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.
Archive for the ‘Call Centers’ Category
Helping the Help Desk, the Intel Way
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Technology | Leave a Comment »
First Contact Resolution Research Report
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 2008) 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: Call Center Management, call center metrics, Call Centers, FCR, first call resolution, first contact resolution, ICMI, ICMI Membership, KPI, Metrics, research report | Leave a Comment »
Call Center Metrics
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:
The Portfolio of Customer Feedback Research Techniques
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 | Leave a Comment »
Call Center Agent Empowerment
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 | Leave a Comment »
It’s Time to Relax
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: Call Center Demo, Call Center Management, Call Centers, Education, ICMI, ICMI's Conferences | Leave a Comment »
Too Tired to Post
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: Call Center Demo, Call Center Management, Call Centers, Education, ICMI, ICMI's Conferences | 1 Comment »
2008 Miami Call Center Demo & Conference
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: ACCE, Call Center Demo, Call Center Management, Call Centers, conferences, ICMI, Miami | Leave a Comment »
ICMI’s QueueTips Edition 132
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 11, 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.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention, also, that we’re inviting all high-performing call centers around the world to apply for the ICMI Membership’s 2008 Global Call Center of the Year Award. Deadline is March 14, 2008. Learn more here.
Posted in Awards, Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Membership, ICMI's QueueTips | Tagged: award, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI's QueueTips, Management, Networking, user-generated, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment »
2008 Call Center of the Year Award
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 8, 2008
We’re now accepting applications for the ICMI Membership’s 2008 Global Call Center of the Year Award — the application deadline is March 14, 2008. As I wrote back in 2006 (Award-Winning Call Centers), I’ve had the privilege of being involved with this prestigious award since the beginning, and I find it to be one of the most satisfying aspects of my job.
And this year we’ve added an optional video submission to the application! For extra credit, applicants can submit a 3-minute video about their call center, to help our selection committee in the difficult task of evaluating and selecting the winners. ICMI will make all of those videos available on our YouTube channel, ICMIQueueTube, so keep your eye out for them. They should make for good watching, and you can even justify being on YouTube at work in you’re watching the ICMIQueueTube channel (well, as long as you don’t spend too much time on the funny call center videos, I suppose).
We all read too much negative press about call centers, so it’s wonderfully refreshing to read a stack of applications telling the success stories of call centers all over the world. The pride these managers take in their call centers and their entire team Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Awards, Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Membership | Tagged: award, Call Center Management, call center of the year, Call Centers, global call center of the year, ICMI, ICMI Membership | Leave a Comment »
A Call Center Blog with a Feminine Angle
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 6, 2008
I’ve been reading Catriona Wallace’s blog, “Your Call,” off and on for about a year now (too bad it does not have an RSS feed, at least that I have found, but she does send out a newsletter that includes her blog posts), ever since I met her at a conference in Cannes in 2007. While I try to make this blog personal in the sense that it reflects my interests and not just my job, Catriona takes that concept to another level.
She’s got meaty material from her call center industry research in her blog, as well as insights from her meetings with industry personnel on her travels around the world, so if you’re interested in call centers as I am, there’s plenty of substance worth reading. Yet, interspersed with this solid and serious content are rambling, often amusing, commentaries on the clothes she wore (leans toward “skanky” in her taste, to use her own words), Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blogs, Call Centers | Tagged: Blogs, Call Centers, Catriona Wallace, Your Call | Leave a Comment »
