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Outbound Call Center

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Outbound Call Center Article Archive

NY State Outsourcing Bill Pits Call Center Workers against Telecoms
Telecoms might want to move their call centers overseas to save money, but a new bill working its way through the New York state legislature might make it difficult from them to do so, according to the Times-Union.
6/19/2013

LexisNexis Releases Mobile CRM Tool for Law Firms
LexisNexis Legal & Professional has launched a secure mobile solution for accessing the customer relationship management (CRM) tool for law firms.
6/19/2013

Five9 Empowers Contact Center Supervisors to Go Mobile
As reported last week, Five9 recently revealed its latest release of its cloud contact center software. One of the flagship highlights of the release is the new Five9 mobile supervisor app for the iPad.
6/19/2013

FurstPerson Wins 2013 Call Center Excellence Awards
FurstPerson recently won the 2013 Call Center Excellence Awards in the Best Technology Solutions Provider category.
6/19/2013

HP selects Avaya Collaborative Cloud solutions
Recently, Avaya announced that HP is using Avaya Collaborative Cloud the new HP Customer Engagement as a Service (CEaaS). The solution is helping HP to evolve and augment their clients' customer service operations and ensuring greater interoperability across vendors, domains and protocols for the them.
6/18/2013

Web Callback Keeps Customer Relationships Intact, Even During Peak Call Volume
In a perfect world, everyone would be happy and fit, golf games would always be perfect, children would always be well behaved and call centers would always pick up customer phone calls on the first ring. We don't live in a fantasy world, however, so most of these wishes are unlikely to come true.
6/18/2013

Time Warner Requested To Launch Call Center in Buffalo
Time Warner Cable has been requested by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and state Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo to launch a call center in Buffalo. The regional call center is expected to introduce several hundred employment prospects.
6/18/2013

Food Delivery in the Cloud: GrubHub Transforms its Contact Center with Five9
When Todd Provino was approached by GrubHub co-founders Mike Evans and Matt Maloney to reform the company's aging call center platform, he knew he was in for a serious challenge. Tasked with "building a world class service organization," the now vice president of customer service looked to Five9's hosted contact center solutions to keep the popular food-ordering platform growing strong.
6/18/2013

VAI, Riva Unveil Incorporated ERP, CRM for Midmarket
Vormittag Associates Inc. or VAI in association with Riva CRM Integration has unveiled a completely incorporated S2K enterprise resource planning or ERP and customer relationship management or CRM offering. The latest product, which merges VAI's S2K ERP software and Riva's CRM integration platform, will offer midmarket customers swifter access to very important business information.
6/17/2013

engajer Video Platform Incorporates with Major CRM Software
The Internet-enabled interactive video platform, engajer, has now been incorporated with Salesforce.com. The platform has also been incorporated with quite a few CRM platforms like SugarCRM, Zoho CRM, and PipelineDeals. engajer has been altering the manner in which organizations engage with current and potential customers.
6/17/2013

Research and Markets Release Report on How to Enhance Customer Service via Social Media
Research and Markets recently published a study report entitled "Social Media Customer Service/Contact Center Product and Best Practices Report."
6/17/2013

QuickBooks CRM Integration Now Available for QuickBooks Canadian Edition
Faye Business Systems Group (FayeBSG), the developer of SugarCRM QuickBooks integration, announced that QuickBooks CRM integration is now compatible with the 2012 and 2013 Canadian versions of QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise.
6/17/2013

CreditDonkey.com: Consumers Prefer Small Businesses for Customer Service
A new survey conducted by credit card comparison and financial education site CreditDonkey.com reveals that most U.S. consumers are more satisfied with the efforts of small businesses than those of big companies.
6/17/2013

U.S. Solutions Group Expands its Call Center Operations, Creates New Jobs
U.S. Solutions Group, Inc., a company that provides custom complex integrated call center-based solutions for its clients, has announced its plans to expand its call center operations on West State Street, Sullivan County.
6/17/2013

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Here's the end of the week wrap-up for this week's relevant news in the outbound call center market.
6/15/2013

Five9 Reveals Latest Release of Its Cloud Contact Center Software
Five9, a provider of hosted contact center solutions and on-demand call center software, recently announced the latest release of its cloud contact center software. The release comes on the heels of Five9's recognition as an AlwaysOn OnDemand Top 100 winner.
6/14/2013

MTC Releases 3 New Microsoft Dynamics Enhancements
Further expanding its offering, MTC has come up with three new products: Email Signature, Email-to-Case and CRM Photo. The three gap-fill solutions will add to the Microsoft Dynamic experience, its maker said in a statement.
6/13/2013

FolderWave Presents New Cloud-based CRM Module
FolderWave, Inc., a provider of cloud-based products and services designed to substantially improve operational aspects of higher education, has updated its comprehensive CRM product suite with the introduction of a stand- alone, cloud-based CRM Module.
6/13/2013

Call Center Outsourcing Not Up to Snuff, Says Tanfeeth CEO
According to Suhail Bin Tarraf, the CEO of Tanfeeth, a shared services provider in the Middle East, outsourcing call center operations to providers that specialize in such a task has become something very common yet troublesome because of the disparity between what clients expect and what they actually get out of these services.
6/13/2013

Maximus Health Services Wins $12M Contract from HHC
The Hawaii Health Connector (HHC), an online health insurance marketplace, has recently inked a new partnership agreement with Maximus Health Services for the development, implementation and management, including support services, of Connector's customer service contact center.
6/12/2013

Five9 Recognized as AlwaysOn OnDemand Top 100 Winner for Its Cloud Contact Center Software
Provider of cloud contact center software Five9 was recently selected by AlwaysOn as an OnDemand Top 100 winner. Specifically, the company's cloud contact center software was honored for cloud innovation, rapid market growth and increased awareness.
6/12/2013

Insurance companies Find New Tech Useful for Higher Performing Lead Generation
A new whitepaper on the titled, "Better Lead Generation Without the Form: Why the Insurance Industry is Turning to Call Marketing Automation," has just been released by RingRevenue, a company in inbound call marketing technology.
6/11/2013

ClickSquared Included in Gartner's 'Niche' Quadrant of the MCCM Magic Quadrant
Gartner recently named campaign management solutions provider ClickSquared as a "Niche" Quadrant in the 2013 "Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Campaign Management."
6/11/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
The Outbound Call Center space saw some interesting developments over the past week. Industry pronouncements and new product releases have peppered the community over the past seven days.
6/8/2013

Enghouse Interactive's Communications Portal v9.0 Offer Improved Performance
In order to provide organizations with dynamic and flexible automated voice solutions that improve customer engagement, Enghouse Interactive has released Communications Portal v9.0 (formerly Syntellect Communications Portal / Envox Communications Development Platform). This Communications Portal v9.0 is an IVR platform that boosts customer self-service experience and offers new features and improved performance and density to enable organizations to better serve their customers and reduce the overall cost of delivering an exceptional customer experience.
6/7/2013

GrubHub to Discuss Contact Center Success Using Five9
In response to rapid technological advancement, companies have been racing to leverage cloud-based call center technology to enhance their customer service operations. Hosted contact centers allow organizations to reduce infrastructure costs while gaining powerful workforce management, call accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), interactive voice response (IVR), automatic call distribution (ACD) and reporting capabilities. Transitioning from a legacy, on-site solution to an advanced, blended cloud solution can transform a contact center into a multi-touch customer engagement center of excellence.
6/7/2013

Stor-All Storage Completes Renovation of Its Self-Storage Contact Center
Stor-All Storage, a fully integrated self-storage company, reportedly completed the renovation of its 500 square feet contact center located at the company's headquarters in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
6/6/2013

JJC Adds TCCS Certification Programs to Training Portfolio
Jebsen & Jessen Communications (JJC) has unveiled an enhanced training portfolio for contact center professionals in association with The Call Center School (TCCS), a well-known provider of contact centre knowledge. The improved training portfolio was launched at the Contact Centre Knowledge Sharing and Networking event, held at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
6/5/2013

New Robocalling Scam Targets Seniors for 'Free' Medical Alert Devices
It's bad enough that you can't stop the calls from "Sheila from Card Services," or the ominous voice that warns you that there have been "break-ins in your area" and offer to sell you a security system. Some outbound automated telemarketing ("robocalling") scammers have been targeting senior citizens with a fraudulent scheme to offer free or low-cost medical alert devices.
6/5/2013

Avaya Launches Avaya Outbound Contact Express
Avaya has unveiled Outbound Contact Express especially for mid-sized contact centers. This latest solution simplifies acceptance, deployment and administration of all-inclusive outbound customer communications, and the fixed-price solution is made up of the mandatory hardware, software and support services required for affordable, practical customer experience functioning.
6/5/2013

JangoMail Announces Opening of New Call Center
JangoMail, a trendsetting major player in permission-based email marketing, has opened a new call center.
6/5/2013

Kyocera's Solar Power Products and Customer Service Wins TUV Service Tested Certificate
Kyocera Fineceramics GmbH is helping companies to manage energy usage efficiently. Recently, the company has also won accolades for its outstanding solar power-related customer service and product quality.
6/5/2013

Phone.com Switches to SoCoCare's Social CIM for Customer Care
Seeking to improve customer support through social media channels, Phone.com has recently adopted SoCoCare's Social CIM as their company-wide social care solution.
6/4/2013

Optus Chief Says Customer Service in Australia Should Improve
It's no secret that the customer service offered by many technology giants is nothing special. The customer experience at these companies leave a lot to be desired and it also leaves behind lots of unhappy customers. The service needs to improve and steps need to be taken, fast.
6/4/2013

CafePress to Add 50 Jobs and Bring Customer Service Department in House
Job seekers in Southwest Louisville will soon have more jobs to choose from. CafePress Inc., has announced that the company is planning to add 50 jobs to its headquarters at Jefferson Riverport International in southwest Louisville. In fact, the company has already appointed 43 workers for the call center.
6/4/2013

LiveOps, Drumbi Announce Availability of Drumbi SmartIVR
LiveOps, a provider of cloud contact center and customer service solutions, and Drumbi, a provider of visual IVR and mobile customer experience technology, stated that the newly launched Drumbi SmartIVR is loaded with all the necessary features to complement the LiveOps multichannel, cloud contact center platform.
6/3/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week, the outbound call center space saw a mixture of good, bad, and insightful news.
6/1/2013

New Survey Shows Banks Slow To Adopt Digital Marketing Strategies
The Information Technology, consulting and outsourcing company Wipro and the global non-profit organization Efma have gathered data from 3,300 retail financial services companies from 130 countries. The survey pretty much confirms what we already knew, that targeted online banking marketing is lacking.
5/31/2013

AT&T Announces Hiring More Than 250 In Mississippi
The U.S. government has been desperately trying in recent years to improve the job situation in the country. Various job fairs have been held and efforts are still being made to help companies create new employment opportunities.
5/31/2013

CRTC Issues Fines for Robocalls
Technology makes it possible to call thousands of people at the same time for marketing campaign, charities asking for donations, and political candidates running for office. Robocalls are used to make a large number of calls using pre-recorded messages at a very low cost. Businesses as well as other organizations are basically playing a game of averages as they will eventually find an interested party.
5/31/2013

Brand Custodians- 'Communicate Simply but Impactfully' Says Magellan
The power of the Web as a tool for brand building is becoming more important as contact centers try to differentiate services by veering away from providing solutions that are broad and generic. This is exactly what Magellan Solutions Outsourcing, the fast-growing Philippine-based inbound call center is aiming at by re-launching its brand website.
5/31/2013

Time Warner Cable Adjusts Service Appointment Schedules for Customers
New York City's Time Warner Cable is looking to change the way its customers feel about customer service and erase the blemish cable providers have when it comes to handling customer complaints. The company has announced a new one-hour appointment window through late night on weekdays and expanded appointments on weekends, tripling the number of service appointments made on Saturday and Sunday.
5/31/2013

Fonolo Simplifies Booking Process for Thomas Cook
Fonolo, the provider of cloud-based call-back software for the call center has been added to the Cruise Thomas Cook website.
5/31/2013

OpsTel Services Enters into Partnership with Network Automation
OpsTel Services, a company that offers contact center operations management solutions, has entered into partnership with Network Automation, IT and business process automation software provider, to reveal a comprehensive solution for contact center environments.
5/31/2013

India Updates Its Unwanted Telemarketing Regulations
While the U.S. fights the scourge of fraudulent telemarketing and unwanted robocalls that violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), consumers and regulatory bodies in India are doing the same. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently issued changes to its "Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations," creating the Twelfth Amendment to the document.
5/31/2013

Avoiding Thunder Storms With Five9
When it comes to the contact center, storms are sometimes unavoidable. Dealing with customers comes with a unique set of challenges that contact center managers need to address, however, the inevitable storm shouldn't be within the contact center solution itself.
5/31/2013

Dial America Announces 170 Call Center Jobs in Indianapolis
New Jersey-based company Dial America, which offers third-party call center services, has announced that it will be hiring 170 workers for its new Indianapolis call center, located on the northwest side of the city. According to their job posting, both entry-level agents and experienced agents are welcome to apply. Dial America promises such benefits to potential workers as flexible schedules, "competitive" compensation, and "amazing growth opportunities."
5/30/2013

TeleWare Unveils 'SMS Call Back' to Enhance Customer Service
Recently, TeleWare debuted its new SMS Call Back feature for customers using its inbound call management software. The company is highlighted as a U.K- based supplier of software for communications solutions for the mobile business.
5/30/2013

Five9 Secures Additional $34.5 Million in Funding
Cloud contact center software provider Five9 revealed today, May 29, 2013, that it has raised $34.5 million in private funding from SAP Ventures, an independent venture capital firm that invests in innovative and disruptive software and services companies globally.
5/29/2013

Australia Call Center Employees Penalized for Staying in the Bathroom Too Long
Aegis Australia, a former 2011 AON Best Employer, caught flak this week for penalizing employees who took bathroom breaks lasting longer than 90 seconds. At its call center in Werribee, Victoria, Aegis records an employee's absence from his or her desk using its electronic time and attendance system.
5/29/2013

FCC: Companies Liable if Third-Party Marketers Break TCPA Telemarketing Rules
If you're a marketer that hires a third party to do marketing - specifically telemarketing - on your behalf, and that third party breaks the law, it's their problem and not yours, right? Not so, according to a recent ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
5/28/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week in the Outbound Call Center space, we saw Vermont contract out its Health Connect customer support center, Comarch implement Sales Support Portal at UNIQA Group, and IBM's Watson get a job as a call center agent.
5/25/2013

iPhonik to Open Sri Lanka Contact Center for Asian Alliance Insurance
iPhonik has signed a deal to open a contact center in Sri Lanka for Asian Alliance Insurance (AAI), which will now employ local Sri Lankan agents.
5/23/2013

Comarch to Implement Sales Support Portal at UNIQA
Comarch and UNIQA Group in Poland have signed a deal for the implementation of a new extended version of Sales Support Portal. Designed for UNIQA insurance agents and contact center consultants, this Internet platform is set to boost insurance sales support and after-sales services of UNIQA customers.
5/23/2013

How Not To Lose Your Customers to the Menu
Call center menus, from the caller's perspective, are about as fun as sitting through a root canal. Often times, menus are quite lengthy, so much so that callers in many cases don't even bother going through the process and just hang up. Some customers just press "0" until the system finally routes them to an agent, and if they're particularly lucky, their hold time will only be a short twenty minutes. It is these frustrations that spurred pleasepress1.com, an ongoing project from one man who simply hated call center menus.
5/23/2013

Noble Systems Integrates Web Services with Customer Contact Programs
Noble Systems Corporation has unveiled the Noble Web Interfacing Service or WISE, offering versatility to multichannel customer contact programs. Noble facilitates data exchange between applications with the help of web services. Apart from enhancing customer experience, the use of Web services accelerates response times to customer contacts. Online sales organizations will also experience enhanced "Speed to Lead".
5/22/2013

IBM's Watson Joins the Call Center Workforce
On May 21st,IBM revealed the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor, a cognitive computing technology designed to improve the customer service experience in the call center. Watson has been repurposed to deliver fast, evidence-based answers to customer questions using sophisticated natural language processing and access to a vast repository of data.
5/22/2013

SupportSeven Brings More Call Center Jobs to the Chattanooga Community with Expansion of Its Facility
One of only 19 call centers in the U.S. with American Teleservices Associations Self-Regulatory Organization (ATA-SRO) accreditation, SupportSeven has always put its best efforts to exceed industry best practices. This has earned this Chattanooga call center an impressive clientele in the ministries, nonprofits, and the financial and insurance sectors. In order to be able to better meet the demands of existing clients and also to support new business growth in the upcoming months, SupportSeven decided to upgrade its call center facility located in the Midtown area of Chattanooga. The upgrade included an expansion as well as renovation of the center.
5/22/2013

Why 'Rachel from Card Services' Still Calls You Even Though You're on the Do-Not-Call List
There are a lot of misunderstandings about how do-not-call lists, both federal and state, work. It's not uncommon to hear people complaining they are still getting calls, both live calls and "robocalls," despite being on these lists. The truth of the matter is that many people are exempt from do-not call lists, including charities, politicians and research/survey companies. So while that aluminum siding contractor may no longer be able to call you, it's likely you'll still be fielding more than a few unwanted calls.
5/22/2013

Survey: Two-thirds of Agencies Employ Branded Content Marketing to Fuel Sales
Branded content, a relatively new form of advertising medium, has taken the advertising world by storm. An increasing number of brands and advertising agencies are utilizing this medium to deliver their marketing messages. The findings of the recent survey by MailOnline reiterated the trend.
5/21/2013

Vermont Contracts MAXIMUS to Operate Its Health Connect Customer Support Center
The Vermont Health Connect was launched recently to act as a marketplace where individuals, families and small businesses in Vermont can compare public and private health plans and select one that fits their needs and budget. Now the State of Vermont reportedly contracted MAXIMUS, a provider of government services, to run the customer support center of Vermont Health Connect.
5/21/2013

Security in the Hosted Contact Center
A recent post on Five9's new blog notes that security is a fast growing topic of discussion in the hosted contact center space, and rightly so. As the volume of malicious cyber attacks rises, securing your data in the cloud becomes an even greater concern. What assurances can hosted contact center providers offer to make sure that critical personal and financial information is kept safe?
5/21/2013

Oregon AG Charges Arizona-based Companies with Selling Fraudulent Home Telemarketing Opportunities
While fraudulent telemarketing schemes bilk Americans out of millions of dollars each year, some of those schemes go even further: they induce Americans to buy equipment to ostensibly set up their own outbound telemarketing businesses without delivering the business part of the promise.
5/20/2013

Leveraging Speech in the Call Center to Create Customer Delight
When speech technology first debuted in the contact center, it was fairly wondrous: there was no longer a need to "press one" and "press two" to route your call. Callers could simply use their voices, which is the most natural of human interaction modes.
5/20/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's the weekend, so it's time for a wrap-up of all things outbound in the call center industry.
5/18/2013

SAS Customer Intelligence Helps Home Credit Bank Enhance Targeted Marketing Campaigns
Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd, one of the largest branch banking networks in Russia, has revealed that by employing SAS Customer Intelligence it was able to improve its targeted marketing campaigns and realize a better return on investment and a healthier bottom line.
5/17/2013

SAS Enables CUNA Mutual Group to Revamp Customer Contact Strategy
CUNA Mutual Group, a provider of insurance, retirement and investment products, and TruStage Agency reportedly revamped their customer contact strategy by leveraging predictive models built using SAS Software.
5/17/2013

UsefulTools' Innovative Platform Expected to Convert Calls into Showroom Sales for Auto Dealers
According to automotive industry estimates, auto dealers rely heavily on inbound calls -- the calls made by prospects to a company's call center -- for lead generation and converting the leads into sales. But operating a full-scale contact center for this purpose often proves to be too expensive for most of the auto dealers. UsefulTools, a Miami-based startup, has come up with a solution. The company recently launched its "on-demand" call answering service, designed to address auto dealers' need for on-demand call agents.
5/17/2013

Need Cloud Contact Center Guidance? Look to Five9's New Blog
Are you interested in the call center on demand concept but don't know what's involved in making the transition to the cloud? Are you seeking guidance for your hosted contact center but don't want to sift through sales-based materials? Considering call center software, but don't know how to compare one patform to the other? Foretunately, Five9 just launched a new blog, and you're likely to find the answers you need by clicking through.
5/15/2013

FTC Stings CallFire with Fines and Punishment for Illegal Robocalling
Automated outbound calling, or "robocalling," has found a place in customer or citizen outreach. It's a great way to remind patients of appointments, inform the parents of school children about weather delays and prompt patients to refill prescriptions. Unfortunately, it has also found a use by criminals and villains. There are probably few Americans at this point who haven't received unsolicited robocalls to home or mobile phones from "Cardholder Services," or calls informing them of "break-ins in your area" and purporting to sell security systems.
5/14/2013

Promero Unveils Innovative Social Media Filtering ACD Solution
Promero has unveiled an innovative social media listener, Aspect Social. The social media listener is capable of prioritizing, categorizing and routing social media postings. Call center agents using any call center platform ACD system will find the cloud based software ideal.
5/14/2013

American Support and Five9 to Discuss Benefits of a Cloud Contact Center
More and more contact centers are making the switch from legacy call center software and equipment to hosted solutions that are provided and maintained over the cloud. Call center Software-as-a-Service offerings reduce infrastructure maintenance costs, allow for flexible agent staffing and are quick to deploy.
5/13/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's time once again to wrap up the week in the outbound call center space.
5/11/2013

Integration of Intelliverse's ACD and Cincom's Synchrony Intelligent Agent Desktop Announced
Intelliverse, a global player in cloud applications, and Cincom Systems, a worldwide software provider of customer experience management (CEM) solutions, have partnered to provide cloud-based, multi-channel contact center solution.
5/10/2013

Mayo Medical Laboratories Customer Contact Center Gets Certified as a Center of Excellence
BenchmarkPortal's call center certification process assesses the efficiency of a call center based on a number of criteria including: first call resolution, cost per call, call waiting time, customer satisfaction, agent satisfaction and utilization of human resources. One of the latest call centers to achieve the Certification as a Center of Excellence from BenchmarkPortal is the Mayo Medical Laboratories customer contact center.
5/9/2013

Hospitality Industry Staff's Efficiency Convinced GreatCall to Make Reno Move
TMCnet recently reported how San Diego-based wireless self services and safety services provider GreatCall Inc. sent ripples through Nevada's job market with the announcement of opening a new call center in Reno, creating as many as 400 new jobs over the next five years. But what led the company to choose Reno to open their new call center facility?
5/9/2013

Ohio University Expands Call Center for Online Degree Programs
Ohio University has completed the successful trial run for the Student Success Center, a call center for online degree programs.
5/9/2013

Sitel Recruits for Albuquerque Customer Care Call Center
Sitel is currently recruiting associates to fill 200 full-time positions and 150 temporary positions for its customer care call center in Albuquerque, NM.
5/9/2013

nizeX Opens New Contact Center to Support Powersports Dealers
nizeX, Inc. has been producing software products in a number of different industries for over 17 years, and its customer relationship management module, Lizz, has been instrumental in helping businesses accomplish astounding growth.
5/6/2013

The Best Way to Be Heard is Still Telephony
There are plenty of ways to complain, and people tend to use all of them. Social media, e-mail, word of mouth and telephone are all viable options, but which one results in the fastest or best feedback? According to ContactBabel, the answer is still telephony.
5/6/2013

General Dynamics, DHHS Relationship to Be Enhanced
Recently, U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes revealed a contact renewal that sent ripples through Chesterfield County's job market. Stating the that U.S. Department of Health & Human Services had renewed its center operation contract with General Dynamics Information Technology's Chesterfield County call center, the move requires the call center to jump into an expansion spree with new hires and even facility extensions.
5/6/2013

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Before we begin the weekend, it's time to take a look at the week's events in the outbound call center marketplace.
5/4/2013

Call Centers Continue Career Creation
Five hundred jobs are being created in Chattanooga, Tennessee thanks to an expansion in employment at a Convergys Corp. call center. The new jobs will cover inbound sales and customer service calls and according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press bring company employment in the municipality to about 1300 by the middle of the summer.
5/3/2013

HP Announces New Services to Help Clients Enhance Customer Interactions
In order to encourage customer participation and assist companies with creating a distinct and winning personality, HP Enterprise services has announced new services specifically designed to enable organizations to break free from legacy contact center technology and bring new multichannel customer experience capabilities to customers quickly and cost-effectively.
5/3/2013

White House Recognizes Convergys for Veterans Job Opportunities
Recently, the company's contributions toward the veteran community were recognized at a White House ceremony, designed to honor the organizations that have exemplified the goals of Joining Forces, a comprehensive national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.
5/3/2013

GreatCall Celebrates Increased Demand with New Nevada Facility
GreatCall, Inc., a provider of wireless health and safety services for aging consumers and their families, appears to have carved a niche for itself through its simplified, personalized, humanized and committed approach to providing high-quality customer service experience.
5/1/2013

Albeit a Dull Economy, Maestro Personal Assistants Posts New Growth
With the country is in the throes of fiscal woes, some companies are managing to post growth, even during this sluggish period. Maestro Personal Assistants, a provider of high-impact marketing and loyalty programs, is one of these companies.
5/1/2013

Zealous Sees High Agent Productivity and Reduced Downtime with AMEYO
Drishti offers communications solutions that empower enterprises and contact centers while its flagship product AMEYO adds value to the businesses and paves the way for structured growth. That's why Zealous call center services Pvt. Ltd chose AMEYO to get a complete CIM solution.
5/1/2013

8x8 Releases New Version of Virtual Contact Center
Provider of cloud-based communications and computing solutions 8x8 has released Virtual Contact Center 7.1, an upgraded version of its hosted call center software service.
4/30/2013

Frost & Sullivan 2012 EMEA Inbound Contact Center Routing Systems Market Share Leadership Award for Avaya
Avaya, a global provider of business communications and collaboration systems and services, has earned Frost & Sullivan 2012 EMEA Inbound Contact Centre Routing Systems Market Share Leadership Award.
4/29/2013

Power Dialer: Five9 Gives Muscle to DirectBuy San Diego's Outbound Calling
DirectBuy was founded in 1971 to offer consumers a different, less expensive way to buy home products and services. Based in Merrillville, Ind., the company has 160 showrooms across the U.S. and Canada. Members pay a fee to join, which allows them to buy merchandise directly from 700 manufacturers and suppliers while avoiding the price markups typically charged by retailers. Products include home furnishings, home improvement items, outdoor furnishings, flooring, and other accessories.
4/29/2013

Five9 Reports Successful Start to 2013
Cloud contact center solutions provider Five9 reported a successful first quarter to start off 2013. In fact, the company now boasts over 1,800 clients and three billion contact center interactions annually.
4/29/2013

Five9 to Present on Best Practices for Blending Call Center Transactions in the Era of Social Media
In the age of constant social connectivity, businesses must stay nimble to keep and attract the best customers. Social media and the rise of smart phone technology have created a world of instant communication, and call centers must be ready to take advantage of these technologies.
4/29/2013

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It was announced earlier this week that Sonic Innovations, a company specializing in developing and supplying hearing devices, has implemented a customized retail and call center system from Applied Business Technology (ABT). The retail system is linked to Sonic's Pronto Xi ERP system, and is designed to streamline processes in Sonics inventory, manufacturing, accounting, purchasing and sales order entry modules. The result is greater ease of use for Sonic's employees and overall cost savings for Sonic Innovations.
4/27/2013

1-800 We Answer Call Center Takes Over TMR Inc. Market Research Group
Call center services provider 1-800 We Answer, Inc., has announced the acquisition of market research group TMR Inc., a specialist in the field of telephone interviewing and consumer, industrial and medical data collection and analysis.
4/25/2013

Call Center Telecommuting: Yes or No?
It's simple. Employee retention hinges on employee happiness. For the call center, this simple point is an important one. Call center turnover is a prevailing problem in the industry today, and businesses are striving to come up with creative ways to attract and retain the best talent possible.
4/25/2013

N.Y. Call Center to Close after Farmers Acquisition of 21st Century
Farmers Insurance Group announced Friday that it would close a call center in Vestal, N.Y., effective March 2014. The center was originally a 21st Century Insurance facility and employed 225 people.
4/24/2013

Nevahold Campaign Puts Pressure on Barclay's Bank to Resolve Customer Service Complaint
Some companies use crowd-sourcing to solve problems: witness the recent efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to find a workable way to cut out fraudulent or annoying robocalls through a crowd-sourced "robocall challenge."
4/22/2013

AnswerNow Introduces New Website Focused on Creating Better User Experience
AnswerNow, a premier provider of call center solutions to hundreds of businesses across a multitude of industries, unveiled a new website to improve functionality, navigation, search capabilities and social media connections.
4/22/2013

Nationwide Building Society, a TSYS Client is among Top 25 Percent Financial Services Contact Centers For 2012
TSYS announced that Europe's leading bespoke contact centre benchmarking survey, Bright Index has named one of its clients, Nationwide Building Society to be among the top 25 percent financial services contact centers in Europe for 2012.
4/22/2013

Contegix Reports Unprecedented Development in Q12013
Contegix has reported unprecedented progress in the first quarter of 2013. As compared to the first quarter of 2012, the cloud computing, colocation and managed hosting organization has reported a cent percent boost in terms of new customers. The organization has also had a 88 percent rise in new accounts for the fourth quarter of 2012. The reported development is mainly due to Contegix's investments in sales and marketing along with their unrelenting dedication to customers across the country.
4/22/2013

EA Reportedly Laying Off Ireland Customer Service Employees
Electronic Arts has had a pretty bad 2013 so far, and it appears that things are continuing to head downhill. Reports say that the company is quietly trying to cut down staff around the globe. The latest layoffs appear to be occurring at a customer service center in Ireland. Surprisingly, not long ago, EA was touting its success by pointing to this exact call center.
4/22/2013

Everbridge, Delco Security Partner to Provide Mass Notification and Interactive Communications
Everbridge, a provider of interactive communication and mass notification solutions, has joined hands with Delco Security, a security solutions integrator in Canada. This partnership brings mass notification and two-way interactive communications capabilities to Delco's customer base.
4/22/2013

Sonic Innovations Implements Customized Retail and Call Center System through ABT
Applied Business Technology (ABT), a provider of professional IT services and leading distributor of Pronto Xi software in Australia, announced it has implemented a customized retail and call center system for Sonic Innovations, a company specializing in developing and supplying hearing devices. The retail system is linked to Sonic's Pronto Xi ERP system. It is designed to streamline processes and provide cost savings to Sonic Innovations.
4/22/2013

Sonic Innovations Implements Customized Retail and Call Center System through ABT
Applied Business Technology (ABT), a provider of professional IT services and leading distributor of Pronto Xi software in Australia, announced it has implemented a customized retail and call center system for Sonic Innovations, a company specializing in developing and supplying hearing devices. The retail system is linked to Sonic''s Pronto Xi ERP system. It is designed to streamline processes and provide cost savings to Sonic Innovations.
4/22/2013

Sonic Innovations Implements Customized Retail and Call Center System through ABT
Applied Business Technology (ABT), a provider of professional IT services and leading distributor of Pronto Xi software in Australia, announced it has implemented a customized retail and call center system for Sonic Innovations, a company specializing in developing and supplying hearing devices. The retail system is linked to Sonic's Pronto Xi ERP system. It is designed to streamline processes and provide cost savings to Sonic Innovations.
4/22/2013

Sonic Innovations Implements Customized Retail and Call Center System through ABT
Applied Business Technology (ABT), a provider of professional IT services and leading distributor of Pronto Xi software in Australia, announced it has implemented a customized retail and call center system for Sonic Innovations, a company specializing in developing and supplying hearing devices. The retail system is linked to Sonic's Pronto Xi ERP system. It is designed to streamline processes and provide cost savings to Sonic Innovations.
4/22/2013

