<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148</id><updated>2014-10-03T04:20:30.755-04:00</updated><category term="Call Centre"/><category term="Emergency"/><category term="GTACC"/><category term="Peel Police"/><title type='text'>GTA Contact Centre</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default?redirect=false'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>8</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-719377746146225714</id><published>2012-10-31T10:12:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2012-10-31T10:12:47.512-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Green Breakout Bloggers:  Creative Ideas that Enhance Employee Engagement</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Discussion Leader:&amp;nbsp; Jeff Doran&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Bloggers:&amp;nbsp; Luis (Spin Master Toys), Michelle, Jennifer, Beverly, Carrie, Luisa, Irene, Nalin, Lindsay, Pearl, Dave, Narish, Luc, Darryl, Brian, Vinu, Joanne, Julia, Grace, Sharon&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;The Green Breakout Bloggers were charged with the task of brainstorming creative ideas that enhance employee engagement.&amp;nbsp; Discussion revolved not only around Gen Y (who tend to often be the focus of employee engagement conversations), but also on engaging employees in a multi-generational environment.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;First, what is “Employee Engagement” anyway?&amp;nbsp; A brainstorming session came up with some key insights about what that often used term actually means:&amp;nbsp; Employee empowerment, Passion, Motivation, Pride, Sense of belonging, Being involved in the organization, Having a positive identity, and Feeling accountable, were all highlights of this discussion.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Another key point was that true engagement focuses on all demographics in the call centre, rather than simply the most populous one.&amp;nbsp; The entire call centre needs to be an engaged environment, with centre-wide initiatives, that appeal to all groups.&amp;nbsp; Whereas focusing on only one group could alienate a large percentage of your workforce.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Gen X, Gen Y, and Boomers&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Gen X’ers&lt;/b&gt; tend to be more loyal to a company, compared to their Gen Y counterparts.&amp;nbsp; Similar to Gen Y and Boomers, they are motivated by work-life balance, because they need time away from work.&lt;b&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Gen Y&lt;/b&gt; employees are motivated when they know the “why” behind what they are asked to do.&amp;nbsp; As well, they are electronically savvy.&amp;nbsp; Allowing them to use technology to create solutions to work related challenges helps keep this group focused. &amp;nbsp;Gen Y employees also benefit from knowing there is meaning in their efforts that go beyond simply the job that’s being done.&amp;nbsp; As well, job training is a key motivator for this group, who typically thrive on a variety of challenges and new opportunities.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Boomers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;These folks might have been with your call centre the longest, or have life experience they can share.&amp;nbsp; Keeping this group engaged means respecting their life experience and providing them with an opportunity to pass that to other, younger generations.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;With all groups, workplace flexibility goes a long way to help keep employees engaged.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Engagement Strategies&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Control and workplace flexibility:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Having a sense of control and flexibility in our workplace is valued across generations, and providing for this is an excellent way to foster engagement.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Insight:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Having a work-at-home program allows people more flexibility to better balance their lives, and certainly keeps folks engaged.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Enablement: &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;To keep your staff engaged, ensure that they feel &lt;i&gt;enabled&lt;/i&gt; to do the job that’s being asked of them.&amp;nbsp; This is a key concept that involves understanding what tools and support people need so they are more self-sufficient, and then providing them with those tools and support.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Making Use of Experience&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Also, the older generation staff who have been with the organization longer, have a tremendous amount of knowledge to share.&amp;nbsp; These folks, who might be nearing retirement, are motivated to leave a legacy to the work and knowledge they acquired. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Insight:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Consider pairing more senior employees with younger people to ensure &lt;i&gt;corporate memory&lt;/i&gt;isn’t lost when they leave on their last day.&amp;nbsp; This not only benefits the overall organization, but values contribution from across a variety of generations.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Calibri&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Calibri&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Calibri&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Summary&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Overall, the theme of the discussion revolved around inclusiveness.&amp;nbsp; Focusing an engagement strategy on one demographic will provide limited results.&amp;nbsp; However, adopting strategies that connect to the diversity of the people you are motivating will provide you with a more engaged call centre overall.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/719377746146225714/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/green-breakout-bloggers-creative-ideas.