4 Characteristics of Best-in-Class Contact Centers
Contact Center Pipeline
DECEMBER 13, 2017
What does it take to deliver standout customer service? It’s a question on the minds of many business leaders since customer experience trumps price as the number one competitive differentiator in today’s economy.
Managing Different Personalities in the Contact Center: The Platinum Rule
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 26, 2019
Early in my management career, I followed the Golden Rule: Treat others as I would want to be treated. I believed that if I treated everyone the way I would want to be treated, it meant I was a great manager. Yet, I had significant conflicts with some members of my team. Often, I felt […].
Training for Lead Generation, Customer Onboarding and Support
Advertiser: Skilljar
Customer lifecycle training gives customers the knowledge and tools they need to be successful. As customer success and satisfaction grows, so does retention and repeat business. This eBook can help training teams improve or expand their customer training programs.
The Future of the Contact Center
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 22, 2019
We embarked on a fun little survey this spring to gather input on the future of the contact center. Our focus was on which technologies are expected to have the greatest impact and what that impact might be.
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Bet the Ranch, Bet the Brand
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 28, 2019
The American Heritage Idiom Dictionary defines “to bet the ranch” as “to risk everything you have because you are certain of success.” This idiom most likely began at poker tables in saloons of the American Wild West.
Eight Days a Week: The Always-On Contact Center
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 19, 2019
In February 1965, The Beatles released a song called “Eight Days a Week” as a single to the U.S. market before it appeared on the album Beatles VI. It became the band’s seventh No. 1 single in the U.S. in just over a year.
Making Employee Experience a Priority in a Customer-Centric World
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
When it comes to your favorite mobile or self-service experience, what apps… platforms… or companies come to mind?
Top 5 Posts in July
Contact Center Pipeline
JULY 31, 2019
What will you remember about July 2019? Fireworks? Record-breaking heat? Amazon Prime Day? If you found yourself otherwise occupied this month and missed some of the insightful content published on the Pipeline blog, the following is a list of the five most popular posts in July.
Contact Center Cloud Migration Done Right
Speaker: Sheila McGee-Smith, Founder and Principal Analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics
Many companies are in the midst of migrating their contact center to the cloud. Understanding how best to execute the transition of premises to cloud is part of that process. Join contact center industry analyst and No Jitter blogger Sheila McGee-Smith as she discussed tried and true best practices for avoiding the potential pitfalls of CX migration.
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Top 5 Posts in August
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 30, 2019
Millions of students returned to the classroom in August, which is National Back to School Month in the United States. In the contact center world, learning takes place every day.
How Technology Is Paving the Path to Contact Center Workplace Wellness
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 27, 2019
For years, organizations have embarked on workplace wellness initiatives to help reduce healthcare costs, cut absenteeism, prevent employee burnout and keep employee productivity on point.
Take Self-Service Up Another Notch
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 17, 2019
If you’re like me, you may waffle between excitement and cynicism over self-service (SS). Over the years, there has been a lot of hype over SS, but that enthusiasm has been tempered by equal measures of disappointment when reality falls short of promise.
Chatbots in the Contact Center, Part 2: Internal Use and Adoption
Contact Center Pipeline
MARCH 20, 2019
Consumers are increasingly turning to virtual assistants to save time and effort in their personal lives.
Redefining Customer Experience Metrics for Better Performance
Speaker: Lynn Hunsaker, Chief Customer Officer of ClearAction Continuum
Join us for this insightful webinar with Lynn Hunsaker, Chief Customer Officer of ClearAction, who will show you how to zero-in on true leading indicators and describe how to connect business results metrics with employees’ workflow metrics.
The Secret to Training Seasonal Agents
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 20, 2017
“They are just temps,” said one contact center manager describing his seasonal agents. They will be gone in a couple of months!” That condescending attitude was reflected in the seasonal team’s environment. They were crammed into an abandoned conference room filled with computers, phones and wires.
Onward and Upward… Or So the Saying Goes
Contact Center Pipeline
JANUARY 5, 2018
According to thefreedictionary.com, “onward and upward” is an expression that is defined as “something that you say in order to encourage someone to forget an unpleasant experience or failure and to think about the future instead.” Ah, the future!
Surprising Ways to Motivate Your Agents
Contact Center Pipeline
OCTOBER 25, 2017
I love movies. So, I was thrilled to win movie tickets as part of a contact center sales campaign back when I was an agent. However, the coworker sitting next to me hated movies and was not motivated at all by this contest. Everyone is different. What motivates one person may demotivate another.
Building a Resilient Contact Center
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 26, 2017
In the era of “five nines” of reliability, contact center leaders didn’t worry too much about the resiliency of their technology: It was always up. But with all the changes and permutations of technology, reliability can’t be taken for granted.
Beyond the Contact Center: Unlocking Insights with Speech Analytics
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A global survey of 500 key decision makers by Opus Research shows the core benefits of making the leap to an omnichannel contact center, such as uncovering actionable business insights on employee-customer interactions.
Answering the Personnel Call: Four Ways Contact Centers Can Enhance Agent Recruitment and Retention
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 14, 2019
While the competition for top talent intensifies across the business landscape, contact centers often feel the impact more than most. Top-performing contact centers require exceptional agents to lead a memorable and impactful customer experience while upholding their company’s brand and values.
