The 16^th Annual Call Center Week kicked off its main conference June 17th at The Mirage in Las Vegas. The conference addressed such topics as meeting the demands of customers, understanding the importance of data, retaining talent, leveraging the cloud, WebRTC, and meeting extreme pressures to prove ROI.

At Call Center Week, a variety of interviews were conducted with experts from organizations that included AT&T, Cigna, Zions Bancorporation, Fonolo, and Five 9 (all of which are featured in the 2015 post show report available at www.callcenterweek.com). Top themes from the interviews included creating a winning culture; customer-centricity and experience; training, empowering, and engaging employees; and personalization.

The roster of speakers included Nell Williams, SVP Global Sales & Customer Care of Marriott International; Leo Minervini, CIO of Carlo’s Bakery (home of TLC’s hit show Cake Boss); Teresa Chipps, VP of Marketing of Western Union; Chris Vennard, Global Product Lead of Google; and Julie Bergsteadt, VP Claims Support Operations Service of Nationwide Insurance.

“We are thrilled to be back in Las Vegas kicking off the 16^th Annual Call Center Week with record breaking attendance once again,” said Lisa Schulman, executive producer of IQPC’s Call Center Week. “It’s incredible to see customer care professionals from all around the world come together under one roof to discuss and debate what the future of customer service holds.”

Winners of the Call Center Week Excellence Awards across thirteen categories were announced during an evening gala June 16th. Sponsored by Salesforce and Kronos, winners were recognized for their superior thinking, creativity, and execution across the full spectrum of contact center functions. Here is the list of winners:

• Best in Class Call Center (Over 200 Seats): Winner: UPMC Health Plan; runner-up: NYC311; honorable mention: Dish Network
• Best in Class Call Center (100-199 Seats): Winner: ACCO Brands; runner-up: ISN; honorable mention: Benefitfocus
• Best Marketing Team that Supports CS: Winner: Discover Financial Services; runner-up: UPMC Health Plan; honorable mention: Blinds.com
• Best New Technology: Winner: Convergent; runner-up: Kodak Alaris; honorable mention: Support.com
• Call Center Leader of the Year: Winner: Mary Beth Jenkins, UPMC Health Plan; runner-up: George Larribas, WellsFargo; honorable mention: Gratia Carver, Allegion
• Best Contact Center Culture: Winner: PGi; runner-up: UPMC Health Plan; honorable mention: Crisis Response Network
• Best Use of Voice of the Customer: Winner: Starwood Hotels; runner-up: Discover Financial Services; honorable mention: Guidewell Connect
• Best in Class Call Center (Under 99 Seats): Winner: Crisis Response Network; runner-up: Allegion; honorable mention: Hootsuite
• Best Outsourced Provider: Winner: Knoah Solutions, Inc.; runner-up: Convergys; honorable mention: TeleTech
• Best Technology Solution Provider: Winner: Fonolo; runner-up: [24]7 IntelliResponse; honorable mention: CallMiner
• Best Training and Development Program: Winner: Discover Financial Services; runner-up: MTM; honorable mention: ISN
• Best Supervisor of the Year: Winner: Amanda Brown, Genesco; runner-up: Rhonda Grant, TG
• Best IT Team: Winner: Center Point Energy; runner-up: Discover Financial Services; honorable mention: Discover Bank

Save the date for the 17^th Annual Call Center Week Conference & Expo, June 27–July 1, 2016, at The Mirage in Las Vegas. For more information visit www.callcenterweek.com, call 800-882-8684 or email enquiry@iqpc.com.

[From Connection Magazine – Sep/Oct 2015]

The 2015 Call Center Week Conference and Expo will be held June 15–19, 2015, at The Mirage in Las Vegas. Consider these key reasons to attend, the stellar speaker lineup of leading customer care professionals, and the special discount to readers of Connections Magazine.

Ten Reasons You Should Attend Call Center Week

1. The number one customer care conference and expo
2. Broad professional participation with more than 2,000 attendees
3. New industry material and trending topics covered in 100 percent new case studies
4. One-stop-shop featuring 200 top solution providers
5. Input from leading organizations such as Marriott, Google, Toys“R”Us, eBay, Cigna, and more
6. Network through Call Center IQ, an online community of more than 75,000 customer care professionals
7. Call Center Week Excellence Awards Evening Gala on Tuesday, June 16, featuring famed mentalist and magician Oz Pearlman
8. Over ninety hours of training and development in just one week
9. Hands-on and interactive learning through roundtable discussions, workshops, case studies, and contact center site tours
10. Five tracks, proving the value of five conferences in one