Sonic Innovations Implements Customized Retail and Call Center System through ABT
Applied Business Technology (ABT), a provider of professional IT services and leading distributor of Pronto Xi software in Australia, announced it has implemented a customized retail and call center system for Sonic Innovations, a company specializing in developing and supplying hearing devices. The retail system is linked to Sonic''s Pronto Xi ERP system. It is designed to streamline processes and provide cost savings to Sonic Innovations.
4/22/2013

Sonic Innovations Implements Customized Retail and Call Center System through ABT
Applied Business Technology (ABT), a provider of professional IT services and leading distributor of Pronto Xi software in Australia, announced it has implemented a customized retail and call center system for Sonic Innovations, a company specializing in developing and supplying hearing devices. The retail system is linked to Sonic's Pronto Xi ERP system. It is designed to streamline processes and provide cost savings to Sonic Innovations.
4/22/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week saw a lot of interesting news in the outbound call center sphere. Here's a quick rundown of what you may or may not have missed.
4/20/2013

TMCnet Week in Review: Outbound Call Center
First up, TeleSpeak, a provider of cloud-based telecom and contact center solutions, announced it had acquired Orlando-based teleservices company Contact Centers of America (CCA), a 300+ seat outsourced contact center company. Speaking about the acquisition, TeleSpeak cofounder and COO John Golak said, "Our industry-leading technology will continue to concentrate on and enhance our 'Customer First' philosophy."
4/20/2013

Contegix Reports Unprecedented Development in Q12013
Contegix has reported unprecedented progress in the first quarter of 2013. As compared to the first quarter of 2012, the cloud computing, colocation and managed hosting organization has reported a cent percent boost in terms of new customers. The organization has also reported an 88 percent rise in new accounts for the fourth quarter of 2012. The reported development is mainly due to Contegix's investments in sales and marketing along with their unrelenting dedication to customers across the country.
4/19/2013

VPS.NET Unveils Novel Customer Care Assurance
VPS.NET has unveiled a novel customer care pledge, wherein it aims to offer its clients a sophisticated, dedicated customer service. Clients will now be offered a one month money-back assurance for all VPS.NET offerings and services. VPS.NET has also unveiled a service level contract for all clients.
4/19/2013

Seventy Percent of Australian Businesses Say They Are Ready to Serve Customers via Social Media
Recently, customer-facing organizations have had to accept that social media has officially become an important customer contact channel, and this has left many companies scrambling to build social media into their contact center infrastructure.
4/19/2013

AnswerNow New Website Offer a Better User Experience
AnswerNow, which provides call center solutions to businesses across a multitude of industries, has introduced a new website focused entirely on creating a better user experience by improving functionality, navigation, search capabilities and social media connections.
4/18/2013

InsideSales.com Builds Online Trust with TRUSTe Privacy Seal
Websites are built to impress customers and create relationships by increasing customer engagements and transactions, but for that to happen, you must build online trust. Customers need to be assured that their privacy is intact and are aligned with regulatory requirements.
4/18/2013

Dialers - Making the Right Connection Fast
When I started working at IAT in 1990, dialing technology was unbelievably productive, but extremely archaic compared to today's standards. Dialers used the DECtalk single-line system to send IVR Messages. The box had a single phone jack, and was so state-of-the-art it could actually place phone calls AND interact with the called party using touch tones (gasp!).
4/18/2013

UK Communications Authority Fines TalkTalk for High Abandoned Call Rates
In the call center business, abandoned calls - or outbound calls made to consumers without an agent being ready to take the call, resulting in silence when the customer picks up the phone - are damaging to business. They irritate customers, prompting them to place themselves on do-not call lists, and they ensure that next time a call is connected, the consumer will be in a hostile mood.
4/18/2013

A Resilient, Hybrid, Self-Healing System- a Network Dream Come True?
But, two big wigs- AmeriCall, an answering service and call center services provider based in Washington and telecommunications and network technology provider, Rainier Connect, also based in the same region, claim to have created a system that guarantees reliable, high-quality telecommunications with no single point of failure.
4/17/2013

transcosmos Acquires Call Center Subsidiary of Interpark
transcosmos Korea announced the acquisition of a call center subsidiary of Interpark a South Korea-based Internet shopping company. It is expected that the transcosmos Korea's EC support services will be enhanced by the EC management experience of Interpark.
4/17/2013

Canadian PM to Introduce Legislation to Curtail Political Robocalling Fraud
Robocalling during political campaign season has become as inevitable as death and taxes. The automated outbound calls placed to voters' homes continue all through the lead-up to elections, ringing phones at dinner hours and children's naptimes, touting the pros and cons of both issues and candidates.
4/17/2013

OrderLogix Releases Version 4 of its Call Center, Order Management Solution
OrderLogix has released its fourth version of its call center and order management solution. The Maine-based company provides solutions for call centers, marketers, and e-commerce and multi-channel merchants.
4/16/2013

Fenero Launches Fluid Contact Center Application Suite
Fenero has launched a Fluid Contact Center (FC2) application suite for diverse contact centers. FC2 is a Web-based contact center platform with no software licensing costs, so its features are available at no additional cost per module.
4/16/2013

Servion Partners with Nuance Communications
Following the success of the initial partnership, Servion Global Solutions, a company specializing in Customer Interaction Management (CIM) solutions and applications for contact centers, signed a new partnership with Nuance Communications, Inc., a provider of voice and language solutions.
4/16/2013

Convergys to Hire 300 Call Center Workers in Las Cruces
Convergys Corporation, a global provider of customer management services, announced it is hiring 300 full-time employees for its call center in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Just last month the company conducted two open houses at Las Cruces facility for hiring 300 call center executives.
4/16/2013

PSE&G Issues Warning Against Payment Scam
PSE&G has issued a warning to customers and small business owners who are being increasingly targeted by people posing as employees of PSE&G.
4/15/2013

Convergys Creates 1,000 Full-time Jobs in the United States
Convergys Corporation has arranged a huge employment drive, through which the company plans to fill nearly 1,000 full-time jobs in the United States in the next 60 days.
4/15/2013

Tele-Quote.com Now Offers Outbound Call Center Quotes
Tele-Quote.com, a company providing online quotes for business phone systems, has announced that it is now offering outbound call center quotes.
4/15/2013

'Too Much Enthusiasm': Extroverts not Always the Best Salesmen
Good news, wallflowers! All those ridiculously outgoing people who are always stealing your near inaudible thunder at social gatherings aren't necessarily the best salespeople.
4/15/2013

State of California to Open Affordable Care Act Health Exchange Contact Center in Fresno
As the State of California readies itself to support its new health exchange mandated by the Affordable Care Act, officials recently announced that one of three call centers that will answer questions and conduct enrollments will be located in Fresno and will create approximately 500 jobs. "Covered California," the official name for the state's health exchange program, began accepting online reservations on Thursday for written examinations to be given Saturday at the Fresno Convention Center for people looking to land one of the call center's jobs for skilled agents.
4/15/2013

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Time to wrap up another week in technology news. Let's see what happened in the outbound call center space this week. Are robo-calls coming to an end?
4/13/2013

Contact Center for Gaming Sector Launched in the Isle of Man
A new contact center has reportedly been erected in the Isle of Man, by the company Yello, which will be serving the needs of customers in the betting and gaming market. Led by Mark Irvine and Martin Linham, the facility will provide a much-needed 24/7/365 resource for gambling companies.
4/10/2013

Five9's Cloud Call Center Solution: A Guided Tour, Part 4
In part one of the series, we looked at the general capabilities of the call center solution; in the second part, we examined the Five9 tool with an eye toward disposition; and in the third installment, we looked at the interface from a supervisor and call center agent perspective. Now, we'll explore the reporting capabilities of the cloud-based tool.
4/10/2013

The End of Robo-Calls as We Know Them?
Few people will weep for the end of robo-calling. These outbound calls, which many people consider the marketing scourge of this decade, are the result of widespread use of auto-dialers, a large list and an urgent message.
4/9/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
The phones were ringing in outbound call center news this week as companies ramped up operations and continued to expand.
4/6/2013

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
The phones were ringing in Outbound Call Center news this week, as companies ramped up operations and continued to expand. First up, TeleSpeak, a provider of cloud-based telecom and contact center solutions, announced it had acquired Orlando-based teleservices company, Contact Centers of America (CCA), a 300+ seat outsourced contact center firm.
4/6/2013

Interactions Corporation Partners with AT&T
Although virtual assistants at customer care centers can cut costs associated with a firm's expenses, they can sometimes get monotonous and consequently, make the company lose potential business.
4/5/2013

BeneTrac's New Call Center Service to Address Employees Questions about Benefit Plans and Coverage
BeneTrac has announced its new call center service will be anticipating healthcare reform and increasing the complexity of benefits offerings.
4/5/2013

Connect Assist Helps Charities & Organizations Connect With Customers
Patrick Nash, founder of Connect Assist, has been traveling the world offering value-based contact center solutions to charities and public bodies. Nash, who has been traveling since the age of 18, wanted to give something back after seeing the devastating conditions people live in around the world.
4/5/2013

Connect Assist Helps Charities and Organizations Connect with Customers
Patrick Nash, founder of Connect Assist, has been traveling the world offering value-based contact center solutions to charities and public bodies. Nash, who has been traveling since the age of 18, wanted to give something back after seeing the devastating conditions people live in around the world.
4/5/2013

IP Communications Company TeleSpeak to Acquire Contact Centers of America
TeleSpeak, a provider of cloud-based telecom and contact center solutions, has acquired Orlando-based teleservices company Contact Centers of America (CCA), a 300+ seat outsourced contact center company. CCA provides customer contact management solutions to companies in the U.S., primarily in the virtual education, financial, healthcare, technology, transportation and leisure services industries.
4/5/2013

TMC Labs Innovation Award for Aegis LISA
TMC, a global, integrated media company, has awarded Aegis LISA, a social media engagement platform from Aegis Limited, with the 2012 TMC Labs Innovation Award and 2012 Social Business Award Honoree sponsored by TMC's Customer magazine.
4/5/2013

Convergys Acquires Datacom's Asian Contact Center Operations
Cincinnati-based teleservices giant Convergys is adding to its Asian contact center operations with the acquisition of New Zealand-based Datacom's contact center operations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Manila in The Philippines. The two companies signed an agreement this week.
4/4/2013

California Health Benefit Exchange Opens New Call Center, Plans to Hire 500 Employees
The California Health Benefit Exchange, designed to offer affordable healthcare, seems to be doing well, as city and state officials confirmed the organization has signed a lease to open up a new state service center in Rancho Cordova and hire an additional 500 employees. Underneath the Affordable Care Act, state officials designed the program to give Californians access to affordable, high-quality health insurance.
4/3/2013

FTC Announces Winners of 'Robocall Challenge' to Stop Unwanted Robocalls
Unsolicited robocalls: on the "annoying scale," they're up there with athlete's foot, infomercials and cancelled flights. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which spends a great deal of time playing "whack-a-mole" with robocallers - slap one down only to find two more popping up - finally turned to crowdsourcing to find a solution to the problem.
4/3/2013

Are Cost Savings Worth the Risks of Offshore Call Center Outsourcing?
When foreign call center outsourcing began in the 1990s, many companies believed they had found the Holy Grail of a business model. Find English speaking agents abroad, route calls there and have agents making a fraction of what U.S. agents do handle customer issues. With the advent of voice over IP (VoIP) business service, it seemed like an even bigger dream come true: no more expensive international telephone bills to pay for.
4/3/2013

Evolution Capital Partners Adopts Navatar's Cloud-Based CRM Platform
In an effort to better manage their pipeline and deploy funds more efficiently, Cleveland, Ohio-based small business private equity firm Evolution Capital Partners has adopted Navatar Group's cloud-based private equity CRM (customer relationship management) platform.
4/2/2013

Five9's Cloud Call Center Solution: A Guided Tour, Part Three
In the first part of our series on the Five9's Cloud Call Center solution, we took an overview of the solution. Then, in part two, we examined Five9's interface from a disposition point of view. In this, the third part of the series, we'll see some of the features of the interface from a supervisor and agent point of view.
4/1/2013

Janet Byron Developer of Cisco Contact Center Applications Joins Spanlink
Spanlink Communications announced that Janet Byron has joined the company as a senior solutions architect. Spanlink is a Cisco contact center and customer collaboration solutions partner.
3/28/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
In such a competitive call center world, it is not sufficient to expect the market to come to you through an inbound phone call. Instead, existing customers need to be encouraged and enticed in order to be loyal and new customers need to be searched for through the use of outbound.
3/28/2013

Mexico Now a Top Destination for Doing Business: World Bank
According to World Bank's "Doing Business Report" for 2013, Mexico improved six positions in the last two years. The main reason for this achievement can be attributed to the growth of Mexico's nearshore location as formidable players in international business, especially nearshore call center services.
3/27/2013

Meyer Vacation Rentals Partners with NAVIS to Drive Business Revenue
NAVIS recently announced that Meyer Vacation Rentals is the latest company to join its list of clients who will use its proven reservation sales system to drive revenue generation. Additionally, the company will benefit from a substantial increase in reservation conversion rates, drive both the capture and conversion of more prospects, and effectively track their online and offline marketing.
3/27/2013

DoctorBase Now has Three Million Patients On its Mobile Messaging Platform
DoctorBase, a self-funded start-up from the founder of SaaS Company Five9, has announced that the company has exceeded three million patients and more than 9,000 healthcare providers on its platform. The company has also announced a free version of its software that will be available to licensed providers in the U.S.
3/26/2013

Shangri-La Opens Contact Center in China
There are very few businesses that can't find the benefit of employing a contact center in order to help them with customer contacts on a day-to-day basis. Some people outside the business world assume that there is a specific sector of the business world that would better put a contact center to use. Insurance companies, banks and even hotels can all find a reason to have at least a small contact center that is separate from the main building in operation. Shangri-La Hotel certainly seems to understand the need for a contact center and has announced that it is opening a new center in the heart of China.
3/25/2013

AtHoc and DISA Partner on Mass Notification System
AtHoc announced that the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has deployed the AtHoc IWSAlerts EMNS. The DISA deployed those solutions in order to safeguard and account for the 4,500 personnel that are working and stationed around the Ft. Meade, Maryland headquarters of the agency. The deployment means that AtHoc and DISA are only further strengthening a partnership that works well when it comes to mass notifications.
3/25/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
In today's competitive call center world, it is no longer sufficient to advertise and expect the market to come to you through an inbound phone call. Instead, existing customers need to be encouraged and enticed in order to be loyal and new customers need to be searched for through the use of outbound.
3/23/2013

La Jolla Mazatlan Complaints Department: a Huge Success
There's no doubt that residence Club La Jolla puts its customers first as it delivers well on quality of service and product, ensuring a memorable vacation and the most pleasant of stays. But that apparently was insufficient, as it took the customer experience to greater heights when it established a specific complaints department - La Jolla Mazatlan - in late 2012, to help guests feel that they have a place they can go to talk about their issues.
3/21/2013

Indiana Woos GEICO to Open Call Center in Carmel
When large corporations announce that they want to open a new call center, states and municipalities begin competing to host the new business venture. Companies look at the quality of the labor pool when they're considering a location.
3/21/2013

Three Tips for Making a Predictive Dialer All-Star
With the regular NBA season coming to an end, you've probably seen some pretty amazing feats from your favorite team or player. I've watched some fantastic NBA athletes who appeared to win the game with absolutely phenomenal performances.
3/21/2013

Interactions Corporation Unveils New HQ in Franklin, MA
Interactions Corporation has inaugurated a corporate office in Franklin, MA, and is set to house a minimum of 50 employees. The office, however, has the capacity to house numerous additional employees as and when they join the organization.
3/21/2013

Alteva Offers Customer Support Tiers for its Hosted Unified Communications
Alteva's wholesale hosted unified communications (UC) offering is growing. The company has announced that it's expanding the offering to include optional Tiers 1 and 2 customer support to its resellers, providing them with a comprehensive package of services for their customers.
3/21/2013

Comm100 Adds 'Zero Downtime Upgrade' Feature to On-Demand Live Chat Solution
Comm100, a provider of customer service and communication solutions for enterprises, has enhanced its live chat solution with a "zero downtime upgrade" feature. Comm100 Live Chat, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based live chat software solution, is used by more than 100,000 businesses, the company said.
3/20/2013

Five9's Cloud Call Center Solution: A Guided Tour, Part 2
In part one of my guided tour of the Five9 cloud-based contact center interface, I examined the admin perspective. But David van Everen, VP of Digital Marketing at Five9, showed me all of the features, including the interface's functionality from a disposition point of view.
3/19/2013

Asahi Technologies Unveils Sage ACT! CRM Implementation Services for SMBs in New York
Asahi Technologies, a provider of software consulting and Web solutions to small and medium level businesses across North America, announced the launch of the new Sage ACT! CRM implementation services for small and mid-sized businesses in New York.
3/19/2013

FCC Cites Two Companies for Violating Rules Against Robocalling Wireless Phones
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), it's illegal to make "robocalls," or auto-dialed outbound telephone calls with pre-recorded messages, to wireless phones unless a company has that customer's prior permission or it's considered an "emergency" situation.
3/19/2013

Finding Success with At-Home Agent Strategies
Technology advancements have certainly changed the way in which we do business. Consumers can complete transactions from a smartphone; tapping phones together enables the sharing of files; and secure connections ensure talented individuals can work effectively from a home office.
3/18/2013

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
From a few quieter firms and markets making some noise, to an exciting new hire, the outbound call center industry saw a colorful week. Let's review.
3/16/2013

Echo Acquires Callcredit Information Group's Bristol-Based Contact Center
Echo Managed Services has recently announced that it has taken over Callcredit Information Group's Bristol-based contact center. Echo provides specialist products and services for utilities and public sector organizations across the U.K. Its core services, contact management, revenue management and software solutions, are underpinned by a deep understanding of both regulated and non-regulated industry.
3/15/2013

AT&T Adds 100 New Jobs to Call Center
AT&T is going to add over 100 new jobs to its 275-employee customer service force at the call center on Kell Boulevard.
3/15/2013

HCSC Offers to Open Montana Call Center in an Effort to Acquire Blue Cross Blue Shield
Last fall, Health Care Service Corp. (HCSC) offered $18 million to purchase Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Montana. BCBS insures over 270,000 people in Montana, which is about one-quarter of the state's population.
3/15/2013

Mike Williams Appointed as FreedomVoice's Director of Customer Care
FreedomVoice, a provider of virtual phone systems to small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike, stated that it has appointed industry veteran Mile Williams as its director of customer care in an effort to equip its customer care services with definite competitive advantage.
3/15/2013

SalesNOW Mobile CRM Recognized by Frost & Sullivan for Exceptional Leadership
For the second time, SalesNOW, the fully hosted and mobile CRM solution for sales and service professionals from Interchange Solutions Inc., was recognized by Frost & Sullivan for demonstrating exceptional leadership in formulating and executing successful competitive strategies.
3/15/2013

JD Power Survey Says Auto Dealerships are Delivering Better Customer Service
After the recession of 2008, many dealerships saw automobile sales drop significantly. Automakers weren't issuing sales and products incentives to dealers, which made selling to increasingly thrifty customers far more difficult.
3/14/2013

Five9 to Demonstrate Critical Value of Cloud Contact Center Solutions
Smart contact centers have met these seemingly contrary demands - a higher grade of customer service on a smaller budget - with cloud contact center solutions. Cloud solutions have a number of cost advantages: they require little to no upfront capital, unlike traditional premise-based systems, and they allow companies to pay for only what they need, often on a month-to-month basis, allowing companies to shrink or ramp up the number of seats they use in accordance with seasonal demand fluctuations.
3/13/2013

Sangoma's Boards Help Brazilian Call Center Solution Providers Gain Competitive Edge
Many call centers are in need of efficient solutions that support thousands of simultaneous outbound calls, while providing efficiency in power utilization, performance and price. The call center operators, especially in Brazil's highly competitive debt collection services industry, are facing key challenges to find and deliver more efficient solutions that keep customers on the phone with agents and not with answering machines.
3/12/2013

Faneuil to Operate Call Center for Washington Healthplanfinder - New Online Health Insurance Marketplace
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange recently announced that the call center for Washington Healthplanfinder will now be operated by Faneuil, a specialist in business processing solutions for both commercial and government entities. Located in Spokane, Wash., Washington, Healthplanfinder is the state's new online health insurance marketplace which will open in September 2013. Residents will be enrolled from October 1 for coverage which will begin from January 1, 2014.
3/11/2013

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Let's close the week with what is hopefully the last snow storm for a while in the northeast and a bit of news from the outbound call center sector.
3/9/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's that day of the week again! Let's take a few minutes to look back at the latest developments in the outbound call center community.
3/9/2013

C Spire Selects NetCracker Convergent BSS Solution to Enhance Billing Infrastructure
C Spire Wireless has picked NetCracker's convergent BSS solution for consolidating and managing all billing, customer account and service activation services for prepaid, postpaid and hybrid customers. NetCracker's end-to-end BSS/OSS offering includes billing, customer care, online rating and charging, resource and network management, IT platforms, and service fulfillment and assurance, while managed services and end-to-end outsourcing.
3/8/2013

Avaya Releases New Customer Experience Management Solutions
How well do you understand your customers and the experience you provide them? If the answer is "not enough," then you might want to pay attention, because Avaya has some new tools for you.
3/7/2013

Contact Center Location is Part of Greater 'Customer Experience by Design' Strategy
What's the latest trend in offshore outsourcing? Is it the Philippines? Is it Malaysia? Is it up-and-coming locations like North Africa or Vietnam? In reality, it's probably more like Atlanta, Indiana or Lubbock, Texas.
3/7/2013

Cenoplex Enables Open Mobile to Introduce Actionable Audio Message Service
The average mobile phone user is getting very busy, due to the ever increasing pressures of today's competitive world. It's difficult for mobile operators to select the best time to interact with their customers, when they don't feel disturbed and are able to receive the important message or information from the company as well.
3/7/2013

Teradata Customer Service Global Support Center Recognized for Technology Support
The SCP Standards are the measuring scale for service and support operations all over the world. SCP Standards help organizations identify service companies that provide excellent service and support. These standards are used by service and support organizations all over the world.
3/6/2013

Five9 Discusses Cloud Contact Center Software at Upcoming PACE Event
Contact center managers are always looking for ways to improve performance, customer service and cost efficiency. For companies seeking concrete answers for these complex issues, there is good news. The annual PACE Convention and Expo, which will run from March 10 to March 13 in Scottsdale, AZ, will bring together thought leaders from across the world to discuss driving solutions for today's customer interactions.
3/6/2013

Nexogy Partners with Sytel Limited
Nexogy has entered into a partnership with Sytel Limited, which will unveil a new outbound call center solution that provides improved features and functionality to customers. Outbound call centers are important for a company in these days of extreme competition.
3/4/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's that day of the week again! Let's take a few minutes to reconvene and review the latest developments in the outbound call center space.
3/2/2013

VoiceNation Offers 'Instant Activation' of Live Answering Services
When VoiceNation opened its doors in 2002, it offered custom voicemail and virtual phone services to small business owners. Since then, it has come a long way and today it provides virtual PBX, voicemail and innovative live answering solutions that use the latest in proprietary technology.
3/1/2013

Global Capacity Introduces Enhanced Agent Program
Hidalgo Communications, an agency providing voice and data telecommunication services to the enterprise market, is excited to be part of the Global Capacity's expanded Agent Program.
3/1/2013

Q-Suite's WFM Connectors Help Enhance Performance in Call Centers
Contact centers have a common mantra around which they pivot - improve efficiency across all levels of operation, keep costs in check, motivate employees, optimize resources - and Indosoft Inc., developers of Q-Suite, is no different.
2/27/2013

Five9's Cloud Call Center Solution: A Guided Tour, Part 1
They say you never truly know a man until you go camping with him. The same general principle can be applied to any number of items: you can't know a car until you drive it or a sandwich until you taste it. You also can't know how efficient, effective or easy-to-use a software solution is until you try it out for yourself. That is why I asked David van Everen, vice president of Digital Marketing at Five9, to show me the company's cloud-based contact center interface to see just how feature-rich and easy to use it was. I have to say, after an extensive tour, I was duly impressed.
2/27/2013

Five9 Explains How to Use the Cloud to Compete with the Giants
Startup companies have plenty of challenges they need to deal with, and setting up a contact center is not always at the top of the list. This is especially true for small companies that may not have the resources to deploy an on-premise model. But there is good news for these companies, as cloud-based contact centers are a cost-effective and simple way to deploy a contact center that can compete with the largest enterprises. For those companies - large or small, new or old - that want to leverage the power of the cloud, there are experts out there who specialize in exactly this kind of situation. One of those companies is Five9.
2/25/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It was another busy week in the outbound call center sector this past week. Here's a look at some of the top stories. Sky Deutschland's new service center opened on Monday in Teltow, Germany. International service company Serco is helping Sky Deutschland by providing a range of customer services, including operating inbound frontline services in addition to back office and specialist support.
2/23/2013

Five9's Cloud Call Center Solution Increases Leads for DirectBuy
The benefits of cloud computing have led to an upsurge of interest in cloud communications such as a cloud-based call centers, which offer more secure, reliable, and scalable contact centers without the burdens of premise-based systems.
2/22/2013

expressDecor.com Equalizes Customer Relevance and Language Compatibility
Foreign languages have made an entry into call centers and BPOs and it's only a matter of time before they make a strong movement in other directions. expressDecor.com, the home remodeling e-retailer, bears this out as it seeks greener pastures in the Hispanic market.
2/22/2013

Esurance Set to Induct 150 Employees at New Call Center
Esurance, the San Francisco based online automobile insurer, is now ready to staff its new call center based in San Antonio.
2/22/2013

Smart911: A Great System for Senior Citizens
This month is National Senior Independence Month, and the creators of Smart 911, Rave Mobile Safety, are encouraging senior citizens and their families to establish a safety profile, enabling independence and peace of mind on both ends. Smart 911 allows individuals to create a Safety Profile of vital information that includes personal and household data, with household members, photos, medications or medical conditions of themselves - and if they're pet owners, their pets as well.
2/22/2013

Telstra Moving 400 Call Center Jobs Offshore
Australia was untouched by the economic crisis for a very long time, but the interconnected nature of the global economy was bound to affect its economy sooner or later. The downturn in India and to some degree China has meant less mineral exports, which in turn affects the overall economy of the country.
2/22/2013

Pieroth Wines Selects Azzurri to Improve Customer Service
Selling wines directly to consumers is a profitable business for many wine manufacturers. But it's not an easy job. It's often difficult for wineries to get customers into tasting rooms, convert visitors into steady customers, and encourage them to join the wine club, buying regular wine.
2/21/2013

Five9 Brings Call Centers to the Cloud
No matter what business you are in - or how large your company is - you strive to maximize productivity and increase customer satisfaction. For call centers that are looking to improve in both of these areas, one way to do so is to migrate from an on-premise to a cloud-based, hosted contact center. This call center on demand can also increase agility and flexibility, providing real ROI and moving your business toward cutting edge technology. One company that specializes in migrating contact centers to the cloud is Five9, and according to company executives, Five9's solutions can indeed maximize productivity and increase customer satisfaction.
2/21/2013

Carrier iQ Care: A Device-Centric Big Data Customer Care Solution
How can you reduce customer service cost without compromising the customer experience? How can you create loyal customers without increasing service operating costs? It seems that Carrier iQ, a company in mobile intelligence, is set to deliver immediate and relevant answers to these questions.
2/21/2013

Marketo Software Generates 5X Return on Cost of Investment for NewVoiceMedia
Marketo recently announced that its marketing automation solutions have generated a five-fold return on the cost of initial investment in the software for NewVoiceMedia within 12 months of it being deployed. Leveraging Marketo's software, NewVoiceMedia was able to optimize use of sales and marketing resources thanks to improved sales force productivity and sales efficiencies, as well as improvement in inbound leads, flow rates, and revenue generation.
2/21/2013

TollFreeForwarding.com Offers 30-Day Free Trial of International Toll-Free Calls
Toll-free phone numbers are an integral part of call forwarding services. In fact, such a phone number is in essence a call-forwarding plan that "reverses charges to the called party." The demand for toll-free phone numbers has increased dramatically and providers are trying to woo customers with their own toll-free wares.
2/21/2013

SatCom Marketing Wins Time Warner Cable's Quality Vendor of the Year Award
Time Warner Cable has recently awarded the Time Warner Cable Quality Vendor of the Year Award for 2012 to SatCom Marketing, a teleservices company located in Minneapolis, MN.
2/21/2013

Teltow is the New Location for Sky Deutschland's Service Center
On Monday, the service center for Sky Deutschland opened for business in Teltow, Germany. Serco, an international service company, has taken on a range of customer services for Sky Deutschland, which has included the set up and the expansion of the new center in Germany.
2/20/2013

Generate New Business Leads through Call Centers Says Telepoint
Maybe 'old is gold,' but in the rapidly evolving world of business, companies looking to generate business from traditional lead sources may be fighting a losing battle. Lead sources also have a tendency to trend down and companies should assess all aspects before using a particular lead source. At least, that's what Telepoint Communications advises.
2/20/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It was a very busy week in the outbound call center space last week. Let's take a look at some of the top stories!
2/16/2013

MyReportInfo.com Implements Predictive Software to Enhance Customer Service
MyReportInfo.com has implemented a piece of cutting-edge predictive software that can anticipate customers' questions and concerns. The solution is expected to boost the firm's customer service efforts in a number of ways.
2/14/2013

Nevahold 'Consumer Advocates' Amplify Your Tweets to Companies
What do you do if you have a complaint or an unresolved issue about a company? Ten years ago, you might have picked up the phone. Maybe sent an e-mail. Today, if you're a tech savvy person, however, it's likely that you seek out the company's Facebook page or send a Tweet. After all, there's no complaint more effective than a public complaint, right?
2/14/2013

Compliance: Keep it at the Top of your Dialing Strategy
Today, dialing technology is something very few ARM agencies can succeed without. In an extremely competitive, highly regulated and hyper scrutinized industry, ARM businesses must study the market for the dialing technologies that will give them a needed edge without compromising their compliance efforts.
2/12/2013

Airtel Kenya Opens Customer Care Center
Some of the biggest companies in the world rely on contact centers to optimize revenue, while also keeping customers as happy as humanly possible. In Kenya, mobile solutions company Airtel has just announced that it will be opening up its own contact center (otherwise known as a customer care center.)
2/12/2013

Writer Safeguard Chooses AMEYO as Backbone Technology
Writer Safeguard Pvt. Ltd. has chosen AMEYO, an all-inclusive CIM offering from Drishti, as its vertebral technology, guaranteeing flawless operations. Security is very critical for Writer Safeguard, a cash management organization dealing with the flow of cash and currency into the Automated Teller Machines and Cash-in-Transit, or CTI services. The organization strives for the best possible care and maintains rigorous quality systems while moving the cash between banks, retail outlets and consumers.
2/12/2013

New Hampshire Town Rolls Out New Call Center
The Bedford, New Hampshire Police Department announced on Feb. 4 that they were near completion on a new call center facility. The improvements include technology upgrades, new furniture and workflow procedures to make call processing more efficient.
2/12/2013

Better. Cheaper. Faster. Five9 Helps Contact Centers Move to the Cloud
It sounds a bit like the opening from the classic 70s TV show The Six Million Dollar Man. Better. Cheaper. Faster. Though it's not quite the same as building a cyborg superhero, transitioning a contact center from an on-premise model into the cloud can help companies achieve the above benefits and a whole lot more. Virtual call center specialists Five9 has a wealth of experience guiding companies through this process, and the company understands how to navigate the process and bring a host of benefits to businesses that are looking to make this change.
2/11/2013