It’s Time to Tune Up Contact Routing
Contact Center Pipeline
NOVEMBER 28, 2017
Contact center leaders often express dissatisfaction with their current technology. They think that if they’d just implement some new technology, they’d be primed to achieve their business goals.
Inside View: Fannie Mae
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 13, 2019
Contact centers may offer a wealth of data, yet the most meaningful customer insights often lie buried within stored conversations, transaction histories and survey feedback.
Garbage In, Garbage Out… Makes Contact Center Managers Want to Shout!
Contact Center Pipeline
NOVEMBER 9, 2017
Remember Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street”? For some reason, he was our son Brendan’s favorite character. He even had an Oscar the Grouch Halloween costume! During that period, I would sometimes borrow the mask to alert the family to an emerging “grouchy” condition.
A New Segmentation Model for Customer Onboarding
Advertiser: Skilljar
A great customer onboarding program is a proactive and meaningful way to make a lasting impact on customer engagement, retention, and expansion. In this eBook, Skilljar will show you a new framework for building a customer onboarding program, including how to segment users and drive long-term value and retention through education.
Turnover… But Not the Good Kind
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
The word “turnover” can make either your mouth water or your head hurt. Blueberry turnovers are one of my favorite sweets in the summer… freshly picked wild blueberries wrapped up in puff pastry and baked to a flaky golden brown. Yum yum!
Contact Center Pipeline Magazine: Inside Our September 2019 Issue
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 5, 2019
As I write this month’s message, I’m looking out the window at a beautiful, sunny day in Annapolis, MD. The Weather Channel is predicting a different story for our friends to the south over our Labor Day holiday weekend as they are in the bulls-eye of Hurricane Dorian.
Now What? The Impact of Chaos on Contact Center Operations
Contact Center Pipeline
FEBRUARY 7, 2018
We have all at one time or another uttered the phrase, “Now what?” According to TheFreeDictionary.com, this phrase means, “What is going to happen now? What kind of new problem has arisen?” In these days, the question is asked frequently and not always as it relates to the contact center.
Creating a Collaborative Virtual Team
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
The percentage of people working from home has grown exponentially in recent years. New technologies make it so much easier for remote workers to perform their tasks. Creating an environment of collaboration can improve the performance of individuals and teams who don’t work face-to-face.
How to Make the Transition to Customer Service Outsourcing
Speaker: Randy Clapp, Chief Revenue Officer, Advantage Communications Inc.
You’re feeling the pressure of keeping your employees engaged and improving your customer experience, but you’re not sure if you’re ready or even know how to make a smooth transition to a contact center. Randy Clapp, Chief Revenue Officer of Advantage Communications, will lead you through an outsourcing Self-Assessment you can apply to your business in this insightful webinar developed to provide you with the building blocks to take your customer service experience to the next level.
High Absenteeism? Consider Your Agents’ “Breaking Point”
Contact Center Pipeline
MAY 14, 2019
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty frustrated by clients, prospects and some contact center managers who think that the only reason agents are absent from work is because they are lazy.
Robocalls? Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Harmonica Player
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 15, 2019
In January 1973, Elton John released his sixth studio album. Entitled, “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player,” the album was Elton’s second straight No. 1 album in the U.S.
Differentiator Series, Part 5: Selling and Promoting the Contact Center
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 23, 2017
Our final installment of the differentiator series is perhaps the most important for customer service leadership. Our topic is selling and promoting the contact center.
Cautious Optimism… Taking Ownership of Communication
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 6, 2019
Cautious optimism is defined as “a feeling of general confidence regarding a situation and/or its outcome coupled with a readiness for possible difficulties or failure” (TheFreeDictionary.com). I had an interesting experience when I called my insurer the other day.
Personalized Customer Experience with All-In-One Voice, Video, Chat, Contact Center
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Reliable communications are mission critical in today’s business environment. Customers are increasingly selective, and companies compete on the customer experience. Incorporating integrated communications as a key component is driving high returns.
Four Ways to Attract and Retain Millennial Agents
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 7, 2019
Pew Research Center defines millennials as anyone born between the years 1981 and 1996 (ages 22 to 37 in 2018). Today more than one in three members of the American workforce are millennials, making them the largest generation in the U.S.
Contact Center Pipeline Magazine: Inside Our August 2019 Issue
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 2, 2019
It’s summertime here in Annapolis, Maryland. The pool water is warm and the sun is hot. That means it’s a great time to address your Summer Reading List. I sure hope Contact Center Pipeline is on it!! If not, now is a great time to sign up. We would love to go to the pool […].
To a More Cost-Efficient 2018
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
Many of you reading this are likely in the throes of it right now: the annual budgeting process. You are being pressured to “do more with less,” and you will be held accountable for everything you agree to during this period (and yes, even some things that you never agreed to).
Three Ways Contact Center Staffing and Training Has Evolved
Contact Center Pipeline
AUGUST 20, 2019
It seems like every day we learn about a new brick-and-mortar retail giant that is closing stores across the country. Sam’s Club, Toys R Us, Sears and Macy’s are just a few retailers saying goodbye to physical locations. While some are moving to e-commerce, others are simply no longer competitive.
The Definitive Guide to Customer Education Metrics
Advertiser: Skilljar
As you build and scale your customer education program, the right data can help you identify patterns, make evidence-based decisions, and adapt strategy to meet business goals. In this eBook, Skilljar will share the data and metrics best practices that have helped their customers meet program goals and communicate business impact.
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