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/719377746146225714'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/719377746146225714'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/green-breakout-bloggers-creative-ideas.html' title='Green Breakout Bloggers:  Creative Ideas that Enhance Employee Engagement'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-3381014421423760009</id><published>2012-10-31T10:12:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2012-10-31T10:12:24.733-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Yellow Breakout Bloggers:  Creative Ways to Reduce Costs and Drive Revenue</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Discussion Moderator:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; Evelyn Page&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Blog Contributors:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; Evelyn, Matthew, Randy, Kevin, Rick, James, Alyson, Viviana, Terry, Stan, Erica, Miranda, Virginia, Tracey, Corie, Irene, Aime, Nanu, Lubaina, Lisa, Jane&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Reducing Costs&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Call centres are easy targets when the CFO needs to reduce costs.&amp;nbsp; As a result, call centres are often challenged to do more (as in drive more revenue) with fewer resources.&amp;nbsp; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Having a list of cost-reduction strategies, as well as revenue-contributing strategies, to draw from when the direction is given is a must-have for the call centre director’s tool kit.&amp;nbsp; And even better, to proactively introduce cost saving and &amp;nbsp;revenue generating initiatives before they become directives is not only great for the career, but it means that control can largely remain within the call centre.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Below is a list of cost reduction strategies you can put into place &lt;i&gt;before &lt;/i&gt;you’re asked. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Agents as Call Reduction Ambassadors&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;1. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;During calls, ensure agents are actively reminding customers of their self-serve options, and fielding any self-serve questions. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Reduced Overall Call Volume by driving customers to self serve on the Web.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Think Green&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;2. &amp;nbsp;Reduce facility energy and blend teams on less busy days (one insight can be to actually shut down parts of the building and move teams into a smaller space).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Not only is your facility saving money, you’re also helping to save the planet.&amp;nbsp; An added bonus is employee engagement because your actions are benefiting the environment, which further reduces staff turnover and training costs.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Make the Most of your Technology&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;3. &amp;nbsp;Blend your technology.&amp;nbsp; Rather than having your agents reference 15 separate applications to process a typical call, blend them so that the calls become more efficient.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Reduce AHT.&amp;nbsp; An added bonus is improved customer and agent experience.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Develop Macros&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;4. &amp;nbsp;Develop macros for repetitive info on client profiles.&amp;nbsp; Make the best use of your desktop programs such as Excel, by developing macros that reduce key strokes and other repetitive tasks.&amp;nbsp; Doing so may shave 10’s of seconds off of every call.&amp;nbsp; For larger call centres, this can really add up.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Reduction in AHT.&amp;nbsp; As an added bonus, your customer satisfaction will increase because you’re helping more people more efficiently. &lt;b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Making the Most of Your Human Resources&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;5. &amp;nbsp;Reduce call transfers by cross-training agents, and empowering agents in key functions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Depending on the call type, AHT can be drastically reduced, as can the costs of developing specialized training classes.&amp;nbsp; C-Sat goes way up because customers like hearing, “I can take care of that for you, “ a lot better than, “I’m going to have to transfer you.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Voice of Customer&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;6. &amp;nbsp;Use VoC (voice of customer) feedback to correct problems in other areas of the organization.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Once a problem is fixed, the number of calls complaining about this specific issue is reduced.&amp;nbsp; And additional benefit is improved customer satisfaction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Building Relationships&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;7. &amp;nbsp;Build relationships with other departments to help solve critical issues &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;before&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;they hit the call centre as a tidal wave of complaints.&amp;nbsp; When there are strong inter-departmental relationships, it’s a lot easier to share VoC feedback and have change happen quickly.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Overall fewer calls.&amp;nbsp; As an added benefit, your agents are more engaged because they’re getting fewer irate calls, which means costs related to staff attrition are reduced as well.&amp;nbsp; Bonus benefit&amp;nbsp; - builds a higher profile and level of respect for the call centre within the organization.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Customer Journey Maps&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;8. &amp;nbsp;Build customer journey map so all departments understand the whole picture&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit: &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;Customer journey maps are great ways to identify customer pain points.&amp;nbsp; Sharing these with other departments might help them identify ways to make it easier for customers to do business with you.&amp;nbsp; The end result is fewer complaint calls.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Working with Outsourcers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;9. &amp;nbsp;For those working with outsourcers, create penalties and incentives in contracts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Cost Reduction Benefit:&amp;nbsp; &lt;/b&gt;When your outsource partner fails to meet the target, the cost impact for that is carried by them, not you.&amp;nbsp; This keeps your costs under control while keeping your outsource partner incented to deliver superior results.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Driving Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;While much of the CFO conversation about call centres is about cost reduction, if call centres are seen as profit centres, with a clearly defined role in contributing to the bottom line, cost reduction doesn’t have to be such a pressing concern.