National Australia Bank Deploys Cyara
Cyara is reaching across the world, with its contact center testing, monitoring, and simulation tools being deployed by the National Australia Bank (NAB). Thanks to Cyara, the bank successfully moved to a single, centralized, virtualized contact center platform, helping make its contact center faster and more efficient.
2/11/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
As snow barrels down on the New England area, those of us who are affected are ready to settle down on our couches with a cup of hot cocoa and plenty of news to read. And for anyone who follows the outbound call center space, it's been a week full of interesting stories. Here are some of the highlights from the past week.
2/9/2013

WhoHow.co Out to Change the Way Customer Service is Handled
Customer service is one of the most important, and yet often one of the most under-appreciated aspects of business today. While many tend to look at customer service as the collective of expendable minimum-wage register jockeys taking up space in the front of the store, proper customer service can often make the difference between a sale and a disgruntled customer.
2/7/2013

Voice4Net Offering Interactive Call Center Software for 'A Pleasant Caller Experience'
Voice4Net's custom interactive solutions are aimed at helping bridge this communication gap and enable companies to offer their customers what McFarland calls "a pleasant caller experience."
2/7/2013

A Call Center + A Smartphone= Success
At this point in history, nearly 80 percent of all humans own a mobile phone and there are nearly 91.4 million smartphones in the United States alone. Out of the five billion mobile phones in the world, 1.08 billion are smartphones and nine out of every 19 smartphone users use their phone on at least a daily basis, according to AnsonAlex.com. Needless to say, robust devices such as smartphones have become invaluable to our mere mortal existence and many people would simply be lost without this gadget in tow.
2/7/2013

Verizon Wireless Gains in Call Satisfaction Following Improvements in 2012
Since 2009, the going for Verizon has been good, and has continued to receive accolades from its users for consistently good customer service. But there was one area that did appear a little shaky: customers found it difficult to reach an actual representative at Verizon customer service.
2/7/2013

Empatel Partnership Allows Noble Systems to Gain Two New Territories
Needing to strengthen its outbound communications, Empatel, a reseller in Turkey specializing in unified communications solutions, was in search of a solution that would take it up a notch according to its growth path. And, the obvious choice was Noble systems.
2/7/2013

Web-Op's Shifting Tactics Prompt Launch of Call Center Services
Web-Op is a full-service design and Internet marketing agency that specializes in Web-based applications, brand development, SEO and new site launches and redesigns. It has now changed gears slightly in order to optimize its capacities by bringing a CRM concept into play.
2/7/2013

Election Call Centers equipped, Media Briefed : Kenya readies for elections
The IECB, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Kenya are set to conduct elections on March 4, 2013. All measures are now in place and candidates have been accredited. Two hotline numbers are to be used during the voting, and tallying day have also been tested and released.
2/5/2013

MyNetFone Expands Customer Service Department
At the end of the year last year, the company officially purchased Connexus in an attempt to boost its wholesale VoIP services. Now it will focus on their customer services, as MyNetFone says that their department will be transferring to larger offices in the company's headquarters in Surry Hills, Sydney.
2/5/2013

ITEXPO Miami: Acqueon Technologies Exhibits Software Solutions
Acqueon is known for its collaborative software solutions, having strong relationships with technology partners around the world, including Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya, Voxeo and Dialogic, and will be demonstrating its products and multi-channel solutions at ITEXPO (News - Alert) Miami this week.
2/5/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week we have seen how companies are helping to boost employment opportunities and promote better service options in the ever changing platform in 2013.
2/2/2013

Sound Telecom Significantly Increasing Lead Generation with New Strategy
For the last three months, Sound Telecom has been leveraging a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) solution so that its qualified leads could be better secured as well as to see an increased return On investment (ROI). The company provides personalized, cost-effective solutions that achieve one's specific call center or answering service needs.
2/1/2013

Indosoft Provides Asterisk 1.8 Support
Asterisk is a free and open source framework that helps developers in creating new and exciting communications applications. The products created with Asterisk framework can be used VoIP gateways, PBX systems, conference servers, etc., Asterisk-based communications systems are widely used all over the world.
2/1/2013

BT Research: Popularity of Web Chat Set to Rise
As an increasing number of companies have started offering Web chat to customers, BT Global decided to conduct a survey on consumer and operational trends in contact centers, and also investigate the effects on customers and advisors. The current research is the first of the three pieces of research that it will be published over the next month.
2/1/2013

Conversocial Introduces Proactive Social Customer Service
Conversocial, a provider of social customer service, announced the release of "Proactive Customer Service Channels." This software provides advanced Twitter search capabilities to deliver customer service for brands and companies on Twitter.
2/1/2013

Mokulele Airlines Moves Call Center to Maui for Better Service
After listening to customer service feedback, Mokulele Airlines announced it has finalized its call center move from the mainland to Maui. The airlines relocated in order to expand its services and have more informed agents answering the calls.
2/1/2013

Debt Management Company Hires 300 Dallas Call Center Agents
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), one in 10 Americans faces calls from a debt collector, and these people owe an average of $1,500. Over a million consumers are sued by collectors in courts for credit card, medical and other debt. Debt collection firms are hiring more workers to compensate for increased consumer financial stress. For example, to cope with their collections volume, debt management and recovery solutions firm Account Control Technology plans to hire 300 new workers in its Dallas call center.
2/1/2013

PA Call Center Overwhelmed by Unemployment Claims
According to Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry Julia Hearthway, January is the state's business month for unemployment claims in the state's unemployment call centers. Back in August 2012, the state closed an unemployment call center because of a $30-million cut in federal funding. The closure put 75 workers out of work.
2/1/2013

Calabrio Achieves Significant Growth in Contact Center Workforce Optimization and Analytics
Calabrio, Inc., a company specializing in contact center workforce optimization and analytics software, has announced that the year 2012 was a significant year because it earned more than 3,400 customers.
1/31/2013

VoiceNation Inaugurates New Website with New 'Voice'
VoiceNation, a provider of virtual PBX and voicemail solutions, has recently inaugurated its new logo and all-inclusive website.
1/31/2013

KANA Adds 13 New UK Public Sector Organizations to Customer List
Few organizations need customer experience management (CEM) solutions more than government agencies, whose customer support efforts are often not nearly as robust as those in the private sector. In addition, government agencies in many nations (if not most) are under pressure to remain within sparse budgets (or budgets that are being cut) while at the same time maintaining a high enough profile to please citizens and meet an ever-expanding array of needs and services. For this reason, many government entities are maximizing their resources with the use of customer management software.
1/31/2013

Inktel Launches New Call Center in Doral
Looking to expand its call center business, Inktel Contact Center Solutions has announced the addition of a call center branch in Doral, Florida. This new advanced call center is located just a few minutes from Miami International Airport.
1/30/2013

Call Center of Mokulele Airlines Shifts to Maui for Better Service
Providing quick, accurate and reliable support to customers is essential for any business to flourish in today's consumer-centric world. And when it comes to information critical services, such as travel agencies and airlines, this factor becomes even more important.
1/30/2013

Sitel placed in Leaders quadrant by Gartner
Sitel, a global customer care provider, announced that Gartner Inc has positioned the company in the Leaders quadrant of Gartner's 2012 Customer Management Contact Center BPO report, which evaluates vendors based on their ability to execute as well as completeness of vision.
1/29/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
The northern parts of the United States are experiencing a major cold snap right now, but that hasn't stopped the outbound call center space from heating up. There was plenty of news from the space this week, ranging from the loss some call center jobs to new call centers promoting health and well being to an expansion of a call center program in Turkey, quite a lot happened overall. Let's take a look at some of the highlights.
1/26/2013

Klamath County Receives Social Service Referrals from New Call Center
A 211 call center was established on Friday in Klamath County, Oregon, thanks to the work of the 2020 Klamath Vision project's health and human services committee, whose goals have always included the betterment of their community.
1/25/2013

CFIB Awards C- Grade to CRA Call Centre Business Helpline
Providing quick, relevant and factually correct information to callers is one of the most vital aspects related to the overall customer interaction process. While almost all the enterprises that directly deal with its customers acknowledge this fact, some still have some work to do.
1/24/2013

Noble Systems Enhances Its Enterprise Solution Suite with Noble Maestro 7.1
Noble Systems Corporation recently announced the introduction of the Noble Maestro 7.1 for contact center management and reporting. The latest offering from Noble Systems has been designed to deliver an intuitive manager portal for the company's Enterprise Solution Suite with the aim of simplifying tasks such as the management of campaigns, lists, and data, assigning of contact strategies, scheduling activities, and improved control over activity flows.
1/24/2013

66 Jobs to Go as AT&T Closes Greensboro, North Carolina Call Center
According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice filed on Tuesday with the North Carolina Commerce Department, AT&T is removing 66 full-time posts from a credit and collections call center in Greensboro by the end of March. The telecommunication service provider explained that it is removing the jobs as part of a "business reduction decision affecting its finance organization", according to reports.
1/23/2013

Merrill Edge Call Centers Lauded Yet Again for Outstanding Customer Service
Merrill Lynch, taken over by the Bank of America (BoA), has become a part of the bank's global wealth and investment management division. Recently, the call centers of its brokerage, banking and financial advice platform, Merrill Edge, were recognized by J.D. Power and Associates. The Merrill Edge call centers have achieved this distinction for the second time for providing customers with "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience."
1/22/2013

Center Partners' Financial Services Certified by J.D. Power
J.D. Power and Associates have recently certified the Financial Services practice from Center Partners as part of the Certified Call Center Program for Outsourcers. The demanding program from J.D. Power, which was unveiled in 2012, was triumphantly accomplished by Center Partners. The program assesses general customer satisfaction with call centers. The competence and efficacy are therefore augmented by deploying and incessantly modifying all the major practices.
1/22/2013

Starwood Extends Presence in India and South Asia
Starwood Hotels & Resorts has revealed its decision to further extend its development in India and South Asia. This premier operator currently operates 34 hotels worldwide and also aims to open 24 hotels in near future. By 2015, the organization plans to operate, develop and manage 100 hotels. The organization also aims to establish eight out the current nine Starwood brands in India.
1/22/2013

Globalturk and Mitsui Co-Invest in Turkish Call Center Company Tempo
Globalturk Capital has invested in the Turkish call center company Tempo Cagri Hizmetleri A.S., along with leading Japanese trading and investment company Mitsui & Co. Ltd. The agreements of the co-investment deal were signed on December 18th 2012, but officially closed this Monday, January 21st, 2013.
1/22/2013

Hertz Looks to Establish Transworld as the Face of its Brand in Kuwait
Hertz, a car rental brand in the U.S. and at 111 major airports in Europe, is building its brand awareness in Kuwait. It is taking advantage of its longstanding history in that country and is looking to establish Transworld as the face of the Hertz brand in that region.
1/21/2013

enVista Reveals Facility Design Build Expertise
enVista, a supply chain consulting and IT services firm, showcased its latest innovation idea, Facility Design Build. enVista has worked on building the team for over two years and creating its own building model.
1/21/2013

Digital DataVoice Partners with VHT, Offers Multichannel Callback Solutions
Multichannel call back solutions are not new technology. They've been around for many years, generating huge profit for companies that have successfully used them. Digital DataVoice (DDV) and Virtual Hold Technology have signed a partnership to multichannel callback solutions that bridge the gap between self-service and the contact center, regardless of channel.
1/21/2013

Toshiba Rolls-Out IPedge Release 1.5 with Augmented Capabilities
In an effort to provide SMBs and multi-site enterprises with the smartphone features that help them communicate more efficiently, cost effectively and reliably, the Telecommunication Systems Division of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. has incorporated augmented features into the latest Release 1.5 of IPedge family.
1/18/2013

IntelliResponse Announces Addition of its 150th Enterprise Customer
IntelliResponse Systems has been celebrating the occasion of winning its 150th enterprise customer, who has installed company's IntelliResponse Virtual Agent software platform. According to the company, the IntelliResponse Virtual Agent (VA) technology platform is built as next-generation self-service software that can automate the process of delivering answers to customer questions posed across a variety of interaction channels.
1/17/2013

Epicor Unveils New CRM Offering
In a fiercely competitive world, customer engagement has become absolutely necessary for companies. Customer engagement helps companies attract new customers and retain existing customers. Companies can engage in customer management in various ways.
1/17/2013

Why Ameridial Should be the First Point of Contact in the Healthcare Vertical
The emerging trend in the call center industry is establishing customer service operations either on-premise or through U.S.-based outsourcing providers. This is good news for an industry wracked with controversy when hundreds of thousands of jobs were shipped offshore. It's also good news for those communities where new call centers are being established as they not only create new jobs, they also help to boost the local economy.
1/17/2013

IBM Retail Software Enables Uniform Brand Experience for Omni-Channel-Shoppers
To increase interaction and collaboration between marketing and sales, IBM announced new marketing and sales innovations that will allow retailers to deliver a consistent shopping experience for consumers across multiple touch points - from the store, mobile and online. IBM's global survey of 26,000 consumers revealed that 35 percent of consumers are considering diversifying the way they buy goods and services in the future.
1/17/2013

Mpathy Plus Honors Thrive Homes with Contact Center Accreditation
Thrive Homes, a social housing provider in the Three Rivers district, has been honored by Mpathy Plus. The operations at the Thrive call center have been awarded with a Contact Center Accreditation from Mpathy Plus.
1/17/2013

Gryphon Makes Core Phone Mobile Available, Extending DNC Compliance to iPhone, Android
Gryphon Networks, a provider of cloud-based sales intelligence and direct-marketing compliance solutions, today made available the Core Phone Mobile dialer application. Available for the iPhone and Android devices, Core Phone Mobile enables mobile workers to access the Gryphon Sales Intelligence and Do-Not-Call compliance services from these mobile devices.
1/16/2013

TD Bank's Renovated Contact Center
In Greeneville, South Carolina, TD Bank's regional operations hub renovations are coming to a close, so hiring for the firm's contact center is set to begin. Simon Hong, senior vice president of TD and the head of the Greenville Contact Center, recently gave GSA Business reporter Scott Miller a tour of the 300,000-square-foot campus.
1/15/2013

Fidelity Call Center to Employ 500 Coloradans
In a struggling economy, call centers appear to be the one bright spot. Call centers like TD Bank's renovated call center in Greenville, South Carolina, have been opening across the country, bringing new jobs and new hope into communities. Now, Fidelity has announced that it will be opening a customer contact center in Greenwood Village, a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area. With it comes the potential for 500 new jobs.
1/15/2013

New Regulation Regarding Call Center Waiting in Israel
A new law passed in Israel will decrease the long waiting times for customers calling a call center. Proposed by Member of Knesset, Eitan Cabel, and approved a year ago by the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, the new law states that in the event of a waiting time longer than three minutes, the customer must have the option to leave a message, and to be called back by the company in maximum three hours.
1/14/2013

Clarabridge Aspires to Repeat its 2012 Success in the New Year and Beyond
Clarabridge, Inc. is a key player in the Customer Experience Management (CEM) space, catering to such big ticket clients such as B/E Aerospace, Dell, E.ON, Expedia, Fidelity, J.D. Power, L'Oreal, Marriott International, United Airlines, Wal-Mart and others. In a recent news statement, the company revealed that it has witnessed 60 percent year- over- year sales growth in 2012.
1/14/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Some people may have taken a bit of time off from work at the end of 2012, but now that 2013 is in full swing, workers are back to the grind. That certainly holds true for workers at outbound call centers around the world.
1/12/2013

United Health Announces New Jacksonville Call Center
It seems like most business insiders these days will agree that you can tell how successful a company is based on whether or not its call center is thriving or on the verge of shutting down.
1/11/2013

Elephant Group will Open Call Center in Montego Bay
Elephant Group will offer Jamaica residents numerous employment opportunities when the company opens its first call center in Montego Bay this March.
1/11/2013

All You Need to Know about Contact Center Compliance
Running an inbound or outbound call center is not easy; in fact, it can be downright complicated. In addition to hiring, training, scheduling, and monitoring agents and dealing with the technology and solutions that modern contact centers entail, managers need to concern themselves with issues such as compliance as well. Issues of compliance are complex and multifaceted, and can often be quite confusing.
1/10/2013

Guilford Metro 911 Unveils New Look for the New Year
While for some 911 call centers, the beginning of 2013 means the beginning of new budget crunches, for the Guilford Metro 911, the beginning of 2013 is simply a time for celebration. After three years of planning and eight months of construction and upgrades, the call center has finally unveiled its newly remodeled, larger space, expanding its facility from 2,400 to 5,400 square feet.
1/10/2013

FCC Names Culprits in Storm-Related June 911 Service Breakdowns
Few things in technology are certain, but most Americans feel comfortable with this one: in an emergency, you pick up the phone and dial 911, and someone comes to your aid…right? Not if you were a resident of Northern Virginia early last summer, when a string of fierce thunderstorms (sometimes called "derecho" storms) passed over, causing power outages, heavy rain and downed trees. After the storms swept over on June 29, 2012, 17 emergency call centers serving more than two million people in three states received no 911 calls for an extended period of time.
1/10/2013

New Call Center Brings 300 Jobs to Arizona
Recently, Peggy Carlaw touted the corporate benefits of call centers in tough economic times, citing such benefits as customer loyalty, referrals, improved sales and improved shareholder value. The benefits for businesses are clear; however, it is not just businesses that grow as a result of call centers: during tough economic times, they also provide much-needed jobs to help communities grow. Today, Direct Energy Marketing revealed that it will be opening a new call center in Tempe, with plans to hire as many as 300 employees in the first quarter of the New Year alone.
1/9/2013

Five9 Appoints Keith Bennett as Sales Director for CALA
Five9, a cloud contact center software provider, recently appointed Keith Bennett as sales director for its Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) operations. Five9 is looking to expand its operations in CALA and believes Bennett's 14 years experience in sales will help the company achieve its goals.
1/9/2013

911 Call Centers of Joplin & Jasper County Proposed for Use to the Region
Rapidly changing economic scenarios of technology markets across the globe have been compelling enterprises and organizations to enter into partnerships that will enable them to save costs and enhance their operational strategies. A new plan being worked out by two 911 call centers based in Joplin, a city in the Jasper county of Missouri, might be helpful in saving a large amount of money in terms of budgets, apart from helping in the rescue of the lives of various people in danger.
1/9/2013

GEICO Hiring an Additional 300 Representatives at Tucson Call Center
GEICO plans to hire at least 300 more associates for its Tucson, Ariz., office over the next couple of weeks. This announcement comes a little over two years after the company hired 80 employees due to an increase in the number of drivers who switched to GEICO.
1/9/2013

Support.com Partners with AppDirect to Provide World-Class Cloud-Based Support Solutions
Support.com, a provider of high-end technology solutions, recently partnered with AppDirect, the global cloud service marketplace company, to initiate technology integration for delivering world-class, cloud-based support solutions to its clients. With this new venture, Support.com's technology services and SaaS-based Nexus Service Delivery Platform will now be available to the cloud service marketplace partners of AppDirect.
1/8/2013

Utilities, Airlines and Social Media Fare Badly in Customer Service Ranking
It's that time of year again, when we start handing out awards to the best and raspberries to the worst. No, it's not the Oscars (though no doubt those nominations will be out any day), it's the best and worst customer service of the year awards. First comes the worst.
1/8/2013

Australian Call Center Company Hired to Maintain National Do-Not Call List Fined for Violation
How's this for irony: the call center outsourcing company that maintains and operates Australia's consumer "do-not-call" list is itself being fined by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for making unauthorized calls to numbers listed on the do not call registry.
1/8/2013

Five9 Recognized for Innovation in the Cloud
Cloud contact center software provider Five9 has been recognized for innovation in the cloud by the Cloud Computing Magazine.
1/7/2013

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Happy New Year, call center readers. Before you make merry, take a moment to check out the week's events in outbound call center services and solutions. LiveOps, a specialist in cloud contact center and customer service solutions, has joined IntelePeer's Fluent Federation-as-a-Service (FaaS).
12/29/2012

Cloud Sherpas Acquires CloudTrigger
Cloud Sherpas, a cloud services broker, has acquired CloudTrigger, a California-based cloud solution consultancy focused on helping organizations implement and customize CRM solutions in the cloud.
12/21/2012

Eishtec Expands Its Operations Creating 250 New Call Center Jobs
After signing a huge contract with mobile operator Everything Everywhere, Eishtec, which currently employs 400 people in Waterford, will expand and open a new call center in a custom-built facility in Drinagh. The customer contact solutions company will create 250 new call-center jobs in Co Wexford. EE is the company behind British telecommunication giants Orange and T-Mobile.
12/21/2012

Frost & Sullivan's Latest Report Provides Insights to EMEA Contact Center Systems Market
According to new research from Frost & Sullivan, technology upgrades and migration to IP/SIP are key drivers for the contact center systems markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Followed by the quality monitoring (QM) segment, the analyst firm found that revenue growth in the analytics segment is robust. There still exists substantial scope for smaller and emerging companies to innovate and expand despite the presence of large vendors, particularly in the analytics and QM segment.
12/21/2012

Genesys Releases New Application for Better Control of Customer Service Capabilities
Earlier this month Genesys, a provider of customer service solutions, released its new application Genesys Orchestration. With the touch of a button, this new application allows enterprise business leaders to control their customer service capabilities.
12/21/2012

Transcosmos Expands its MCM Center in Fukuoka
transcosmos Inc., which launched operations in Japan in 1966, has reportedly become a byword in providing overall IT outsourcing services globally. It plans to become the "Global IT Partner" for its corporate clients and took a small step in that direction by expanding its existing call center base MCM center in Fukuoka to cater to expanding business needs.
12/20/2012

MyFeePlan.com Increases Customer Service with New 24/7 Chat Access
MyFeePlan.com recently expanded its customer service reach and will now include an innovative 24/7 live chat feature. The website is a public records and customer service website that will now give users the option of visiting the website and going to the "Click Here for Live Customer Support" link, to enter an immediate chat with a customer service agent instead of having to dial in for help.
12/20/2012

Spanish Call Center Callzila's Free eBook Offers Helpful Guidelines on Choosing Call Center Partner Serving Your Hispanic Clientele
If the last U.S. census is to be believed, one out of six residents in the United States belong to Latino Diaspora. The latest U.S. census data recorded 50 million Latinos living in the country and the Hispanic market is expected to soon reach a trillion dollars in buying power.
12/20/2012

MyInfoBill.com Reaches out to Customers with New Live Chat Feature
With thousands of public records running through MyInfoBill.com and its participating websites, the company realizes how important it is to provide relevant online help. Created essentially to serve the needs of public records clients across North America, the website is reaching out to its customers in more ways than one.
12/20/2012

Stratus Contact Solutions Deliver Call Center Support to Lifeline Program Customers
Stratus Contact Solutions, a multichannel contact center, will provide call center support for Telrite Corporation and Life Wireless, a cellular provider. Life Wireless and Telrite provide low-cost and subsidized cellular phone services to income-eligible customers via the Lifeline program.
12/19/2012

Dialtel Releases Powerful White Label Program for Voice Broadcasting Resellers
Dialtel, a provider of hosted IVR services such as voice broadcasting, virtual PBX and virtual call centers, recently launched its own White Label Voice Broadcasting program for outbound termination within the U.S. and Canada.
12/19/2012

FTC Calls for Privacy Information from Nine Data Brokers
The Federal Trade Commission is not taking privacy issues lightly in the cases of nine data brokers. The FTC has ordered Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, Peekyou, Rapleaf and Recorded Future to provide details related to sources from which information is procured, how the information is used and whether or not consumers have access to the data.
12/19/2012

SaaSn Signs Agreement with Bluekey Software Solutions
SaaSn, a division of Anderson Group, recently entered into a cooperative agreement with Bluekey Software Solutions, Africa's largest and most awarded SAP Business One partner.
12/18/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the weekend, and the weekly wrap-up of the events in outbound call center technologies and services.
12/15/2012

OAISYS Partners with Symmetrics
Call centers have evolved a lot in the last few years. The focus these days is more on improving the quality of calls and customer interactions than simply handling a large volume of calls. The various contact center reporting and analysis solutions available in the market help contact center managers keep an eye on quality in every aspect of their call center business.
12/14/2012

Synchronoss Technologies Selected by Mediacom Communications
Synchronoss Technologies, Inc., a provider of transaction management solutions, has been selected by Mediacom Communications, a provider of cable, Internet and digital phone services, to deploy a mobile customer care application.
12/13/2012

The Need for Agent Call Scripts and How it Can Improve Customer Satisfaction
Have you ever had or made a bad first impression and wished you could relive that moment? Unfortunately, we only get one chance at a first impression and starting out on the right foot is important for a company. The first impression can determine the way the customer views you moving forward.
12/13/2012

Call Centers Will Reach a New Level of Maturity in 2013
The future for the call center industry is shaping up to be a bright one, and I wanted to see what specific predictions that industry experts would have for the coming year. To this end, I spoke with Kevin Bottoms, vice president of business development at TELUS International, to see what he saw as he peeked into the future.
12/13/2012

Australian Contact Centers Now Have Forecasting Analytics Options Thanks to Bay Bridge Launch
While many companies today are suffering from "data overload," a side effect of the concept of the "big data," perhaps no organization is struggling more than the average contact centers. Contact centers collect information: with every multimedia interaction with a customer, the contact center gains more and more data that, used properly, could yield valuable insight into the customer experience.
12/12/2012

Cisco Contact Center solutions Now with Altitude uCI Applications
Contact center technology provider Altitude Software has decades of experience working with Cisco, the networking solutions provider. Both companies have been working together in the contact center arena, delivering substantial business results.
12/12/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the weekend, and time to wrap up the week's events in outbound call center solutions and services. Confirmit, a software provider specializing in customer experience, employee engagement and market research, this week introduced a solution that will help companies stay in-the-know about useful data, and more importantly, its customers.
12/8/2012

Allegiance Appoints Carine Clark as President and CEO
Industry veteran Carine Clark recently joined Allegiance, a provider of VOCi technology and services, as the new president and CEO, effective January 2, 2013. Clark holds 25 years of experience in building successful software companies, and has an extensive background in developing marketing, operations and product strategies that enhance corporate reputation, increase shareholder value and accelerate growth.
12/6/2012

Hearing the Voice of a Customer Made Easy with Confirmit's Active Dashboards
Industry analysts stress the importance of great customer service. Not only has the proliferation of social media and mobility widened the scope in which customers can communicate, but customers are expecting more from their service providers.
12/6/2012

Charter Pulls Plug on 'UMatter2Charter' Social Media Service Group
Charter's social media-centered customer support group, UMatter2Charter, got canceled recently, with reports emerging just yesterday that were later confirmed by Charter. The issue was one of customer use of the service, or rather, there wasn't one.
12/6/2012

Pervasip Unveils Marketing Program to Convert its Free Subscribers
VoX Mobile App from Pervasip allows 60 minutes of calls to 60 countries for free. While traveling abroad, users can avoid high roaming charges by using Wi-Fi or 3G/4G Data Plan on any Android device. This can be done without using carrier minutes.
12/6/2012

Is South Africa Poised to Be the Outbound Call Center Capital of the World?
If you were to ask most people what the outbound call center capital of the world is, chances are, they would say India. Some people might hold on to the idea that the United States still holds supremacy in this area, while others might point to the increasing presence of the Philippines in the market. But more and more companies are taking their English-speaking call centers south - all the way to South Africa, that is.
12/6/2012

Globalstar Satellite Back in Commercial Service
Globalstar, Inc. (GSAT) recently announced that one of its satellite's, which was affected by momentum wheel issue, has been returned to commercial service. Both Globalstar and Thales Alenia Space collaborated for over a year developing a solution to fix the problem. Globalstar had to remove the satellite from service in early 2011. With the return of the satellite to commercial service, all 18 Globalstar second-generation satellites are now in active commercial service.
12/6/2012

1-800 We Answer Call Center Offers Business and Residential Victims of Hurricane Sandy 24/7 Call Support
1-800 We Answer Call Center has effectively consolidated its position as a specialist business services company providing call center services by offering both business and residential victims of Hurricane Sandy with emergency 24/7 answering service and call center support. Even as life slowly limps back to normal, the company is continuing with its aid recovery and relief efforts for both old and new clients to help them resume operations as soon as possible.
12/5/2012

Sitel Announces its Plan to Hire 3,000 New Employees
Sitel, a specialist in outsourced customer care services, will soon hire approximately 3,000 new employees at customer care call centers across the U.S. and Canada. The company has been rigorously expanding its business with a fivefold increase in staff. In addition, it offers clients a broad range of technical support and help desk services.
12/4/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's the end of the month, the end of the week, and time to check out the week's happenings in outbound call center news.
12/1/2012

Sykes to Open New Call Center in Fayetteville
Fayetteville, North Carolina will shortly see a new call center opening in the city thanks to Florida-based business process outsourcing provider, Sykes Enterprises. The new call center will initially employ 150 people, but the company has a long-term goal of hiring 500 employees, according to a company spokesperson.
11/29/2012

Mediacom Communications Selects Synchronoss
Synchronoss Technologies has been selected by Mediacom Communications to provide a mobile customer care application for its users. According to Synchronoss, this new mobile customer care application helps customers of Mediacom Communications to get immediate and simple access to Mediacom customer service with the help of a smartphone or tablet.
11/28/2012

Michigan Newspaper Recounts 'Horrible Experience' of Offshore Outsourcing
While companies that outsource jobs to foreign countries often have a mixed bag of results and experiences with the venture, one company - a Michigan newspaper - found that the move turned out to be what it's calling "a horrible experiment."
11/28/2012

Convergys Puts Jamaica Call Center Plans on Hold
Business process outsourcing giant Convergys, which had announced plans earlier to open a 1,000-seat call center in Jamaica, has said it is putting those plans on hold for the moment. Last December, the Cincinnati-based company announced that it would be investing millions of dollars in the new call center in Montego Bay, St. James.
11/27/2012

New Study Highlights Importance of Positive Approach to Contact Centers
Businesses and government entities alike have long known that contact centers play a very large role in the success of an operation. What businesses especially are having a problem embracing is the right approach in order to truly get the centers to operate with peak efficiency. There are still quite a few entities who feel that success, when a call center is involved, is simply talking to as many customers as possible. A new study by the Customer Contact Association (CCA) underlines yet again that in order to truly get the most out of a call center, making sure the customer is happy when the call is ended is the biggest key.
11/26/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the end of the week, which means it's time to wrap up the week's events in outbound call center solutions and services. SoundBite Communications is mitigating risk for contact centers through its Compliance Solution Suite.
11/24/2012

Proposed Fayetteville Call Center Approved
Florida-based Sykes Enterprises has received approval from the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners to open a call center located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is expected to employ at least 150 people.
11/21/2012

MTS Collects Honor for Excellence in Customer Service
Manitoba's full-service communications provider, MTS, is collecting kudos for its customer service. On November 16 at an awards gala in Las Vegas, Nevada, a North American call center industry research firm, SQM Group, recognized MTS for First Call Resolution (FCR) Improvement.
11/21/2012

UK Retailer Comet Cutting Call Center Jobs in Somerset
UK retailer Comet is in trouble: big trouble. The retailer recently announced it would close about 40 stores this month, and is currently offering clearance sales at those stores. According to UK newspaper the Telegraph, administrator Deloitte, which is overseeing the retailer's bankruptcy, is cutting over 600 jobs by effectively closing the brand's home delivery network to new orders.
11/21/2012

Prepping the Call Center to Avoid Holiday Headaches and Madness
If you run, own or manage a call center that sells consumer products, you know what's coming: the holiday shopping season. The pressure is on; customers are expecting better, more immediate service than ever before. They are coming at you via more media channels than ever before, and - as if the pressure isn't high enough - your company's health and continued existence depends on these critical holiday sales.
11/21/2012

