We talk a lot about other companies, and about how their corporate culture plays a major role in shaping the level of customer service they deliver. We’ve even taken to making videos of our own customers, showcasing how forward-thinking brands have embraced call-backs to improve the customer experience. Continue reading
Tag Archives: fonolo
ContactBabel, a leading analyst firm for the contact center industry, just released this year’s US Contact Center Decision-Makers’ Guide 2013. This annual report studies the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of US contact center operations.
Taking a random sample of the industry, a questionnaire was distributed to 205 call center managers and directors. The result is the 6th edition of the largest and most comprehensive study of the contact center industry. The report identifies six of the major pain points that affect the industry and contains a directory of organizations that provide services, products and solutions to contact centers. Companies like Genesys, Avaya and Interactive Intelligence can be found in the document.
With smartphone penetration surpassing the 50% mark within the US, it’s safe to say that these addictive devices have become an integral part of our everyday lives. Universally employed for both personal and professional purposes, they have quickly become a key channel for how we communicate with one another – and the companies we do business with.
We held a terrific webinar last week (over 200 attendees!) titled “Top 5 Call Center Trends of 2013”. During the part about “Intelligent Call-back” (one of the top trends), we received several questions about how Fonolo compares to Virtual Hold. I asked Shai to elaborate on some of his answers during the webinar.
Q: How does Fonolo compare with Virtual Hold?
Shai: Both Fonolo and Virtual Hold provide the functionality of replacing hold time with a call-back which is what we call, generically, “virtual queuing”. The concept has been around for decades, but is now gaining renewed interest because of rising consumer expectations. Continue reading
Fonolo is happy to announce World Travel Holdings to our growing list of customers as we continue to grow our portfolio of world-class partnerships with the addition of Cruises.com. Owned and operated by World Travel Holdings, one of the nation’s top travel agencies, Cruises.com offers incredible savings on brand-name cruises.
The call center is going through an exciting and speedy transformation, quite unprecedented in its long history. Emerging technologies, changing consumer behaviors, and fierce competition present new challenges and exciting opportunities for managers.
The gap between customer expectations of phone-based support and reality is greater than ever. Over 80% of people prefer a phone call for customer service, but only 8% of them feel the service they receive is ‘excellent.’
Be sure to read the following list of call center trends that will help shape your support strategy in the coming year and beyond.
We weren’t sure how receptive everyone would be with regards to a December webinar. With the holiday festivities in full swing and organizations winding down for the year we decided to take our chances and hope for the best.
What we didn’t expect was that this would turn out to be Fonolo’s best webinar ever! The challenges facing call centers aren’t isolated to any one industry and executives are perking up and paying attention to the changing landscape pertaining to customer service within the call center. With a full house of hospitality, health, retail and financial executives, our audience came prepared with a steady stream of questions directed to our guest speaker, Kent McInall.
With the end of the year approaching, the predictions are rolling out! Last week, we were treated to two massive slide decks from respected analysts, Mary Meeker and Henry Blodget. Meeker of Kleiner Perkins released the Internet Trends Year End Update report and Blodget of Business Insider released The Future of Digital. With 250 slides combined, these decks covered every angle of the digital and internet economy, but one area that stood out from both was the momentum of the smartphone revolution.
This past year we also saw powerful studies on the direction of the call center (e.g. the American Express Customer Service study which I wrote about here). When you combine that data with the data from Meeker and Blodget, the picture is clearer than ever: The smartphone is the biggest thing to happen to the call center since the dial tone.
Whip your call center into shape! With 2012 coming to a close it’s time to step back and take a look at your call center. A fresh outlook combined with a few simple solutions can make a tremendous impact on customer retention and employee efficiency.
6/10 Customers have ditched a company because its telephone customer service has been so bad.
Source: www.callcenterhelper.com
With 2012 coming to a close it’s time to step back and take a look at your call center. A fresh outlook combined with a few simple solutions can make a tremendous impact on customer retention and employee efficiency.
Chances are, if you’re reading this blog, you’re in the industry and are seeking out effective ways to make a change. Your mandate involves finding solutions to these problems – solutions you may not have or know of.
Block your calendar on December 6th at 2pm ET as we discuss 3 Ways to Boost Your Call Center. You can be an active participant and ask questions or simply watch and listen, it’s up to you.