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Within larger organizations, driving revenue is about being able to not only make sales, but making your business case.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Put on your Strategy Hat&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;10. &amp;nbsp;Learn how to speak from a business perspective, rather than in call-centre-ese.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Revenue Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; This allows the best chance at getting your message understood, which means the likelihood of a “yes” is a lot higher.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Understanding the High Level Direction of the Organization&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;11. &amp;nbsp;Be at the table during marketing and other strategy discussions so you understand organizational business challenges and how you can best add value.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Revenue Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; By understanding where the revenue priorities are, you’ll probably be able to identify a role for your call centre to drive sales that the other departments haven’t considered.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Network!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;12.&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;Build bridges with other departments, and maintain regular communication.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Revenue Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; You’ll always have your finger on the key initiatives for the organization, and you’ll be able to focus and align your agents to those initiatives, proactively driving revenue where revenue needs to happen.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;The Power of Empowerment&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;13. &amp;nbsp;Empower your agents to focus on adding customer value rather than having them focus their attention on staying on-script.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Revenue Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; When agents are focused on the customer, they can more quickly identify customer problems that your company is there to solve.&amp;nbsp; Recommending products and services that are relevant to the customer means increased sales.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Incentives&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;14. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;Offer other incentives to agents to reward them for their sales results.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Hint:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; An important point is to ensure that all sales results are recognized, rather than simply focusing on the top performers.&amp;nbsp; Then, putting in place your networking and inter-department communication strategy, build a business case to demonstrate how investing in sales results through incentives will add to the bottom line.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Revenue Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;With agents appropriately incented, and focused on the customer and not the script, sales and revenue are bound to increase.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Your Challenge&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Try putting in place at least 1 point from each of the above lists (start with the ones you find easy).&amp;nbsp; See how long it takes before you begin to drive sales, while maintaining, or reducing costs.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/3381014421423760009/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/yellow-breakout-bloggers-creative-ways.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/3381014421423760009'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/3381014421423760009'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/yellow-breakout-bloggers-creative-ways.html' title='Yellow Breakout Bloggers:  Creative Ways to Reduce Costs and Drive Revenue'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-1748580910132038742</id><published>2012-10-31T10:09:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2012-10-31T10:09:31.494-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Blue Breakout Bloggers: Creative Ways a Call Centre Can Use Technology to Engage Customers and Increase Shareholder Value</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Discussion Moderator:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; Graham Kingma&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Blog contributors:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Huzaifa, Fiona, Beth, Shai, Deborah, Megan, Pat, Kimberley, Amar, Patricia, Grace, Ray, Angeline, Michele, Candace, Andrew, David, Jane, Bryan, Michelle, Cindy, Kurt, Renata&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Technology has always played a major role in call centres.&amp;nbsp; These days, with true convergence of customer technologies such as Internet, mobile, SMS, apps, and call centre technologies such as speech analytics, intelligent IVR, and texting, the opportunity to use technology to drive customer engagement has never been greater.&amp;nbsp; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;What follows is a rapid-fire list of how technology can be used to help engage customers and improve value for agents, customers, and the overall organization.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;1. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Use &lt;b&gt;emails on file&lt;/b&gt;, or SMS, instead of phone for post-call follow up.&amp;nbsp; Some people never reply to surveys over the phone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Phoning post-call can be costly and may not be effective.&amp;nbsp; For the percentage of people who prefer to complete surveys online, this can be a way to increase response rate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;2. &amp;nbsp;Use &lt;b&gt;SMS technology&lt;/b&gt; to encourage customers to contact the call centre to get more information on promotions that might interest them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; This can increase the number of revenue generating calls that come to your call centre, while helping drive initiatives that align with your organizations overall goals.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;3. &amp;nbsp;Use “&lt;b&gt; Gamification&lt;/b&gt;” principles to drive employee engagement and incentives.