Connections Magazine News 
January/February 2006

Katrina Relief Fund Update

Soon after it was founded, the Katrina Relief Fund quickly evolved into an Operator Relief Fund by virtue of the multiple storms that occurred.  The fund was conceived for the sole purpose of offering unqualified and immediate financial assistance to hourly wage earners in the teleservices industry. 

The concept started with NAEO (National Amtelco Equipment Owners), but it was not an official NAEO project.  To broaden the appeal, a decision was made to include diverse people to oversee the distribution of funds and to help publicize the effort within their own trade organizations.  To streamline that process, a few rules or conditions were required for assistance to be given.  Though reasonable safeguards were set up, volunteers acted quickly.  Members of many industry associations volunteered and were used extensively; a committee of five that approved every award.

Approximately $105,000 was collected and disbursed.  One problem was that many eligible teleservices workers didn't know about the fund.  Ingenious volunteers overcame this obstacle; they put their own businesses on hold and spent many weeks making thousands of telephone calls trying to find affected teleservice agents. 

Awards ranged between $500 and $1500.  Many of those receiving the awards were living in their cars or in homes with missing walls or open roofs.  The awards did not solve anyone's troubles entirely, but receiving this unexpected help gave hope. 

In addition to cash awards, there were also lists made of donors willing to house displaced agents, as well as job offers for people that wanted temporary or permanent placements.  There were offers of equipment, too; the industry was generous.  In some cases, the money sent was the first income that the recipient had received since the storm.

The fund is now closed and the remaining moneys have been distributed.  Because of the donors' generosity, and the incredible time invested by volunteers, the teleservice industry has shined brightly and I couldn't be prouder.

Submitted by Joe Miller, President of Checkpoint Communications Company in Greenville, SC and President Elect of NAEO.

GLTSA Retains Executive Director

The Great Lakes Telemessaging Services Association (GLTSA) is pleased to announce that Dan L'Heureux has been named Executive Director of the association.  The position is effective immediately.  "We are looking forward to rejuvenating GLTSA through our upcoming membership drive and our fall conference in Chicago, September 11-13, 2006," said GLTSA President Jim Wagner of Wagner Communications.  "We welcome new members from the Great Lakes area.  We also encourage former GLTSA members to check out our re-energized Association."

"Dan is a former telemessaging call center owner and practiced in the industry," added Wagner.  "We're very excited about the experience he brings to the Association." 

GLTSA, is a not-for-profit professional regional association of telemessaging call center owners is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Members are located in the Great Lakes area states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

For more information, contact Dan L'Heureux at Dan@CallConsult.net or 763-473-0210.

NAEO Invites Amtelco Users to "Empower Your Call Center" 

The National Amtelco Equipment Owners (NAEO) is preparing for this year's conference at the Gaylord Palms Conference and Resort Center in Orlando, FL, March 25-28, 2006.  The theme is "Empower your call center … meeting the challenges of the future … today."  

Betty Bouchie, Conference Chairperson, and Cori Bartlett, Conference Co-Chair, are working on providing some new approaches.  Changes include a series of round tables to be held on popular topics such as voice over IP, remote operators, using Infinity TimeClock, Intelligent Series and how to obtain the NAEO service contract discount.

The opening reception will be on Saturday, March 25^th with the educational sessions starting 8 am on Sunday and running through 5 pm Wednesday, March 28.  Other sessions include the latest developments to the Amtelco platform, sales and marketing, and call center strategic planning.  

NAEO is hoping for another year of record setting attendance.  The Gaylord Palms Conference and Resort Center features several restaurants on site, shopping, state-of-the-art meeting amenities, and world-class service, as well as a fabulous spa and championship golf course.  It is located only five minutes from Disney's main gates.

For more information, go to www.naeo.org or call 800-809-6373.

NAEO Honored by ASAE

The National Amtelco Equipment Owners (NAEO) has been named to the 2006 Associations Advance America Honor Roll, a national awards competition sponsored by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Washington, DC.  NAEO received the award for its Operator Relief Program, which it coordinated on behalf of the entire teleservices messaging industry. 

This program began in response to Hurricane Katrina and was designed to help front-line call center agents who were seriously affected by the hurricane.  This program raised and distributed approximately $105,000 that went directly to operators who had sustained great losses during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Now in its 16^th year, the prestigious Associations Advance America Awards program recognizes associations that propel America forward – with innovation, knowledge creation, citizenship, and community service.  Although association activities have a powerful impact on everyday life, they often go unnoticed by the general public.

For more information on NAEO, contact Shannon Pfarr Thompson at 651-290-6277 or shannonp@ewald.com.

