 OUR TAKE -
Recession: Good or Bad for Customer Service
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| Lasting Impressions:
You have to recognize when the right place and the right time fuse and take advantage of that opportunity. There are plenty of opportunities out there. You can't sit back and wait.
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Ellen Metcalf
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My thoughts about new hungrier standards (also read hungrier and better) prompted many reader comments. While my personal experience has been a refreshingly positive trend in customer service, others are wary of staff cuts that will result in a hit to customer service.
One reader wrote: "My view comes from the 1970s when there was an extended recession and inflation. Customer service in those days was terrible. Moral was very bad, no job was safe, companies could not afford enough labor to provide high levels of service and customers were not willing to pay for it The feelings of depression that come with what we are seeing now infect everything."
The extended nature of a down economy could have cush impact. However, I also believe we live in a different world than 30+ years ago. Technology has had a tremendous impact on the ability to deliver service. And indeed, the cost basis of support is totally different. I still believe our current circumstances will reward those able to find better ways to differentiate on service.
That's my take. Do you agree? What's your take?
Gary Lemke, Publisher
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| Stock Ticker |
| APAC | 1.86 |  | 0.12 |
| Rainmaker | 0.71 | | 0.04 |
| Sykes | 15.96 | | 0.58 |
| NetSuite | 9.2 | | 0.3 |
| NICE | 21.1 | | 0.59 |
| SPSS | 25.11 | | 0.64 |
| Convergys | 6.45 | | 0.13 |
| Tekelc | 12.26 | | 0.23 |
| Astea | 2.54 | | 0.03 |
| Epicor | 2.81 | | 0.03 |
| Teletech | 8.66 | | 0.08 |
| RightNow | 7.95 |  | -0.01 |
| Interactive | 8.9 | | -0.03 |
| Pegasystems | 14.33 | | -0.07 |
| SupportSoft | 1.74 | | -0.01 |
| Vignette | 6.61 | | -0.05 |
| SAP | 32.14 | | -0.26 |
| Chordiant | 2.14 | | -0.02 |
| Amdocs | 16.75 | | -0.18 |
| Oracle | 15.54 | | -0.24 |
| Salesforce | 28 | | -0.55 |
| ClickSoftware | 2.95 | | -0.07 |
| Selectica | 0.36 | | -0.01 |
| ICT | 3.6 | | -0.1 |
| ATG | 2.18 | | -0.07 |
| NCR | 7.92 | | -0.29 |
| Unica | 4.66 | | -0.18 |
| HP | 29.03 | | -1.21 |
| CDC | 0.78 | | -0.04 |
| LivePerson | 1.9 | | -0.1 |
| eLoyalty | 4 | | -0.54 |
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As of 3:59 p.m. on 2/27/09 |
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 NEW IN CRM
News: SupportSoft Introduces Dynamic Agent for Customer Support
SupportSoft announced the release of its next-generation Dynamic Agent, a software solution that makes it simple for enterprises and service providers to automatically resolve customers' routine tech problems, as well as deploy enhanced services. The solution can provide "point-of-pain services" in the form of "1-click fixes" that let organizations provide just-in-time support and help customers resolve their own issues. Further, by building on their automated support platform, organizations can now create a new and convenient marketing channel to orchestrate new methods of driving revenue. (SupportSoft
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News: Nuance Unveils Voice Control 2.0
Nuance announced the availability of Nuance Voice Control (NVC) 2.0, a customizable modular framework that allows operators and handset OEMs to speech enable any feature, application, or network service on any mobile device they bring to market, including feature phones. The generation of NVC integrates VSuite, currently available on more than 300 million phones worldwide, with Nuance’s Open Voice Search (OVS), Mobile Messaging, and the ability to inform and launch any native or third-party mobile application. Further, NVC 2.0 is platform, operating system, and search engine agnostic, allowing operators to reach mass market consumers on a variety of devices. (Nuance
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Accelerate Call Center Performance in 2009?
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Article: Hold Onto Your Customers!
For years companies viewed their customer service hubs as cost centers, simply a piece of the organization that tried its best to soothe angry callers, answer their product questions, and keep them happy enough to not leave the company. There was no perceived additional value that the contact center could bring to the organization. In today's business environment of rampant price and product commoditization, companies and industry pundits alike are starting to proclaim contact centers are taking on a whole new meaning to organizations. More agents are incorporating cross-selling and upselling when applicable, since many organizations now realize the contact center is the primary touch point for consumers. (DestinationCRM
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News: Kazakhstan Chooses Amdocs to Improve the Citizen Experience
The Republic of Kazakhstan has selected Amdocs CES - CRM 7.5 to provide customer relationship management (CRM) functionality for its Electronic Government project. The solution will serve as the front-end interface both for government agents processing and responding to citizen requests, and for Kazakhs interacting with government agencies via the Internet, phones, short message service (SMS or text messaging), fax, or self-service kiosks in citizen service centers.(Amdocs
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Article: Seven Steps to Quantify the Value of Marketing Automation
To meet the demanding pressure for proof of marketing effectiveness, especially in today's economic environment, marketers need marketing automation. By optimizing today's technology along with process re-engineering, your marketing programs can achieve incremental increases in revenue, reductions in cost, and can enhance the customer relationship with your company. But what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Marketers continue to struggle with gaining budget to automate their marketing programs. By learning to speak in terms the CFO will appreciate, marketers can initiate discussions and better collaborate with executives to determine a return on marketing automation investment and obtain buy-in. (CustomerThink
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