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; By not making success “just” about sales results or support, you can help increase overall agent engagement, which improves sales and overall customer satisfaction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;4. &amp;nbsp;Use &lt;b&gt;speech analytics&lt;/b&gt; to identify and improve problems – such as reasons for placing customers on hold.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit: &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Speech analytics can add significant value to both the customer experience, as well as reduce overall operational costs by removing unnecessary activities in call centre.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;5. &amp;nbsp;Use &lt;b&gt;call-back technology&lt;/b&gt; (or email on file, or SMS) for customers who abandoned calls.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; By proactively reaching out with a message apologizing for the wait, and an offer to help, call centres can dramatically improve overall customer satisfaction, and potentially increase sales.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;6. &amp;nbsp;Allow regular callers and loyal customers to “&lt;b&gt;opt out&lt;/b&gt;” of “required messaging” such as policies, procedures, delivery times etc. Ask them once if they would like to opt out for every call in the future. Most will say yes!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Reduces overall AHT and certainly increases customer satisfaction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;7. &amp;nbsp;Use &lt;b&gt;mobile app technology&lt;/b&gt; for self service.&amp;nbsp; And when a customer hits “click to call,” use the app data to validate the customer’s identity and send the call to the right agent, not the general queue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Significant increase in c-sat, and increase in call-routing efficiency since calls are being directed immediately upon hitting the queue, rather than going through an IVR.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;8. &amp;nbsp;Leverage &lt;b&gt;online, or mobile, authentication&lt;/b&gt; where possible, rather than forcing the customer to re-authenticate over the phone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Dramatic reduction in customer dis-satisfaction (no one likes to state their 10 digit number 2 or 3 times in a single call).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;9. &amp;nbsp;If a 2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt; call is required, allow the customer to be connected to the original agent via the &lt;b&gt;IVR&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit: &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;Increased customer satisfaction, as well as potentially reduced overall handling time since agent is already aware of the issue, and potentially the solution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;10. &amp;nbsp;Use &lt;b&gt;auto-pop chat&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; if a customer is on self-service, but is idle for a period of time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&amp;nbsp;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Improved customer satisfaction, and reduced call volume since customer may otherwise call the call centre for help (but consider allowing them to opt out of future prompts if they find the service invasive!)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;11. &amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;Leverage the full potential of existing technology&lt;/b&gt; (For example, a web app “contact us” only shows general contact information, and the toll-free number.&amp;nbsp; Since we know where the customer is in their process, we can point them immediately to the best agent (and let that agent know what the customer was doing) to solve their problem rather than asking them to navigate the IVR and plead their case.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit: &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;Big improvement in customer satisfaction, reduction in AHT and potential reduction in overall wait times in the general queue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;12. &amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;Listen to your customers.&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Allow customers to give their ideas and feedback, etc. and have a process to follow that up directly to show that you take their ideas seriously.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit: &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;Encourages innovation while “proving” to your fans that the organization is listening&lt;u&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;13. &amp;nbsp;Use &lt;b&gt;effective search for knowledge management&lt;/b&gt;.&amp;nbsp; (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;Hint:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; Draw from Google’s example of providing the most relevant information.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Reduces AHT, and improves information accuracy and drives customers back to your site for help.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;14. &amp;nbsp;Use technology to &lt;b&gt;proactively communicate to customers&lt;/b&gt; when they are either calling you or online with you. If a customer just ordered something, they likely would want to go to the my orders page after logging in or go to a shipping agent if they call you.&amp;nbsp; For example, eliminate the “when will it ship” question by using “Count Down” widgets to communicate shipping process as soon as they call or log in online.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Benefit: &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;(in this example) Reduces the “where’s my order” calls, and improves overall customer experience.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Summary&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;There’s almost no end to how technology can help customers.&amp;nbsp; The secret is to understand customer pain points, and focus technology solutions specifically on reducing or eliminating those pain points.&amp;nbsp; While some of the above insights require the participation of other departments, some can be accomplished directly within the call centre, and without significant investment.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Technology can make the customer experience more complicated. Innovative organizations figure out ways to use technology to make the experience more satisfying for their customers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Which of the above points would you want to implement over the next few months?&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/1748580910132038742/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/blue-breakout-bloggers-creative-ways.