AnswerNet's Pudles Elected to NMHC Board

Gary A. Pudles, President and Chief Executive Officer of AnswerNet Network, has been elected to the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) Board of Directors.  NMHC is a national association representing the interests of the larger and more prominent apartment firms in the United States. Nearly one third of Americans rent their housing and almost 15% live in apartment homes.

AnswerNet is a major supplier of outsourced apartment customer service and help desk services.  Its agents answer and record tenants' service calls and requests, then forwards them to building management.  "The NMHC performs a vital role, ensuring that we have a sound apartment industry," said Pudles.  "It is an honor to be chosen to the board and I look forward to working with my fellow members."

 Telescan Enhances Time-Based Billing

The latest update to Telescan's Spectrum Data Manager is "minimum usage billing."  This new feature provides a telemessaging call center the ability to accumulate and bill for time-based totals in minimum increments of 15, 30 or 60 seconds, rather than strictly in units of a second.  The minimum increment can be set independently on a per-account basis.  For instance, if an account is set to bill in 30 second increments, a 35 second phone call would be billed for one minute.

This feature allows outsourcing call centers to increase revenue, by rounding up to the next increment, without increasing billing rates.  Without minimum usage billing, it would be virtually impossible to add this type of billing.

"Telescan is constantly looking for ways to improve our system by adding features that will make a telemessaging call center easier to manage and more profitable," said Robert Riggs, Jr., Telescan's Director.  "We want to make sure every feature we add is practical and will improve our customers' business."

To find out more about the Spectrum Data Manager features, call 800-770-7662.

Professional Teledata Releases New PI-2000 Version 7.0

Professional Teledata announced the release of a new version for users of its PI-2000 Inbound Call Processing System (Oe-main version 7.0). Version 7.0 is available at no charge to all PI-2000 users under their current support and maintenance agreement. 

Account setup procedures have been modified and reorganized to improve navigation both between and within accounts and data input. Data representing account information was formerly limited to large table-like displays but users can now view all required fields of any table in a single display. In addition, fields not requiring input are automatically "grayed-out." 

"As the PI-2000 product grew more powerful and capable over the past 12 years, we were constantly adding new and larger tables to contain account information," said Jim Graham, Vice-President of Software Development. "We reached the point where the original scheme of data management was becoming inefficient. Version 7.0 directly addresses the need for quick satisfaction of client's needs." 

Professional Teledata provides systems and software products for the telemessaging and call center industries. Contact Karen Black at 800-344-9944 x112 for more information.

Telescan's Zip Code Fields Adds Accuracy

Telescan recently added zip code fields to their basic messaging support in Spectrum Data Manager.  Although this has been supported for some time in their Order Entry package, Telescan users can now take advantage of this capability in all messaging contexts.

When address accuracy is critical, this approach can drastically reduce data entry errors.  The agent will ask for the caller's zip code.  When that data is entered, the program will look up the city and state and automatically fill in those fields.  The agent can then immediately identify whether an error has occurred and confirm the information with the caller.

"Our Zip Code lookup capability will reduce agent time because they will not have to key in the city and state," said Bob Vornberg, Telescan's Director of Product Development, "and it will increase operator accuracy by the double-check system it provides."

To find out more, call Telescan at 800-770-7662.

Mercom's Audiolog Supports Motorola Dimetra TETRA Recording

Mercom Systems, Inc., an accredited Motorola TETRA Application Partner, announced the launch of its integrated Audiolog voice recording solution for Motorola Dimetra TETRA.  Mercom Systems, Inc. has successfully achieved the "Approved Solution" endorsement for its Audiolog voice recording solution, after testing at Motorola's test laboratories in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The integration of the Audiolog voice recording solution with the Motorola Dimetra TETRA radio system means that users can record radio traffic without using de-trunking cards.  It also records more information about who is making the radio communication.

The Mercom Audiolog voice recording solution is designed to meet the mission-critical needs of public safety, transport, and utility users worldwide by providing reliable and cost-effective digital voice recording, storage, and playback. Mercom's call recording technology is currently installed in more than 2,000 public safety agencies around the world.

Mercom has been operating in the public safety and contact center markets since 1996, delivering recording technologies to contact centers across a wide range of industries.  Mercom's contact center products help clients retain customers and employees, reduce interaction handling time, enhance employee skill sets, increase revenue, and minimize training costs.

Appletree Acquires All Pro in Orange County, CA

Appletree founder and president John Ratliff announced the acquisition of All Pro Answering Service from Cathy Collier-Hukriede, located in Anaheim, CA.  Ratliff said the All Pro team is a great addition to the growing Appletree family.  "The professional and dedicated staff of All Pro and our continuing commitment to advanced technology will serve our customers well."

"I am pleased to be handing over the helm of All Pro to the Appletree Family," said Collier-Hukriede.  "After 36 wonderful years in this industry, it is time for me to retire.  There is no doubt that John Ratliff's organization, along with the help of my existing staff, will continue to create a winning team headed for success."

