Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
“If anything, we have a surplus of ideas. Excess ideas are our greatest cost. What we need is fewer ideas.”
This article, top-rated on Digg at this moment, is a great example of contrarian thinking, and while I don’t completely buy into the argument, the underlying point resonates with me: having too many ideas can inhibit the implementation of ideas. Food for thought.
Posted in Innovation, Management | Tagged: Innovation, Management, productivity | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
Marketing Sherpa is one of the best sites around for marketing ideas. This article is all about how to use Digg in your marketing efforts. I’ve been using Digg only very recently, even though I have known about it for a long time. Now I wonder what took me so long, as it’s a cool way to participate in the news aggregation process. I also really like that after I Digg something I can use Digg to automatically post the article to my blog — very slick, value-added feature!
Here’s the article summary:
For marketers on a tight budget, viral marketing can be a cost-effective alternative. But execution relies on referrals and word of mouth, so it’s difficult to measure the impact.There are places, though, where content can go to flourish. Like Digg.com — a social media website that can serve as a launch pad for a surge in your Web traffic. Learn how Digg.com works and how to craft content that “diggers” will love to discover and share.
Posted in Marketing, Web 2.0 | Tagged: Marketing, Media, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
Great content doesn’t guarantee 100,000 hits at YouTube or the adoration of bloggers around the globe. So how do you promote your video, short of tearfully defending wayward pop stars or grossing people out with the unorthodox use of excrement?
This short piece from MarketingProfs has some valuable insights on making video work for your business. Well worth the few minutes to read it. Here are the highlights:
- Keep it short.
- Avoid overt advertising.
- Post everything at once.
- Optimize your thumbnail.
Posted in Marketing, Web 2.0 | Tagged: Ethics, Marketing, Media, Video, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
If you’re one of the millions who likes one or more Apple’s cool products, you may want to know what the latest ones are — starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to find out by checking a live blog from Steve Jobs’ keynote speech. Here’s the official MacWorld live blog, but there are also others to choose from (say, if the server gets too slow from all the other Apple fanatics logging to it).
And if you’re reading this before the speech, you can always check out the latest rumors about what will be announced in the keynote.
Posted in Technology | Tagged: Apple, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
It’s that time again! Fresh new call center management advice in ICMI’s QueueTips! Check out the notification email for some suggested topics in both the QueueTips Knowledgebase and the QueueTips Forums.
And don’t miss out on the chance to show off your affiliation with QueueTips on your LinkedIn profile.
In case you are a regular ICMI’s QueueTips reader, no we did not miss our deadline last Friday. Well, we did not publish on the regularly scheduled day, but it’s on purpose so we can test whether Monday is a better day to send the ICMI’s QueueTips notification email. We’ve been sending it on Friday afternoon for so long that it seemed like a good time to test changing it. We’ll look at the statistics and decide whether to stick with Fridays or change to Mondays.
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI's QueueTips, Networking, Web 2.0 | Tagged: Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI's QueueTips, Management, Networking, user-generated, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
Jay Minnucci, ICMI’s Vice President of Consulting Services, is one of the foremost experts on call centers anywhere, so I always make sure to read any articles he’s written. This one, The Key to Innovation Is Maintaining Your Strengths, in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI), offers up a new concept to add to your business continuity planning (I know that sounds boring, but read on!): “strength maintenance.”
All forms of contingency planning for quick-strike events are critical to business success. It’s not easy, and truth be told, many managers either don’t have the necessary plans in place or readily admit that they are not as robust as they should be. But at least there is an awareness of the risk. Erosion is much more mysterious and less often discussed, but it’s every bit as dangerous as a service disruption from a disaster. A strength maintenance program helps to highlight your success and ensure that it remains a strength in the future. Without having to worry about taking “two steps back,” any positive change from innovation will then truly leave you one step ahead.
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Consulting, ICMI's CMI, Management, Strategy | Tagged: business development, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Consulting, Jay Minnucci, Management, Strategy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
Sitting here in my pajamas and bathrobe in my home office, I have to admit that I really like the fact that I can pick up the phone and call anyone without concern that they can detect, let alone see or critique, what I am wearing (and I won’t even try to describe my unshaven bed-head appearance, either — Monday morning came way too fast).
“Too much information,” you are probably thinking! Well, that’s my point. I’m reading Greg Levin’s article in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight, The Viability of Video Contact Centers, and I’m not feeling too excited about the idea. Maybe it’s just because I am in my PJ’s right now . . .
The technology that drives video contacts may be maturing, but are customers and contact centers ready for video calls? Industry experts offer their views.
What do you think? Is it just me, or is there going to be significant demand for video call centers? Of course, there are certainly specialized contact centers where video would be a wonderful added-value. I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait to see what develops. Greg’s article is a great place to start if you’re wondering.
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI's CMI, Technology | Tagged: Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI's CMI, Technology, Trends, Video, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
If you want a good primer on Knowledge Management systems for call centers, check out Got Knowledge in Your Contact Center? in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI).
Leverage the intelligence in your center in a way that adds value for your customers. An introduction to Knowledge Management processes, tools and practices.
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI's CMI, Technology | Tagged: Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI's CMI, KMS, knowledge management, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
Here’s the Digg summary of Part Two of Stanley Fish’s examination of the value of studying the humanities:
Do you think the humanities have a use in today’s society? Here is a great public discussion on the issue.
Now, I’ll save you some time: don’t bother reading the article unless you are truly an intellectual in search of some mind-bending reasoning about quite an obscure subject. However, in the next breath I have to say that I am astonished at how many people have commented on the article already! So, there are a heckuva lot of intellectuals out there reading Stanley Fish’s argument, and that kind of impresses me.
Posted in Learning | Tagged: Education, humanities, opinion | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 14, 2008
A lot of companies talk about being an employer of choice, but as competition for talent heats to a boil, executives have to do more than give the concept lip service. Many good companies with good strategies often fail to hit their targets because they don’t have the people they need.
This is an interesting article based on an interview with INSEAD Affiliate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Stewart Black. Here’s one of his main points:
Black says there are measurable things corporate executives can do to attract and keep the best people. Borrowing a phrase from customer satisfaction analysis, he calls these “value propositions” and lists four main categories: leadership, company, job and rewards.
There’s certainly not a lot that is new here, but it’s a pretty good summary of some key points that reflect current thinking about the employer-employee relationship today.
Posted in Management | Tagged: Leadership, Management, Strategy | Leave a Comment »
