Proctor Financial, Inc. Contact Center Achieves Its Third Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the Proctor Financial, Inc. Contact Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence for the third year in a row. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

The Proctor Financial, Inc. customer contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “The achievement of the Center of Excellence represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “It is the culmination of important initiatives that were undertaken to achieve sustainable service excellence.”

Click here to read more about their certification!  

Call Center Campus Week 2013

"Benchmark Portal's Call Center Symposium is an excellent event! The content shared covers tried-and-true as well as tried-and-failed solution discussion opportunities for problems unique to the contact center industry. The forum allows participants to network, share ideas, and walk away with immediately applicable actions they can take back to their teams to begin making positive impacts. It's always a pleasure to attend this event and meet with other contact center professionals who really "get" it!" -- Mindy Lamb Director, Call Operating Effectiveness Cigna

Quality Assurance & Coaching for Success - CallTalk Caramels: Sweet Snippets from BenchmarkPortal’s Best CallTalk Episodes

Quality monitoring programs often become fixated on QA forms; however, there are other necessary components that will assure you are getting the greatest value from your QA program, which is agent feedback and coaching. The coaching that happens in a call center is really what makes your Quality program effective. To create a truly effective Quality program, consider implementing some of the following ideas:

1. Forms are fundamental, but coaching is critical.  Both must be done really well.
2. Prepare coaching sessions so that they encourage two-way communication.  You need to allow agents to tell their side of the story and point to things they are proud of in their performance - - and identify areas they need to improve;
3. Be sure your coaches are really well trained in their function.  Consistency in the coaching function pays dividends.

Read ideas 4 -9 by visiting our website. Click the following link: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/news-articles/2013/10/quality-assurance-coaching-success-calltalk-caramels

BenchmarkPortal 2014 Top 100 Call Centers Contest Ends on January 31, 2014

BenchmarkPortal ranks the top call center operations in North America based on operational and financial metrics. Deadline to enter contest is January 31, 2014.

BenchmarkPortal a leading call center consulting services group, announces the 2014 Top 100 Call Center Contest entry deadline is January 31, 2014. Participants submit performance data on key operating metrics, using BenchmarkPortal’s 16-KPI call center benchmarking survey.

Completion of the survey not only grants entry in the contest but also provides a baseline from which to improve your operation and save your company money. Once the survey is completed and submitted, BenchmarkPortal will schedule a “readout with one of their certified experts, who will review the data and organize it in a personalized webcast. During the readout, the expert will explain how the report works and review performance gaps compared with others in the industry.” This unique benchmarking process allows managers to see how they compare to others in their industry sector. The key performance indicators “KPI’s” that will be collected are metrics such as abandonment rate, hold time and average call time.

This BenchmarkPortal contest can be a valuable tool for your organization. Benchmarking will provide companies with best practice standards and provide an opportunity for managers to show off all the hard work they’ve put into their call centers --, they can find out more on where they can improve the process.

Contestants must complete the survey by January 31, 2014. Winners will be broken down into three subdivisions for small (100 agents and under), medium (101-249 agents) and large call centers (250+ agents). The winners in each category will have the highest statistical values for efficiency and effectiveness. To pay for success celebrations for the winners, nine cash awards, ranging from $500 to $2000, will be given to the highest-ranking entrants in three categories of call centers. BenchmarkPortal will release the results of the contest by March 31, 2014.

Follow this link to read the rest of this news release:  http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/benchmarkportal-2014-top-100-call-centers-contest-en

LCEC Contact Center Achieves Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the LCEC Contact Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

The LCEC customer contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry.”   

Click Here to Continue Reading This Announcement: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/lcec-contact-center-achieves-certification-benchmark

Canon U.S.A. Achieves Its Fifth Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the Canon U.S.A. Customer Support Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence for the fifth year in a row. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization for their technical support center. “The achievement of the Center of Excellence represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “It is the culmination of important initiatives that were undertaken to achieve sustainable service excellence.”   

Continue Reading Here: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/canon-usa-achieves-its-fifth-certification-benchmark

WFM Analytics Demystified Session 2 of 2 - CallTalk Caramels: Sweet Snippets from BenchmarkPortal’s Best CallTalk Episodes

CallTalk is a monthly internet radio program featuring the most innovative managers and thought leaders in the customer contact field, interviewed by BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore.  “Caramels” distils “Aha!” moments from these interviews into practical, bite-sized nuggets to inform and assist you as a contact center professional. 
 

