Category Archives: Technology

How to Efficiently Manage Service Levels with the Right Technology [Slideshare]

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managing service levelsFor most call centers, service level is a very important KPI.

It measures two parameters: 1) the availability of call center agents to assist customers; and 2) the speed with which agents resolve customer queries and concerns. Since any fluctuation in service levels can directly and significantly impact revenue, it’s understandable that call center executives are concerned with taking the necessary steps to consistently improve them. When it comes to service levels, leveraging the right technology can go a long way in improving declining service levels and, as a result, improve other important call center metrics such as CSAT.

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This is our 1000th Post! A Look Back at Our Greatest Hits

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It's Fonolo's 1000th Blog Post 2019It’s hard to believe, but the WordPress dashboard doesn’t lie: This is our 1000th blog post!

From the very beginning, we knew we didn’t want the blog to just be a tool for self-promotion. Too many company blogs are filled with recycled press releases and thinly-veiled cheer-leading. Our hope was that a) we could develop a loyal audience by covering topics beyond the immediate neighborhood of our product; b) we would do this with a quasi-formal journalistic ethic (e.g. objective tone, footnoting sources, high-quality images); and c) we would do this often (three times a week!). I’m happy to report that the plan paid off and we now have thousands of loyal readers.

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4 Contact Center Reports to Kick off 2019

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4 Contact Center Reports to Kick off 2019It’s been a while since we did a report round-up post. It’s not for lack of material! Our inboxes here at Fonolo HQ are full of great reports covering call center technology and trends. The steady pace of industry news has simply made it hard to find a quiet week to slip in a post like this.

Below are four reports that we think are worth your time. Thanks, as always, to the companies that sponsor these reports. The availability of this information helps the whole industry become more innovative.

By the way, don’t forget to check out the report we just released: On the Horizon: Customer Service Trends in 2019. It features a sparkling new sci-fi theme that helps to keep the pages turning.

 

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#Trending: Call Centers Are Addicted to Call-Backs

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Trending - Call Centers are addicted to call-backsHere’s what we know: In the call center industry, it feels as though there is a carousel of new and emerging call center trends forever in rotation. A trend doesn’t even have to be new or never-before-seen, mind you; it could very well be an existing technology, process, product, or service that has finally garnered the attention it deserves.

In the call center industry, something big is trending: Call-backs. And it’s no surprise that call centers are addicted to this solution because, quite simply, it’s the secret to customer happiness.

 

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How to Efficiently Manage Service Levels with the Right Technology [Webinar]

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How-to Efficiently Manage Service Level with the Right Technology‘Service level’ measures the accessibility of a company to their customers, and that company’s ability to manage call volume fluctuations and execute their staffing strategy. It is directly tied to customer service quality and is often a vital indicator of a contact center’s overall performance.

A declining service level can point to a number of issues: Poor scheduling; calls taking longer than expected; unplanned call fluctuations; and much more. On the other hand, if a contact center’s service level is improving, it’s usually a sign that the right technology, optimal agent scheduling, and accurate call planning are in place.

How can contact centers better manage their service levels? Leveraging the right technology can go a long way in improving a less-than-optimal service level and,  as a result, the overall quality of customer service. From optimizing workforce management to enabling agent call-backs, managers and decision-makers who implement the right technology will reap the rewards.

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New York Times Op-Ed Mentions Containment Rate

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New York Times Op-Ed Mentions Containment Rate 1

Containment rate is a well-established performance metric in the customer service world, but not as well-known as NPS or hold time. I would say it’s on the “wonkish” side as far as metrics go.

So, you can imagine my delight to see “containment rate” mentioned in a New York Times Op-Ed last week! Not surprisingly, it was in the context of a “robots-will-take-our-jobs” thesis, but it at least was a more nuanced approach than what we usually see in the mainstream press.

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4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on The Future of BPOs [Video]

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4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on The Future of BPOs Last week, Fonolo hosted an insightful live discussion on the future of BPOs. The expert panel discussed whether reshoring is a permanent trend, the impact of AI on BPOs, and so much more. To save you some time, we’ve extracted video snippets showcasing highlights from the discussion.

First, let’s take a quick look at the panel of speakers: Reagan Miller, Jeremy Watkin, Thomas Laird, and Shai Berger.

 

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On the Horizon: Customer Service Trends in 2019 [Report]

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Top Contact Center Trends 2019

We open in the year 2019.

It’s a challenging time for customer service executives. Customer expectations are higher than ever … and competition is stiff. Roughly 82% of customers are willing to leave a brand because of poor customer service.

The protagonist prepares for a long journey through the customer service galaxy. The goal is simple: To provide customer support executives with the insights they need to meet the expectations of their customers in 2019 (and beyond). This field guide will help him, and you, on your journey to this goal. In it, you’ll find the following easily-digestible sections in the report:

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[Slideshare] Looking Ahead: Predicting the Future of BPOs

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4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on The Future of BPOs

Companies have been outsourcing their call centers for decades to lower costs, increase productivity, and enable scaled-up customer support during peak times. It is so prevalent in the call center space that the term “Business process outsourcing” (BPO) is often used interchangeably with “outsourced call center.” In the last few years, the call center outsourcing industry has seen revenues crossing $140 billion. This growth is expected to continue, with Cushman Wakefield predicting 6% yearly growth up to 2020.

At the same time, major changes are impacting BPOs. Firstly, the impact of artificial intelligence is predicted to be extremely disruptive. For example, the outsourcing industry in the Philippines (the country with the most call centers in the world) is worried that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will eat into the 23 billion-dollar sector. Secondly, in recent years there has been a growth in “reshoring”: Call centers are returning to North America, a trend driven by several factors including low wage inflation and an increased focus on customer experience. Finally, BPOs are weighing up the benefits of adopting a multichannel approach as siloing the different customer service channels becomes taboo.

While BPOs are no strangers to challenging times, the next few years promise to be particularly interesting for outsourced call centers.

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The Top Contact Center Acquisitions of the Last 6 Months

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The Top Contact Center Acquisitions of the Last 6 MonthsThis post was supposed to be about the “Top Contact Center Acquisitions of 2018”, but two significant deals occurred in the last two weeks, and I didn’t want to wait another year to include them on the list. Plus, we already published a blog on “5 Intriguing Call Center Acquisitions from the First Half of 2018”, so there was no point in repeating some of the deals that were covered in that post.

We continue to see a very active M&A market in the contact center space. Sometimes people call this “consolidation,” but I think that oversimplifies the motivations behind these deals.

So, here we go, in reverse chronological order:

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