Developing Technologies Improve Relationships between Banks and Customers
In today's difficult economic climate, the relationship between banks and customers has deteriorated to the point that banks are finally realizing that some type of action is needed to regain the trust of their clientele. The ideal way for banks to rebuild the relationships with its clients is by putting them at the center of everything they do; this way, it will show that the financial organization takes pride in itself on customer service.
11/21/2012

Leads360 Ranked in Deloitte's 2012 Technology Fast 500 List
Recently, the company was ranked on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 for a second consecutive year. According to the company, this is a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America.
11/21/2012

RingRevenue Raises Investment Capital for its Call Marketing Automation Solution
Let's face it: Web-based marketing is still a bit like the Wild West. There are so many options that many companies wind up putting together a program, crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. This is no way to conduct a marketing campaign, however, so the industry has, as of late, witnessed a rise in companies and solutions to help you track the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts.
11/21/2012

Customer Service is the Place Where Mobile Social Media, Information and Cloud Computing Meet
Anybody who studies or manages customer service applications today knows there's big change afoot. The change is due to a number of factors that have begun to affect the way customers interact with companies today.
11/21/2012

Cyara Automated Testing Suite Reduces Call Center Technology Deployment Risk
Cyara announced that its Automated Testing Suite successfully reduces call center technology deployment risk. Cyara specializes in premises and cloud solutions required for testing, monitoring and simulating interactive voice response (IVR) and contact center systems and applications.
11/20/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the weekend. It's time for another wrap-up of the week's events in outbound call center solutions and services.
11/17/2012

KIDK Reports Obama's Re-election Triggers Massive Layoffs
An Ammon call center is closing its doors. The news comes on the heels of announcements this past week that two other call centers are either closing down or laying off dozens of employees. Since Election Day, Eastern Idaho has seen three call centers close. Political polls are conducted by at least two of them. Logically, because the election is over, the employees would have been out of work.
11/16/2012

OAISYS Call Recording Solutions Now Interoperable with BroadSoft BroadWorks
As a wide range of advanced telecommunications solutions and services are being made available to the enterprise and individual users, it has becoming more and more imperative that their interoperability and compliance with other solutions and platforms can be ensured to maintain a smooth and regular interconnectivity among them.
11/16/2012

The Right Software Is a Vital Component of a Cloud-Based Contact Center
Businesses are increasingly aware of the importance of call centers. They represent an essential point of contact between companies and existing or potential customers. And, with the emergence of the cloud as a tool for agile and flexible computing and communications, more and more businesses are considering moving their contact centers into the cloud. But, as companies consider this transition, there are a number of different factors they must consider, from cost to complexity. It is important to think about the right kinds of software to implement as well.
11/12/2012

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's the end of another week, and time to wrap up the week's events in the outbound call center industry. Concentrix Corporation and Cisco were recently recognized with the prestigious Best Outsourcing Partnership award at ICMI's European Call Centre and Customer Service Awards, held in London, England on October 4, 2012.
11/10/2012

Concentrix and Cisco Win Best Outsourcing Partnership Award
Concentrix Corporation and Cisco have recently been recognized with the prestigious Best Outsourcing Partnership award at ICMI's European Call Centre and Customer Service Awards, held in London, England on October 4, 2012.
11/8/2012

New Law from FCC May Restrict Auto Dialer
The FCC instituted its Telephone Consumer Protection Act placing restrictions on the use of an auto dialer in 1992 and through that legislation set up the national Do Not Call registry, which was applicable to all telemarketers. This legislation was devised to protect the public from unwanted calls using auto dialer software and now it seems there is further regulation that is being enacted.
11/8/2012

Concentrix Corporation and Cisco Awarded 'Best Outsourcing Partnership' at Recent Event
Concentrix Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation , a global business services company, and Cisco have been recognized as "Best Outsourcing Partnership" at a recent event.
11/8/2012

What you Need to Deliver Telemarketing Call Center Services
What does the word telemarketing conjure up? Irritating phone calls at the wrong time and wrong place, trying to pawn off some product on unwary consumers? To be fair, it is much more than that. In fact, it is by far the most effective and cost efficient way of marketing used by businesses to promote their services and increase their volume of sales.
11/7/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the end of a very trying week (at least for the Northeast U.S.) and an opportunity to wrap up the week's events in outbound call center news. A new agent-to-consumer interaction solution from Varolii uses cloud-based predictive dialer technology to modernize customer outreach.
11/3/2012

Customer Satisfaction - is it Enough?
The holiday season is just around the corner, and retailers everywhere will be vying for the consumer dollar. While many will offer commodity products, others may take a boutique-type approach with customized products. Regardless of the customer-facing products, what will really matter is the customer service deliverables that generate satisfaction.
11/2/2012

Engage your Customers and Access Great Moderation Tools Using OmniSocial Engaged from Mzinga
How about an enterprise social business platform that can be easily branded, configured and deployed in a seamless social ecosystem, and helps target audiences at a deeper level? This is what Mzinga, a popular enterprise social software solutions and services provider, hopes to deliver with its OmniSocial Engaged platform.
11/2/2012

Best Western Receives the Best Newcomer Award at Event
Recently, at the UK Call Centre Awards 2012, Best Western GB, the UK's largest group of independently owned hotels, has been rated 'Best in the Travel Services Sector'. With over 120 centers entering each year, the awards honor UK's best call centers. Showcasing the strongest and most successful call center teams, they represent the whole industry.
11/2/2012

Varolii Introduces New Agent-to-Consumer Interaction Solution
A new agent-to-consumer interaction solution from Varolii uses cloud-based predictive dialer technology to modernize customer outreach. Known as Varolii Interact Cloud Dialer, the new dialer expands Varolii's customer self-service Interact platform to offer a full breadth of customer interactions to reach consumers in the right way, with the right message at the right time.
11/2/2012

BroadSoft Collaborates with Carrier Software Company CTI Group
The hosted contact center market is expanding and many contact center enterprises are moving toward cloud-based solutions. According to the research firm Gartner, it is predicted that 75 percent of all contact centers will utilize cloud technology by 2013.
11/2/2012

FTC Offers $50,000 Prize to Innovators to Do Battle with Robocallers
To address the public grievances caused by illegal, prerecorded telemarketing calls on mobile and fixed phones, the Federal Trade Commission is challenging the public to create an innovative solution that will block these annoying, commercial robocalls. To accelerate this effort, the agency is launching FTC Robocall Challenge and offering a $50,000 cash award for the best technical solution.
10/31/2012

California Counties Vying for New Call Center
When there is a potential for a new call center to be built in one particular location or another, there is obvious excitement from both sides of the issue. On the one hand the government is more than happy to see a new call center come into a town because it almost always means new jobs for the people who live in the area. On the other hand a business that is able to open a call center is one that is taking a positive step forward when it comes to the bottom line.
10/30/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call centers are useful in many areas. Political campaigns can use them to contact potential voters and get them motivated to take part in the election process. Debt collection companies can use them to get in touch with delinquent account holders to try and recoup money owed. There are thousands of uses for outbound call centers, and always a host of news about this space. Here, then, are the top stories from this week!
10/26/2012

Concentric's HVOD Platform Wins 2012 TMC Labs Innovation Award
Concentric Cloud Solutions, an XO Communications company, recently announced that its High-Volume Outbound Dial Platform has been recognized with a 2012 TMC Labs Innovation Award, presented by TMC's CUSTOMER magazine.
10/25/2012

Call Center Services Make a Difference in University Admissions
Call center services are traditionally used by customer-centric businesses that want to have a strong customer support system in place. However, the trend is now changing. Several universities are now adopting call center services as a means to communicate with prospective students and others.
10/25/2012

Intuate Group Steps in Quickly - Averts Major Disaster at CCI Call Center
CCI, is South Africa's reputed international call center, which consistently delivers world-class service, and specializes in the implementation and operation of outbound, inbound and blended multichannel contact centers.
10/25/2012

Verizon Wireless Makes Plans to Hire 200 in Rochester Area in 2013
Verizon Wireless has announced it will be hiring 200 new full-time employees at its call center in Henrietta, New York. Although the jobs are not expected to commence until 2013, it promises to be a good opportunity for jobseekers in the new year.
10/24/2012

Debt Collection Solutions Company ACT Chooses Castel for Outbound Dialing and Other Technologies
Dialer and messaging solutions company Castel Communications has a new client, the company is announcing this week.
10/24/2012

Verde Valley Arizona Charity Needs Volunteers for Call Center
The Verde Valley (Arizona) Caregivers Coalition Executive Director Kent Ellsworth has put out an open call today for more volunteers to staff the charity's call centers. VVCC provides volunteers, programs and services to support adults in need of assistance to maintain their independence and quality of life at home. Supportive services include transportation to medical appointments, grocery shopping, home visits, telephone reassurance, respite assistance, handy person help, and business help.
10/24/2012

ACT Selects Castel Communications
Castel Communications has announced that the company was selected by Account Control Technology (ACT). According to the agreement, ACT will deploy Castel products such as Castel Connects Dialer, Castel Tracker DVR, Castel Convey Enhanced Intelligent Messaging Delivery, Castel Detect Voice and Speech Analysis, and Castel Compass Real-Time Business Intelligence Dashboard.
10/24/2012

NexTech Establishes Strategic Alliance with MyMedLeads.com
Effective and efficient lead management strategies not only improve sales effectiveness, but also increase short-term revenue. Due to recent economic uncertainties, many marketing and sales companies have been forced to have a relook at their lead management solutions and integrations.
10/24/2012

Five9's Call Center Software Drives Successful Third Quarter
It is the time of year when companies are revealing their third quarter results. Some companies are forced to spin their numbers to make it look like they are successful. But others, like call center software specialist Five9, actually have excellent news to report to the public.
10/23/2012

Everbridge Announces Availability of New Solutions
Everbridge, a provider of interactive communication and mass notification solutions, recently announced the availability of Mass Notification, its mass communication software, and Interactive Visibility, the first social, mobile, global communications solution platform for EMEA. These solutions expand the reach and increase delivery of important communications by combining the capabilities of social media and mobility.
10/23/2012

UPMC Health Plan Offers Call Center Services and Patient Care
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a not-for-profit health enterprise affiliated with the university's School of Medicine, is considered a leading American healthcare provider by US News & World Report for its innovation and service excellence.
10/23/2012

U.S. Communications Union Says Romney Outsourcing Campaign Work to Philippines
Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has had to dodge a lot of accusations of offshore outsourcing. The latest - that his campaign has actually outsourced political calling to the Philippines - has been vehemently denied, but rumors persist.
10/23/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the end of another week. It's time to wrap up the week's events in outbound call center services and solutions. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is getting serious about enforcing the "do not call" registry.
10/20/2012

FCC Taking More Hands on Role with Do Not Call List
The Federal Communications Commission's job has long been one that changes with the times and adjusts depending on where the market needs it most. While federal laws do limit the FCC's powers to some degree, the commission can issue rules over the companies and markets it governs with near impunity as long as it is obvious that it is not overstepping its bounds.
10/19/2012

All State Van Lines Relocation Recognizes Employees
Customer service is important to every industry, but for some industries, it can make or break the success of a company. Unfortunately, companies often forget the key ingredient to providing excellent customer service - taking care of and showing appreciation for the employees who interact with customers on a day-to-day basis and keep the company running.
10/19/2012

PowerNet wins INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award
PowerNet Global, a company that provides telecommunication solutions, was recently recognized with the 2012 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine. This is second year in a row that PowerNet Global has won this award for its NetDialer service.
10/19/2012

FCC to Begin Collecting Data on Robocall Violations; FTC Offers $50K for Robocall Blocking Solution
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is getting serious about enforcing the do not call registry. The agency soon plans to begin collecting reports regarding the register in order to better track information and enforce rule violations. The FCC recently announced that the Office of Management and Budget has approved the collection of information for three years.
10/19/2012

iNET Solutions is Now Indosoft's Q-Suite Certified Reseller
Indosoft Inc., a provider of contact center technology to medium-sized and large call centers, has appointed iNET Solutions as a certified reseller of its Q-Suite for the Middle Eastern region. iNET Solutions Ltd. is an IT Services company in Ramallah City.
10/19/2012

Customer-Centric Approach - a Must for Field Service Managers
Strange as it may sound, customer satisfaction, which should be a natural offshoot of any job, is today being seen as a means by which companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors. To say then that a company's existence depends entirely upon its customers is not entirely untrue for any day a customer-centric approach will almost certainly bear fruition.
10/19/2012

Allstate to Close Wisconsin Call Center
Allstate Insurance Co. recently announced plans to close a call center in Cross Plains, Wisconsin by the end of this year. Layoffs will affect 214 employees currently working at the facility. Allstate says the call center's closing is due to "the direct result of improvements in technology, declining insurance claim counts and efficiency gains."
10/18/2012

Call Center in Boise to Create 700 New Jobs
With unemployment lingering at an unsustainably low point, the news of job creation is sure to bring elation where ever it should occur. Recently, it was announced that one place potential employees may start rejoicing is in Boise, Idaho. Though the city has suffered along with many other middle class hubs during the economic recession and recovery, a batch of new jobs will be arriving very soon.
10/18/2012

Evolve IP Improves its Award-Winning Evolved Call Center
Call centers are the lifeline of business that rely on customer interaction to keep them growing. Any interruption to this lifeline or periodic system failures can result in high customer attrition rates. Existing HPBX and legacy PBX services can be improved by using cloud integration to ensure systems are always operational even if on premise equipment fail.
10/17/2012

Sytel Offers Predictive Dialer as Part of SAP Business Communications Management 7
A cloud-based call center often comes with free predictive dialer and automatic call distributor (ACD) that power intelligent call queuing functionality that uses business information to deliver personalized call treatment and supports effective routing decisions.
10/17/2012

Avis Budget Group Adds New Positions to its Business Support Center in Budapest, Hungary
Avis Budget Group, Inc., a company offering vehicle rental services through its Avis and Budget brands, with 10,000 rental locations in approximately 175 countries around the world, has announced that its hiring 235 people to its Business Support Center (BSC) in Budapest, Hungary.
10/16/2012

SAS, Harland Clarke Team Up to Improve Campaign Response Rates, Reduce Churn
Harland Clarke, provider of integrated payment solutions, marketing services, security services, and retail products, has announced that the company's marketing team has been using SAS Analytics to deliver CRM solutions that help banks and credit unions acquire, engage, retain and grow relationships with customers and members.
10/16/2012

Points.com Call Center Program Helps Virgin Atlantic Customers Buy Extra Miles
Points.com, a management platform for loyalty reward programs, has revealed its expanded partnership with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Points International owns and operates the Points.com reward currency management provider that specializes in providing multiple eCommerce and technology solutions to loyalty brands.
10/15/2012

Vantiv to Close Indiana Call Center
Evansville, Indiana is about to lose some call center jobs. Financial services company, Vantiv Inc. has reportedly announced that an Evansville-based call center employing about 200 employees today will cut its work force to about 25 and close its call center in southwest Indiana. The 25 employees who will retain their jobs will work from their homes after the closure.
10/15/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Happy Autumn Friday, and welcome to another week's edition of the TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review. Netxcell, a provider of telecom value added services (VAS), has enhanced the capabilities of its IVR and Video OBD (outbound dialing) products.
10/13/2012

Lithium Technologies Acquires Social Dynamx
Lithium Technologies, a company that develops software for Social Customer Experience, recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of Social Dynamx, an enterprise social customer care platform that helps brands respond to social conversations.
10/12/2012

Analysts Suggest Outsourcing Social Customer Support Channels to Experts
If you run or manage a contact center, you know it's a juggling act. As companies seem to add new media to their multimedia mix every year, the juggling act seems to add more balls all the time. The latest balls, of course, are those of social media.
10/12/2012

Spain's Telefonica Selling Call Center Division to Bain Capital
Spain's ailing telecom giant, Telefonica SA (TEF), is in the process of selling assets in an effort to cut more than $75 billion of the company's net debt. To help do so, Telefonica SA has reportedly agreed to sell its Atento call center division to Bain Capital Partners LLC.
10/12/2012

Maintech Helps Wounded Warriors Transition to Civilian Life
War always leaves scars behind, physical and invisible ones. Post traumatic stress, emotional disorders, and depression are some of the things that surviving service members have to contend with as they transition from being a warrior to a private citizen.
10/12/2012

Netxcell Enhances IVR and Video Outbound Dialing Products
Netxcell, a provider of telecom value added services (VAS), has enhanced the capabilities of its IVR and Video OBD (outbound dialing) products.
10/12/2012

Harry & David Call Center Brings Christmas Present of Jobs to Eugene, Oregon
Harry & David, the website and catalog merchant famous for pricey but impressive treats, announced earlier this week that it's bringing a little extra happiness to Eugene, Oregon this holiday season. The call center in Eugene, which they needed to close for financial reasons, is being reopened, and it's hiring.
10/12/2012

Xerox Hiring 200 Employees for Mississippi Call Center
Is the economy recovering at the rate the Obama Administration claims? Some believe the numbers are false. Others believe the rate is bound to reach their estimates eventually. Still others point to the fact that temporary hires are juicing the numbers a bit, and in this area, companies like Xerox can relate.
10/12/2012

California Woman Sues Dish Network for Illegal Mobile Phone Robocalls
Automated, prerecorded calls ("robocalls") to your cell phone: it's become a familiar nuisance. Whether it's for a new security system ("there are break-ins reported in your area") or a fishy-sounding credit card deal, Americans are fed up with them. Try to get yourself removed from their calling list and the calls only continue more frequent than before.
10/10/2012

Frost & Sullivan Pave Way for Hosted Contact Center Model
Options beyond capital-intensive premise-based solutions that do not require huge capital investments are to be explored by a number of businesses due to the global economic downturn and budget constraints for technology. In the Asia Pacific markets, this mindset paved the way for hosted contact center models to be adopted across all sizes of enterprises.
10/8/2012

Everbridge: Get the Right Message to the Right Person at the Right Time
Everbridge, which provides interactive communication and mass notification solutions to organizations in all major industries and government sectors, has made available a new solutions suite that combines interactive visibility and mass communication.
10/4/2012

Union Threatens Lawsuit Over City's Plans To Outsource Redding Electric Utility's Call Center
Redding Electric Utility's labor union has filed a grievance on October 1, 2012, warning that they will file a lawsuit if the city plans to outsource the call center.
10/4/2012

1st USCU Implements Fonolo's Phone-based Customer Service
1st United Services Credit Union recently announced that it has chosen Fonolo's best-in-class phone-based customer service. Members of 1st USCU will be offered an enhanced call center experience as waiting time is now replaced with a call-back capability from Fonolo.
10/4/2012

SoundBite before Salmonella
The latest salmonella outbreak has been traced to chicken jerky dog treats, according to the FDA. Immediately prior to this event was another recall stemming from peanut butter manufacturers, whose products are on the shelves of Targets and Whole Foods across 30 states. If you find this disconcerting, you should know the old process for notifying consumers and vendors was to send a letter through the postal service.
10/4/2012

Ovum Research Says Customer Contacts Moving Heavily to Mobile
We all know what mobile adoption has done for game playing and checking e-mail. Most of us even know what mobile devices have done for working outside the office and finding ways to have access to documents from half a world away. What we may not realize is just how much mobile devices are going to impact customer service over the next couple of years. A recent study by industry analyst Ovum shows how different companies will have their customer service approach changed.
10/4/2012

Asian Call Centers Need to Build Social Media Customer Engagement Strategies
One thing the world has today is lots of social media channels, and customers are increasingly using them to interact with companies. Social media allows companies to hear, engage and participate in customer conversations not only during a call, but even when the customer discusses his or her product/service experience with friends or peers on social networks.
10/4/2012

Utility Companies are Improving their Web-Based Customer Service
Many customers have troubled relationships with their utilities. Given the nature of utilities, most people are "stuck with" the companies in their area whether they like it or not, which can often make for contentious customer relationships. In addition, utilities often have a much more urgent need to communicate with their customers than other companies - in the event of a storm, for example.
10/4/2012

Enterprises have the Ability to Automate their Call Center Services through IVR
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) has become the latest in automated technology for communication. Companies use IVR to reduce the cost of common sales, service, collections, and improve the support calls to and from their company. IVR can include everything from pre-recorded voice prompts, automated menus, key-entry responses, and voice recognition.
10/3/2012

Champaign, Illinois Considers Outsourcing Call Center
This week, city council members in Champaign, Illinois were asked to consider a contract to provide call center support and billing services to the Urbana Champaign Big Broadband program. The call center contract, which is worth about $67,000, is between the city and call center outsourcing company Solix, which is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey but has an office in Charleston, Illinois.
10/3/2012

Low Employment Costs Boost Vietnam's Contact Center Market
In recent years, contact center industry has grown tremendously in Asian countries. Thanks to the availability of well educated, English speaking graduates in these countries, many companies from U.S. and U.K. and other parts of the world have outsourced their contact center jobs to these Asian countries.
10/3/2012

FCC Clarifies Rules for Political Calls: Mobile Phones are Still Off-Limits
Its political calling season and most voters are likely already weary of telephone calls relating to the election. Some callers are even receiving them on their mobile phones, prompting a spike in complaints to the FCC about the practice.
10/2/2012

Lands' End Announces Plan to Lay off 200 Employees
Starting up a new call center in a new location can be a really good way to gauge how a company is doing when it comes to the bottom line. Companies around the world realize that a growth in assets such as a call center or customer service center can mean that they are seeing great revenue.
10/1/2012

Comcast Announces 24X7 Customized Technical Support in Florida
Offering a new 24x7 technical support and equipment protection program for small business customers in its Florida Region, Comcast has announced the launch of Business Class Signature Support.
10/1/2012

Vectren Extends Customer Support Hours for the Month of October
As the temperatures cool down around the country, many people will be heating their home for the first time since last winter during the month of October. Recognizing this, Indiana-based energy company Vectren has announced that they will be extending the hours of its call center for support throughout the entire month.
10/1/2012

Eyerys is on the Prowl for New Partners
A purveyor of customer experience management software, Eyerys, has since its inception been working with Smoke Customer Care Solutions for the purpose of its distribution. The software and distributor have had an exclusive relationship that has, until now, served both parties well.
10/1/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to this week's rundown of the news in the outbound call center market.
9/29/2012

Vectren Energy Delivery Extends October Call Center Hours for Upcoming Heating Season
October tends to be an active month for natural gas companies, as customers begin preparations for the colder temperatures that come when fall turns to winter. This year, Indiana-based heating company Vectren Energy Delivery has decided to extend its call center support hours to accommodate for this trend. For the entire month of October, Vectren Energy Delivery will add more hours and make more customer service representatives available for the rising number of calls.
9/28/2012

Consumers Angered by Increase in Illegal 'Robocalls'
Complaints to the federal government about unwanted telemarketing are on the rise again, and it's raising questions about how well the federal "do not call" registry is working. Increasingly, both live calls and automated telemarketing calls ("robocalls") are finding their way into consumers' homes regardless of whether they are on the federal registry or not.
9/28/2012

CWA Releases New Video Illustrating Call Centers' Workers Support of 'Onshoring'
The Communications Workers of America, the largest communications and media labor union in the U.S. representing about 550,000 members in both the private and public sectors, has not made it a secret that one of its top priorities is to reduce the number of American call center jobs shipped offshore by American companies.
9/28/2012

Altitude Software Partners with AloTech Technology to Serve Turkish Contact Center Industry
Contact center solutions provider Altitude Software is announcing a partnership with AloTech Technology, a Turkish information technology services company. The agreement will make Altitude Software solutions available in Turkey's emerging contact center industry, specifically Altitude's new release of its uCI product, which was designed to increase a contact center's profitability and impact on business with real time insights, multimedia workflows, campaign optimization and unified social media interactions.
9/28/2012

Web Chat Becomes a Win-Win for Customers and E-tailers
One thing the explosion of Web-based media has brought to consumers is higher expectations. Once upon a time, communicating with a company meant doing it in person or via the telephone. Finding the right person on the phone was often frustrating, and issues frequently went unresolved. Thanks to the explosion of chat - and more people in all demographics and age groups feeling comfortable with chat - it has become of one of the most popular ways for customers to communicate with companies.
9/28/2012

Nemertes PilotHouse Market Leader Award for IP Contact Center Presented to Avaya
Avaya won the 2012 Nemertes PilotHouse Market Leader Award for IP Contact Center for the second consecutive time. Avaya asserted that its solution garnered top marks for customer service and value.
9/28/2012

Capital One Cuts Jobs at Tigard Call Center, Promises New Jobs
Despite the many promises that the economy will turn around, things still remain bleak in the world of banking.
9/28/2012

Noble Systems to Acquire All of ALI's Assets
Noble Systems Corporation, a privately held company that serves the contact technology industry, has recently acquired assets from another enterprise, Austin-based consumer analytics provider, ALI Solutions Inc. The agreement gives Noble access to everything including all intellectual property and assets for the company's suite of products.
9/27/2012

Flushed with Cash, French Call Center Teleperformance in 'Acquisitive Mood'
European call center outsourcing giant Teleperformance SA has some money, and it's not afraid to spend it. The company's stock is at an all-time high, and chairman, Daniel Julien, said the company was in an "acquisition mood," particularly inside the U.S. call center marketplace.
9/27/2012

Rent.com Hires Customer Support 24/7
The idea of virtual assistants is beginning to comfort people thanks to Apple's Siri. When Rent.com CTO Alain Avakian talks about his own interest in virtual chat technology and its potential to augment customer service at his business, he points to Siri.
9/27/2012

Comcast Closing California Call Centers: But NOT Because California is too Expensive
On Tuesday, cable giant Comcast rather abruptly announced that it plans to close all of its California call centers, located in Natomas, Livermore and Morgan Hill, that together employ about 1,000 people.
9/27/2012

Alinean Brings Sales Value Propositions to a Mobile Format
While we've transitioned communications, media, gaming, shopping, entertainment, music, news and socializing to a mobile format, the business world has been quietly making the same transition. Few corporate functions are better positioned to make the leap to mobile and reap benefits from sales.
9/27/2012

Call Center Software Provider Five9 Adds New Member to Executive Team
When you are a leader in a particular industry, it is important to have leaders on your executive team. This is why Five9, a leader in the cloud contact center software market, was looking to hire an industry veteran with a wealth of experience. They found just such a person in David Milam, the newest member of Five9's executive team.
9/26/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Companies are starting to realize the importance of call centers as hubs of customer contact. Outbound call centers are more important than ever, and savvy companies will keep up to date on all of the news in the space. This week has been a busy one in the outbound call center space, so let's get to the top stories!
9/22/2012

Air China Extends Call Center Business Hours to Meet Increasing Demands
Recently, Air China elongated the business hours on weekends of its call center based in Los Angeles, Calif. in order to improve customer service and to be better able to respond to increasing demands. The new schedule will enable the center to remain open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), Monday through Friday. During weekends and on public holidays, the service hours will remain the same -7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. PST.
9/21/2012

InPhonex to Offer VoodooVox's Analytics Solution to UC Customer Base
Toronto-based call analytics solutions provider VoodooVox Inc. has announced a partnership with Florida-based unified communications company InPhonex.com LLC. Under the terms of the agreement InPhonex plans to make the VoodooVox Caller Analytics platform available to its customer base.
9/21/2012

Gold Coast NBN Call Center Opening
Although recently, there was a small but dissatisfying encounter with the mayor of the Gold Coast regarding the treatment of NBN Co executives, the Minister of Communications has smoothed out any remaining bumps in the relationship. Conroy has extended a welcoming hand to NBN for the opening of its Gold Coast call center, which is the first of its kind in the region for the company.
9/21/2012

Allstream Selects Lavastorm Desktop Professional for CRM System
Canada based all-business communications provider Allstream has said that it's using the Lavastorm Desktop Professional product to process, organize and clean account data within its customer relationship management (CRM) system.
9/21/2012

SAVO Survey: Training and Alignment with Sales Process is Critical to Tablet Adoption
A recent poll by the SAVO Group stated that 26 percent of participants reported their organizations are providing tablets for sales representatives while 43 percent said their organization supported the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. Of those sellers with tablets, 67 percent are not being trained on best practices for utilizing the tablet during customer interaction. The figures are from a live poll of 117 participants during one of SAVO's Mission: Possible educational webinars, "Mobile with Impact: Enable Sellers to Inspire Customers."
9/21/2012

Gartner Names Xerox Help Desk as an Outsourcing Leader in Magic Quadrant Report
Xerox provides training and support for the customers' internal Help Desk to keep their troubleshooting centralized and get them back on track faster. Priority access to the company study senior support specialists means that they are ready to help solve the issue quickly, even when things become more complex.
9/21/2012

Why Your Outbound Call Center Should Be Multichannel
If you were to take a moment and list all of the contact channels you use every day, you would likely end up with a pretty staggering list. Most people use a landline phone, a mobile phone, texting, instant messaging, voice and video chat, Twitter, Facebook messages and more each and every day. For this reason, we, as customers, are adapting to a multichannel lifestyle. Outbound call centers must move themselves into the new millennium and embrace these new communications forms.
9/20/2012

Teleflora Contact Center Achieves ICMI's Professional Certification
Teleflora recently announced that its contact center has received the ICMI's Professional Certification. Teleflora is one of the biggest florist networks across the globe and currently has over 15,000 associate shops in the U.S. and Canada and 20,000 international partners. One of the main reasons why Teleflora has been able to expand globally is due to its ability to adapt and leverage modern technology and keep abreast with the current market trends.
9/20/2012

Could Rising Value of the Peso Make The Philippines Less Attractive for Call Center Business?
While the Philippines business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has truly been booming -- the nation surpassed India several years ago as the number one destination for North American contact center outsourcing - the country's humming BPO business may be endangered by forces beyond its control: currency exchange.
9/20/2012

Georgia's Child Protection Officials Advocating Creation of Central Call Center for Receiving Child Abuse Reports
Recently two supervisors from Columbus area's Division of Family and Children Services (DFSC) were arrested and charged with destroying, delaying or otherwise tampering with initial reports about a suspected child abuse case. This sparked off a debate in the area whether it would be better to have a call center receive reports about child abuse rather than delegating that task to each county office.
9/20/2012

Virtual Hold's Conversation Bridge Lets Marketers Turn QR Codes into Callbacks
Last week, IVR callback solution provider Virtual Hold Technology (VHT) showed off its new Conversation Bridge solution that enables customers to request a callback from customer service through an Internet-connected smartphones, television, kiosk, gaming consoles or other devices. This week, the company is pointing out that Conversation Bridge offers another compelling feature: management of QR codes.
9/20/2012

Wireless Distribution Brightstar Honored by U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
As Hispanic-Americans are one of the largest U.S. growth demographic, many companies are seeking to beef up their marketing efforts in this area, beginning with offering Spanish language marketing and call center services. While some companies are struggling to keep up, others have been doing it for years.
9/20/2012

Echopass Completes a Successful Decade as Salesforce.com Partner
Echopass Corporation recently announced that it has successfully completed 10 years of partnership with salesforce.com. The strategic partnership between both companies has resulted in delivery of advanced integrated solutions for large enterprise customers.
9/19/2012

Telecom Provider CenturyLink's Spanish Call Center Celebrates 25 Years of Service
While many call center companies - both internal and outsourced - are scrambling to build up their resources to serve Spanish-speaking American customers, some companies have been doing it for a very long time. This week, the bilingual call center of CenturyLink, Inc. says it is celebrating 28 years of meeting the needs of Spanish-speaking customers.
9/18/2012

Robocalling on the Rise
When the federal government created the "Do Not Call" registry so consumers could opt out of many kinds of telemarketing calls, they thought their phones would get quieter. The law behind the registry exempts only market research companies not selling anything, political campaign calling and companies with which you have a prior relationship during the last 18 months.
9/17/2012

