Industry News

July/August 2008

Connections Magazine Launches Podcast Site

To better serve the industry by providing an additional means of communication, Connections Magazine has launched an industry-specific podcast site.  The podcast site will feature call center related audio interviews and recordings that Connections Magazine will record and post.  Three interviews recorded at the April ATA Convention are already available, with seven more interviews from the June ATSI Convention scheduled to be added over the summer.

Initially, the podcasts were to be included in the Connections Magazine news and information feed, but have recently been moved to this new site to provide greater ease of access and to better showcase these interesting and compelling recordings.

There are three ways of accessing information from each podcast.  First, it can be checked manually.  Alternately, email notification can be requested.  Lastly, there is an option for Aton and RSS newsfeeds.  All three may be accessed at http://podcast.connectionsmagazine.com.  There is also a podcast link on the Connections Magazine Web site.

For more information, visit www.connectionsmagazine.com.  The podcast site is http://podcast.connectionsmagazine.com and the news and information feed is http://newsfeed.connectionsmagazine.com.

Amtelco Receives U.S. Patent for Scripting Method

Amtelco has been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for "A System and Method for Intelligent Script Swapping."  The patentable element is Amtelco's method of writing scripts that are usable by multiple platforms such as WinOp and Web pages and that can retain previously collected information as the script moves from platform to platform.

For example, a call can be answered by an automated system that collects information, including ANI, other automated information, and caller responses to script questions.  At some point, the caller may transfer to an agent.  The information previously collected follows the call to the agent.  If the agent collects additional information and pushes the call to a Web page, all the information collected in the two previous segments of the call, regardless of how it was collected, will follow as the call moves into yet another platform.

Amtelco has been awarded seventeen patent grants since 1982 as well as a number of Canadian and other foreign patents that correspond to the U.S. patents currently or previously held by Amtelco.

For more information about Amtelco's innovations, contact Amtelco at 800-356-9148 or send an email to info@amtelco.com.

Professional Teledata Makes Huge Improvement to Conversion Process

Professional Teledata announced that clients converting to PInnacle can now download their master client records directly from their old system into Pinnacle so that agents can begin making calls almost instantaneously.  "Our system already improves the training time for new agents from months to as little as three days.  Now the entire conversion process time has been reduced, making it easier to get agents taking calls on the new system more seamlessly," stated Pat Kalik, vice president. 

This enhancement was introduced just prior to the ATSI convention.  New clients can download their client files, and these can subsequently be imported directly into PInnacle.  Once the import takes place and the conversion is complete, agents can immediately begin taking calls.

"We are proud of our team for their dedication to this strategic initiative, and we applaud their efforts to make it happen as quickly as possible," stated Jim Graham, vice president of Professional Teledata.  "We are confident that this is a significant improvement to our conversion process."

For more information, contact Karen Black at 800-344-9944 x112, kblack@proteledata.com, or visit www.professionalteledata.com.

ATA's Auditor Certification Training Now Available

The American Teleservices Association (ATA) announced that the first auditor certification training program for their self-regulatory organization will take place September 10-12, 2008 at the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing at the University of Akron in Ohio.  This program provides an extensive three-day training course reviewing the ATA-SRO standards, the audit process, and the accreditation process. 

"Offering this certification program for auditors is an important step in building the strength of our industry's self-regulatory organization," stated ATA CEO Tim Searcy.  "Though this training, the ATA will enable individuals to assist contact centers in maintaining compliant operations.  We have received strong interest in enrollment in this innovative program, and we look forward to working with the many skilled individuals who wish to become certified auditors."  Upon successful completion of the auditor training, participants will have an extensive understanding of applying the ATA standards to contact center business practices.

The ATA plans to offer its SRO Auditor Certification training several times each year.  Companies seeking the services of an auditor may search for and select an ATA SRO-certified auditor through its online tools at www.atasroconnect.org.

For more information about ATA, visit www.ataconnect.org or call 317-816-9336.

OnviSource Unveils AutoAgent: Intelligent Agent Transaction Automation Software

OnviSource, Inc. announced AutoAgent, the newest addition to the company's OnviCenter 6 customer interaction management product suite.  AutoAgent directly affects agent performance and productivity by supporting agents in every aspect of their transactions.