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/1748580910132038742'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/1748580910132038742'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/blue-breakout-bloggers-creative-ways.html' title='Blue Breakout Bloggers: Creative Ways a Call Centre Can Use Technology to Engage Customers and Increase Shareholder Value'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-3415946883894629921</id><published>2012-10-31T10:09:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2012-10-31T10:09:10.513-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Red Breakout Bloggers:  How the Call Centre Saved the Day</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Bloggers:&amp;nbsp; Vern, Andrew, Lisa, Asup, Louis, Lorna, Mike, Nigel, Alecia, Kiran, Diana, Abdul, Elias, Steve, Kim, Rita, Elizabeth, Angeline, Bruce, John, Amro, Laura, Amarjit, Kory&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Discussion Moderator:&lt;/b&gt; &amp;nbsp;Katherine Thompson&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Often the unsung heros in a company, call centres provide essential functions well beyond answering customer questions and providing customer assistance.&amp;nbsp; Call centres can be a well of product insight, development opportunities, and early warning systems of things that are trending to go horribly wrong unless corrective action is taken. &amp;nbsp;A perfect example is crisis management (at the peak of Hurricane Sandy in NY, their 911 line received 20,000 calls &lt;i&gt;every 30 minutes&lt;/i&gt;).&amp;nbsp; But the call centre can be the hero in all organizations, not just emergency response teams.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Communication is Crucial&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;For a call centre to be the every-day hero, communication across other departments is crucial.&amp;nbsp; Often there is a lack of understanding about the value the call centre can bring to the overall organization.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Actionable Insights to Improve&amp;nbsp;Inter-department&amp;nbsp;Awareness&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;1. &amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;Encourage New Hires from Other Departments to Experience the Call Centre&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;One way to help promote company-wide understanding of the call centre is to provide all new employees to an organization with an orientation of the call centre.&amp;nbsp; This can include attending training, but can also include spending time as an agent.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;2. &amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;&quot;Rotate&quot; Managers from Other Departments though the Call Centre&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;&quot;&gt;Allowing managers from other departments to spend time managing in the call centre provides a high level of &amp;nbsp;awareness of how the call centre benefits the organization, and ensures this awareness makes it to other areas of the company.&amp;nbsp; When non-call centre managers return to their standard management roles, their newfound call centre experience, and increased network of contacts, will inform their day-to-day decisions.&amp;nbsp; They can draw from that experience, as well as reach out to their call centre peers directly, when a non call centre decision might benefit from a call centre perspective.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoListParagraphCxSpLast&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;3. &amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;Call Centre as Early Warning System&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Using the call centre as an early warning system ,organizations can be proactive in addressing what could be significant problems if not handled swiftly.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The call centre can be an effective early indication tool to help organizations proactively head off issues before they become serious problems.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;4. &amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;Getting Authentic Feedback for What&#39;s Happening Company-wide&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Feedback can come both from analytics, as well as agent focus groups and simple face-to-face dialog.&amp;nbsp; No one knows the strengths and weakness of a company better than call centre agents.&amp;nbsp; For agent feedback to be authentic, people management, flexibility, support, and coaching are crucial.&amp;nbsp; It’s important for agents to know they have support, so that they’re free to openly communicate their insights.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Taking it Old School:&amp;nbsp; MBWA&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;With all the technology available to call centres today, nothing beats good old fashioned MBWA (Management by Walking Around).&amp;nbsp; Good managers and directors typically love to “walk the floor” because of all the informal insights they know they’ll get.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;5. &amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;Call Centre as Communications Department&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Typically, the role of the call centre is to respond to inbound calls, but often call centres are asked &amp;nbsp;to communicate a message &lt;i&gt;out&lt;/i&gt; to the customer base, which brings the call centre into the role of corporate communications, rather than being singularly focused on customer care.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Insight:&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Maintaining a dialog with the marketing and communication departments is a great way for a call centre to be ahead of the curve both in feeding possible issues into the organization, as well as communicating key messages to customers while on the phone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Saving the day&amp;nbsp;doesn&#39;t&amp;nbsp;have to be confined to crisis intervention.&amp;nbsp; Ongoing messaging can result in sales gains, and advantages in other areas of the organization, which is every bit as heroic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Summary&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;Inter-departmental coordination and alignment is key for a call centre to be the hero of the organization it serves.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; For the call centre to add value consistently, systems need to be in place to allow it to happen as a matter of business-as-usual. &amp;nbsp; With the right tools, and a well defined interaction strategy with other departments, call centres can save the day every day, rather than only when there is a crisis.