How an Outbound Call Center Can Help Your Sales
Any successful salesperson will tell you how important it is to build relationships. Being able to reach out to a company through an existing relationship is a lot easier than cold calling businesses out of the blue. But, as much as we try to network cultivate a large and varied stable of business relationships, it's simply impossible to have connections everywhere. So, for instances where companies might require a "middle man" to bridge the gap from one company to another, there is a viable solution out there: the outbound call center.
9/17/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
These days, more and more businesses realize the importance of call centers. This week, there was a great deal of news, both in the United States and abroad, in the outbound call center space. Here are some of the top stories.
9/15/2012

CWA Releases Video Detailing the Impact of Foreign Call Center Outsourcing
The Communications Workers of America, the largest communications and media labor union in the U.S. representing about 550,000 members in both the private and public sectors, has not made it a secret that one of its top priorities is to reduce the number of American call center jobs shipped offshore by American companies.
9/13/2012

Virtual Hold Technology Shows Conversation Bridge Callback Solution at Genesys G-Force EMEA
While inbound calls are tough to plan for in a contact center - every company experiences hard-to-cope-with call spikes now and then - the same can't be said of outbound work. So what if you could turn inbound calling into outbound calling, making traffic easier to predict and taking the pressure of agents handling long call queues, and removing the agony of waiting on hold for customers?
9/13/2012

Voxeo Names Bob Ingalls as New CEO
Voxeo is a company that been moving up the rungs of the technology sector for quite a while now, and its latest move is a bid to add a little strength to its standing. The company has announced a brand new CEO who is a veteran of the company's little corner of the business world.
9/13/2012

ATO Outsources Contact Center Service Panel to Datacom
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has appointed Datacom (News - Alert) for its Contact Center Services Panel.
9/13/2012

Philippines Call Center Industry Contemplates Growth despite Strong Peso
The peso is trading at a four-year high but the Philippine call center industry is optimistic about a brisk business in the upcoming days. Despite a strong peso appreciation against dollar, threatening to weaken the profit margin, the industry insiders are sure that the Philippines will remain the world's biggest contact center hub.
9/13/2012

e2b's New Web Portal for Anytime Collect - a Boon for Sales and Credit Reps
On top of the daily grind sales and credit representatives go through every day, they also have to tackle issues relating to accounts receivable and credit collections. Getting through to concerned departments, getting hold of the people involved and waiting endlessly for replies have almost become a part of their daily routine.
9/12/2012

Telstra's Goonellabah in Lismore Call Center to Close in October
Telstra Corporation Limited, a telecommunications provider headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, offers a full range of products and services to meet its customer needs. Its purpose is to keep Australians serviced and connected through the use of their telecommunications networks, a fixed or mobile infrastructure, and vast geographical coverage.
9/12/2012

FEMA Opens Call Center for Hurricane Isaac Insurance
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that its National Flood Insurance Program recently opened its Hurricane Isaac Flood Insurance Call Center for the state of Louisiana, where residents experienced intense rain and heavy flooding from Hurricane Isaac. Call center agents will answer queries from Louisiana callers about flood insurance and other issues related to insurance and Hurricane Isaac.
9/11/2012

Lexifone Set to Triple Annual Sales with Translation Service
According to Ike Sagie, chief executive officer of Israeli Group at Lexifone, the company is set to triple the annual sales in first few years of operation, topping its own target. Lexifone provides automated voice translation service. The service requires neither Internet connection nor software installation.
9/11/2012

Grand Rapids, Michigan to Launch Citywide 311 Call Center
While launching a new 311 call center may seem like a pricey prospect for a city, in actuality, sometimes it has the potential to save money. This is the case in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
9/11/2012

Staples to Close Call Center in Baton Rouge by the End of the Year
Bad news for the people of Baton Rouge, Louisiana this week, as office supply company Staples is said to be closing its $2-million call center when its lease expires at the end of the year, or possibly even sooner. According to Randy Poche - whose company, Superior Office Products, owns the building of which Staples has been leasing some 20,000 square feet since 2007 - this plan has been in the works for a while.
9/11/2012

FreeCRM.com Chosen by Panama for Call Center Automation
The country of Panama recently decided to upgrade all governmental services within the Office of Social Services, La Caja de Seguro Social, with the assistance of FreeCRM.com. A minimum of 100 seats of FreeCRM.com have been deployed by Panama for computerizing the call center's Relevant Products/Services operations.
9/10/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call centers are vital customer contact tools in a variety of industries, and it is important for companies in these industries to keep track of the latest news and trends in the outbound call center space. This week, there was a great deal of news, including reports that spoke of the importance of outbound call centers, solutions to help meet evolving customer needs, and companies interested in the evolution of call centers.
9/8/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call centers are vital customer contact tools in a variety of industries, and it is important for companies in these industries to keep track of the latest news and trends in the outbound call center space. This week, there was a great deal of news, including reports that spoke of the importance of outbound call centers, solutions to help meet evolving customer needs, and companies interested in the evolution of call centers.
9/8/2012

Dual Delight for Mellon Group as it Soars with Altitude Powered Campaigns
If the 'proof of the pudding is in the eating,' then the proof of Altitude software's success is in the success of its partners. With more than 1100 customers in over 80 countries, Altitude stated that its powered campaigns have helped achieve outstanding results in sales and cement its position as a unique contact enter vendor.
9/7/2012

Dallas Makes Changes to 911 Call Center Following Botched Call During Woman's Murder
Dallas, Texas is shaking up its 911 emergency call center in the wake of a mishandled emergency call from a woman who was ultimately murdered by her husband. Following the Chief David Brown reportedly disciplined two employees of the emergency call center and opened an internal investigation of the call center's operations. This investigation is what has prompted the changes at the call center.
9/7/2012

Call-Center Company Afni Hiring 175 Web Chat Workers in Opelika, Ala.
Even in a tough economy, innovation still creates new jobs. Call-center company Afni, in an effort to boost its web-chat services, is hiring 175 Web chat agents for its call center in Opelika, Ala.
9/7/2012

Call Center Solution Provider TelStrat's Engage Suite is Available Throughout Asia
Thanks to a distribution agreement between Texan contact center solution provider TelStrat and Ingram Micro Asia, Ltd., the Asian arm of the world's largest technology distributor, TelStrat's call recording and workforce optimization (WFO) solution portfolio, Engage Suite is now available throughout Singapore, The Philippines, and Vietnam. The agreement allows Ingram Micro channel partners in these countries to sell and distribute this industry-leading product line.
9/7/2012

PowerNet Global's NetDialer Upgraded to Increase Capacity
Twenty years and still going strong, PowerNet Global is well on the way to the top with its award-winning solutions and robust growth. The phenomenal growth it experienced and great demand for its voice solutions for call centers, recently saw the company upgrading its NetDialer switch to accommodate higher capacity for more traffic.
9/7/2012

Evolved Call Center Providing Benefits to Prudent Publishing Company
Evolve IP, a cloud services provider, recently announced that its IP's high-performance cloud services have provided rich benefits to Prudent Publishing Company's client roster. Prudent is using the Evolved Call Center, an enterprise-class virtual contact center solution that seamlessly integrates into the Evolved Office Hosted PBX service or via callback to legacy PBXs.
9/6/2012

Expert Planet Adopts Five9 As Customer Requirements Evolve
When ExpertPlanet's operations outgrew its own on-premise infrastructure, the company's vice president for technology, Greg Levow, was forced to look for a flexible solution in the cloud. The blue print he had in mind was that of powerful application programming interfaces (APIs) which could be used to configure contact center programs and real time links with customer data.
9/5/2012

Expert Planet uses Five9 to Improve its CRM
To offer better cloud based customer service to number of clients, Expert Planet is using Five9, a pure cloud-based contact center software provider.
9/4/2012

Five9 Network Systems Unveils Two Flash Optimized Servers
Five9 Network Systems recently unveiled an extended PCIe NAND flash optimized server family. The PCIe NAND family, which has its basis on Intel's Sandy Bridge Microarchitecture, now includes two high density flash servers, the S2225 and S2405.
9/4/2012

Outbound Call Centers Key to Appointment Setting Cost Savings
Do you like finding free stuff on the Internet? If you're like most people, the answer is probably a resounding "yes."
9/4/2012

Expert Planet Succeeds in the Cloud Thanks to Five9 and Salesforce
Expert Planet runs sales and marketing campaigns, with well over 1,000 individual agents, and no physical contact centers. How is this possible, you ask? Well, with Five9, they can deploy, test, and optimize client programs through the cloud.
8/30/2012

Outsourcing Can Give Insurance Companies a Competitive Edge
Like the U.S., insurance is also a big business in the UK, which is the third largest in the world and the largest in Europe. A vital part of the UK economy, it is facing a number of challenges as the industry tries to combat decline in profitability due to global financial crisis and the growing trend of consumers going online to compare prices.
8/30/2012

Silverpop Reports Year-over-Year New Business Growth in First Half of 2012
Silverpop has reported a significant, year-over-year new business growth in the first half of 2012. The company achieved a 40 percent increase in closed new business, while its new Professional Services contracts more than doubled as compared to the first half of 2011.
8/30/2012

Drishti-Soft Ties up with Matrix Comsec
Drishti-Soft Solution has recently announced an interoperability testing alliance with Matrix Comsec, a manufacturer of VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) products. Under the deal, Matrix will test its VoIP Gateways with Drishti Call Centre Solutions. The alliance would not only provide solutions but also increase their presence in the call center industry by creating opportunities for channel partners.
8/30/2012

PhoneRover Keeps Patients Informed During Hurricane Isaac
As Hurricane Isaac bore down on the Florida coastline, the OB/GYN center of Lakewood Ranch, Fla. decided to cancel their Monday appointments. Thanks to PhoneRover, the practice was able to notify every patient of the cancellations without requiring staff to come into the office.
8/30/2012

A New Study about the Proper Management of Contact Center Idle Time
Intraday management in call center is important to get right. Being able to adjust for minor fluctuations in call volume throughout the day is key to running an effective contact center. Get it wrong, and you could wind up either understaffed - burning out your agents and irritating your customers, or overstaffed, watching your agents bored and idle, which costs a lot of money.
8/30/2012

Culpeper County Wants Residents Ready for CodeRED
There's an exciting new system out in Culpeper County, Virginia, and those in charge of the county have recently put out the call that they want as many citizens as possible in on the action. It's called CodeRED, and it functions like a reverse 911 system to provide up to the minute information on severe weather or similar emergencies.
8/30/2012

County 911 Call Center Staff Seeks Help
For Americans, 911 is somewhat synonymous with the word "help." But what if it's the 911 department that needs help? Such is the case in Boone County, Missouri where the 911 call center is understaffed and overwhelmed with work. A band-aid solution on the table was to ask Columbia City Manager Mike Matthes to get rid of the "extra" responsibilities given to the center's employees, but the Boone County Commission is looking for a more complete and long-term solution.
8/30/2012

Sitel's Las Vegas Customer Call Center to Get 350 New Personnel
Sitel, a provider of outsourcing and customer care services, plans to hire over 350 new personnel for its Las Vegas customer care center. The center currently operates with 650 employees, and new staff hired for multichannel support positions should accommodate to the increasing voice, e-mail and social media volume.
8/30/2012

QWIQQ Integrates with Constant Contact to Enhance Social Media and Drive Sales for Small Businesses
QWIQQ recently announced that it will be integrating with Constant Contact, Inc., to help small businesses improve sales through increased social interaction with its customers over its iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch devices. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Constant Contact specializes in e-mail marketing, online survey, event marketing, social media, and deal tools.
8/29/2012

DEWA now has Customer Service Centers in 13 Dubai Locations
There may not be a more important aspect of a good business than in how any business deals with their customers. Customer service has never been more important than it is right now because the entire planet is seeing one kind of recession or another. Customer service is needed in order to do battle with a struggling economy more than ever and at least one company, DEWA seems to understand this quite well.
8/29/2012

Viva Moving its Call Center to Heart of Bahrain
In this new business world, there may not be any tool quite a useful as having your own call center when you need to handle a large number of customer contacts. Call centers and contact centers are big enough pieces of the business puzzle that more and more companies are looking for ways to implement even more call centers that can act as though the company's right arm.
8/28/2012

New DYL Lead-Dialing Software Provides Extra Protection for Businesses Concerned about Do Not Call Fines
The new Campaign Dialer software from DYL, a call center management software provider, features Do Not Call scrubbing. That adds an extra layer of protection to ensure businesses comply with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Do Not Call registry.
8/28/2012

Dish Network Corp. Sued by FTC for Abusing Rules of Telemarketing
Dish Network Corp., one of the largest satellite broadcasters in the United States, is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for apparently violating the do-not-call rule for telemarketing. According to the lawsuit filed by FTC in the U.S. District Court in Illinois, Dish is in direct violation of "do not call" in telemarketing, wherein Dish telemarketers kept on calling people who had already refused to be contacted by the network.
8/27/2012

Gryphon to Make Call Centers Less Annoying and More Legal
Core Phone is a network-based service that vets all outbound telephone calls for compliance with federal, state, wireless and industry-specific Do-Not-Call legislation and regulatory standards and internal business policies. This type of safeguard not only makes call centers more legal but much less pesky. Call Centers without a system such as this one run the risk of making repeated calls to uninterested or even belligerent ex-potential customers. Though telephone sales has a proven track record of success, it also has a less than stellar reputation because of the number of huge call centers operating without this type of double checking system.
8/27/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound Call Centers have become an essential tool for businesses to reach a mass amount of people. Outbound centers rely solely on call center agents to make outbound calls - whether it is telemarketing, sales, fundraising, or surveys. A lot of call centers handle both incoming and outgoing calls, but can be a little more expensive. If a business doesn't have a high incoming call volume, but is in need of outgoing calls, then an Outbound Call Center might be the perfect solution.
8/25/2012

TantaComm Standardizes Disparate Call Center Operations with 'Centralize'
The heart of any contact center rests on two main pillars: call monitoring and recording. Many organizations are nonetheless still managing their call center operations across varied call recording platforms and various quality monitoring processes. It's a laborious process indeed neither economical nor consistent. The way out?
8/24/2012

Rite Response Ensures Continuous Business Transactions from Incoming Calls
Rite Response, a provider of flexible scalable alternatives to in-house answering and call center services, put in place a state-of-the-art business continuity service that can help companies smoothly carry out business transactions from incoming calls in case of an emergency such as a hurricane or a tropical storm.
8/24/2012

Blinds.Com COO Stephen Riddell Presenting at APOE Topical Forum on Contact Center Series
When it comes to selecting a suitable drapery for home or office windows, the online window covering store blinds.com has made it easier for millions of Americans with its amazing collection of custom blinds, shades, shutters and draperies. The company is going to participate in the upcoming APOE Topical Forum on Contact Center Series in Wahu, China.
8/24/2012

Richardson Introduces Mobile Sales Training Reinforcement Tool
Richardson, a global sales training and strategy execution company, has unveiled the company's much awaited solution, Richardson QuickCheck, a new approach to reinforce learning.
8/24/2012

Noble Systems Intros Browser-Agnostic Reporting Tool for Contact Centers
Based in Atlanta, GA, Noble Systems is reportedly the first vendor to offer an open, scalable, fully-distributed platform for unified contact center technology solutions. In keeping with its mantra that efficiency and real-time management go hand in hand, it released a new, powerful tool, according to Noble Web Reports.
8/24/2012

Usablenet Featured in Inc. 5000 List
Usablenet, a provider of leader in mobile and multi-channel customer engagement solutions, recently announced that it was featured on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America. Moreover, it has also bagged the 65th spot among the New York City Metro Area companies on the Inc. 5000 list.
8/24/2012

Sitel Provides New Jobs and Hope in Las Vegas
Business process outsourcing provider, Sitel, announced on Thursday that it will be hiring for 350 new positions at its customer care call center in Las Vegas, Nevada, which will, no doubt, come as a relief to the recession-crippled city that, largely supported by gaming and tourism, has seen unparalleled economic ruin. Sitel currently has 650 employees; however, its growing needs demands a staff increase of over 50 percent.
8/24/2012

Business Reader-Choice Poll Lauds CubeSmart's Customer Service Efforts
Nothing can replace good customer service, and the rewards it brings are well worth the effort. Just ask CubeSmart, which places a great onus on customer service.
8/24/2012

Business Reader-Choice Poll Lauds CubeSmart's Customer Service Efforts
Nothing can replace good customer service, and the rewards it brings are well worth the effort. Just ask CubeSmart, which places a great onus on customer service. CubeSmart's efforts to redefine service in the self storage industry came to fruition when it was recognized in the 2012 Best of Business reader-choice poll and awarded the Best Customer Service award.
8/24/2012

Proposed Bill Aims to Keep Call Center Jobs in the US
Medical bill processing jobs, comprising bill collections, transcription and coding, in the healthcare industry are often outsourced to companies whose primary activity is carrying out those services for a lower price. The rationale here is that low cost outsourcing will enable healthcare facilities to provide cheaper services, meaning that medical treatment becomes more accessible to patients, and the healthcare organizations become profitable.
8/23/2012

Jacada Offers Mobile Agent Solution in a New App; Offering Trial Version
In the call center, every second counts. While agents can't always control how long the customer on the other end of the phone line will talk, ask questions or complain, there are elements that can be controlled to cut down on both average handle time and errors.
8/23/2012

Multichannel Callback Solution from VHT Helps End Frustrating Customer Self-Service Dead Ends
While the contact center industry doesn't lack media customers that can choose to contact the companies they do business with - they seem to grow in number every year - Virtual Hold Technology (VHT) is offering a new one. At Genesys' G-Force Asia-Pacific event this week, VHT demonstrated its new Conversation Bridge solution that enables customers to request a callback from customer service through Internet-connected smartphones, televisions and other devices to customers of Genesys, a reseller partner of VHT.
8/23/2012

Angoss Unveils KnowledgeSCORE on AppExchange
Angoss Software Corporation has unveiled KnowledgeSCORE, a cloud-based predictive sales analytics solution. Available on salesforce.com's AppExchange, the service offers modules like prospect scoring, opportunity scoring, next-best action and sales predictions.
8/22/2012

MobileBits Acquires Aixum
MobileBits Holdings Corp., a provider of enterprise-class social and digital experience solutions announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Aixum Tec, a Swiss provider of mobile marketing and loyalty solutions for the local business marketplace. As the result of the agreement, Aixum employees will now work for MobileBits.
8/21/2012

Pegasystems Unifies Marketing Campaigns
While Pegasystems has over 29 years in the BPM industry, where it has specialized in claim processing and transactional systems, for the past decade it has built quite the reputation in the CRM space. And, thanks to its unified marketing approach, it hopes to help make companies more successful than ever.
8/20/2012

Virtual Hold Helps Customers and Companies Cross the Conversation Bridge
When it was founded nearly 15 years ago, Virtual Hold Technology's mission was to eliminate hold time. The company's solution would quote a wait time for a customer and then an agent would call that customer back when it was his or her turn. This solution was great for more than a decade, but in today's multichannel world, it was not enough. So just this year, VHT has released a new solution that will help both customers and companies cross the conversation bridge.
8/20/2012

Gryphon Provides Do-Not-Call Compliance Solution for Contact Centers
Provider of contact governance and compliance solutions, Gryphon has announced the availability of Core Phone Contact Center, a real-time, do-not-call (DNC) compliance solution for outbound sales and marketing organizations and contact centers.
8/20/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
As usual, it was a busy week in the outbound call center space. From power outages, to obesity warnings to prison call centers, the news was interesting and varied.
8/18/2012

Voxeo Unveils Security Suite at SpeechTEK 2012
Earlier this week at SpeechTEK 2012, Voxeo, a provider of unlocked communications, announced the launch of its Security Suite - which includes Voxeo's ANI, Toll, Voice, Location, Payment and PCI Verifiers, as well as Level 1 PCI Hosting. SpeechTEK 2012 and the Customer Service Experience conference both took place this week at the Marriot Marquis New York.
8/17/2012

Cassidian's Geo-Diverse Solution Brings Light to a Dark County
Late summer thunderstorms are common in Virginia and the one that hit James City County left it in total darkness. Of course, the short-term, backup power went into action immediately, but that was good enough only for a few hours. After the battery supply was drained, how would emergency calls go through?
8/17/2012

Sitel Plans to Expand Its Amarillo Customer Care Call Center
With more than 26 years of industry experience, Sitel has twice been ranked as the top overall call center outsourcing provider and its focus on becoming the best pure-play contact center provider, as rated by Datamonitor's Black Book of Outsourcing, has benefited many large and well-known brands.
8/17/2012

Pegasystems Puts Texas Department of Transportation on the Modernization Path
TxDOT is going to leverage Pega's advanced Build for Change technology and iBridge Group delivery services to improve and revitalize its enterprise-wide business architecture. Pega's solutions and services will enable TxDOT to streamline operations, increase business agility, and reduce risk in connection with its existing legacy systems.
8/17/2012

AviancaTaca Extends Partnership with Distribution Partner Sabre
The agreement provides Sabre access to Avianca, TACA, and Aerogal's full content to the more than 350,000 global points of sale for travel agents using Sabre, as well as for companies using GetThere.
8/17/2012

Rhode Island's Main Unemployment Insurance Call Center Experiences Lengthy Power Outage
If you tried to call Rhode Island's Unemployment and Temporary Disability Insurance call center yesterday morning, you probably didn't get an answer. The Department of Labor and Training said its call center in Cranston was closed because of a power outage.
8/17/2012

Cassidian Communications Geo-Diverse 911 Provides Backup Service after Thunderstorm Knocks Out Power
A recent thunderstorm knocked out power in a Virginia emergency communications center, but Cassidian Communications prevented any disruption in 911 services.
8/16/2012

Walgreens to Expand Call Center in Alabama
It looks like Muscle Shoals, Alabama is about to see growth in the job market, as an expansion of the Walgreens customer care center in the city will see the company hiring 350 new employees over the next two years. The company is also planning to make an investment of $3.8 million into expanding the facility.
8/16/2012

HMRC Call Volume Requires Fresh Influx of Employees
It's a strange position HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) has found itself in; the sheer volume of calls it's receiving in a day has required the organization to look into fresh employees. To that end, HMRC has announced plans to hire in 1,000 extra call center staffers, with more investment planned for 2013, just to keep up with the call volume.
8/16/2012

Can Working in a Call Center Lead to Obesity?
Working in a call center isn't always a position people envy, as the job can be repetitive and lead to hearing and repetitive motion injuries, but there may be another downside. Can working in a call center actually make one overweight? Yes, according to some studies, since the job involves sitting so much - a practice known to be harmful to health.
8/16/2012

Consider the Pay-Per-Call Model When Engaging a Telemarketing Company
For companies wishing to engage in the services of a contact center organization, they have a lot of choices. Onshore or offshore? Should they look for a call center with experience in their industry? What type of coverage or skills do they need?
8/15/2012

Are Automated Phone Systems Voice Jail? Interactions Corporation's New Research Reveals Key Findings
Each customer interaction is an opportunity to enhance that customer's perception of a company. Traditional automated self-service systems have their own pros and cons. In this regard, Interactions Corporation, a technology company, revealed a new survey at the annual speech technology conference which indicates that the dissatisfaction with the automated phone systems has prompted consumers to take their business elsewhere.
8/15/2012

Customer Interaction Solutions Magazine's 2012 Speech Technology Excellence Award Goes to SmartAction's Smart Call Agents
A PCI-certified, IVR technology company, Smart Action has been named the recipient of this year's Customer Interaction Solutions Speech Technology Excellence Award. The company, which provides call automation and hosted speech IVR services to medium-sized to Fortune 500-sized customer service call centers, won the award for Smart Call Agents, the company's proprietary, artificial intelligence-based hosted solution for superior customer-calling experiences.
8/14/2012

KIVA Group Integrates its Respect Software with The Episys Core Processing System
KIVA Group, Inc. has successfully integrated its Respect software with the Episys core processing system through its membership in the Symitar Vendor Integration Program (VIP). As a member of the Symitar VIP, KIVA now makes it possible for credit unions leveraging the Symitar platform to deploy its Respect CRM software, as well as its unified sales and service and unified channel delivery software solutions.
8/14/2012

Return of the 'Robo-Signing', This Time its Credit Card Lenders
While fighting robo-debts sounds like the plot of some futuristic "repo man" sci-fi movie, it's something that many ordinary Americans are having to do every day. It's a repeat of the "robo-signing" scandal that plagued the mortgage industry in recent years thanks to the plethora of documents required to foreclose a house being automatically signed without being read to try and save time. This time, it's the credit card companies.
8/14/2012

Xerox to Hire 200 for Call Center in Chesapeake, VA
wake of many call center closures and job losses, it's nice to see someone adding jobs in that industry. Document management giant, Xerox, is announcing this week its plans to hire more than 200 people for its call center based in Chesapeake, Virginia, to cover a variety of functions and job titles.
8/13/2012

Call Centers in Manila, Philippines Adapt to Severe Weather Situations
While power outages from storms and other natural disasters often most publicly affect hospitals, police stations, fire houses and other emergency support services, they also take a hard toll on call centers, particularly for companies that provide a lot of customer support or make a lot of sales via the telephone. For this reason, many smart companies with busy, active contact centers have taken advantage of the kind of flexibility and disaster back-up that comes with using cloud-based contact center platforms.
8/13/2012

The Ministry of Justice Introduces Prison Call Center Plans
Soon, you might receive business or marketing calls from jail. Suppose, you are trying to call a store, bank or other utility service provider and you end up getting your quarries answered by offenders. Prison calls? Don't worry; these calls won't make you feel like that you are being punished. These are simple phone calls that are made to serve you.
8/13/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
If there is any doubt that we live in a small world, one only has to take a look at the latest news in the outbound call center space. This week alone, there were several announcements about call centers opening up in many disparate parts of the world, such as Guatemala, China and Nepal. But there was also news from the home front as well, in what was a very busy news week!
8/11/2012

India's nexGTv Application Launches Round-the-Clock Call Center for Customer Support
There's good news if you're a user of multi-platform live TV streaming app nexGTv. There are currently about 3.5 million users of nexGTv in India, and that figure is growing.
8/10/2012

Mobile Sales Forces Get Force Multiplier with PDC4U
Sales forces are the lifeblood of any business. If there are no sales, there's no sense for the business to be open and operational in the first place. Mobile sales forces, meanwhile, are ultimately no different; the only real difference between them and inside sales forces is that the mobile variety leaves the facility to get sales while the inside variety stays put. But mobile sales forces can represent a set of challenges of their own to overcome, and that's where PDC4U looks to step in and help keep mobile sales force issues to a minimum.
8/10/2012

Stream Global Services Looking to Fill 350 Positions at Sergeant Bluff Call Center
The call center industry has shown tremendous growth in the past couple of years. The industry is responsible for employing thousands of people in each state throughout the country. Stream Global Services has realized the benefits of conducting business through a call center and it plans on hiring over 300 people for its new center near Sioux City.
8/10/2012

Delta Call Center Employees Offered Employment After Call Center Closes
Losing your job is a bummer. The unemployment rate, adjusted in May, is currently at 8.2 percent according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. BusinessWeek reported that more than 200 million people around the world are looking for a job, which is a record high.
8/10/2012

CoreMatrix Teams-up With Nu:Pitch
CoreMatrix, provider of cloud computing consulting, systems integration, social strategy development, and managed services for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, recently signed a partnership agreement with Nu:Pitch to deliver dynamic sales content, driving efficiency and productivity for sales teams.
8/10/2012

Biostar Pharmaceuticals to Establish New B2C Sales Platform
With hopes to add another dimension to its sales model that would boost its sales efforts and enhance customer service, Biostar Pharmaceuticals, a PRC-based manufacturer and marketer, has decided to establish a call center as its new business to customer (B2C) sales platform.
8/10/2012

prairieFyre Software Announces NET UX2000 Interoperability
prairieFyre Software, a Microsoft Gold Certified Communications and Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Partner developing unified communications and contact center solutions, recently completed interoperability testing of the prairieFyre Contact Center for Microsoft Lync with the Network Equipment Technologies (NET) Unified Exchange (UX) 2000 All-in-One Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA).
8/9/2012

Union Leaders in Wales Cry Foul Over Solar Panel Call Center Staffed by Prisoners
There's a call center storm brewing in the UK, and some of the players are rather unique. It involves a call center for a Cardiff, Wales-based solar panel manufacturer called Becoming Green. The company has reportedly has taken on 23 inmates from HMP Prescoed to work in its call center in Wales. The prisoners are being paid as little as 40 pence ($0.62) an hour to take customer calls on behalf of Becoming Green.
8/9/2012

Biostar Pharmaceuticals to Establish Call Center at Xianyang
Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a PRC-based manufacturer and marketer of pharmaceutical and health supplement products in China, recently announced its plan to establish a call center to support its new business to customer ("B2C") sales platform.
8/9/2012

MAU Workforce Solutions Set to Hire Customers Service Representatives
MAU Workforce Solutions announced plans to hire 300 customer service representatives. The firm is a staffing and recruiting firm located in Augusta, Georgia. MAU provides business solutions to clients who gain from the designed processes for professional recruiting, commercial staffing, outsourcing solutions and outplacement services.
8/8/2012

C3 Opens New Customer Contact Center in Guatemala City
CustomerContactChannels, or C3, specializing in customer management solutions, has opened a customer contact center in Guatemala City, Guatemala. C3 promotes all client brands by serving its customers well during each contact enhancing customer retention.
8/8/2012

Consumer Cellular Officially Announces New Call Center in Redmond, Oregon
Consumer Cellular recently announced the official opening of its Redmond, Ore. call center. The 77,000 square- foot location is now operational with the first batch of 50 employees. The company is expecting to introduce new batches in the coming months. Consumer Cellular is one of the premier providers of high-quality phones, plans and services as well as the exclusive wireless provider for AARP members.
8/8/2012

HP Unveils Service for Optimizing Contact Centers
HP Enterprise Services has unveiled novel services, thereby assisting customers to improve consumer satisfaction and augmenting profits. The latest services will allow its clients to optimize the operating competence of their contact centers.
8/7/2012

TelVerse Solutions Opens New Call Center in Nepal
Florida-based TelVerse Solutions, a company that offers customer interaction solutions, recently inaugurated a new call center in the heart of Kathmandu, Nepal. The new call center will take charge of offering back office, voice and knowledge process outsourcing services to clients based in United States and Europe.
8/7/2012

Home Depot Cuts Ribbon on Ogden Call Center, Creates More Job Opportunities for American Citizens
After an 18 month search for two new call centers locations, The Home Depot selected Ogden, Utah and Kennesaw, Georgia. On Saturday, August 4th, the ribbons were cut on the new call center in Ogden, which is twice as large as previous Home Depot call centers, creating over 600 jobs in the Ogden area.
8/6/2012

Cash for Cars Quick Opens New Call Center in Vegas to Free Up Employee Time
Cash for Cars Quick, a California-based cash for junk cars company, recently launched a new call center in Las Vegas to provide better response time to calls made by the interested old vehicle owners. The new call center comes complete with a predictive dialer free from complexity.
8/6/2012

Customer Service Rep Gets Award
When you have to call a customer service line for a company that you do business for, do you dread doing it? Dialing a number, waiting through a long line for the next person, having to deal with someone who leads you in circles and does not give you the help that you need, can be a pain. Just about the time you get so mad that your ears are turning red the line happens to 'disconnect' and you have to start the process all over again. When all is said and done the process can, with an average rep, become a nightmare at many companies.
8/3/2012

The Salesforce Do.com Social Productivity Management App Reveals Two New Features
Do.com is a small business, founded in 2008, that offers a platform for building work-centric apps: they have, for free, a Social Productivity Management App that allows users in small businesses or in small groups to create, manage, share and monitor job tasks, as well as collaborate on group project activities. This Web-based app, that is programmed using HTML5, provides the needed social features to complete tasks - on time and done right the first time. Users say it is the app to get work done with anyone, anywhere!
8/3/2012