AutoAgent offers automated agent scripting and enables users to easily build their own customer interaction applications and workflow scripts.  It automates and manages agents' training and controls documentation through automated coaching, e-learning, and agent information management.  AutoAgent provides a series of features to automate agent compliance management.  It also automates email and other types of messaging for customer interactions and back office transaction management.  Additionally, AutoAgent integrates multiple desktop views into a single interface, thereby reducing desktop complexity.

"AutoAgent is much more than agent scripting.  It is a comprehensive automation software, focused on supporting the agent by preventing costly mistakes, increasing productivity, and reducing training time," said Ray S. Naeini, chairman and CEO of OnviSource.  "It empowers call center managers to easily build, distribute, and manage custom workflow applications, as well as to serve more customers without adding staff."

For more information, go to www.onvisource.com.

CenturiSoft and Professional Teledata Team Up to Enhance Performance

Professional Teledata and CenturiSoft introduced a new dimension of their partnership today.  The pair worked together to improve the performance of the PInnacle system by consolidating their voice logger and voicemail systems so that they can be run on a single server. 

"We take pride in that we hold our partners to the same level of development and support that we hold for ourselves, and CenturiSoft has been no exception to that rule," stated Dale Schafer, vice president of Professional Teledata.  "The voice logger and voicemail systems with PInnacle can now be run on a single server, eliminating an additional level of support and improving performance and functionality of the system overall."

"We share Dale's sentiments and are so pleased with the synergy amongst our collective teams," stated John Pope, president of CenturiSoft.  "We're just as pleased to make this release and are encouraged by the initial responses from our clients."

For more information, contact Karen Black at 800-344-9944 x112, kblack@proteledata.com, or visit www.professionalteledata.com.

FlexPaths Offers Telecommuting Tips

As gas prices hit record highs, companies can expect to face increased pressure to consider telecommuting.  Karol Rose, human resource author and FlexPaths executive says that "When done right, with proper planning and processes, telecommuting can do more than ease pain at the pump."  She offers the following information:

Mistakes telecommuters make:

• They don't set personal boundaries regarding work and personal responsibilities.

• They don't find ways to stay physically connected to the workplace and their colleagues.  

• They think they can work the same way remotely as they did in the office.

• They underestimate the need to communicate frequently with managers regarding what's working/not working.  

• They don't do enough planning for "what if" scenarios before telecommuting.

Mistakes companies make about telecommuting:

• They assume that it's not already happening.

• They think it's harder than it is.

• They assume that "If I can't see you, you must not be working."

• They fail to understand that telecommuting may require a blend of off-site and in-office time.

• They view telecommuting only as an employee benefit, not seeing telecommuting benefits as meeting customer needs or saving the company real estate and other overhead costs.

FlexPaths (www.flexpaths.com) is a Web-based provider of workplace flexibility solutions.

AnswerNet Introduces Charity Initiative

The AnswerNet Network, provider of outsourced contact center services, launched a new charity initiative, AnswerNet Cares.  AnswerNet Cares, funded by the Pudles Family Fund, has been set up to encourage and strengthen employee philanthropy throughout the AnswerNet Network.  It will also provide an outlet for employees to bond and work as a cohesive part of their local community.  AnswerNet has pledged to donate $250 to twenty individual charities per year for the next ten years, reaching a total contribution of $5,000 per year.

AnswerNet will select recipients based on charities that employees are currently active with or interested in supporting.  Along with providing additional funds to selected organizations, employees will report their efforts to AnswerNet, spreading awareness of the charities' causes and energizing more employees to lend a helping hand.

"AnswerNet Cares is an exciting new initiative for us.  It is an excellent way for the company to rally behind the causes that are important to our employees," said Gary A. Pudles, president and CEO of the AnswerNet Network.  "We're proud to establish this program and are looking forward to helping out the communities around us."

For more information, visit www.answernet.com. 

WFM Study Finds 47 Percent Dissatisfied

Customer Relationship Metrics, L.C., completed a three-month study entitled "Contact Center Workforce Management Practices in North America," sponsored by Verint, InVision, Calabrio, and Aspect software.  The research was endorsed by the Society of Workforce Management Planning Professionals and led by Dr. Jodie Monger, president of Customer Relationship Metrics. 

