A number of call center companies reported earnings in the last few weeks, so it’s time once again for an informal, semi-regular, not-at-all-intended-as-investment-advice look at what’s going on. Twilio and RingCentral both had a bumper crop of news and their stock prices have reflected that; this continues the momentum from the last time we talked about them.
We’re going to cover Cisco and Vonage for the first time, because there’s a lot of call-center-related news there. We’re not covering Avaya today because they don’t report for another two weeks, but we’ll do a stand-alone post on them. (Lots going on there.) Continue reading
There is no question that customer service is changing quickly. From website FAQs, to live chat options, to social media platforms, there are an increasing amount of channels which consumers can use to reach out for help. 
Analytics are a key part of any company’s road to success. It’s important for all departments to have benchmarks for success that can be easily measured and tracked. These are often referred to as KPIs (or, key performance indicators). KPIs are measures that indicate how well a company or specific department is tracking towards a clearly-defined goal. 
Have you been searching for the best customer service conferences to attend in 2019? Well, look no further: You’ve come to the right place.
Everyone involved in customer service wants to understand consumer channel preference. Otherwise, how can you allocate resources between phone, email, chat, SMS messaging and social channels?
Every tech trend has a natural lifespan. It starts on the fringes, builds momentum with early adopters, then moves into the mainstream. Subsequently, you get some start-up successes, then a rush of VC-funded efforts, then an overshoot in expectations, and finally a settling-in to some kind of status quo. Think “P2P”, “big data”, “IoT”, or “blockchain”.
These days, customers are savvier than ever. Generic, sales-heavy marketing campaigns no longer have the same impact they once did. Thanks to social media platforms, customers wield more power than ever before. Customer service and call center agents are certainly feeling the effects of this power: They are working harder than ever to successfully meet customer demands to earn rave reviews rather than damaging social media rants from customers. This can place a great deal of pressure on call center agents, so companies must find ways to keep their morale high.