Lexifone, Voxbone Collaborate on Language Translation Service for 50 National Markets
Most of us can only learn a few new languauges, and it takes years of dedicated study to truly learn a new one. Voxbone and Lexifone are teaming up to help make that a reality for everyday use.
8/2/2012

Stream Global Services Bumping Up Rio Rancho, New Mexico Call Center Head Count
New Mexico may be adding some more call center jobs, thanks to business process outsourcing (BPO) company, Stream Global Services. The company is holding a job fair today in an attempt to hire about 250 employees for its Rio Rancho call center.
8/2/2012

Cash for Cars Quick Houston Service Unveils New Call Center and Service Partners
Cash for Cars Quick's Houston facility makes it easy to dispose of old cars for cash. The customers call the company and they will pick up the car or truck and give the customers cash. Customers can get a quote from the cash for cars Houston hotline, and they can have cash in their hand the same day. The company provides cash for car pickup in hours.
8/1/2012

Spokane Call Center Agent Awarded First 'Infinity Award'
The Infinity Award from Sound Telecom is part of an ambitious quality performance program created by the company. The objective of the program is created to administer both call quality and operator performance. Sound Telecom produces a balanced approach to call center performance that gives improved service and an advanced customer experience by measuring both types of quality metrics simultaneously.
8/1/2012

WindStream Selected to Set Up NeoVox's Next-Gen Contact Center
WindStream Corp., a leading provider of advanced network communications, managed and cloud computing services, has been selected by NeoVox Global to set up a start-of-the-art contact center to be located at NeoVox's headquarters in Carthage, Mo. The new contact center will feature Avaya Aura call center technology and is designed to handle multimedia communications every day for Fortune 100 companies. The 180-seat center will offer traditional voice, email, IM, SMS text messages and web-based chat services to these companies.
7/27/2012

Frost & Sullivan Publishes The Homeshoring Phenomenon
New technological progresses have given rise to a virtual model which enables professionals to work from home in a safe environment. Companies gain access to a wider, more capable, and more experienced pool of talent by cutting the geographic leash with a virtual model. A wider sourcing pool also provides easier access to more specialized skill sets for the workers.
7/27/2012

Daimler and carpooling.com Announce Partnership
Carpooling.com is a company that believes that being on the road can still be inexpensive, green and fun. People save gas and money, decrease auto emissions and meet new friends by sharing a ride. Pollution, traffic, parking and road maintenance are reduced. People can share experiences and help each other: everyone benefits.
7/26/2012

Simplicity Debt Collection Software Garners High Praise
Issues of debt collection are very important to businesses, especiallyto small business. Understanding what can and cannot legally be done in pursuit of the payment the business is owed can be challenging in its own right, but businesses that ignore debt may not be in business long. Enter the Simplicity Debt Collection Software, which has recently netted some very high praise from its customer base.
7/26/2012

SoundBite Receives Notices of Allowances for Three New Patents
SoundBite Communications, Inc. has reportedly secured Notices of Allowance from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for three pending patent applications. These Notices are the first steps toward securing new patents and are an indication that the patent is allowable by law.
7/24/2012

Beyond Contact Centers Launches Telesales Campaign for Verizon on Digerati's Cloud Network
The well-known cloud communication services provider, Digerati Technologies Inc., announced the launch of a telesales campaign for Verizon with Beyond Contact Centers. Beyond Contact Centers is an international and multilingual call center operator.
7/20/2012

Retention Science Launches to Maximize e-Commerce Customer Retention
Under its Customer Profiling Engine, Retention Science, a big data retention marketing platform, launched in order to provide e-Commerce businesses with actionable data analytics tools to cost-effectively prevent customer churn and encourage reengagement.
7/19/2012

Communications Workers of America Sees Momentum in Anti-Call Center Offshoring Bills
In April of this year, it was revealed that a U.S. government program called JEEP, or Job Enabling English Proficiency, run by USAID, was being used to train Filipino call center workers to take outsourced work from U.S. companies.
7/19/2012

Visimeet to Help Sales Management Improve Profitability, Productivity
Getting the most out of sales organization is the primary goal of any enterprise. To drive smart selling, IOCOM, a provider of universal video conferencing and collaboration solutions, has come up with a new platform designed specifically for sales enablement and performance management.
7/19/2012

TeleTech Announces Over 200 Layoffs Expected by September
Unfortunately, not everyone could be as lucky as the employees working in the new Alliance Data call center in Rio Rancho. Today, Ohio-based TeleTech announced it will lay off 247 employees this September, from its Amherst center.
7/19/2012

e2b teknologies Releases Anytime Collect Version 2.0.4
e2b teknologies, a provider of cloud-based business software applications and business services to progressive businesses worldwide, has unveiled Anytime Collect version 2.0.4, the company's accounts receivables collection software.
7/19/2012

TeleSign's PhoneID Contact Solution Lets eCommerce Sites Reduce Fraud Risk
TeleSign recently announced the introduction of the new PhoneID Contract solution within its PhoneID suite. The latest offering from TeleSign has been designed to address fraud risk facing online businesses by providing online merchants and consumer Web services with visitor details via their phone number.
7/19/2012

Taylor of Vocalabs Succinctly Analyzes Shifts in Customer Connection Space
TMC this year celebrates 30 years of covering customer interaction, which means it couldn't be a better time to look at where we've been with customer service and where we're going. We're also rebranding and retooling our customer experience effort. In this installment of our CUSTOMER coverage, we talk with Daniel Taylor, vice president of operations at Vocalabs.
7/19/2012

Verizon's Pollock Paints a Picture of the Evolving Customer Experience
TMC this year celebrates 30 years of covering customer interaction, which means it couldn't be a better time to look at where we've been with customer service and where we're going. We're also rebranding and retooling our customer experience effort. In this installment of our CUSTOMER coverage, we talk with Lori Anne Pollock, manager of contact center product marketing for Verizon Enterprise Solutions.
7/19/2012

Xerox Provides Customer Care Services for Seniors for Living
At a time when the requests for information to senior housing communities are increasing, Xerox has started to provide customer care services for Seniors for Living, Inc.
7/19/2012

Digerati Launches Telesales Campaign with Beyond Contact Centers, Verizon
You might not like telemarketing, but it's still one of the most cost-effective ways to generate leads and sales. A telesales campaign is the right tool for companies to engage with their customers and get valuable information.
7/18/2012

Cash for Cars Quick Opens New Contact Center in San Antonio
Old car disposal and recycling in San Antonio has been revolutionized by Cash for Cars Quick, an American cash for cars service provider. The company recently emerged as the preferred choice for the car owners.
7/18/2012

Redcloud's Cost-Effective Hosted Predictive Dialing Services Increase Productivity
Redcloud, a Phoenix, Arizona-based contact center and call center solutions provider, claimed that its hosted predictive dialing services are capable of increasing productivity, saving time and reducing expenditure. In order for organizations to improve customer loyalty and reach into newer markets, they must rely on contact center and call centers, through which they deliver telephonic services such as selling products and services, technical support to customers, instructions, information and more.
7/18/2012

Hello Information Services Picks Ameyo to Empower Outbound Process of Goa's Commercial Helpline
Hello Information Services has selected the Ameyo Solution to empower the outbound process of commercial helpline of Goa. "The Hello Group" has been searching for a vigorous solution that could manage their multi-processes, which includes telemarketing, sales, customer support and collection.
7/18/2012

Commercial Helpline of Goa Gets a Boost from Ameyo Solution
Hello Information Services has been providing commercial helpline to residents and tourists of Goa, India for many years now. Lately, however, the company has been realizing that while expenses are rising, customers are declining. Hence, it has been looking for a more robust, cost- effective solution for sometime now.
7/17/2012

Five9 and Birst Partner to Deliver Business Analytics, Dashboards to Five9 Customers
Five9 and Birst announced a new partnership slated to equip Five9 contact center customers with enterprise-grade business analytics and dashboards. The business analytics will be based on Birst multi-tenant, cloud-based business intelligence (BI) platform and is stated to be custom-built for Five9 cloud based contact center customers.
7/17/2012

VOX Network Solutions Gains 'Partner in Customer Excellence' Rating from Avaya
This week, the management of VOX Network Solutions was happy to announce that it had received a "Partner in Customer Excellence" designation from communications solutions provider Avaya. The company was given the award by the company based on its average customer satisfaction score.
7/17/2012

Thunderhead.com: Shower of Benefits can be Derived from Elevated Customer Experiences
TMC celebrates 30 years of covering customer interaction this year, which means it couldn't be a better time to look at where we've been with customer service and where we're going. We're also rebranding and retooling our customer effort. In this installment of our CUSTOMER coverage, we talk with Marchai Bruchey, chief customer officer and chief marketing officer at Thunderhead.com.
7/17/2012

Really Simple Systems Achieves 99.999 Percent Uptime with its Online CRM
Really Simple Systems Online CRM targets small and medium sized companies or departments of larger companies who are looking for a simple, easy to use cloud-based CRM sales, support and marketing system. The hosted model is especially suited for companies with various locations and people who work remotely or at home.
7/17/2012

Frost & Sullivan to Address Asian Contact Center Growth and Potential
The Asia Pacific region has become the preferred off-shore destination for contact center outsourcing lately. Meeting rising customer demand, the region recorded a 9.7 percent growth in contact center agent seats and is estimated to reach $2.5 million in 2011. Investment in contact center solutions has increased, as well.
7/16/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to another edition of TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review. Here's all the news for the week.
7/14/2012

HiSoft Awarded Enterprise of the Decade by Leading Chinese IT Fair
Chinese IT outsourcing firm hiSoft Technology won recognition as the Leading Enterprise of the Decade for the Software and Information Services Industry last week during the 10th China International Software and Information Service Fair held in Dalian, China.
7/12/2012

InfoCision Shares 30 Years of Call Center Wisdom
TMC this year celebrates 30 years of covering customer interaction, which means it couldn't be a better time to look at where we've been with customer service and where we're going. We're also rebranding and retooling our customer experience effort. In this installment of our CUSTOMER coverage, we talk with Steve Brubaker, chief of staff at InfoCision. The company helps establish brand, build customers, create marketing strategies and integrate call center services into the marketing mix. Its customized core solutions can be deployed individually or combined to create a multichannel strategy that includes inbound and outbound, direct mail, fulfillment, e-mail, e-commerce, and business intelligence.
7/12/2012

Five9 and Birst Team to Provide Business Analytics to Contact Centers
Five9 is a well-known provider of call center software, providing solutions for outbound call centers, hosted contact centers and on-demand call centers. Now, a partnership with Birst Inc will give Five9 customers the opportunity to take advantage of enterprise-grade business analytics tools in their contact center agent dashboards.
7/12/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's time for the wrap-up in the world of outbound call center technologies and services.
7/7/2012

Philippine-Based Magellan Solutions Inaugurates New Office in U.S.
Philippine-based Magellan Solutions Outsourcing, Inc. recently inaugurated its new office in the United States, marking its global footprint in North America. As one of the Philippines' fastest growing call centers, Magellan Solutions reportedly offers high-quality offshore outbound and inbound call center services to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) globally.
7/6/2012

LightPointe Announces 'Five 9's for Five 9's' Promotion for HyBridge
Enterprises and 4G/LTE telecom carriers looking for an affordable outdoor wireless bridge solution for applications like point-to-point building connectivity, 4G/LTE small cell backhaul and security camera backhaul, can now rely on LightPointe's HyBridge SXR-5 wireless bridge, as the company has started a new promotion for July.
7/6/2012

LeadMasterVoice: An advanced Integrated Dialing System from LeadMaster
LeadMasterVoice, is a progressive dialing feature developed by LeadMaster. It helps users take advantage the voice-leads calling functions to ensure maximum lead response for their business. LeadMaster and EVS have become partners to provide this solution. LeadMaster products and services can be purchased through a network of value-added resellers, consultants and system integrators.
7/3/2012

Orange Business Service Contracts with DiaSorin
DiaSorin, a healthcare company dealing with immunodiagnostic kits, has signed a three-year contract with Orange Business Services to provide DiaSorin with call collection coverage in 28 countries, allowing customer support calls to be routed and processed more rapidly.
7/2/2012

QiComm Picks Verscom to Migrate UK Switching Center
QiComm's carrier voice division has selected the Verscom Centralized Routing System - which provides carrier-grade centralized routing with a clustered real-time database - to migrate its main U.K. switching center to a new facility in London.
7/2/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the weekend, and another edition of the TMCnet outbound call center week in review. Fonolo, a company that improves the call center experience by replacing hold time with a call-back, recently announced its mobile solution has been selected by Allstream, Canada's all-business communications provider, for employees using BlackBerry
6/30/2012

Avaya Upgrades Customer Experience Interaction Management Portfolio
Avaya has succeeded in the evolution of customer service technology with new and improved products for its Customer Experience Interaction Management portfolio. Business Advocate manages all voice, e-mail, and Web-based interactions through a single universal queue, routing customers in real time.
6/29/2012

BuyerZone Releases New B2B Lead Generation Report
BuyerZone released a report called, State of B2B Lead Generation, which details the trends and takeaways that were analyzed from a survey given to B2B lead buyers about technology, sales alignment, lead sources, marketing, and more.
6/28/2012

Fonolo's Mobile Solution Selected by Allstream
Fonolo, the company that improves the call center experience by replacing hold time with a call-back, recently announced its mobile solution has been selected by Allstream, Canada's all-business communications provider, for its employees using BlackBerry. With Fonolo's service, Allstream employees using BlackBerrys will be able to contact their support centers with just one click.
6/28/2012

Nielsen Survey: Consumer Confidence Fell in the U.S. during Q2-2012
A quarterly survey conducted by Nielsen revealed that consumer confidence dropped in the second quarter in the United States. Americans are more cautious about the economic outlook due to slowing employment growth and rising euro zone crisis. Forty-two percent of U.S. consumers are concerned about the economy as their main concern, up from 40 percent in the earlier survey.
6/28/2012

Ovum Releases Research on Contact Center Analytics Vendors in North America
Ovum has released its recent research, "Contact Center Analytics Vendors in North America: Three to Watch." The report highlights that a majority of contact centers lack the appropriate set of tools to measure all aspects of agent performance. Knoa Software, Upstream Works and Clarabridge, are three vendors mentioned in the research report.
6/28/2012

Angoos Debuts KnowledgeSCORE Cloud-Based Predictive Sales Analytics Solution for CRM
Angoss Software Corporation, a Canada-based provider of analytics software and solutions, announced the launch KnowledgeSCORE, a cloud-based predictive sales analytics solution for customer relationship management (CRM). According to officials, KnowledgeSCORE identifies best prospects for sales executives.
6/27/2012

U.S. Do-Not-Call Registry May Expand to Local Emergency Numbers
The FCC may soon set up a Do-Not-Call list for numbers used to take and direct calls to local emergency first responders in the United States.
6/27/2012

Ovum's Research Includes Knoa as a Vendor with Innovative Approach
Ovum, an independent research firm, in its recent research report 'Contact Center Analytics Vendors in North America: Three to Watch' included Knoa Software as a vendor with an innovative approach that helps companies sort out hidden problems in contact center business processes and solve them seamlessly.
6/27/2012

TMG: The 'Un-Consultants' of the Call Center Space
14 years ago, John Bardawill was working as a consultant in the United States, Australia, Asia, Europe and his home country of Canada. At that time, he decided he would partner up with a pair of other consultants and put his experience to work full time, expanding his business. Now he is managing director at TMG, a group of management consultants that do call center work. But they are not your typical group of consultants. In fact, Bardawill calls his team the "un-consultants."
6/26/2012

Higher Debts Means Call Centers Need to Improve Efficiency, Get Payments Quicker
Unfortunately for consumers, there is increasing level of debts so debt collection agencies and financial service organizations need to improve the collection process and get outstanding payments quicker.
6/26/2012

Integralis Receives F5 EMEA Customer Support Partner of the Year Award
Integralis, a source of IT security and information risk management solutions, has won the F5 EMEA Customer Support Partner of the Year Award for the support services it delivered in collaboration with F5 to its customers. According to F5, the EMEA awards recognize F5 partner community members that display pre- and post-sales technical excellence, commitment to customer service, knowledge of and focus on strategic F5 solutions, and sales engagement excellence.
6/26/2012

4medica Facilitates Secure Faxing of Patient Records via Communications Gateway Powered by MMRglobal
The cloud- based EHR company, 4medica, which is developing Communications Gateway to support secure HIPAA-compliant inbound/outbound faxing to and from its Integrated Electronic Health Record, revealed that it is going to incorporate MMR's patented MMRPro and MyMedicalRecords systems into its platform.
6/25/2012

Call Center Company TMone to Sponsor NASCAR Team at Sonoma
The U.S. call center insourcing/outsourcing firm, TMone is going to sponsor FAS Lane Racing, a NASCAR team owned by long-time crew chief Frank Stoddard. At Sonoma, TMone joins Hendrickcars.com, which is the primary sponsor of the team and the iconic driver Borris Said, who is going to pilot the No. 32 Ford Fusion during the racing season in northern California.
6/25/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call centers deliver all the benefits of million-dollar systems, such as improved customer satisfaction and flexible staffing, but without the hidden costs. Outbound call centers ultimately make carrying out vital tasks simple and easy - whether you're at home, onshore, or offshore. News is always developing in this industry, and we're here to share some of it with you in this week's outbound call center week in review!
6/23/2012

Castel Concentrates on Comprehensive Compliance
There was a time when having a dialer was enough. But these days, there are so many different dialer solutions on the market that companies need to find a way to differentiate their services from the masses. That was the challenge facing Castel, a company that has been working in the financial collections vertical for many years. And it was Castel's experience in working with collections agencies that showed them what its differentiator in the space could be: comprehensive compliance solutions.
6/22/2012

OneReach Named Voxeo Connect Certified Partner
OneReach, a communications provider, has just been named by Voxeo as a Connect Certified Partner for Applications. This means that OneReach can now offer Voxeo's multi-channel communications solution to small and medium-sized businesses that are looking for more professional telephony options.
6/20/2012

Semafone's Patented DTMF Technology Eliminates Fraud in Call Centers
Semafone's DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) technology just won a U.K. patent, allowing the company to benefit fully from its innovation as it delivers fraud elimination solutions to contact centers.
6/20/2012

Hunter Homes Picks Lasso Home Builder CRM for Marketing, Sales
Lasso Data Systems, a company involved in developing innovative "on-demand" CRM home builder software for builders and developers, was recently selected by Hunter Homes, a well-known residential homebuilder in Alabama, offering the best quality, most energy-efficient service available to homebuyers in the market. Hunter Homes has chosen Lasso for its CRM sales software to handle prospect information across its portfolio of residential communities throughout the Huntsville/Madison County area.
6/19/2012

Live Foods Live Bodies Chooses OrderMotion to Manage Order Processing
Direct-to-consumer marketing means promoting or selling a product or service straight from the seller to the consumer without spending even a penny on advertizing. This type of marketing can be beneficial for small business owners often short on an advertising budget.
6/19/2012

AnswerFirst Promotes Michael Jansen to Call Center Coordinator
AnswerFirst announced that Michael Jansen has been named the firm's Call Center Coordinator to improve customer relations. The company offers a telephone answering service, intended to offer customer service solutions to companies of all sizes.
6/19/2012

BIA/Kelsey: Call-Based Ad Market Poised for Explosive Growth
According to a new report by BIA/Kelsey, the call-based advertising market, which consists of all ads using call-based lead tracking, is expected to witness massive growth as a product of the emergence of increasingly sophisticated call analytics and an increase in mobile penetration. An expansion in the industry will provide a dramatic increase in call-based advertising inventory.
6/19/2012

Aegis Unveils New Contact Center in Peru
The contact center industry began to grow in Peru in 2001 when Atento, a call center for the Telefonica group, started operations in Lima. From then, numerous national and foreign companies have entered this business to cater to the demand for these services by the financial, telecommunications, energy, health and the public sector markets.
6/18/2012

i-Neighbors Offers New Technologies for Hometown Security
i-Neighbors is free social networking service for neighborhoods and local groups and it includes all necessary tools for a community to meet, organize and communicate. As of now the service is providing a free, private website and e-mail discussion forum to over 9,000 neighborhoods.
6/18/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call centers deliver all the benefits of million-dollar systems, such as improved customer satisfaction and flexible staffing, but without the hidden costs. Outbound call centers ultimately make carrying out vital tasks simple and easy - whether you're at home, onshore, or offshore.
6/16/2012

Agero's Camacho Comments on the Forward Movement in Customer Care
The customer is always right. This saying became part of the business lexicon years ago. The rise of the smartphone and social networking, however, are making that more true than ever, as customers are becoming more powerful every day.
6/15/2012

Aptly Named Turnkey Solutions Offers Call Center Consulting
For over 10 years, Dona Cage, president and CEO of Turnkey Solutions (and Six Sigma Black Belt!) has been in the call center consulting business, working with executives on their strategic goals. But now her company is in growth mode, ready to bring its unique brand of consultation and roadmapping services to call centers in both the government and private sectors.
6/14/2012

Asia-Pacific Contact Center Market to Grow Faster than Any Other Region
While the world's economy falters, companies struggle to improve customer service to remain competitive while at the same time facing reduced budgets. In one part of the world, however, enterprise expenditures on customer service are up, thanks to increasing customer demand for better service.
6/14/2012

Xactly Shares Insights on Sales Compensation Visibility with The TAS Group
Xactly Corporation, a company specializing in cloud-based incentive compensation and sales performance management solutions - in association with The TAS Group, a specialist in sales performance automation - announced a webinar titled "If You Can See It, You Can Hit It - UK Sales Growth." "In today's U.K. selling environment, there is a strong emphasis on productivity," Xactly officials said.
6/14/2012

'The Customer is King,' Says U.K. Flooring Direct
Good products and personalized services are prerequisites to good customer service, and a committed Advice Center at U.K. Flooring Direct (UKFD) is making an effort to excel at it, by going out of the way to help homeowners choose their products. With over 25 years of experience under its belt, UKFD boasts a wealth of experience and knowledge on flooring.
6/14/2012

Evolv Recognized for Expertise in Recuitment Analytics
Winning awards is a great feeling. It boosts confidence, fills you with enthusiasm to work more efficiently, increasing your chances of beating your competitors. Evolv was recently recognized for success in delivering advanced analytics that help employers optimize the entire recruiting process.
6/14/2012

Mosio Introduces Multi-Channel Patron Support Software for 'Text A Librarian' Customers
San Francisco-based mobile software experts at Mosio have announced the upcoming launch of the company's multi-channel patron support software for libraries, which builds on its already successful Web-based, two-way text messaging software platform, Text a Librarian. The new helpdesk software is aimed at letting libraries increase work efficiency by using all-in-one chat, text messaging, e-mail and website support tab widgets through a single Web-based dashboard.
6/14/2012

KUBRA Signs Deal with Phoenix Water Services Department
Customer interaction management solutions provider, KUBRA signed an agreement with the City of Phoenix Water Services Department to provide outsourced billing services.
6/13/2012

Webtrends and Ensighten Collaborate to Provide Real-Time Solution for Managing Mobile App Analytics Tags
Webtrends and Ensighten recently announced at the Mobile Marketing Association Forum that they would collaborate to develop the industry's first and only real-time mobile analytics tag management solution for both iOS and Android apps.
6/13/2012

Gryphon Introduces Enterprise Compliance and Sales Productivity Solution for Teleservices Firms
Gryphon has unveiled their latest enterprise-level Do-Not-Call (DNC) compliance and sales-performance solution called, Core Phone, built specifically for sales and marketing organizations.
6/13/2012

Virtual Hold Technology Appoints Wes Hayden as New CEO
Virtual Hold Technology has appointed technology and contact center industry veteran Wes Hayden to the post of chief executive officer (CEO). Wes Hayden has prior experience of working with Virtual Hold Technology as he was a consultant to the company for the last year.
6/13/2012

Cupola Teleservices Recognized as Call Center of the Year
Cupola Teleservices (CTS), a provider of outsourced contact center services, recently won the award for "Call Center OSP (Outsourced Service Provider) of the Year" for the second year in row. The company also was nominated in 15 categories and won several other industry accolades.
6/12/2012

The Integration of Social Media into CRMs
We are all well aware of the annoying e-mails that come branded with our name, or the frequent e-mails we get after we shop or register for a service on a website. All these are examples of traditional customer relationship management systems that are more of an annoyance than relationship tools.
6/11/2012

Have You Had These Types of 'Bad Customers'? Share With Us!
The old mantra says "the customer is always right." Anyone who has ever worked in customer service knows that while it makes a good slogan, it's often dead wrong. Customers can be very, very wrong.
6/11/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call centers deliver all the benefits of million-dollar systems, such as improved customer satisfaction and flexible staffing, but without the hidden costs. Outbound call centers ultimately make carrying out vital tasks simple and easy - whether you're at home, onshore, or offshore.
6/9/2012

TDS Introduces Cloud-based Hosted Call Center Services
TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS), the seventh-largest telecom provider in the U.S., has expanded its offering with the introduction of a cloud-based hosted call center service called managedIP Hosted Call Center. Relative to traditional call centers, in which calls ring through to one location and answered in order they've been received, the new service allows businesses to rout their calls the way they wish - by product line or season, and to single or multiple locations.
6/6/2012

Michigan Townships Association Gets Social CRM Through Avectra, Maner Costerisan
Web-based social CRM experts at Avectra, committed to member- and donor-based software for associations and not-for-profits, has a new distribution partner. Maner Costerisan's Business Solutions & Technology division, the largest local accounting firm in the Midwest, serving Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, has been chosen to provide Avectra Social CRM to the Michigan Townships Association (MTA).
6/6/2012

AtHoc Aids U.S. Tax Court with Integrated Emergency Communications and Mass Notification System
In order to offer real-time bi-directional alerts across multiple communication channels, and enable mass situational awareness and personnel accountability during times of emergency, U.S. Tax Court has recently adapted AtHoc's hosted, private-cloud Installation Warning System.
6/6/2012

Wisconsin Recall Supporters Receive Robo-Calls Informing Them Not to Vote
It's no secret that politics in Wisconsin are hot right now. That state's embattled governor, Scott Walker, is fighting for his job in a contentious recall election, which is being decided today at the ballot box. In perhaps a symbol of how partisan and ugly the recall election has gotten in the last few months, there are now allegations that Walker supporters have launched an illegal "robo-calling" campaign to discourage supporters of Walker's recall from voting.
6/5/2012

Costa Rica's Mandatory Employee Christmas Bonus Scares Off Some Call Center Outsourcers
While Costa Rica has been building a reputation for itself as a call center outsourcing site - companies such as IBM, Dell, Intel and Hewlett Packard have facilities located in the country - many of the nation's labor laws scare away would-be investors or partner companies.
6/5/2012

DMEautomotive Unveils MasterCall
Every year, companies in every field lose innumerable sales opportunities because of missed and mishandled sales and service calls. Missed calls can be a serious threat to a company's prospect, as customers have a lot to choose from these days.
6/5/2012

StarTek Hiring Over 130 Home Agents and Managers in the Cincinnati Area
StarTek, a business process outsourcing services provider, will be hiring over 130 new home agents and managers in the Cincinnati area. In an effort to provide inbound customer service support, the new agents and managers will work under the company's Home program and will receive full benefits and paid training.
6/4/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call centers allow for increased agent productivity, as it permits them to only handle live calls. These centers also improve sales results, lower infrastructure, and increase business agility by scaling operations as needed, rather than settling on a fixed number of licenses. Needless to say, outbound call centers can be very advantageous and play a key role in facilitating various aspects of one's business.
6/2/2012

Altitude Software Boosts Customer Care for Largest GM Dealer in Middle East
Recently implemented in Dammam, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the new Altitude software offering known as Altitude uCI, which has greatly contributed to the boost in customer care for AlJomaih Automotive Company (AAC), the largest General Motors Company in the Middle East
6/1/2012

Two Indiana Counties Find New 911 System Come in Under Budget
How often does a call center project come in under budget? We're not sure, as it's probably never happened. In which case, Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana officials must be quite stunned, as both counties' emergency services learned this week that long-awaited project to update the city-county 911 call center will cost several million dollars less than expected.
6/1/2012

Towns in Indiana Find New 911 System Coming in Under Budget
How often does a call center project come in under budget? We're not sure, because it has probably never happened. In which case, Fort Wayne and Allen County, Ind. officials must be quite stunned. Both counties' emergency services learned this week that long-awaited project to update the city-county 911 call center will cost several million dollars less than expected.
6/1/2012

Rostrvm Solution's Substantial Growth and Success Leads to Move
For some businesses, embarking on a journey down a long bumpy road to success you can come across many problems along with way. For others, the road to success has no speed bumps, allowing the business to continue to see a substantial amount of growth. This is the case for Rostrvm Solutions, a provider of contract center software applications that make call centers and contact centers work efficiently and effectively.
6/1/2012

FCC Creates Separate 'Do Not Call' Registry to Prevent Robocalls to Emergency Numbers
While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made periodic updates to its landmark federal "Do Not Call" legislation over the years, none are perhaps more important than an amendment the agency is making this week.
6/1/2012

Debt Collection Company Scouts New Call Center Sites in Ohio and North Carolina
Debt collection company, Consumer Financial Services (CFS) II is seeking to open a large call center with as many as 2,000 seats, and the company is said to be considering Ohio as the site for the new facility. Tulsa, Oklahoma-based CFS II has reportedly confirmed that it expects to begin looking more closely at sites in Ohio.
6/1/2012

Debt Collection Company TCS Expands to New Minnesota Facilities
Third-party collections specialists at Total Customer Service announced this week that the company will expand its office and call center facility. TCS plans to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10:00 AM CST today, Friday June 1st. The company will be moving into the new 5,000 square foot facility in Burnsville, Minnesota.
6/1/2012

311 Non-Emergency Call Centers Try to Cut Costs Without Eliminating Services
While many cities have set up what's called "311" lines in recent years - call centers to attend to non-emergency municipal needs - just as many have nervously eyed the budgets for them, wondering how they would continue to fund them in an era of cost-cutting. While call centers fulfill a vital role, they also chew up a thinning spread of municipal budget dollars.
6/1/2012

Emailvision Integrates E-mail Campaign Solution into Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Online marketing experts at Emailvision, together with Microsoft, have announced the integration of Emailvision's Campaign Commander Enterprise Edition with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The integration of the two will allow Microsoft Dynamics CRM users to have access to their customer data and develop, execute and manage their digital campaigns through a single interface.
5/30/2012

Xerox to Open Call Center In Colorado, Create 700 Jobs
Xerox announced Tuesday they will be opening a new call center in west Greeley, Colorado, and with it bring 700 new jobs when the call center opens this June, taking space that formerly served as a call center for StarTek. Xerox's planned move to Greeley came about on the strength of several factors; there were already several call centers in the area - Xerox itself already had a major call center located in Colorado Springs - and that the area's populace already had a lot of skill and training in call center environments, making staffing comparatively simple.
5/30/2012

Dialogue Marketing Re-Invents Call Center Business Model
Social Lift has re-invented the traditional call center business model.
5/30/2012

Engage and Reverb Help Public Relations and Marketing Initiatives Converge
Invariably, there's always a huge disconnect between marketing, sales and public relations efforts that travels down the pipeline translating into segmented solutions from multiple channels; however, the veteran public relations company, Reverb Communications and Engage are working together to rectify this problem.
5/29/2012

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
If you're interested in all that is the Outbound Call Center industry, then read on, because here's what was buzzing this week!
5/26/2012

NextUC's UCaaS Services Offering Enjoys Increased Usage by Customers
NextUC recently announced its expansive suite of UCaaS services has seen increasing customer utilization. In the last few years, there has been a rise in customers accessing and consuming Web meetings and video conferencing services, as opposed to traditionally used services such as telephones and voicemails.
5/25/2012