Study participants answered questions addressing numerous topics including: performance metrics, WFM (workforce management) resources utilized, investments, processes, tools, and satisfaction.  Key findings include:

• Increased dissatisfaction occurred with both the WFM process (47 percent in 2008; 38 percent in 2006) and with WFM software (46 percent in 2008; 41 percent in 2006).

• Overall experience declined between 2006 and 2008.  A greater percentage of workforce managers, forecasting specialists, scheduling specialists, and intraday specialists reported zero to five years of experience, an increase to 62 percent from 55 percent.

• Training time decreased between 2006 and 2008 with 18.5 percent of job roles reporting less than ten total hours of training, up from 13.3 percent in 2006.

• Seventy-nine percent reported that they performed skill set scheduling in 2008.  This increased dramatically from 2006, which stood at 66 percent.

• In 2008, the greatest percentage deemed a suite-based performance optimization solution as only "somewhat important."

For more information, visit www.metrics.net.

Professional Teledata Introduces Offline Message Reader

Professional Teledata introduced PINReader, an offline message reader.  Functionality includes viewing messages with the templates and formatting criteria that were in place at the time of the purge, viewing historical "locate" information, viewing the help desk that was available at the time of the purge, and the ability to search and print from the message database.

PInnacle's message purging routine now moves all purged messages to an offline media location.  "PINReader does not require the use of PInnacle's underlying database engine, so archived messages may be stored on CDs, DVDs, or USB hard drives.  For clients that are required by law to retain messages for extended periods, this feature is a really great way to do so in a format that is easy to navigate, making it simple to retrieve those messages when needed," stated Jim Graham, vice president of Professional Teledata.     

 "Some of our clients will be able to use PINReader to add to their revenue stream by marketing this feature as a valued added service," stated Allen Kalik, president of Professional Teledata.

For more information, contact Karen Black at 800-344-9944 x112, kblack@proteledata.com, or visit www.professionalteledata.com.

ATA Supports FTC "Operation Tele-PHONEY"

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the largest telemarketing fraud sweep ever coordinated by the agency.  Through "Operation Tele-PHONEY," the FTC filed federal district court complaints against thirteen allegedly deceptive telemarketing operations.  Combined with the actions by other enforcement agencies, the sweep encompasses more than 180 cases that include civil and criminal actions in the U.S. and Canada.

The American Teleservices Association (ATA), a nonprofit professional trade association representing the contact center industry, is in strong support of "Operation Tele-PHONEY."  ATA upholds efforts to enforce ethical business practices to protect the public, both business and consumer, from fraudulent telephone calls.  The ATA does not condone deceptive practices via the telephone and promotes channel-wide self-regulation along with the support of consumer groups.

Tim Searcy, the chief executive officer of the ATA, stated, "The current antifraud provisions contained in the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), as well as the existing state and federal criminal laws, are sufficient to protect consumers, provided they are enforced aggressively."

ATA has taken its own measures toward self-regulation and enforcement of fraudulent activities within the teleservices industry by creating a Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO).

For more information about ATA's SRO, visit www.bryancave.com/ata-sro.

Study Discovers Companies Fail to Provide Complete Customer Experience

Eighty percent of the executives surveyed in the Strativity Group's new Global Benchmark Study agree that customer strategies are more important to companies' success than ever, yet companies fail to design and deliver those strategies.  The new study also discovered that:

• Only 43.9 percent believe that they deserve their customers' loyalty

• 42.6 percent say their products and services are not worth the price

• 43.7 percent will take any customer that is willing to pay

• Only 34.8 percent have a dedicated customer experience management role

• Only 27.2 percent have defined and communicated the "customer experience"

• Only 28.8 percent give employees tools and the authority to solve customer problems

• Only 23.9 percent agreed that their employees are well-versed in how to delight customers

"The study provides us with a sobering reality.  Companies still fail to get what it takes to meet customer needs, let alone delight them," explained Lior Arussy, president of Strativity Group, Inc.  "Especially in this economic environment, companies must get serious about understanding and delivering the complete customer experience."

Contact Strativity Group, Inc., at info@strativity.com or www.strativity.com.  To obtain a copy of the complete study, call 201-843-1315.  An executive summary is available online at the Connections Magazine Whitepapers section.