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;A Challenge for You&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 18px;&quot;&gt;What steps from the above list of insights can you apply today, to position your call centre to start saving the day? &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/3415946883894629921/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/red-breakout-bloggers-how-call-centre.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/3415946883894629921'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/3415946883894629921'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/red-breakout-bloggers-how-call-centre.html' title='Red Breakout Bloggers:  How the Call Centre Saved the Day'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-2281850885458215670</id><published>2012-10-31T10:08:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2012-10-31T10:27:04.703-04:00</updated><title type='text'>GTACC 2012 Call Centre Interactive Brainstorm Discusion</title><content type='html'>If you attended the GTACC2012 Call Centre Event on October 25th, you&#39;ll recall that one of the sessions featured a 4&amp;nbsp;simultaneous&amp;nbsp;breakouts. &amp;nbsp;Participants were divided into &quot;teams,&quot; and each team had a topic assigned to them. &amp;nbsp;With the help of a moderator and note taker, the group&#39;s challenge was to come up with at least 10 Key Insights on their assigned topic (but any number of insights was fine). &amp;nbsp;These insights would then be compiled and appear as a series of features in the official GTACC Blog. &amp;nbsp;Pretty cool huh?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And the best part is that all the contributors to the blog are listed in each of the blog headings (first name only).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Below is a list of the teams, and their respective topics. &amp;nbsp;To take a look at any of the topics, simply click on the topic title.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;Green Breakout Bloggers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/green-breakout-bloggers-creative-ideas.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Creative Ideas that Enhance Employee Engagement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Moderator: &amp;nbsp;Jeff Doran&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;Red Breakout Bloggers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/red-breakout-bloggers-how-call-centre.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;How the Call Centre Saved the Day&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Moderator: &amp;nbsp;Katherine Thompson&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Yellow Breakout Bloggers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/yellow-breakout-bloggers-creative-ways.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Creative Ways to Reduce Costs and Drive Revenue&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Moderator: &amp;nbsp;Evelyn Page&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Blue Breakout Bloggers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/blue-breakout-bloggers-creative-ways.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Creative Ways Call Centres have Used New Technologies to Engage Customers and Drive Shareholder Value&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Moderator: &amp;nbsp;Graham Kingma&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These blogs are the summary of the excellent discussions that transpired on Thursday. &amp;nbsp;Many thanks to the moderators, and note takers, and especially to all who contributed to your respective blogs (If I&#39;ve miss-entered your first name, please let me know and I&#39;ll correct it).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;1 Really Cool Thing&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What was most fascinating that despite the very different themes, discussions often returned to overarching themes of Employee Engagement and Customer Engagement. &amp;nbsp;What that suggests is that regardless of the topic, the essence of any call centre begins, and ends, with the employee and customer in mind.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank you again to everyone who participated, and to everyone who attended GTACC2012. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s truly wonderful to watch this community of dedicated contact centre professionals grow each year. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kindest regards,&lt;br /&gt;Pat Perdue</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/2281850885458215670/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/gtacc-2012-call-centre-interactive.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/2281850885458215670'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/2281850885458215670'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/10/gtacc-2012-call-centre-interactive.html' title='GTACC 2012 Call Centre Interactive Brainstorm Discusion'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-8536919991466480093</id><published>2012-06-02T15:36:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2012-06-02T15:36:55.285-04:00</updated><title type='text'>May&#39;s GTACC Breakfast Session - The Mobile Revolution</title><content type='html'>&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;A huge thanks to everyone who attended this year’s first GTACC morning session in May.&amp;nbsp; The topic was Mobile Payment and Commerce, and discussion focused on how that will impact contact centres.&amp;nbsp; By the level of attendance and the general feedback, it sounds like this topic is of great interest to many.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Panelists were &lt;b&gt;Aran Hamilton, Managing Director of Venture Grower Inc.&lt;/b&gt;, a leading consultancy and incubation firm focused on digital economy strategy, including mobile commerce, retail and couponing, money transfer and ID.&amp;nbsp; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Also Sarah Gowdy, Director of Mobile Banking and IVRs for Canadian Banking at Scotiabank.&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt;In her current role, Sarah is directly responsible for the strategic direction for Scotiabank’s domestic mobile banking applications and several of the bank’s IVRs.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt;And finally Vipul&lt;/span&gt; Lalka, from Deloitte Consulting. &lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;Vipul has been involved in various engagements that have included strategy formulation, operating model design, and advanced analytics, and has published a range of papers and thought material on mobile payments.