Moxie Software Announces Improved Functionality for its Spaces by Moxie
To help these highly regulated industries improve their customer service, Moxie Software, a provider of customer-centric enterprise social software, has unveiled improved functionality for its Spaces by Moxie.
5/24/2012

Assurant Specialty Property is Hiring Additional Staff in Duluth
Assurant Specialty Property, a leading provider of insurance services in partnership with financial institutions, mortgage lenders, manufactured home sellers, auto finance companies, property managers and their customers, is hiring as many as 100 new employees at its customer service centers in Gwinnett County.
5/24/2012

U.K. Contact Center Company Rostrvm Relocates Following Year of Growth
Contact center solutions provider Rostrvm Solutions is set to announce its financial results for the previous year, posting continued growth. Turnover increased by more than 10 percent with a corresponding rise in profitability, the company said, celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary.
5/24/2012

Barbily Games Unveils Enhanced Customer Service System
Game companies constantly need to think up ways to improve their customer service to keep customers happy. However, game companies often find it difficult to find the most excellent and proficient way of helping users. Barbily Games has developed a consumer service ticket system as it strives to enhance its customer service. Users will now be able to post tickets as part of this system, wherein the staff at Barbily will work on, track and review the submitted tickets.
5/24/2012

LiveOps Demonstrates Facebook and Expanded Voice Integration with Salesforce.com at Cloudforce London
LiveOps, Inc recently showcased the Facebook and expanded voice integration with salesforce.com at the Cloudforce Social Enterprise Tour and Cloudstock in London, England.
5/24/2012

Cloud-Based Contact Center Solutions Save Organizations Money From Any Angle
Call centers today are under a great deal of pressure: for starters, consumers are demanding ever-higher levels of service via any channel they choose to contact companies. In today's commoditized marketplace, high-level customer service is often the only thing that differentiates companies from one another. On the flip side, companies are also pressured to keep costs down, particularly capital expenditures and labor costs. Call centers, of course, are labor-heavy operations, often with high-turnover, which means that recruiting, hiring and training are often the greatest expense. So how do you run an operation to keep up excellence while keeping down costs?
5/23/2012

gen-E Launches Social Media-Driven Customer Care Platform
These days, customers aren't merely content to call customer service. They want to e-mail, Tweet and Facebook contact centers too. To help contact centers manage all these points of contact, gen-E has launched its Resolve Customer Care Automation (CCA) solution.
5/23/2012

AMC Technology Contact Canvas Suite Available Through Avaya Select Product Program
Today, AMC Technology, one of the top providers of contact center and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, announced that its Contact Canvas 2012 suite of products will be sold through the Avaya Select Product Program provided by Avaya, a global provider of business collaboration systems, software and services.
5/23/2012

TMC and Five9 Present a Webinar on Cloud Contact Centers
NORWALK, CT (May 22, 2012) - Today, TMC, a global, integrated media company helping clients build communities in print, in person and online, and Five9 announced a complimentary Webinar, "Economics of Cloud Contact Center," live on Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 11:00 AM EDT / 8:00 AM PDT.
5/22/2012

Middle East Call Center Business Blooming, in Part Thanks to All-In-One IP-Based Call Center Platforms
While the more traditional call center outsourcing locations - notably the Philippines and India - might be near danger of saturation, given how many call centers are in both those nations, many North American businesses have turned toward more "up and coming" locations to send their call center business. The Middle East is one of those contact center growth areas. Outsourcing to this part of the world is being driven by reduced telecom rates, increase in Internet penetration and an increasing pool of educated, multilingual agents, many of them with advanced or technical degrees.
5/22/2012

Contact Solutions Enhance Customer Experience with Adaptive Audio
Cloud-based customer service provider, Contact Solutions has just adopted Adaptive Audio's patented call center technologies, which essentially learn and remember customer behavior to improve the quality and overall experience of automated calls.
5/21/2012

Voice2Phone Launches Auto Dialer Reseller Program
Voice2Phone, one of the top suppliers of auto dialer software, has established a reseller program, allowing third-party vendors to sell and distribute Voice2Phone's results-drive technology. The new program will allow resellers to rebrand the product under their own labels and earn a commission on each product sold.
5/21/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the week's wrap up in the outbound call center industry.
5/19/2012

Xactly Receives 2012 CRM Excellence Award from Customer Interaction Solutions Magazine
Xactly Express, a product of Xactly Corporation, was recently recognized with the prestigious CRM Excellence Award from TMC's Customer Interaction Solutions magazine, for providing clients with a powerful, easy-to-use technology for managing sales commission tracking and payments. Since 1982, Customer Interaction Solutions has been the voice of the call/contact center, CRM and teleservices industries.
5/17/2012

Digital Alchemy CRM Allows Hotel, Golf Course to Interact More Quickly with Customers
Both the Madison Concourse Hotel and the Governor's Club - a private, gated golf course near the hotel - have had issues with their customer relationship management (CRM) system. Their prospective guests had several problems attempting to book reservations, making it difficult to take care of the current system.
5/17/2012

Drishti-Soft to Present Panel Discussion on Strategies in Voice Technology
Customer expectations from the provided service levels are changing constantly. The main problem for companies is in developing innovative strategies for customer loyalty and retention. There is an increase in the profitability outcome expectations, yielding a continuous push toward technology adoption.
5/17/2012

Avaya Introduces Avaya DevConnect Marketplace
Avaya, a global provider of next-generation business collaboration and communications solutions, introduced the Avaya DevConnect Marketplace and the addition of four new offers to its Select Product Program (SPP).
5/17/2012

Integrating Field Workers into the Broader Contact Center to Keep Customer Experiences Positive
The contact "center" is becoming less and less centered these days. While it was once a physical location with dozens, hundreds and even thousands of phones, IP telephony has unfettered it from the brick and mortar location and turned it into more of a concept than a place. Today, modern call centers are often spread out all over the country or even all over the world. Multiple contact center locations can be tied together with home-based agents, overflow agents, outsourced teleservice providers and even subject matter experts and sales personnel in the field.
5/17/2012

Third-Party Online Review and Rating Company Customer Lobby Helps Boost Referral Marketing
In the age of the Internet, many companies and service providers live or die by online ratings. Witness the success of Amazon's product rating system, or the rise of service provider rating sites like Angie's List. But how do you even begin to leverage these types of rating sites, and how do you know which one is right for you?
5/17/2012

Scotiabank Contact Centers Receive Platinum Designation from Contact Center Employer of Choice
Contact Center Employer of Choice, Inc. (CCEOC) this week announced that Scotiabank customer contact centers in Calgary, Cornwall, Toronto and Halifax have received its Contact Center Employer of Choice Platinum level 2012 designation. The Contact Center Employer of Choice certification program assesses, develops, certifies and brands deserving contact centers as an employer of choice. It's a great means of improving employee morale, building customer loyalty, and enhancing overall center performance, said the organization.
5/17/2012

Philippines Displaces India for Top Outsourcing Spot
When most Americans hear the term "call center," they usually picture outsourced workers sitting in rows and rows of cubicles in Mumbai, but call centers are increasingly moving to the Philippines, the BBC reports.
5/16/2012

Verizon Enterprise Solutions and Virtual Hold Technology Partner for Call-back Service
As telecom giant Verizon, through its Enterprise Solutions division, ramps up the call center technology solution it provides enterprise customers, it also increases the amount of partnerships it forms with call center technology solutions providers. The latest agreement Verizon has made is with Virtual Hold Technology. Together, the two companies are launching a new cloud-based voice call-back service. The agreement will combine Verizon's network contact center solutions to the enterprise market with Virtual Hold's call-handling software.
5/16/2012

Five9 Appoints Dave DeWalt to Board of Directors
Five9 is a provider of cloud-based contact center software for sales, marketing and support. It gives enterprises of all sizes access to contact center solutions quickly, at a cost of ownership far lower than traditional premise-based solutions.Already coming off of record revenue growth in 2011, Five9 increased its Q1 2012 revenue by 65 percent year-over-year.
5/15/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Happy Mother's Day weekend. Before it gets started, let's take a minute to check out this week's happenings in the world of outbound call center solutions and services.
5/12/2012

Gov. Beshear and Amazon Reveal Plan to Open New Office in Kentucky
Recently, Amazon.com, Inc. stated it is planning to open a new 70,000-square-foot customer service facility in Winchester, Ky. While most private companies are finding ways to cut input cost and showing pink-slips to their employees, Amazon is hiring and making new business investments. In the new facility, Amazon will be investing more than $20.7 million and providing employment to over 550 full-time and 600 seasonal employees in the central Kentucky region by 2017.
5/10/2012

U.S. Reps: End Outsourcing Program in Philippines
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is putting the kibosh on funds for a program in the Philippines that trains students to work in various sectors, the most controversial being offshore call centers serving U.S. companies. Under the pressing influence of Reps. Timothy Bishop (D-N.Y.) and Walter Jones (D-N.C.), the JEEP Program (Job Enabling English Proficiency) is under fire for taking jobs from American call center workers.
5/10/2012

Cincinnati Bell Outsources U.S. Jobs
Cincinnati Bell has made some dramatic decisions recently. Following last week's announcement that the company intends to file an IPO by the end of the fourth quarter, the company has continued to conduct business out loud by announcing today that they will employ StarTek to handle call center operations.
5/10/2012

Use of Intelligent Dialer Leads to Rise in Sales
Consumer sales automation company, Leads360, has announced the results of a new study conducted on users of its intelligent outbound dialer suite - DialIQ. The study, demonstrating significant improvements in sales performance by users, was presented on Wednesday at the 2012 ACCE Conference and Expo in Seattle, WA.
5/10/2012

Listen Up Espanol Ranked within Top 50 Telesales Companies Second Year in a Row
Listen Up Espanol (LUE) is the leading Spanish language call center for the U.S. Hispanic market and was just named nineteenth among the Top 50 Telesales Companies by Technology Marketing Corporation.
5/9/2012

Walgreens Receives Tax Abatement for New Customer Care Center
Pharmacy giant, Walgreens is proceeding with plans to expand a large customer care center in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. To reward the company for bringing jobs in, the town's City Council recently approved a 10-year tax abatement agreement that excuses Walgreens from non-education state and local personal property taxes and all construction-related transaction taxes, except those levied for educational purposes. Personal property taxes, approximately $34,758, will be waived for the life of the agreement. Such agreements are common for towns seeking to boost employment.
5/9/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's time for another wrap-up of the week's events in outbound call center solutions and services.
5/5/2012

Instant Checkmate Hires 20 New Customer Service Employees, Launches a Blog
Instant Checkmate, a background data provider, recently made the announcement that it has hired 20 friendly and patient customer service representatives, perhaps partly in acknowledgement of the importance of public relations. The official reason given, however, is that the hiring of additional customer service reps is part of the company's plan to expand its California and Nevada offices.
5/4/2012

TELUS Leverages MobileAware's Self-Care Solution for Better Customer Engagement
MobileAware, which builds optimized customer engagement channels, announced that TELUS, a telecommunications provider based in Canada, is implementing mobile Self-Care platform from MobileAware to empower customers to manage their account activity via their mobile devices.
5/4/2012

Empathica Ranks 159 on Branham300 List
Getting featured in a list of the industry's most prestigious companies is no doubt a remarkable achievement. Empathica Inc., a provider of Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions, has done it for the third time. In a recent press release, Empathica said it has made it to the Branham300 list for the third consecutive year, as one of Canada's top technology companies.
5/4/2012

Aptara Recognized as Top Training Outsourcing Company to Watch in 2012
TrainingIndustry.com has named, e-learning solutions specialist, Aptara to its 12 Training Outsourcing Companies Watch List for 2012, the company announced on Wednesday.
5/3/2012

Radius Solutions Acquires Astra Business Services to Boost TCPA Compliance Solutions
January 1, 2012 marked the first day of Radius Solutions' ownership of Astra Business Services, according to an announcement from Radius Solutions. While the exact terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, it's clear Astra Business Services is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Radius Solutions.
5/3/2012

Azerbaijan's Azercell Awarded International Certificate of Call Center Compliance
Call centers in Azerbaijan have a new option for quality, thanks to a partnership announced today. Business communications giant, Avaya says that Azercell Telecom, a large mobile operator in Azerbaijan and part of TeliaSonera, has received an international certificate of compliance for its contact center. The certificate, awarded on the basis of the contact center meeting EN 15 838 requirements, guarantees the highest level of customer service, reliability and cost-effectiveness, said the two companies.
5/3/2012

Five9 CEO Burkland Named Semifinalist in Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Program
Ernst & Young LLP has announced that Mike Burkland, CEO at Five9, a source of cloud-based contact center software, has been named as a semifinalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 program in the Northern California region. The award recognizes the entrepreneur's excellence and extraordinary success in innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.
5/3/2012

Avtex Strengthens Global Presence by Acquiring Reliant CCS
Integrated interaction solutions provider Avtex recently acquired Reliant CCS, a source of contact center solutions based in Greenville, South Carolina. The acquisition will go a long way in strengthening Avtex's geographic reach by reinforcing their presence in the southeast.
5/3/2012

Michigan-based CUSO Xtend Reports Record Call Center Volume
Xtend Inc., a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based multi-owned cooperative credit union service organization (CUSO), reports that in the past month it has handled the largest number of call center transactions in its history. Transactions included inbound member service calls, outbound business-to-business calls, outbound member calls, calls to its lending hotline and Web chats.
5/3/2012

Sheffield Teleservices Provider Sees U.K. Call Center Industry Creating More Jobs
Voice Group, a Sheffield, England-based provider of teleservices, is optimistic about the ability of the call center industry to boost the British economy by providing local jobs. It specifically cites the latest news that telecom giant BT will create up to 300 new jobs when it opens a new call center in Accrington, Lancashire in the fall.
5/3/2012

Peroni Pompe S.p.A Recognized with the 2012 European Frost & Sullivan Customer Service Leadership Award
Peroni Pompe S.p.A., a leading manufacturer of reciprocating pumps primarily for the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, recently announced in a press release that it has been recognized with the 2012 European Frost & Sullivan Customer Service Leadership Award.
5/1/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Happy Friday! It's time to wrap up the week's happenings in the world of outbound call centers.
4/28/2012

Most U.K. Organizations Using CRM Don't Have DMS
With all the enhancements brought about in customer relationship management (CRM) services within the last few years, the fact that companies running these systems still don't use any document management solution (DMS) is startling. The United Kingdom is a perfect example of a country with organizations that haven't given them a try.
4/27/2012

Genpact Takes Business Relationship to Next Level with RightAnswers, Inc.
Genpact, a provider of business process and technology management, announced that it is using RightAnswers, Inc.'s Unified Knowledge Platform to provide IT services to all clients.
4/26/2012

DoRunnDo Introduces SIP Softphones for Low Monthly Cost, No Capex Investment
DoRunnDo, a company that develops soft phones for VoIP service providers, has announced the creation of a new PC dialer as part of its business model for SIP soft phones. The dialers are embedded with the latest encryption technology to ensure the safety and security of VoIP communications. The product also allows VoIP calls to pass through blocked ports regions.
4/26/2012

Florida County's Uses Faulty 'Reverse 911' System to Locate Missing Child, Residents Complain
While using "reverse 911" services - automated outbound calling to alert citizens to a crisis - certainly has a place in any community, some Lake County, Fla. residents were irked recently when the system was used in the early hours of the morning in an attempt to locate a missing 9-year-old child. Some residents said they received as many as four phone calls.
4/26/2012

USAID to Quit Funding Program Training Call Center Agents in Philippines with U.S. Tax Dollars
There has been a shake-up in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) this week. Created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the organization is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid, with a goal of extending "a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country."
4/26/2012

Five9 CEO Chosen as Semifinalist for 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Today, Ernst & Young LLP revealed that Mike Burkland, CEO of Five9, a cloud-based contact center software provider, has been named a semifinalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 program in the Northern California region.
4/26/2012

Infor Unveils Infor Xtreme Support Mobile
Business application software provider Infor announced a mobile application for Infor Xtreme Support, a program designed to offer a specialized, personalized and proactive support experience.
4/25/2012

Infor's CRM Enterprise Interaction Advisor Supports Multichannel Campaigns with Common Messaging
Infor recently announced the release of the Infor10 CRM Enterprise Interaction Advisor (Epiphany) next-best-action engine. Designed as a part of the Infor10 CRM Enterprise (Epiphany) Suite, Infor10 CRM Enterprise Interaction Advisor allows marketers to predict customer behavior and preferences, based on the customer's past responses and real-time activity.
4/25/2012

Ansafone Wins Customer Inter@ction Solutions Magazine Bronze MVP Quality Award
Ansafone, an outsourced contact center provider for organizations in the US and Canada, recently announced in a press release that it has been recognized as the winner of Bronze MVP Quality Award by Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine, the leading publication in call center, CRM, and teleservices industries. The award testifies Ansafone's position as one of the leading contact center providers in U.S and Canada.
4/24/2012

Five9 Gets An Additional $12M in Funding
Five9 Inc. recently announced that it has successfully managed to raise another $12 million in equity financing. The company is a global provider of cloud-based contact center software and had an extremely good year in 2011 and recorded strong growth, which surpassed 70 percent growth over its 2010 revenues. To further expand its presence, the company went in for another round of equity financing and will now use the additional capital to change the way the call center industry operates and strengthen its engineering team in the cloud contact center market.
4/24/2012

Helping Inbound Call Center Work Drive Outbound Compliance
If your contact center engages in outbound work, you do it for a good reason: there are valuable rewards that come from outbound work. Of course, with great rewards come great responsibility, and outbound work isn't for the faint of heart. It's hard work, and it requires strict compliance with a variety of do-not-call lists: national, regional and even your own internal lists.
4/23/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to a lovely spring Friday, which means it's time to wrap up the week's happenings in the world of outbound call center services and technologies.
4/21/2012

the Call Center Corp. Offers Free Dialing Licenses
the Call Center Corporation, which launched last month, has announced a launch promotion that will see some of its early customers get free licenses to use the Nuxiba dialing solution.
4/20/2012

Call Center Outsourcing Company PGS Adds 300 New Jobs in Florida
Sarasota, Florida-based outsourced call center services provider Protocol Global Solutions (PGS) will be moving into a new Sarasota facility and adding an additional 300 employees later this year. The move and expansion are reportedly due to the acquisition of a new client, a class-action lawsuit law firm.
4/20/2012

Jackson Myers, Commercial Real Estate Expert, Joins Avison Young in Dallas
Jackson Myers, a prominent commercial real estate broker, has been appointed as a Principal in the Dallas office of Avison Young. In his new position, effective immediately, Myers will continue to deliver on clients' location requirements for call centers, data centers and headquarters, in addition to providing advisory services for clients interested on educational campuses.
4/20/2012

Punjab Government Sets Up Call Center to Address Problems with Non-Resident Indians in Punjab
To address issues of harassment and cheating of Non-Resident Indians (NRI) living in Punjab, the regional government has announced it will set up a new center to register complaints by phone or through a new, interactive website. Complainants will have their issues addressed in a timely manner, say government spokespeople. The call center will operate 24 hours per day to cover multiple time zones. In addition, officials will be required to submit detailed reports of cases received and action taken to the state cabinet.
4/20/2012

Genesys Introduces New Mobile Engagement Extension of Contact Center Platform
The contact center is going mobile, whether companies want it to or not. As more customers begin carrying smart phones, tablets and netbooks and initiate their customer service transactions from these devices, call centers need to be prepared to serve these increasingly mobile customers.
4/20/2012

Clarabridge's Intelligent Text Analytics Recognized by Ovum
While profiling organizations that adopted innovative and creative approaches to measure performance in contact centers, Ovum, an independent research firm, included Clarabridge in its vendor report, "Contact Center Analytics Vendors in North America: Three to Watch." "We consider our inclusion in Ovum's cool vendor report acknowledgment that our goal to improve Customer Experience Management starts at the Voice of the Customer," said Sid Banerjee, CEO at Clarabridge.
4/19/2012

Police in Philippines Break Up Call Center Extortion Ring with Assistance from Taiwan Officials
Police in the Philippines this week reported broke up a call center scam being carried out in that nation by 78 Chinese nationals. Suspects are being accused of posing as call center agents and blackmailing victims into paying supposedly outstanding water, electric and telephone bills. Victims were mostly located in Davao in the southern Philippines, police revealed on Thursday.
4/19/2012

Retriever Communications Enters U.S. Market, Establishes National Headquarters in Texas
Retriever Communications recently announced it has continued its global expansion plans by venturing into the U.S. and setting up national headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas. The company is a premier provider of mobile field force automation and has its global corporate headquarters in Australia.
4/19/2012

U.S. Tax Dollars Used to Train Filipino Call Center Workers Who Take U.S. Jobs
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, is a federal agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. Its goal is to "extend a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country." The agency's budget is renewed by Congress each year.
4/19/2012

First Associates Loan Servicing Hires New Head of Call Center Operations
Consumer loan servicer First Associates Loan Servicing is making changes at the very top of its call center. The company this week announced it will be hiring Jeanne Ray as its new vice president of Call Center Operations. First Associates notes that Ray will be bringing more than 15 years of seasoned operational, technical and project management experience - catering to both domestic and international customers - to the company.
4/18/2012

On Center Software Announces New President
On Center Software, a source of construction automation solutions, will announce the promotion of Cecilia Padilla to President of the company this week. Padilla joined the company in 2008 as Vice President and was instrumental in introducing Digital Production Control patented labor control technology to the industry.
4/18/2012

T-Mobile Call Center 'Consolidation' Has Laid-off Agents Crying Foul
Wirelessly company T-Mobile has been shifting its call centers around. Called "consolidation," it has involved closing call center facilities in several states. The decision isn't going down well with the now-unemployed call center agents and their supporters, who were protesting at T-Mobile's Bellevue, Washington headquarters yesterday.
4/17/2012

'Trigger-Based' Marketing Taking Hold in Healthcare
There's a new type of sales call. It's called "trigger-based communications," or "personalized marketing." You've probably been a target without knowing it. Simply put, it's one type of marketing that triggers another. In other words, if you go online to search a product, then don't buy it, later you might receive an email about special offers or discounts.
4/16/2012

Email Marketing Programs Can Produce Effective Readership, According to Campaigner
In today's business environment, targeting the right customers at the right time is crucial. With the advent of Web 2.0 and social media, marketing managers have started using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as new channels for marketing.
4/16/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Happy belated Friday the 13th, and we'll try to keep this week's Outbound Call Center Week in Review as horror-free as possible. As the economy continues to creep along to recovery, there is one industry that has been doing quite well even during the darkest days. Debt collection is, of course, a booming business when people are having problems paying off their bills, but more and more often it is coming to light that some companies are being less than ethical in collecting those debts.
4/14/2012

Anti-Call Center Outsourcing Bill Gains Over 100 Co-Sponsors in Congress
Everybody in Congress wants to be part of the anti-outsourcing legislation working its way through the legislative process, it would seem. Proposed legislation to penalize U.S. companies for shipping jobs offshore has garnered at least 106 co-sponsors in Congress, the Indian Express is reporting today.
4/13/2012

UK Study Reveals Customers' Call Center Pet Gripes
What are customers' biggest gripes when it comes to call centers? They're not really hard to guess. A new survey by cloud-based voice services provider Natterbox uncovered the top pet peeves of U.K. customers dealing with contact centers. The biggest, of course, is exceptionally long wait times. Only four percent of respondents indicated that they are patient enough to wait more than 30 minutes to have their phone call answered
4/13/2012

LinkBuilding Opens New Call Center
LinkBuilding Company has unveiled a new call center that allows customers to find out more about affordable link building services.
4/13/2012

Court Orders Halt to One of Country's Biggest Debt Collection Scammers
It seems there is a new story every other day about less than reputable debt collection agencies sinking to new lows in order to earn their payoffs and fees. In fact, there have been so many reports, not just in the United States but across the globe, that many governments are getting buried under paperwork created by massive amounts of complaints.
4/13/2012

Cegedim Relationship Management Delivers Mobile Intelligence for iPad to Boiron USA
Cegedim Relationship Management stated that its cloud-based Mobile Intelligence for iPad and Xtelligence Analytics Suite is going to help Boiron USA gain a holistic 360-degree view of its customer databases.
4/13/2012

Debt Collection Scammer Faces Charges from the FTC
As the economy continues to creep along to recovery, there is one industry that has been doing quite well even during the darkest days. Debt collection is of course a booming business when people are having problems paying off their bills, but more and more often it is coming to light that some companies are being less than ethical in collecting those debts.
4/12/2012

planetRE Announces Unified Contact and Calendar Management with Socialite CRM Cloud
planetRE, a respected cloud vendor of online real estate, announced a new feature under the planetRE Socialite CRM platform. To create a unified desktop, the planetRE seeks to bridge the gap between organizations and their clients via multiple social networks. Clients can then run marketing campaigns coherently and monitor social activities.
4/12/2012

Outsourcing Market Down in Q1 After a Record Six Months
Information Services Group (ISG), a technology insights, marketing intelligence and advisory services company, released Tax and Price Index (TPI) data today which suggests the value and number of outsourcing contracts awarded globally have diminished during the first quarter of this year. This comes after a very strong six months for outsourcing contracts in what is regarded as a familiar market pattern.
4/12/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
News abounded this week in the outbound call center space, including deployment of the Cassidian Communications GeoCast Web notification solution, MD247 scam report entries and the implementation of Altitude uCI solution from Altitude Software.
4/6/2012

arvato-qualytel Offers More Productive Campaigns with Altitude Software Solutions
Arvato-qualytel recently deployed an Altitude uCI solution from Altitude Software, and immediate results helped the company offer more innovative contact center outbound campaigns. The firm is based out of Spain and is currently one of the biggest telemarketing and customer service outsourcing providers in the region.
4/4/2012

MD247 Fights Back After Being Called a 'Scam'
A company trying to help others has been the victim of a faceless attack on the Web. Tampa, Fla.-based telemedicine provider MD247 spoke to program members recently to discuss recent three scam report entries filed against the company, according to a press release.
4/3/2012

City of Dallas Deploys Cassidian Communications' Incident Alert Solution
Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, recently announced the City of Dallas Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has deployed the company's GeoCast Web notification solution in Texas. The GeoCast combines all phone and GIS data to rapidly deliver incident-related information or instruction to specific people.
4/3/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Each week, we at TMCnet like to take a look back at all of the news coming out of various communication and technology sectors. Right now, let's take a moment to review the top stories of the week from the Outbound Call Center space.
3/31/2012

SoftSyl Launches Outbound Calling Platform
SoftSyl Technologies has introduced an outbound calling platform called CallPunch, using the industry-compliant VoiceXML technology. An assortment of call centers and other companies across the nation can now avail CallPunch, added to SoftSyl's current portfolio.
3/30/2012

Mindshare Develops Automated Survey Solution for Call Centers
Mindshare Technologies recently announced the launch of Outbound Dial, an automated callback service that collects feedback from customers in order to analyze the quality and service provided during customer interactions. Mindshare Technologies is a leader in Voice of Customer (VoC) technologies.
3/30/2012

Voice4Net Unveils Contact Center HD to Manage Traditional, Social Media Interaction
Voice4Net recently launched its Contact Center HD (CCHD) product, aimed at addressing customer interaction. The contact center software and customer management solutions provider unveiled CCHD at the Enterprise Connect Conference and Expo in Orlando, FL, this week.
3/29/2012

Spanish Outsourcing Provider Achieves Productivity Gains with Altitude Software
Altitude Software, a provider of global contact center solutions, announced that arvato-qualytel, a leading telemarketing and customer service outsourcing provider in Spain, has earned greater productivity gains and more efficiency using Altitude solutions including Altitude uCI, Altitude Unified Dialer and Altitude Management Portal.
3/29/2012

Red Letter Days and Motive8 Solutions Take Employee Motivation to New Heights
In collaboration with Motive8 Solutions, Red Letter Days B2B has come up with a revolutionary reward system for UK contact center operators. Both have been hard at work since day one of the recent partnership to maintain an unrivaled solution to employee motivation.
3/29/2012

Global SaaS Revenues Soar to $14.5 Billion in 2012
Gartner, an IT analytics firm, published a report recently stating the worldwide software as a service (SaaS) industry will reach $14.5 billion by the end of 2012. This represents nearly an 18-percent increase over the $12.3 billion of revenue earned in 2011.
3/29/2012

British Gov't Overwhelmed with Debt Collector Harassment Claims
In an economy not quite out of the hole, conversations seem to be turning more to the actions of debt collectors. While there are certainly local government entities singing the praises of these companies, many others claim that a huge majority of debt collectors are rather shady.
3/26/2012

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Let's catch up with some of the top headlines this week in Outbound Call Center news.
3/24/2012

Realex Payments Partners with Ultra Communications
Ultra Communications, a provider of network telephony and network contact center solutions and services, announced a partnership with payment service provider, Realex Payments. The partnership was established with the aim of creating a complete suite of call center solutions to offer a comprehensive, flexible, high quality, low cost alternative to traditional Predictive Dialler and ACD systems. Ultra Communications provides the Ultra Call Management System or 'UCMS,' a fully integrated, network based, total contact centre service. With its offices in Dublin, London and Paris, Realex Payments offers a wide range of online payment services for over 5,500 clients domestically and internationally.
3/23/2012

Alorica Named One of the Fastest Growing Companies in the Philippines
Alorica, a customer management outsourcing solutions provider and a major contributor to the growth of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector in the Philippines, has made it to the final round of the ICT Awards Philippines. Along with other finalists, the company will vie for the ICT Awards Philippines' "Fasting Growing BPO Company of the Year" title. Alorica provides outbound call centers and contact management services for companies all over the world.
3/23/2012

Motiv8 Unveils Polish Language Product for Outbound Call Center
Motiv8, the global specialist in contact centre employee motivation, expanded into Poland in December 2012 and has unveiled its first foreign language product as part of its global expansion strategy.
3/23/2012

Twitter Connects Wokingham Borough Council Outbound Call Center to Residents
Twitter is playing an important role in connecting the Wokingham Borough Council to its residents, according to cloud software and applications provider LiveOps.
3/23/2012

China Outbound Call Center Service Provider Receives ISO Certifications
With many Asian, European and North American outsourcing companies moving into the Chinese outsourcing market in the recent times, the market has become extremely competitive. In order to be able to earn an edge over the competitors, Shanghai-based transcosmos Marketing Service Company, which provides outbound and inbound call center services to clients in China and abroad, announced that it has attained ISO9001 and ISO/IEC27001 certifications. The company said it received the international information security management systems standard ISO/IEC27001 on November 9, 2011. It was certified for quality management systems standard "ISO9001" on October 28, 2009.
3/22/2012

Voice2Phone Augments VoIP Auto Dialer Software Solutions with Phone Tree Capability
In an effort to provide customers with even more ways to communicate with staff members, clients and other individuals in their target audiences, Voice2Phone - a provider of a wide range of advanced VoIP auto dialer solutions for small to medium businesses and organizations - has started offering advanced phone tree capability. Precisely, the Voice2Phone has added phone tree capability for its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) auto dialer software solutions.
3/22/2012

Cal Coast Credit Introduces New Collection Services For Local Cities
Tough economic times have made it difficult for debtors to pay off loans and credits, while financial organizations also risk losing valuable capital distributed to their customers in the form of various financial products. Cal Coast Credit Service, Inc. (CCCS), a provider of effective debt collection services throughout California and Nevada, announced it will launch a new initiative for helping local municipalities recover much needed revenues from delinquent accounts.
3/22/2012

Outbound Call Center Operator MTI Specializes in Rural Midwestern Locations
According to an article on the Daily Iowegian, Midwest TeleServices International (MTI) specializes in operating outbound call centers in small towns across the United States. The company has developed a list of Fortune 500 clients, but started with business from telephone companies, including Windstream and CenturyLink. As MTI's business grew, it branched out to other industries, including education, insurance and pharmaceuticals.
3/20/2012