Inspirational Storytellers at CCW

• Leo Minervini, chief informational officer, Carlo’s Bakery (home of TLC’s Cake Boss)
• Jennifer Ramirez, VP global customer experience, Western Union
• Terry Cain, VP global customer engagement, Avnet, Inc.
• Chris Gillen, VP asset protection and customer service, Toys“R”Us
• Kellie Adolf, VP service operations, Cigna
• Matt Alfred, SVP, Citi Group
• Roger Keeler, VP global vendor leader, Sprint
• Nell Williams, SVP, global sales and customer care, Marriott International
• Guhfren Ahmed, head of customer experience technology, eBay Inc.
• Jim Nagle, VP card services, Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc.
• Chris Vennard, global expert, Google, Inc.
• Sue Peyer, director national sales quality and process, Cox Communications
• Julie Bergstedt, VP claims support operations service, Nationwide Insurance
• Eric Newton, service guru, CareerBuilder

For more information on speakers and session details, please visit www.callcenterweek.com to download the agenda.

CONNECTIONS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBERS SAVE!

Mention the code 16CCW_CONNECTIONS and save 20% off your registration package. Three easy ways to register:

• Register online: www.callcenterweek.com
• Call 800-882-8684

Email enquiry@iqpc.com

[From Connection Magazine – May/June 2015]

Call Center Week is the largest and most comprehensive event for the customer service industry. This year’s event is taking place June 9–13, 2014, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. With an expected 1,500 attendees, 120 speakers, 70 sessions, and 110 sponsors and exhibitors, no other event comes close in size, scope, breadth, and depth. This year’s theme is “Competing on Service: Seize the Opportunity.”

Attendees Speak Out:

“My team gains a huge amount of information and networking opportunities. This event also serves as an opportunity to pull my team from all operation locations and enjoy some team-building activities.” -Greg Barrows, vice president/director, customer service operations, Wells Fargo

“When I walked into the room, the energy blew me away. It’s rare to see this type of energy in such a large-scale event.” -Maxine Clark, chief executive bear, Build-a-Bear Workshop (2013 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Call Center Week Excellence Awards)

“Excellent! The show has grown wonderfully. There’s very good attendance. I have attended many of the sessions, and there are lots of good speakers and a lot of good ideas that could be brought home and utilized.” -Bruce Belfiore, CEO, Benchmark Portal

“I’ve done a lot of trade shows, and I think one of the things that has happened quite well at this show is the social interaction. The organizers have done a lot to get us connected with each other, and so we’ve made some great relationships just in the last couple of days.” -Ron Burr, chief revenue officer, Callfire

Keynote Speakers and Corporate Chiefs:

• Keith Ferrazzi, founder and CEO, Ferrazzi Greenlight, Greenlight Research Institute, author of number one New York Times Best Seller Never Eat Alone
• Jenn Lim, CEO and chief happiness officer, Delivering Happiness and Zappos Culture Book creator
• Jerry Nadal, SVP Resident Shows Division, Cirque du Soleil
• Jasmine Green, chief Customer Advocate, Nationwide Insurance
• Dr. James L. Merlino, chief experience officer, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
• Ashley Kohlrus, chief experience officer, Allegacy Federal Credit Union
• Tony Gaines, chief Customer Officer, LOGIC Electronic Cigarettes
• Amy Latzer, chief operating officer, 211 LA County
• Steve Riddell, chief sales officer, Blinds.com
• Mary Beth Jenkins, chief operating officer, UPMC Health Plan

Connections Magazine Subscribers Save! Mention the promo code 15CCW_CONNECTIONSMAG and save 15%. Three easy ways to register:

1. Register online: callcenterweek.com
2. Call: 800-882-8684
3. Email: enquiry@iqpc.com

Connections Magazine is a proud media partner of Call Center Week, brought to you by IQPC.

[From Connection Magazine – May/Jun 2014]

By Brian Cantor and Shawn Siegel

The more than 400 executives who attended the Future Call Center Summit were treated to the biggest and best event in the Summit’s nine-year history. This year’s new futuristic theme and 95 percent-new speaking faculty ensured that the discussions were forward-looking and at a higher level than ever before.

Over the course of the four-day event at Disney’s Contemporary Convention Center in Orlando, a few major themes jumped out at us. Here are some insights learned about two of these important themes:

Performance Management: Performance management was paramount at this year’s Summit. The idea that businesses need to improve their strategies for driving performance garnered universal support. If the call center truly deserves the label of “profit center” rather than “cost center,” then performance management will help justify the new label.

