Outbound Call Center Featured Article

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week In Review

By David Sims
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Always a lot happening with outbound call centers, so let’s get to the important news of the past week:

TMC’s (News - Alert) Mandira Srivastava wrote that to enable an organization to use social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook (News - Alert), web forums and blogs to expand business, Aspect, a provider of customer contact and Microsoft platform tools, announced the availability of Aspect Social Media Channel Integration.

The product is designed to help businesses turn social media engagements into productive customer dialogues that create a positive experience and deliver significant business value.

The Aspect (News - Alert) product offers companies a way to manage their interactions with today's hyper-connected consumers who are increasingly relying on social media not only to communicate with peers but to seek answers about products and services.

TMC’s Shamila Janakiraman reported that Epic Marketplace, an integrated multichannel digital marketing provider via social media, mobile, display, and video channels, announced a partnership with RingRevenue, which specializes in call performance marketing.

This collaboration is expected to introduce phone-based marketing campaigns to Epic’s clients in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Don Mathis, president and CEO of Epic Marketplace said, “Our goal at Epic is to give our clients a comprehensive package that addresses all of their advertising needs. For many types of products and services, especially big-ticket items, consumers want to speak with someone live.”

It was revealed by a recent study, “Welcome To The Era of Agile Commerce” from Forrester Research (News - Alert) that consumers don’t interact with channels, they actually interact through touch points such as a brand’s Web site, the call center, mobile apps/sites, in-store, and social media. A vast majority of consumers are connected via a plethora of devices such as smart phones, tablets and wired computers.

Beecher Tuttle wrote that the economic downturn has forced most companies to reduce their operating expenses and refocus their priorities. For many, this transition involves spending more time and resources protecting their current client base, rather than investing in marketing initiatives to entice new customers.

In an effort to get a pulse on this industry, TMC CEO Rich Tehrani conducted an interview with Justin O’Brien, vice president of Sales and Marketing at CXM Recording and Quality Monitoring, a provider of the aforementioned technologies. It can be found at the link above.

The renewed focus on customer care has opened up new opportunities for providers of performance evaluation, employee coaching and client feedback tools, including call recording platforms, screen capture systems and dispute resolution technologies.

And TMC reported that The 9th Annual China Call Center Industry Forum and Best Chinese Customer Contact Center was held at Lijiang, Yunnan Province, and PCCW (News - Alert) Teleservices was recognized for industry best practices, customer service, and innovation.

Cathay Pacific Loyalty Programs’ Beijing Call Center, operated by PCCW Teleservices, was awarded both “Best China Call Center” and “Best China Call Center for Individual Customers” (2010-2011). This award is evaluated and selected by the China Federation of IT Promotion (CFIP), aiming to recognize the most outstanding call centers and customer care organizations.

 CFIP was established with government approval in 2002. It is a cross-industry and cross-department organization dedicated to information communication and IT promotion.

The enterprises and professional associations are part of the CFIP. This award ceremony was attended by prominent names in the BPO and IT industry.

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