Based in Wilmington, Delaware, Appletree is a provider of telemessaging services.  Established in 1995, Appletree provides live telephone answering services, inbound messaging, order entry, Web services, and conference calling to area and national clients in a variety of industries.  The deal was brokered by Steve & Chris Michaels of TAS Marketing.

IP Predictions for 2006

Jeff Pulver, chairman of pulvermedia, stated that "2005 was the year that IP Communications grew up, and 2006 will be the year when Wall Street and global financial markets take our industry to the next level.  IP Communications is ‘disruptive' communications in the most positive sense and it will dramatically enhance the ways in which we communicate."

Key predictions include:

• Broadband penetration will continue to snowball in the US, but not fast enough to raise America's mediocre global standing in broadband penetration.

• Policymakers will continue to apply legacy rules and regulations on Internet based applications.

• VoIP peering will continue to happen between carriers.

• Natural disasters will compel the U.S. to look to IP-based communications for emergency response and communications.

• Governments around the world will look harder at VoIP regulation.

• Look for the support of "voice" to become part of company's eCommerce strategy.

• Wireless will continue to replace wireline at a faster pace.

• ENUM continues to happen around the world and the US will still lag behind.

[For more details and a complete list of Pulver's 2006 predications, read his white paper at www.connectionsmagazine.com/papers.]

Survey Says Technology Problems Regularly Impact Productivity

Empirix® Inc., announced the results of their recent call center survey.  The survey focused on the impact that technology has on contact center efficiency and quality of service.  Among the survey findings:

• When asked how often technology problems negatively impact agents or the caller experience, four out of five answered "often" or "sometimes."

• Fourteen percent reported missing key performance indicators (KPI) every day, and 32 percent – nearly one in three – reported missing KPI goals at least once a week.

• Sixty percent believe that technology problems are the primary cause of not meeting KPI goals.

• Fifty percent are first notified of technology problems by callers.

"The data clearly show that technology problems have a major impact on overall contact center productivity," said Frank Moreno, Director of Product Marketing at Empirix.  "Most contact centers apply substantial resources toward ensuring the quality of live agent interactions, but relatively few have taken the steps to ensure the quality of the automated systems that support those agents and callers."

Study Shows Gaps Between Expectations and Performance

Aspect Software, Inc. and Leo J. Shapiro and Associates announced the Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index, which measures the quality of consumers' telephone and Internet interactions with companies.  The survey considers 27 qualities in three categories: empathy and advocacy, efficiency, and automation.  By applying a letter grade, contact centers are performing on average at a D+ (69.6) level according to consumers.

"Contact centers are still being evaluated on cost per call, rather than percentage of single call resolution; on efficiency of call-handling rather than on reducing the time-to-connect to a knowledgeable person; and on professionalism, rather than knowledge about the customer's context and situation," said Patricia Seybold, CEO of The Patricia Seybold Group.  "When will executives realize that providing D+ service does permanent damage to their brand?"   Other findings include:

• Twenty-three percent feel contact center interactions fall short of expectations.

• Ninety percent of managers believe they meet or exceed consumer expectations, but only 77 percent of consumers agree.

• Contact centers received a C- (72%) for "empathy and advocacy," 66% for "efficiency," and 61% for "automation."

• 79 percent of consumer interactions take place via the phone.

• While only 18% of customer interactions happen via email, 82% met or exceeded customer expectations, the highest satisfaction rate of any channel.

Dr. Jon Anton to Address Call Quality Monitoring and Coaching

HyperQuality, a contact center quality assurance services firm, has begun a six-city seminar series featuring keynote speaker Dr. Jon Anton.  The seminar series, entitled "Best Practices in Quality Monitoring," will teach a diverse set of corporations how to improve customer care through data-driven analysis and real-time reporting.

"We're delighted to have Dr. Jon Anton speak at our events," said Howard Lee, Chief Executive Officer of HyperQuality.  "His significant expertise of the call center industry will provide the seminar attendees valuable information that they will be able to implement immediately."

Two seminars were held in December.  Four more remain: Houston, January 17; Minneapolis, January 18; Los Angeles, February 1; and San Francisco, February 2.

ATIS Releases 2 to 4 Channel Recorder

ATIS released the IR-44 CF digital multi-channel recording system.  The IR-44 CF is a fully solid state two or four channel communication recorder utilizing compact flash cards with a recording capacity of up to 350 channel-hours.  Compact and rugged construction makes the IR-44 CF ideal for console or mobile installations.  The IR-44 CF does not utilize an operating system to function, which provides exceptional reliability and stability.  The IR-44 CF can be operated stand-alone or via a LAN environment (for configuration and replay).

For more information, call 770-664-4744 or email atis@atisdigital.com .