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;As host of the session, my goal was to first help develop a sense of what mobile payments and banking really means, then to develop an understanding of why contact centres should care.&amp;nbsp; And finally, I wanted to begin to tackle the question, “Okay, so what do we DO?”&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;The oncoming mobile revolution will involve anything from splitting your restaurant bill by using your Scotiabank Mobile App, to using your phone to pay for your coffee and bagel at Tim’s, and finally to using your tablet to be connected with a subject matter expert who will help you, say, install a new kitchen sink &lt;i&gt;while you’re installing it&lt;/i&gt;.&amp;nbsp; As well, it will probably mean a huge number of possible applications we haven’t even considered yet.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;So how do contact centres fit into all of this?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;All of this technology isn’t going to work perfectly every time.&amp;nbsp; What happens when something goes wrong?&amp;nbsp; To Sarah’s point, a major consideration will be answering the “Ghostbusters question.” &amp;nbsp;If a mobile payment app doesn’t work, do customers call their bank?&amp;nbsp; How about their cell phone company?&amp;nbsp; Making it easy for customers to answer the question, “Who ya gonna call?” can mean the difference &amp;nbsp;between a rescued customer relationship, and a customer looking for a new bank or cell phone carrier.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;As a solution, contact centres will need to learn to work not only across departments, but across organizations as well. With mobile payment, many companies will share accountability for the customer’s mobile experience.&amp;nbsp; So instead of pointing fingers at each other when something goes wrong, call centres from different companies will have to be able to work together so that when something goes wrong, the customers can get help no matter who they call.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;But what about everything we don’t know?&amp;nbsp; How can we possibly prepare for that?&amp;nbsp; While extensive proliferation of mobile payment and other mobile apps will happen in about 2 years, the full range of experiences customers will need help with will constantly evolve.&amp;nbsp; Providing the best customer experiences amid such uncertainty will mean empowering the front line to a greater extent than ever before.&amp;nbsp; Customers will frequently challenge organizations to think “out of the box.” To ensure a continued positive customer experience, the front line will need to be empowered to offer creative solutions so that organizations can remain (or become) genuinely customer centric.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Thank you again to all who attended, and especially to our panelists. &amp;nbsp;It was a really great discussion about a trend that we need to start preparing for now.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Oh – and up until June 04&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, early bird tickets are available for 2012 Conference.&amp;nbsp; It will be sure to sell out, so get your tickets early and see you there! &amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gtacc.ca/index.cfm/fuseaction/content/contentID/87-2012-GTACC-Conferencev&quot;&gt;Click here&lt;/a&gt; to buy your tickets online.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;See you there!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Pat Perdue&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Connect on Twitter at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/#patperdue&quot;&gt;http://twitter.com/#patperdue&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/8536919991466480093/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/06/mays-gtacc-breakfast-session-mobile.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/8536919991466480093'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/8536919991466480093'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2012/06/mays-gtacc-breakfast-session-mobile.html' title='May&#39;s GTACC Breakfast Session - The Mobile Revolution'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-6278068706329192159</id><published>2011-09-06T07:30:00.006-04:00</published><updated>2011-09-07T14:00:48.267-04:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Call Centre"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Emergency"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="GTACC"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Peel Police"/><title type='text'>GTACC Session at Peel Regional Police</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;Submitted by Jeff Doran&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On July 21st, we were delighted to be able to have our most recent GTACC Session at the Peel Regional Police Contact Centre in Brampton.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In addition to the wonderful session featuring best practices around employee engagement, workforce management, and creating a contact centre culture, we were also provided insight into the unique complexities and culture of the 911 Emergency Contact Centre. When answering calls quickly and efficiently can mean the difference between life and death, a &quot;bad call centre day&quot; just can&#39;t happen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Specialized Training&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Peel Regional Police 911 Contact Centre is a very unique and highly energized operation. Aside from their primary focus on saving lives, they must also manage complex technologies to ensure that all callers are handled quickly, courteously and with no errors. The front line staff are highly trained and must be able to determine the severity of the situation to ensure the caller is getting immediate assistance. Needless to say, this can be a very stressful environment. Management is aware of the stress employees are under and have many support services available to help. Some of these include: EAP, off-phone time, coaching, quiet room to name a few.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Handling Non-Emergency &quot;Wrong Number&quot; Calls&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of the other challenges this contact centre faces is the abuse of the 911 system with non emergencies. People need to understand that all 911 calls are treated equally when first answered. Therefore, if someone is calling in with a non-emergency, that call could be blocking a caller with a life threatening situation. More education needs to be done so the public truly understands the importance of placing a 911 call.