Recent developments on the customer side are focusing contact center management on multi-channel Workforce Optimization. While Boomers talk, Gen X/Millennial customers text.  The Millennial milieu is fast overwhelming the marketplace and thus our workplace as well.  The tough love message to contact center managers is that you need to be part of the social media effort in your company, and must be prepared to staff up to respond well to evolving customer needs.  Studies show that Millennial distrust institutions and corporations and trust each other, i.e. other individuals who provide information and opinions (and complaints!) via social media.  This is a major challenge for companies, since the communications and complaints are outside their control and open to the world.

Leading centers can meet these changing demands by (1) understanding the growing impact of social media upon business and how social media operates, (2) establish a presence on social media sites and encourage feedback about the company, its products, and services, (3) invest in speech and text analytics technologies that can scan social media sites, emails, and text messages to the company, to collect business intelligence (BI), evaluate and report on red-flag issues that can be followed-up by people, and (4), adjust labor management to meet the needs of fluctuating queues, not just shifts.
Voice and non-voice channel management and Workforce Optimization need to be integrated with the other processes of the center; this allows for proper forecasting and planning.

Finally, acquire technologies that not only surface problems, but surface solutions as well. Better WFM technologies can treat multiple centers as one virtual global entity and also give you drill down BI capacity for each individual center.

This CallTalk Caramel was compiled and edited by Bruce Belfiore and Kamal Webb.  It was drawn from a CallTalk episode with industry expert Bill Durr entitled “Workforce Management Optimization Analytics Demystified, Part II."  To listen to the entire episode click on this link: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/calltalk-online-radio-show/calltalk-archive/workforce-optimization-analytics-2.  We welcome your questions and comments at BruceBelfiore@BenchmarkPortal.com.

Mr. Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal, Harvard Alumni, Keynotes on Customer Engagement at the 5th Global Contact March 11th and 12th, 2014

Mr. Belfiore will share significant research, company data and metrics that highlight and outline the relationships between customer engagement and profits, to help business leaders make rational and effective decisions. Mr. Belfiore's talk will focus on the hard evidence and processes required to increase Customer Engagement effectiveness and improve Customer Experience and Loyalty. 

The 5th Global Contact Forum: The event is going into its 5th year as the #1 Latin American conference for customer engagement thought leaders. Attendees come from around to network, educate, inform, advocate and gain knowledge and experiences from other industry professionals. The ongoing focus is service, support, technology and customer and employee engagement. The theme for 2014 is the New Culture of Customer Engagement - Technology Enabling People & Connection. Last year's event attracted over 1840 attendees.

Management Certification in Downtown Scottsdale, AZ. Hosted by McKesson Specialty Health January 21-23, 2014

BenchmarkPortal's World Class Professional Certification courses are among the industry's highest rated programs for call center management and employees. Our courses have increased effectiveness and efficiency while at the same time reducing cost at organizations such as Verizon, Mercedes-Benz, Motorola, Hewlett Packard and GE.

The Management Certification workshop is composed of ten information-rich modules that include lecture, discussion and learning activity case studies that focus on practical problem solving and current best practices.

Our program is led by the industry's top-rated instructors, with over 150 years' combined experience. Be part of a true high-intensity learning experience which will bring out the best in you and your fellow attendees. You will return to your center with new best practice ideas...and the skills to turn them into reality!

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"The training was more than I expected. It was applicable to any call center, whether you have 4 people or 400. It brought home real life examples and experiences which definitely are designed to help support supervisory and management decisions. The training provided more than a cursory glance at topics like customer satisfaction, quality assurance, human resource management to name a few. The value of detail I got from the data analysis and reporting module opened my eyes to how to effectively utilize data generated from the center. Overall this experience provides you with an arsenal of information to guide you to be a better manager and challenges your creative process as you go through the normal paces of work. This was an eye opener, a true "WOW" learning experience. i am glad I was a part of this experience."  -- Inger Hainsley-Bennett, Customer Service Manager, Companies Office of Jamaica - July 2013

Bright Horizons Achieves Certification as a Call Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the Bright Horizons Contact Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

The customer contact center of Bright Horizons Family Solutions® has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “The achievement of the Center of Excellence represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “A contact center that seeks and achieves the Center of Excellence Certification from BenchmarkPortal demonstrates a noteworthy commitment to service excellence. The obvious beneficiaries of this commitment are the center’s employees and customers.”   

Click here to continue reading this news release: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/bright-horizons-achieves-certification-call-center-e