Archive for the ‘ICMI’ Category
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 »
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 »
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.
call center management
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 »
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 »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
Ever since I was first tasked many years ago with implementing a first call resolution (FCR) measurement in my call center, I have been acutely aware how big the gap is between the simple, laudable concept of FCR in contact centers and practical, accurate measurement of it. Donna Fluss tackles the topic, “First-Call Resolution Drives Contact Center Improvements,” thoroughly in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI), but my favorite part is the graphic she includes that lays out the pros and cons of each option for implementing an FCR solution in a call center. If you’re trying to figure out how to make FCR work in a practical, feasible way in your call center, click on the graphic to expand it and take a look:
Analysis of Call Completion Identification Methodologies
Is it just me, or is there no truly appealing option among all those FCR implementation choices — what’s a call center manager supposed to do? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Centers, Customer Service, Customer Sat, ICMI's CMI, ICMI, Call Center Management, ICMI Publications, Metrics | Tagged: ICMI, Call Centers, Call Center Management, Metrics, first call resolution, first contact resolution, Donna Fluss, KPI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
We get more questions at ICMI about metrics than just about any other call center management topic. This article, “Metrics: Expanding Perspectives to Increase Effectiveness,” by consultant (and popular speaker at ICMI’s conferences) Tim Montgomery, in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI) takes an in-depth look at conventional views of call center metrics — such as accessibility, productivity and quality objectives — and explains alternative approaches to measure what matters most in your contact center.
It’s a good review of the key principles for getting call center metrics right, so I recommend that you read it. Here’s Tim’s conclusion:
The best contact centers know that metrics are simply an indicator of opportunities, and that real positive change happens when leaders focus on the right behaviors that help the voice of your company get better.
call center metrics call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Conferences, ICMI Publications, ICMI's CMI, Metrics | Tagged: Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI's Customer Management Insight, Metrics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
Introducing a new measure of call center performance: ICMI’s Global Service Index Report offers insights into customers’ perceptions of the call center service experience across sectors and countries.
Developed and executed by OmniTouch International, an ICMI Global Partner headquartered in Singapore, the Global Service Index Report will focus on a different industry sector each quarter. Upcoming sectors include the mobile industry, consumer electronics and hospitality. The results can be used to identify country, regional and global trends on an ongoing basis, and to document individual company performance standards within each selected country.
There’s a wealth of contact center management data and analysis in the report, so it’s certainly worth taking a look for yourself. Here’s an excerpt from the findings: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Benchmarking, Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Publications, ICMI's CMI, Research, Statistics | Tagged: Benchmarking, Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, mystery shopper, OmniTouch, Research | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
Learn what another contact center is doing in the Contact Center Spotlight on Pacific Gas & Electric, featured in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI).
Pacific Gas & Electric may be dedicated to turning the lights on in northern and central California, but in the competitive customer contact area, PG&E is shooting the lights out.
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI, ICMI Publications, ICMI's CMI | Tagged: Call Center Management, Call Centers, ICMI's Customer Management Insight, Pacific Gas and Electric | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
Take a look at what four call center professionals have to say about getting IVR right, in this CMI article, “Characteristics of a Customer-Focused IVR System.”
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Publications, ICMI's CMI, Technology | Tagged: Call Center Management, Call Centers, customer-focused, IVR | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
If you’re looking for (or considering) a call center management position, you should read Layne Holley’s article in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI), “Sales and Analytics Driving Contact Center Compensation,” first. In addition to being a rich source of call center management salary data compiled from various sources, the article offers valuable insights regarding the skills being sought in call center management roles.
“The individuals who are going to be highly sought out or compensated differently to some degree are those with the proven ability to develop a sales or service strategy — or both — and who have strong analytical competence to measure and manage metrics — not just look at the numbers, but interpret that data and either develop a successful customer segmentation strategy or a cross-sell or upsell component to get more value out of each call,” he says.
Check it out.
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Career, ICMI, ICMI's CMI, Management, Research | Tagged: Call Center Management, compensation, salaries | Leave a Comment »