In the early portion of his workshop presentation, “Driving Contact Center Performance,” Uptivity’s Ryan Prestel revealed the five steps to managing call center performance. Those five steps form an endless cycle. Performance can always get better, which means improvement must be continuous:

1. Set goals: Before focusing on specific performance measurements, businesses and call center leaders need to come to an aligned understanding of their fundamental objectives.
2. Define indicators: After developing clarity on the objectives, leaders must establish a handful of integral performance indicators from which to gauge success.
3. Measure results: Once confident they have selected performance indicators that speak to the business’ fundamental objectives, leaders can rely on those metrics to provide a relevant, accurate snapshot of performance.
4. Identify opportunities: No business performs perfectly; the measurement process will reveal areas needing improvement. Whether it depicts crippling points of weakness or strengths that can become stronger, effective measurement will uncover opportunities for improvement.
5. Enable action: Knowing how to improve a call center function is worthless if that knowledge does not drive change. Businesses must ensure that the relevant internal and external resources are positioned to seize opportunities for improvement.

Nuanced Metrics: While macro concepts like improving customer satisfaction, building loyalty, and increasing revenue are fundamental goals for all businesses, they lack the nuance needed to drive day-to-day strategy.

Certain classifications, however, can more precisely capture the nuance of business motivation than stratospheric objectives like revenue and customer satisfaction. They can identify more intermediate goals to achieve when launching new products, investing in new technologies, or adopting different customer service strategies.

In their joint presentation at the Future Call Center Summit, MicroAutomation and Nowanalytics identified three such classifications: product leadership, customer intimacy, and operational excellence. These classifications describe the means of achieving big picture objectives, such as raising customer satisfaction. Distinct in their conceptions of the customer experience, the three classifications naturally require distinct sets of performance metrics:

• Product Leadership: creating differentiation based on the quality or uniqueness of a product. Businesses demonstrate successful product leadership by creating an appealing product that garners sizable market penetration and favorable reviews from customers. Essential metrics are customer satisfaction score, conversion rate on marketing and sales efforts, adoption rate, and retention rate.
• Customer Intimacy: creating differentiation based on the level of engagement with the customer. Businesses demonstrate successful customer intimacy by creating valuable experiences throughout the lifecycle. Essential metrics are first call resolution, customer effort score, and service level.
• Operational Excellence: creating differentiation based on the efficiency of the customer engagement process. Businesses demonstrate operational excellence by delivering expedient, low-cost customer service experiences. Essential metrics are cost per call, average handle time, and self-service completion rate.

Performance management and nuance metrics were the two of the biggest topics discussed by customer champions at the Future Call Center Summit. These topics will be explored in more depth at our flagship event, Call Center Week, taking place this June in Las Vegas.

The fifteenth annual Call Center Week (www.callcenterweek.com) will be held June 9–13, 2014, at the Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 1,500 customer-centric professionals will gather together at Call Center Week, the industry’s number-one event that’s unrivaled in size, scope, breadth, and depth.

Connections Magazine subscribers can save 15 percent when they register with code 15CCW_CONNECTIONSMAG. Email enquiry@iqpc.com or call 800-882-8684 for more information.

[From Connection Magazine – Mar/Apr 2014]

Call Center Summit is celebrating its ninth year with a newly branded and improved summit: The Future Call Center Summit. This event challenges the status quo and explores remarkable service every time, everywhere.

The future is here. Technology is moving into the cloud, and customers are contacting you via their mobile devices. Social media and mobile technology have created an “always on” society where the conversation never stops, changing the face of customer service as we know it.

The Future Call Center Summit is where customer care professionals, experienced visionaries, and technology experts convene under one roof to discuss how to leverage service as a pinnacle business driver. The event focuses on the opportunities and obstacles service career professionals must be aware of to keep on top of trends and remain ahead of the curve.

Featured industry speakers include:

• Lisa Oswald, SVP Global Customer Service, Travelzoo
• Bob Simmonds, VP Domestic Travel Operations, Disney Destinations
• Jim Cavale, COO, Iron Tribe Fitness
• Colleen Abdoulah, CEO/chairwoman of the board, WOW! Internet Cable Phone
• Ashutosh Anil, Business strategy specialist, customer experience, Best Buy Canada, Inc.
• Eric McKirdy, Worldwide customer care and technical support, Ask.com
• Chuck Sliker, VP operations integration and measurement, Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc.
• Richard H. Goldberg, VP corporate quality, Cisco Systems, Inc.

The Future Call Center Summit will take place January 21–24, 2014, at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida. For more information, call 800-882-8684 or email enquiry@iqpc.com.

[From Connection Magazine – December 2013]