October 31, 2014

Contact Center Economics 101: Nobel Prize for Economics - The Link Between Customer Contact and Economic Growth


Call Center Economics 101By Bruce BelfioreSenior Research Executive and CEO, BenchmarkPortal

Ok.  Here’s my bid for a Nobel.  One of the macro questions for the customer contact industry is: “Does a robust customer contact industry correlate with higher economic growth?”

The implications of this question are enormous.  If such a relationship can be shown to exist, then governments that want to foster economic growth should actively encourage the growth of the customer contact industry within their borders.

As we grow our database of contact center performance metrics here at BenchmarkPortal, we look forward to the day that we will have enough data to prove a correlation between the state of the contact center industry and GDP growth in countries throughout the world.  However, there are already circumstantial indications that this relationship exists, and governments would do well to consider their policies even now.

I note as well that contact centers represent clean, non-polluting operations that involve “knowledge worker” skills at a variety of levels.  Contact centers are often the first point of entry for workers who later are promoted into other parts of the enterprise - - but hopefully retain their appreciation for customer service and bring their experience with them as they advance professionally.

Estimates regarding the number of people who work in contact centers in advanced economies is astounding. It was estimated that about 3% of the working population in the United Kingdom is employed in contact centers, while the estimated percentage is over 3% in the United States and Canada.  These economies have been among the most resilient over the last 20 years, while advanced, G7 economies like Japan and Italy, which have much less robust customer contact sectors, have languished.

My hypothesis is that consumers the world over are more likely to trust and buy a product or service when:

Click here to continue reading this article: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/news-articles/2014/10/contact-center-economics-101-nobel-prize-economics-l

October 30, 2014

GE Capital Fleet Services Contact Center Achieves Its Fourth Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence


GE Capital Fleet Services, BenchmarkPortal Center of ExcellenceBenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the GE Capital Fleet Services Contact Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence for the fourth year. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

October 30, 2014 -- The GE Capital Fleet Services’ maintenance control 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 continue reading this news release: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2014/10/ge-capital-fleet-services-contact-center-achieves-it

October 29, 2014

EFG Companies Achieves Certification as a Center of Excellence


EFG Companies, BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the EFG 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.

10/28/2014 -- The EFG Companies customer claims and administration group 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 news release: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2014/10/efg-companies-achieves-certification-center-excellen

October 28, 2014

You're Invited To Participate In Our Quality Assurance Survey.

BenchmarkPortal is reaching out to gather data about your center's Quality Assurance Program. Participants will receive a summary report of data compliments of BenchmarkPortal.
 
The goal of our QA efforts is to provide effective coaching that has a short term impact and long term improvement in our agent’s performance and our customer’s/caller’s experience. 

In this survey, we will be asking you what tools you are using, how many and which persons are involved in the Quality Evaluation process and more helpful information for you to practice continuous improvement in your Quality Evaluation Program. 

Click on the link below to start the Survey now:
http://benchmarkportal.qa-oms.sgizmo.com/s3/

BenchmarkPortal appreciates your time and effort in contributing valuable data to our research.

Note* Responses are anonymous, and will only be reported by average. We're gathering this information for statistical purposes only. The data will not be used to identify you personally, or your Company, in any way.

Sincerely,

Bruce Belfiore
CEO, Senior Research Executive
BenchmarkPortal

October 23, 2014

Bright Horizons Family Solutions® Contact Center Achieves its Fourth Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence


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

October 17, 2014 -- The Bright Horizons Family Solutions 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 news release: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2014/10/bright-horizons-family-solutions-contact-center-ach

Call Center Campus Week There Is Still Time To Register! Las Vegas, NV at the Planet Hollywood Hotel November 10-14, 2014


Call Center Campus Week in Las Vegas - 4th Annual 

There Is Still Time To Register! Lodging & Classroom Seats Available.

Join Us For a Unique
Week of Learning.

Pre-Symposium Certification Workshops

- Lodging is Included
- Complimentary Access to 2-Day Symposium
- Complimentary Access to Welcome/Networking Reception
- Networking Breakfasts

2-Day Symposium

Symposium
November 13-14, 2014
“Imagine Excellence”
People, Technology, Connections - From Today to Your Tomorrow
- Lodging is Included
- Guest Speakers
- Breakout Learning Sessions
- “Hot Topic” Roundtable Discussions
- Welcome/Networking Reception
- Networking Breakfasts
  • Opening Keynote Presented by Prof. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University, Consumer Sciences and Retailing.
     
  • Customer Centric Culture
     
  • Net Promoter Score and Customer Effort
     
  • Imagining a Healthier Call Center: Lessons From The Industry's Biggest Loser
     
  • Stretching and Fitness in The Call Center
     
  • Transforming Training Approaches - Getting Better Business Results
     
  • 2-Days of Roundtable Discussions!
     
  • Your Centers Customer Satisfaction Challenges & Resolutions
     
  • and more...
Call Center Campus Week in Las Vegas

October 17, 2014

Call Center Law

Listen now on demand to our latest CallTalk Show on Call Center Law. Adam Losey, Esq., an attorney with Foley & Lardner, will share tips on monitoring communications as well as other legal issues important to contact centers. As privacy counsel for call centers, Adam works with client-side management to develop and implement policies governing monitoring and recording of telephone calls and electronic communications, as well as data management issues associated with call recordings and electronically stored information.

Guest Host: Adam Losey, Attorney, Foley & Lardner LLP

Adam Losey is an internationally recognized attorney, author, and educator in the field of technology law. He represents a number of Fortune 100 companies in high-stakes complex litigations across the country involving challenging issues at the intersection of law and technology. In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Losey routinely advises clients large and small on a variety of sophisticated information security, incident response, privacy, electronic discovery, and data management matters. Mr. Losey is a member of the New York, Florida, and District of Columbia bars.

Click here to listen to the show: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/calltalk-online-radio-show/5/9/call-center-law

Contact Center Training Survey


Call Center Survey BenchmarkPortal wants to know about your needs in contact center training. Please complete this short, 8-question survey so that we can provide you the high-quality courseware you require.
Questions cover all levels (managers, supervisors, agents) and all delivery methods (in-person, live on-line, on-demand). 

Click on the link below to start the Survey now:
http://benchmarkportal.ccce.sgizmo.com/s3/
We thank you very much for your input!!

October 6, 2014

IVR Design Lessons From the Fortune 500

We recently participated in an interview with Software Advice...They called 50 Fortune 500 customer service numbers to gather metrics that will help you to improve your IVR system, and spoke to us about best practices for menu design. Read the article here: http://www.softwareadvice.com/voip/industryview/ivr-design-tips-report-2014/

October 2, 2014




Yummy Cupcakes for a well deserving Center of Excellence Achievement for Lincoln Financial Group- Individual Annuity Operations (Partner Solutions Life Customer Care Center)! How does your center celebrate? Send us your photos.