Call Center Management
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 29, 2008
Good ideas for managing a small contact center. Provides an overview and specific steps to take.
Leaders of small call centers must not only master the fundamentals of running call centers, but they must also develop creative ways to do those things just a little differently.
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Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Yes, it is the phone company. But Verizon is investing to actually have people who can read e-mails from customers and respond to their service requests.
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Service, Technology | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Affinity’s vice president of customer relations, Scott Willey, says post-call surveys have helped the Ventura, CA-based company improve call handling and the customer experience it delivers.
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Technology | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
A web 2.0 and heavy community-building campaign that is scheduled to begin on Monday presents the Intel Corporation as the problem-solver for the people who solve the computer network problems for others.
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Posted by Ted Hopton on March 19, 2008
I’ve already written about how difficult it is to walk the talk when it comes to First Contact Resolution (FCR) — see, First Call Resolution: Great Principle, Hard to Apply.
So if you’re struggling with First Call Resolution in your center — whether to implement FCR, how to implement FCR, how to make sure what you track as FCR is meaningful — then you should be interested in ICMI’s latest Member Research Report on First Contact Resolution.
It’s free for ICMI Members. Whether you are an ICMI Member or not, you can download it right now. You’ll learn what your peers (298 call center professionals surveyed in January 200 
are doing with FCR for Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Membership, ICMI Publications, Metrics, Research, Statistics, Trends | Tagged: ICMI, Call Centers, Call Center Management, Metrics, first call resolution, first contact resolution, KPI, ICMI Membership, FCR, research report, call center metrics | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 12, 2008
Call center metrics are the source of so very many questions we hear at ICMI. What should be measured, how should you measure, what standards or benchmarks exist for each measure, how do you interpret and act on measured results — all of these and more are issues that trouble many call center professionals at one time or another.
So it should not be surprising that the March 2008 issue of ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI), includes two articles that address call center metrics. Cliff Hurst, of Career Impact, Inc., offers his thoughts in “Identifying the KPI’s that Matter Most” and Fred Van Bennekom, of Great Brook Consulting, provides his own explanations in “Measuring Service Effectiveness.” I know both of them, as well, since they have been speakers at ICMI’s conferences and I respect the experience and judgment that each brings to the table.
It’s interesting, though, that Fred is in his “sweet spot,” since his area of expertise truly is in measurement, particularly statistical measurement, while Cliff is probably best known for his work on quality monitoring. I think this difference shows in the two articles and the approaches each writer takes.
You’ll see in Fred’s a precise organization, where every metric or method gets defined and then has its advantages and then its shortcomings explained in order. He knows in depth what he’s talking about and so can get to the point concisely. I like the graphic he included, too, which again shows the orderly way he has addressed his subject:
What I like about Cliff’s approach, however, is that this material does not come across as routine when he writes about it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Publications, ICMI's CMI, Metrics | Tagged: Call Center Management, Call Centers, Career Impact Inc., Cliff Hurst, Customer Service, Frederick C. Van Bennekom, Great Brook Consulting, ICMI, KPI, Metrics | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 20, 2008
If you’ve been around the call center industry any length of time (say, 5 minutes), you’ve heard the buzz about “agent empowerment.” It’s a hip-sounding phrase, and if you’re a call center representative it has a nice ring to it. If you’re a call center manager, however, it may sound more vague and perhaps threatening to you (”I’m supposed to be the one with the power, right?”).
Of course, if you’re a call center manager, the chances are you’re a “people person,” anyway — since that’s an essential quality for success in the people-intensive call center environment — so you may already be touchy-feely and confident enough to appreciate the idea of empowering your employees. Don’t be scared: it will be good for you!
To help everyone understand the truth behind the buzz about agent empowerment, ICMI assigned our crack research team (that would be Greg Levin) to investigate. You can read the report for free if you’re an ICMI Member, or download it for $24.95 if you’re not so privileged. Here’s what you can expect: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Membership, ICMI Publications, Management, Research, Trends | Tagged: agent empowerment, Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Membership, ICMI Publications, Management, Research, Trends | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 15, 2008
Well, the Miami Call Center Demo & Conference just ended. IMHO, which is completely and positively biased, it was excellent!!! But, what really counts is that the attendees certainly seemed to be of the same opinion. That’s what I like to hear 
I have to admit, I had a scare at the end. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Conferences | Tagged: ICMI, Education, Call Centers, Call Center Management, Call Center Demo, ICMI's Conferences | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 14, 2008
I’m headed to bed. I have so much I want to write about here, but I lack the energy after a very long day and another one ahead.
I want to tell you all about the great call center “insight” tour I went on to a Royal Carribean call center. I want to describe the enthusiastic feedback from participants in the unique team-building-through-baking workshop led by King Arthur Flour. I have dozens of “nuggets” of learning gathered from all the different conference sessions today. And I want to rave about the keynote speaker, Kare Anderson, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Conferences | Tagged: ICMI, Education, Call Centers, Call Center Management, Call Center Demo, ICMI's Conferences | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 12, 2008
I’m on a plane at the moment that this post is appearing (writing it the day before), on my way to sunnier and warmer weather for ICMI’s first conference of 2008, the Miami Call Center Demo & Conference.
I wish I could do “live blogging” from the conference, but my responsibilities on site won’t leave me enough time. Since I put together the conference program, I try to see at least part of every single conference session, and since there are five simultaneous tracks on the program, that means I do a lot of running around. And since I can’t stay to hear very much of any individual session, it’d be hard for me to accurately represent what the speaker was saying.
No, I’m afraid you just need to be there. If you’re attending, please seek me out, and if you’re not, consider coming to the Dallas Call Center Demo & Conference in May or to our flagship conference, the Annual Call Center Exhibition (ACCE) in Phoenix this September.
I will post from the conference when I get a chance. I’m sure I’ll have more than enough to write about. It’s just a matter of finding the time to do so . . .
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Conferences | Tagged: ICMI, conferences, ACCE, Call Centers, Call Center Management, Call Center Demo, Miami | No Comments »