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Challenges with New Technology&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Technology also creates challenges. Companies with VOIP systems must make sure they program 911 into their phones properly so that when a call is placed, the 911 contact centre receives all the correct contact information. As well, if someone is calling from a cell phone, they don’t provide location through CLID. The 911 contact centre has to call the cellular provider to get the caller information. This can waste valuable time in what could be a life and death situation. The same goes for texting. With texting or sending an email, the message has to pass through a central server and then to the 911 centre. This can sometimes take up to 20 minutes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With all these challenges facing the 911 Contact Centre, they continue to look for ways to enhance and expedite the call process to help people faster and save more lives.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank you again to the Peel Regional Police for hosting GTACC, and providing the above insights into your very unique contact centre.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;_______&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;The above entry was submitted by Jeff Doran, GTACC Member. Jeff is also the Founder and President of the Contact Centre Employer of Choice. You can visit their website &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ccemployerofchoice.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;here.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;If you would like to submite a blog entry, please contact Pat Perdue at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:pat@patperdue.com&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;pat@patperdue.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;, or Sangeeta Bhatnagar at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Sangeeta@sbglobal.ca&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;Sangeeta@sbglobal.ca&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/6278068706329192159/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2011/09/gtacc-session-at-peel-regional-police.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/6278068706329192159'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/6278068706329192159'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2011/09/gtacc-session-at-peel-regional-police.html' title='GTACC Session at Peel Regional Police'/><author><name>Pat Perdue</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_agmeM0juJ4g/SidOvFXYYmI/AAAAAAAAABk/IZ4-SeIwKN4/S220/08898e4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6584328155207426148.post-3988381161583112593</id><published>2011-06-20T12:08:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2011-06-20T12:08:48.514-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Welcome to the GTACC Blog!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-US&quot;&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;Welcome to the GTACC blog.&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp; Here you will find posts from the members of GTACC featuring insights, expertise, and opinions about anything that impacts contact centre operations.&amp;nbsp; If you have an article you’d like to post, we encourage you to submit it for consideration.&amp;nbsp; Guidelines are standard blog publication guidelines that are consistent with the spirit of GTACC.&amp;nbsp; We won’t be publishing content that is a copyright infringement, is a negative personal attack, or is promotional in nature.&amp;nbsp; We encourage blog submissions that are an informational value-add.&amp;nbsp; Doing something great in your contact centre?&amp;nbsp; This is where you can share it with the GTACC community.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-US&quot;&gt;New to GTACC?&amp;nbsp; Welcome.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Ours is a supportive, friendly community of contact centre professionals who are all active in contact centre operations.&amp;nbsp; As a result, our monthly meetings are known for their actionable take-aways and open, candid sharing of best practices from our members.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; You won’t find any product promotions at our meetings, nor are our meetings typically open to vendors, so you won’t get a “sales pitch.”&amp;nbsp; What you’ll get is great learning, and great support, from contact centre operations professionals in the GTA.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-US&quot;&gt;As well, our very popular annual day-long events provide a wealth of knowledge that can be implemented right away at the operational level.&amp;nbsp; This year&#39;s event will happen November 03, so keep the date open.&amp;nbsp; More information on that will be coming soon.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-US&quot;&gt;To ensure you are receiving the necessary information about these events, make sure you’ve signed up for the GTACC email list.&amp;nbsp; As well, be sure to join the GTACC Members Group on LinkedIn.&amp;nbsp; You can get connected to that group by clicking &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&amp;amp;gid=1902778&amp;amp;trk=myg_ugrp_ovr&quot;&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;here&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; In the meantime, welcome to GTACC!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-US&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-US&quot;&gt;Finally, welcome to the GTACC blog!&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Please feel free to submit a post, or leave a comment.&amp;nbsp; With your help, this space will be an interactive forum where we can all share insights, opinions, and knowledge – in the true spirit of GTACC.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-US&quot;&gt;Sangeeta &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/feeds/3988381161583112593/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2011/06/welcome-to-gtacc-blog.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/3988381161583112593'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6584328155207426148/posts/default/3988381161583112593'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gta-contact-centre.blogspot.com/2011/06/welcome-to-gtacc-blog.html' title='Welcome to the GTACC Blog!'/><author><name>Sangeeta</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12602397585107648004</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>