Sound Telecom Celebrates 25th Year in the Outbound Call Center Business
Sound Telecom will complete its 25th year in business on April 1, 2012. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Sound Telecom is a nationwide provider of 24 hour Telephone Answering, Call Center and Unified Communication Services. The company offers customers a variety of call center services, including outbound calling campaigns tied to marketing and customer outreach strategies. The company also noted that it will expand its call center operations by opening new call centers across the United States over the next few years.
3/20/2012

Inphonite Introduces Inphonite Voice 2012
Inphonite, LLC is a global provider of automated phone messaging systems and interactive computer technology. The company announced that they are taking phone alerts to a new level with Inphonite Voice 2012.
3/19/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Let's catch up with some of the top headlines this week in Outbound Call Center news.
3/17/2012

RoutHost.com Offers 24-7 Assistance with Power-Friendly Server Support
RoutHost, a company offering power-friendly packages, has announced that it now offers cost-effective colocation services and dedicated server offerings with 24/7 Technical Assistance. Based in Toronto, Canada, ROUThost.com prides itself in helping others achieve dreams of enterprise with cost-effective web hosting, domain registration and site-building services.
3/16/2012

VOIP Connections Delivers Cloud-Based Outbound Calls from Microsoft Lync Platform
As enterprises free themselves from the burden of expensive telephony equipment and the need to use IT department resources to manage outbound and inbound call functions, a variety of IP telephony companies continue to pursue solutions to make the delivery of cloud-based telephony options easier and more cost effective. Cloud-based voice over internet protocol (VoIP) solution developer, VOIP Connections, continues to expand its cloud-based VoIP services to small and medium sized businesses as they move their telephone exchanges from conventional installations to the Cloud.
3/16/2012

Medical Alarm Concepts to Market Fuel Saving Product with Outbound Call Center Campaign
Medical Alarm Concepts will market a new money consumer automotive product using increased outbound call center marketing efforts. The company acquired the marketing rights to MotorBooster and plans to create a new operating division for this unique fuel saving and emissions reduction solution. The company will combine outbound call center marketing with convention media advertising campaign.
3/16/2012

Premier Farnell to Combine Outbound Customer Contact and Telesales at New Call Center in Krakow
Electronics distributor Premier Farnell reported that 75% of its European business is currently conducted over the Internet. Given that, it will combined outbound telesales and telemarketing activities from its European Internet and call center operations into a consolidated multi-lingual, best practices call centre, located in Krakow, Poland. The company also reported return on sales for the full-year to end-January at 11%.
3/16/2012

Axonom to Showcase Powertrak for Tablets at Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2012
Axonom, a provider of enterprise-level Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solutions for call centers, is going to showcase the latest release of its mobile CRM solution called Powertrak for Tablets at Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2012. Powertrak can handle any outbound call center interaction, including custom qualification and triage scripting, the company said.
3/16/2012

SWCCF Inviting Nominations for Its 2012 Call Center Excellence Awards
The South West Contact Centre Forum (SWWCF) of UK recently announced that nominations are now open for the South West Contact Centre Awards 2012. The deadline for filing the nomination is April 12, 2012. Applications are open to any call/contact centers, IT help desks, training departments and any inbound or outbound customer communication networks employing five or more people and based within the South West.
3/16/2012

Aspect Recognizes 2e2 for Demonstrating Exceptional Performance in a Joint Call Center Project
Aspect, a leading Unified Communications solution vendor, announced that 2e2, a prominent ICT lifecycle services provider is the recipient of Aspect Northern European new logo partner of the year award for 2011.
3/16/2012

1-800 We Answer Call Center Service Provider Receives DiversityBusiness Award
DiversityBusiness has recognized 1-800 We Answer as an outstanding provider of telephone answering and outbound and inbound call center call center services in the United States. The nationwide provider of live telephone answering and call center services has made it to the organization's annual Top Business List.
3/16/2012

Boost Outbound Call Center Performance with Direct Mail Campaigns
The moment of contact between a customer and a call center agent is an opportunity for the call center operator to both build a relationship with the customer - through providing swift and effective service - and chance to sell additional services or products. It can also be a moment to condition the customer to expect further contact with the company and prepare the customer for future sales pitches. These additional goals can be greatly assisted if the call center supplements customer call interaction with a targeted campaign of follow-up contact. Outbound calling combined with direct mail can lead to enhanced customer satisfaction and improved sales.
3/15/2012

Illegal Automated Outbound Calls Rile Canadian Elections
First it was the Canadian conservative party that stood accused of using robocalls from outbound call centers to unfairly influence election campaigns. Now the opposition Liberal party stands accused of doing the very same thing.
3/15/2012

New Jersey Energy Company Helps Latino Community Pay Their Bills
A New Jersey electric company, Public Service Electric and Electric Gas Company (PSE&G), announced today their partnership with the Mercer County Hispanic Association (MCHA) to provide solutions to residents who are having trouble paying their monthly utility bills. Applications are to be submitted to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Universal Service Fund (USF) from families who believe they qualify for assistance. The vice president of PSE&G announced this agreement today to the press,
3/15/2012

Optus Partners with Nuance Communications to Build Customer Service App
According to Optus, customers using the app will be receive a number of on-device service options enabling them to recharge, check usage, manage bills. Customers will also be able to talk to Optus and chat live with an agent or receive calls from an Optus outbound call center to obtain information about billing or service questions.
3/15/2012

Envision Wins Bronze Stevie Award for Sales and Customer Service
Envision, a provider of coaching and workforce optimization solutions for contact centers, announced it has won Bronze Stevie Award in 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service Solutions Technology Partner of the Year category. The Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service is regarded as the world's top sales, contact center and customer service awards.
3/15/2012

Voters Fed Up with Robo Calls from Presidential Candidates
A call from Chuck Norris or Donald Trump is not an everyday occurrence. That is, unless you're a 2012 Republican primary voter. And according to voters all over the country, there sometimes can be too much of a good thing.
3/13/2012

Nuxiba Host Call Center Software Marketed by the Call Center Corporation
Overseas call center marketer, the Call Center Corporation, announced a marketing and distribution deal with Nuxiba Technologies. Under terms of the agreement the Call Center Corporation will sell Nuxiba's hosted call center software. the Call Center Corporation specializes in introducing international call center services to the U.S. market. The company said it that Nuxiba's hosted call center solution will join the wide array of call center software and technology solutions available to customers.
3/12/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's Friday. That means another look back at this week's Outbound Call Center news. Cloud communications provider Telcentris launched a new short duration call service geared towards outbound call centers, resellers and agents that cater to call center traffic. The short call service, which is being offered through the company's wholesale division, is a competitive offering in a "starving market that lacks solutions for businesses conducting high volume short duration calls," the company said.
3/10/2012

Donald Trump Recording More Robocalls for Mitt Romney's Presidential Campaign
Since endorsing Mitt Romney's campaign for president, Donald Trump has recorded robocalls for Romney in Ohio and Michigan. Now, ABC News is reporting that Trump will provide additional calls in next week's battleground states of Kansas, Alabama, Hawaii and Mississippi.
3/9/2012

SutiSoft Unveils New On-Demand CRM Solution for Hospitality Industry Users
SutiSoft, a provider of enterprise application software products, has released a new Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution - SutiCRM-H - designed for customers in the hospitality industry.
3/8/2012

Upstream Works Releases Customer Interaction Solution for Call Center Agents
Toronto-based customer interaction solution developer, Upstream Works, unveiled an upgraded version of its Contact Center Agent Desktop application. The solution provides call center agents with a single desktop application offering a number of tools designed to increase the speed and accuracy of customer interactions.
3/8/2012

Coveo Data Overview Solution Deployed at SunGard Call Centers
Data analysis solution provider Coveo announced that SunGard, which develops software for the financial services, education and public sectors, had installed its Insight Solutions for Customer Service across SunGard K-12 Education operation, which provides software service and support to over 1,500 school districts and over 8eight million students across the US
3/8/2012

Microsoft Incorporates Acme Packet SBCs in LyncServer Multitenant Pack
Session delivery network solutions developer Acme Packet announced that Microsoft has selected the Acme Packet Net-Net Session Director session border controllers (SBCs) for the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Multitenant Pack for Partner Hosting. The Acme Packet will be integrated into Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Multitenant Pack for Partner Hosting, a unified communications (UC) hosting solution for telecom and hosting providers. The company also announced that its Net-Net Session Director would be incorporated into the Microsoft Lync Hosted Pack Reference Architecture, which provides a roadmap for hosting providers in creating UC services for business customers.
3/8/2012

Jackson National Life Creates Electronic Manual for Call Center Agents
Annuities products are complicated. That presents a challenge for call center operators conducting outbound sales calls or handling inbound customer inquiries. In order to make it easier for its call center agents to interact with customers in a more clear and accurate fashion, annuity provider Jackson National Life has compiled the Jackson's Genius Operations Manual, an electronic solution which identifies incoming and outgoing calls based on the index number of the annuity products they refer to, according to an article on InsuranceTech.com.
3/8/2012

Casinos Need to Tap into Customer Referrals to Keep Generating Revenue
Robinson & Associates, Inc. has announced that casinos should begin focusing on improving customer service, which could generate good word of mouth and bring more people in to gamble.
3/8/2012

AltiGen Communications' Call Center Solution Passes Microsoft Lync Tests
Unified communications provider AltiGen Communications announced that its MaxACD Contact Center for Microsoft Lync has passed Microsoft's Lync ISV Qualification Program requirements. The Microsoft Lync ISV Qualification Program tests solutions from independent software developers designed for use with Microsoft Lync. Solutions must pass a series of tests conducted on a Microsoft Lync Server 2010 with third party ISV applications. The tests seek to validate interoperability, feature set, system performance and stability of the independent solutions.
3/8/2012

State Investigating Campaign Robo-Calls Made in North Dakota
Cell phone owners in North Dakota who were flooded with robo-calls on Tuesday can now feel vindicated. The attorney general's office has decided to investigate the illegal automated campaign phone calls that were made across the state. These calls have been deemed illegal by the attorney general's office, as they are in direct violation of North Dakota's Do Not Call laws. Several members of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division staff along thousands of people statewide were also bombarded with these calls.
3/8/2012

Pegasus Expands Call Center Voice Services
Berlin-based call center service provider Pegasus Solutions announced that it will expand the capabilities of its voice services with the construction of a new U.S.-based call center. The new call center will handle booking and revenue generation support provided through four other Pegasus call centers located across the world. The Pegasus call centers handling hotel reservations can interact with customers in 11 languages. The call centers serve more than 30 countries. Pegasus Voice Services says its call center services have allowed a major hotel chain to handle more inbound and outbound calls with increased conversion. That improvement has generated $11.6 million in hotel revenue.
3/8/2012

Telefonica Selects Jacada Agent Scripting for Call Center Interactions
Mobile and broadband communications provider Telefonica has tapped Jacada's Agent Scripting (JAS) solution for its United Kingdom-based call centers. Telefonica selected the Jacada Agent Scripting (JAS) Product Suite to streamline the amount of information presented to call agents during customer service calls. Previously, Telefonica call agents used a knowledge-based tool that showed detailed technical and customer information during each customer call. The problem was that too much information was being provided, causing the agents to get sidetracked by technical information that was not really necessary to solve the customer's problem.
3/8/2012

Amcom to Upgrade Fairview Health Systems' Patient Monitoring System and Call Centers
Amcom Software, Inc. announced today that Fairview Health Services has chosen the company to replace an aging call center platform and to expand the scope of its communication functions to clinical settings as well, according to a press release.
3/8/2012

The Jive Social Customer Service Solution: Designed for Effective Sales and Marketing
Jive Software, an independent vendor specializing in social business software, recently unveiled its new Jive Social Customer Service Solution. The new enterprise social software has been tailor-made for customer service tasks and exploits the already in place Jive Social Business platform, to enhance customer support, service, and brand loyalty.
3/8/2012

Banking Call Center Customer Satisfaction Rises
A survey of banking consumers conducted by consulting firm Prime Performance found that consumers are finding more satisfaction from bank and credit union call center interactions. The survey questioned 1,979 U.S. bank and credit union customers who had recently received a call or placed a call to a banking call center and interacted with call center representatives.
3/8/2012

Telappliant Installs VoIP Call Center Phone System for Technology Retailer
British telephony solution developer Telappliant announced the installation its VoIPOffice telephone system at Let's Get Digital, an online gadget retailer. The company said that VoIPOffice provides a fully-hosted VoIP service capable of handling the 600 to 800 customer calls received daily by the retailer.
3/8/2012

Kansas Will Now Host the 50-State Campaign to Reform Debt Collecting Practices
Oklahoma lawmakers recently passed the Bartmann Ethical Debt Collection Act (SB 1430). The bill was passed by AARP Oklahoma in order to address the number of scandals that has occurred in the recent past which clearly revealed that there was a need to regulate the process in the debt collection and debt buyer industries.
3/6/2012

GAPCORP Taps Altitude for Call Center Solutions in Persian Gulf Region
Sales, marketing and third party administrator GAPCORP has deployed Altitude uCI suite to manage its call center operations across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The Gulf Cooperation Council is an economic organization founded in 1981 and includes nations bordering the Persian Gulf such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). GAPCORP maintains call center operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that have deployed the customer interaction management solution. Altitude uCI offers a number of advanced IP contact center features like an outbound dialer, open desktop and a unified centralized monitoring, queuing, routing and reporting functions.
3/6/2012

Crescent Real Estate Wins Another Customer Service Honor
Crescent Real Estate Holdings, LLC, out of Fort Worth, Texas, has received its second National Commercial Real Estate Customer Service Award in a row. Established by CEL & Associates, the "A-List" award is considered one of the most prestigious awards in commercial real estate. Crescent received the award for the past two years and also received the award for six years in a row between 2001 and 2006.
3/6/2012

Telcentris to Offer Short Call Duration Outbound Call Service
Cloud communications company Telcentris Inc., creator of VoxOx and VoxOx In Business, has announced the commercial availability of its short duration call service, geared towards outbound call centers, resellers and agents that cater to call center traffic.
3/6/2012

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
If it's Friday, then it's time for a look back at this week's outbound call center news.
3/3/2012

Grace Foods UK Ltd Chooses StayinFront TouchCG Mobile CRM on Android Tablets
StayinFront (UK) Ltd recently announced Grace Food UK wanted to optimize its field sales operations and decided to implement the StayinFront TouchCG to be its mobile software platform. StayinFront is an international provider of on-demand, SaaS and mobile customer relationship management applications.
3/2/2012

SIP's Auto Dialer Software Is Rival to Manual Phone Trees
Businesses may want to call customers, or potential customers, to stay in touch. That is certainly convenient. "But what if you have tens of thousands of clients," asks a company statement from Voice2Phone. A large call center can be expensive, SIP advises. There is another option from SIP.
3/1/2012

Dynamic Sales Innovations Helps Launch Fox Valley Chamber of Commerce
Dynamic Sales Innovations, a B2B call center based in Aurora, Ill., has partnered with the Fox Valley Chamber of Commerce on a calling campaign to launch the chamber in the region.
3/1/2012

Noble Systems to Deliver Outbound Messaging for Invacare
Contact center technology solutions developer Noble Systems Corporation announced that Invacare HCS, a medical patient compliance and medical products provider, has decided to expand its current use of the Noble Enterprise solution. The added capabilities will permit automated prescription refill notification and fulfillment functionality using outbound messaging and speech technology.
3/1/2012

Canadian Federal Elections Fraud Accusations Lead Back to Call Centers and Robo-Calling
A political storm erupting in Canada right now may lead back to a curious place - the call center. Canada's more left-leaning political parties - the NDP and Liberals - have accused the nation's Conservative Party of deliberately confusing voters to suppress support for the opponents of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Conservative, during the lead up to last year's federal election. For their part, Harper and many Tory MPs are accusing the opposition of waging a nasty smear campaign against them.
3/1/2012

Telecentris Launches Short-Duration Outbound Call Service
Cloud communications provider Telecentris now offers wholesale short-duration call service to businesses that produce significant high volume short-duration calls from their outbound call centers.
3/1/2012

SoundBite's Hosted Dialer Recognized by Collection Advisor Magazine
Cloud-based solutions delivery has revolutionized a number of enterprise processes, making them easier to purchase and manage. Dialers, heavily used by contact centers and any organization with a need to place a large amount of outbound calls and messaging - such as credit and collections firms - are no exception. Cloud-based customer communications solutions provider SoundBite Communications Inc. has announced that its Hosted Dialer has been recognized for quality by being named to Collection Advisor magazine's list of Top Four Voice Broadcasting solutions of 2011.
3/1/2012

Virtual Data Room Company V-Rooms Expanding Customer Service Department
Virtual data rooms provider V-Rooms is unveiled today that it will be growing its customer service department by 25 percent in the first quarter of 2012 in order to meet rapid growth. V-Rooms offers a privately-branded online virtual data room solution designed to streamline document management, collaboration, exchange and archiving for financial, legal and corporate professionals. V-Rooms' goal is to expand its customer service operations and define its corporate identity around customer care.
2/29/2012

KLNA Teams with 3CLogic for Outbound Call Center Versatility
Political campaign organizing firm, Kathy L. Nealy & Associates (KLNA), has announced that it will team with call center solutions provider 3CLogic to enhance outbound functionality at call centers handling election year political campaigns. KLNA hopes to reach voters mostly residing in Dallas County, Texas, and the surrounding area. KLNA call center agents will gain access to 3CLogic solutions, including Call Blast, which distributes candidate news and announcements to thousands of residents in a matter of seconds, and 3CLogic's predictive dialer, which automates dialing and reporting.
2/29/2012

Aprimo Incorporates Xds Feature into Campaign Management Software Supporting Third-Party Databases
Aprimo, a global provider of cloud-based integrated marketing software has expanded the capabilities of its Relationship Manager solution with the introduction of a powerful new Campaign Management feature that allows the users to import strategic data from Third-Party database, the company said in a release.
2/29/2012

Swinton Insurance Adds New Manchester Call Center
While outsourcing inbound and outbound call center operations to overseas call center operators remains a strong option for European and North American companies, domestic outbound and inbound call centers continue to expand. Swinton Insurance has announced the opening of a new call center operation in Manchester, United Kingdom
2/28/2012

Axess Communications Call Recording Boosts Small Businesses
While call recording software has traditionally been priced out of range for small businesses, the number of applications within the financial grasp of small enterprises is growing. Axess Communications has added to the call recording options available to small businesses with its Littleton, Colorado-based subsidiary VoIPMyBiz.com, which offers call recording features to small business customers.
2/28/2012

Azzurri Tapped by City & Guilds for UK Telecommunications Partnership
Managed communications provider Azzurri Communications, based in Aldridge, United Kingdom, has been chosen by City & Guilds to provide strategic telecommunications services to the awarding body, Azzurri said in a statement. The agreement includes a three year £900,000, contract. Under the terms of the agreement, Azzurri will integrate City & Guilds four existing telecoms suppliers, including mobility, IP telephony, audio/videoconferencing, calls and lines and support services, into a single managed service. Additionally, Azzurri said it will provide advice and guidance for City & Guilds to promote its organizational goals via a mapped unified communications program.
2/28/2012

Compliance and Customer Service Focus of 2012 for Collections Industry
So what's ahead in 2012 for the collections industry? According to a new survey conducted at the 15th Annual Debt Buyer's Association International Conference, held recently in Las Vegas, the future will hold two important issues: compliance and customer service. Collections industry executives say they will be placing increased emphasis on developing compliance controls and improving the customer experience during 2012.
2/27/2012

SGI Selects Indosoft Call Center Platform
Call center software developer Indosoft announced that Indianapolis, Indiana-based sales fulfillment and communications firm SGI Inc. has deployed Indosoft's Asterisk-based call center suite, Q-Suite. SGI provides communications management services for government regulated industries, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical device, manufacturing and financial services. Q-Suite, a scalable call center software suite for Asterisk, features an IP-enabled contact center platform. By implementing Q-Suite, SGI can offer inbound and outbound customer contact services, as well as auto-dialer driven outbound IVR notification solutions.
2/27/2012

LeadMaster Defers Venture Capital - Continues Organic Growth
LeadMaster has announced that the company is not accepting venture capital financing at this time as it is growing profitably without any VC funding.
2/27/2012

Mattersight Implements Predictive Routing Application for a Healthcare Provider
Mattersight announced that it has integrated its Predictive Routing application into a large healthcare provider's existing telephony and routing system and also has installed a predictive routing data mart for the client.
2/27/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week in outbound call center news, businesses were focused on implementing strategies to improve customer experience. Business communication systems tend to have unpredictable costs related to technical issues, but this shouldn't equate to poor customer service and revenue loss. The businesses that strive to differentiate themselves on the Quality of Experience (QoE) often recognize a strong return on investment (ROI) from increased customer retention and lower revenue leakage rates.
2/26/2012

Recognizing the ROI of Monitoring
Every business communication system has unpredictable costs related to technical issues and dropped calls. But this does not mean that poor customer experience should be the rule, nor does it provide an adequate excuse for revenue loss. The businesses that strive to differentiate themselves on the Quality of Experience (QoE) often recognize a strong return on investment (ROI) from increased customer retention and lower revenue leakage rates. The smart businesses know that in order to continuously assure customer satisfaction, they need to implement end-to-end performance monitoring.
2/24/2012

Varolii Adds Inbound Call Center Capability to Its Outbound Solutions
Customer interaction management company, Varolii Corporation, has announced a new integrated solution, Varolii 360, designed to offer inbound communications capabilities to call centers, creating a complete customer experience across both guided inbound and proactive outbound interactions.
2/21/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
There is an array of Outbound Call Center news this week with breaking news from NTI, the Federal Communications Commission and the Mattersight Corporation.
2/18/2012

January Sees Spike in Litigation Against Consumer Credit Reporting and Collections Companies
The latter half of January has shown a spike in litigation against consumer credit reporting companies and the collections industry, according to data from U.S. District Courts. Lawsuits were on the rise against companies for violating three key pieces of consumer protection legislation: the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. According to the data, while January had a slow start initially, all three categories saw leaps in the second half of January.
2/17/2012

Kessler Foundation Awards Grant to NTI for Americans with Disabilities to Work from Home
NTI is a nonprofit organization that provides job opportunities for Americans with disabilities that require home-based work. This is for Americans with disabilities that live anywhere in the U.S. in work-at-home jobs such as customer service agent jobs in virtual contact centers. It will use the grant in a two-year pilot program.
2/15/2012

FCC to Get Tough on Automated Outbound 'Robo-Calls'
While many companies have had success with automated outbound calling - so-called "robo-calls," many others would appear to be doing little but annoying their customers and prospective customers. Used properly, automated outbound calling can remind customers of appointments, distribute important information and enable consumers to accomplish simple self-service transactions.
2/15/2012

Behavioral Analytics Help Drive Improved Predictive Routing in the Call Center
Experienced and successful call center organizations know that a good call center - one that is a net benefit to the organization is serves - starts with routing. When the right calls reach the right department or agent at the right time, it's an excellent first step in providing an exceptional customer experience. To that end, many companies have chosen to use the technology called predictive routing to make sure calls arrive in the right place. To boost the effectiveness of predictive routing, some companies have begun associating behavioral analytics with call routing.
2/15/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week, there was an abundance of news in the Outbound Call Center space. Fishbowl Enterprise, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution company for SMBs recently announced the launch of Pipeline Contact Manager, a Web-based CRM product that will enable small business to integrate its Fishbowl Inventory software with the new CRM tool.
2/11/2012

Fishbowl Launches Web-Based Pipeline Contact Manager
Fishbowl Enterprise is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for SMBs. The company recently announced the launch of Pipeline Contact Manager, a web-based CRM product that will enable small business to integrate its Fishbowl Inventory software with the new CRM tool.
2/10/2012

Arketi Supports Knowlagent's Public Relations Efforts
High-tech business-to-business PR and digital marketing firm Arketi Group will support Knowlagent's public relations, digital and traditional marketing efforts.
2/10/2012

DOW Networks Ready to Meet Demands of Next Generation VoIP Call Center
Telecom Company DOW Networks is expanding its services to support growing demand of its contact center clients around the world. The company will soon be designing and building a new data center to provide increased disaster recovery and redundancy for its call center services and international toll free numbers clients.
2/9/2012

Secure Trust Bank to Use Callcredit for Acquisition and Verification Support
Secure Trust Bank has chosen Callcredit Information Group to give them customized client acquisition and verification services to aid its growth. The bank has decided to utilize the services of Callcredit's Bristol-based contact center to handle an outbound telesales campaign meant for potential customers. The FSA-accredited contact center will have the responsibility of achieving sales in a fixed timescale.
2/8/2012

Northbound's ALTA Suite - A Perfect Blueprint for Topline Revenue?
Northbound DGS, an agency that aims to power the revenue engines of B2B enterprises, has launched the new ALTA suite of integrated revenue generation solutions.
2/8/2012

Global Connect Launches Even More New Features for Their Signature GC1 Peak Dialer
Global Connect has long been working to establish itself as one of the best cloud-based hosted dialing and communications companies in the world. The company's flag bearer of a program is the GC1 Peak Dialer. This particular program has been undergoing some definite tweaks in order to better serve its customers over the last few days. Just days after releasing an extensive list of new features for the GC1 Peak dialer, Global Connect has further tweaked its standard bearer.
2/6/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
We've seen so much exciting news from all industries coming out of ITEXPO East this week, but now it's time to settle down and recap what happened in the outbound call center space.
2/4/2012

'Granny Call Center' Reminds Canadians to Turn Down the Thermostat and 'Put on a Sweater'
"Be a dear and put a sweater on." That's the message of grandmas everywhere, but the Canadian arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Loblaw, a large food retailer, hope to turn it into a national holiday and an annual effort to lower thermostat temps for at least one day. Or, as their publicity for the day says, "turn on a sweater."
2/3/2012

4G Device Owners More Likely to Contact Customer Service than Traditional Phone Users
While 4G technologies are hailed for their ability to deliver an efficient network and awesome 100 Mbit/s speed, customers who use 4G-enabled devices are reported to face more network/device related issues than those using less advanced technologies like 2G and 3G.
2/3/2012

Mobile E-Commerce Sites Show Major Holiday Spike in U.S. and Western Europe
The mobile shopping audience in the United States increased 42 percent over the holidays. In Western Europe, mobile shopping increased 36 percent in Spain, 35 percent in the U.K. and 34 percent in France during the same time period.
2/3/2012

Desk.com: Making Customer Service Suck Less
Salesforce.com has launched a new product called Desk.com which will guarantee better customer service for its clients.
2/3/2012

To Make E-Mail Marketing Work, Know What Customers Want
At first read, these desires sound almost like the perks of a good marriage. According to Gray, customers are taking more control over their relationships with marketers and are forcing marketers to engage them in ways that work. And what works for Cupid, it seems, may work for marketers as well.
2/2/2012

Banks Can Prevent Customer Churn by Personalizing Interactions with SMS and Analytics
Business analytics company SAS, together with Professor Hugh Wilson of the Cranfield School of Management, recently completed a customer insight report that examined the issue from the perspective of banks, who today have more marketing communications channels open to customers than ever before, but are still, in many cases, failing to step customer churn and failing to capitalize on the large amount of data that they hold, according to bobsguide.com, a London-based financial IT solutions Web site. As it's pretty easy for consumers to change banks - one of the hallmarks of an industry prone to customer churn - banks need to find a better way.
2/2/2012

Indosoft Unveils Web Portal for Q-Suite
Q-Suite is the company's flagship contact center ACD and Dialer software which is available for private label technology solutions. Indosoft licenses its ACD for Asterisk with .NET and Socket library to organizations using Asterisk in their product line.
2/1/2012

C3 Opened Thousands of Call Center Jobs in US Last Year
C3/CustomerContactChannels has announced that the company added 2,000 new jobs to the US economy last year.
1/31/2012

Visionary Software Releases CRM Rules! - the JavaScript Generator
Visionary Software Consulting has just released an easy to use tool - CRM Rules! that allows consistent, quick, efficient, and bug-free JScript code across all CRM forms in an organization, satisfying the bottom line of programming - good, fast and cheap.
1/31/2012

Zwarenstein Named CFO of Five9
Five9, a company that provides cloud-based call center software, has appointed Barry Zwarenstein as its Chief Financial Officer. Zwarenstein previously served as CFO for multiple companies including, most recently, Smart Modular Technologies.
1/31/2012

CBM Services Improves Estimating and Job Costing with Soffront's Integrated CRM Solution
Soffront Software Inc. recently announced that its integrated CRM solution has been selected by CBM Services, a provider of commercial flooring restoration and maintenance, for helping it improve its estimating and job costing processes.
1/31/2012

Patent for Immediate Response Technology Issued to InsideSales.com
A patent for immediate response technology has been issued by the United States Patent Office to InsideSales.com. Patent number US 8,078,605 B2 has been awarded to InsideSales.com for the groundbreaking research in lead response optimization conducted by Dr. James Oldroyd and Dave Elkington.
1/31/2012

Collaboration with Touchstone CRM Announced by CWR Mobility
Advanced mobile CRM solutions based on CWR Mobility's award-winning software will be now offered to Touchstone CRM's customers. Touchstone CRM will now be a Registered Partner of the CWR Mobility Partner Program as part of the collaboration announced by the two companies.
1/31/2012

Salesforce.com and Dun & Bradstreet Form Alliance to Deliver B2B information
Many businesses struggle with poor information management. If they do not get the right information from the right source in a timely fashion, they may end up with a loss of clients and sales. Accurate, to-the- point business information could help a particular company to analyze market size, develop a brand strategy and visualize a competitor's performance. B2B information plays a critical role in the operational and strategic decision-making of the company.
1/31/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Looking back at outbound call center news this past week, TMC reported that Patron Technology, a company offering customer relationship management (CRM), ticketing and e-mail marketing technology, announced that 2011 was a successful year for the company, with more than 250 clients for PatronManager CRM, the all-in-one cloud-based system that integrates box-office functionality, fundraising, e-mail marketing and staff collaboration.
1/28/2012

Microsoft Releases Case Study for First Tech Direct's Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Implementation
First Tech Direct, a provider of Microsoft Dynamics business solutions, announced the release of a case study on its recent Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online implementation for Saab North America, a Scandinavian car manufacturer.
1/27/2012

IDE for Oracle's CRM Desktop Released by InvisibleCRM
InvisibleCRM recently announced the release of InvisibleStudio toolset for Oracle's CRM Desktop support. Products based on the InvisibleCRM's OutlookBridge platform can be now customized by business analysts and developers with InvisibleStudio, which is an Integrated Development Environment.
1/27/2012

Patron Technology Expands with More Than 250 PatronManager CRM Clients
Patron Technology, a company offering customer relationship management (CRM), ticketing and e-mail marketing technology, has announced that 2011 was a successful year for the company with more than 250 clients for PatronManager CRM, the all-in-one cloud-based system that integrates box-office functionality, fundraising, e-mail marketing and staff collaboration.
1/27/2012

IMS Health Acquires an India-Based Company
PharmARC, an India-based company specializing in commercial analytics and services for the life sciences industry, has been acquired IMS Health.
1/24/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Never a dull moment with outbound call centers, as this past week TMC reported that recently, WhitePages unveiled the 10 most aggressive Call Spammers of 2011. Call spam is defined as unsolicited calls or texts to mobile phones from telemarketers, debt collectors and scammers and the list was compiled after an analysis of over 45 million unsolicited calls or texts to its Caller ID customers.
1/21/2012

CR Software Implements Titanium for Processing Orange County Superior Court Collections
The Orange County Superior Court (OCSC) which serves one of the largest counties in the United States has started using Titanium Open Receivables Management (ORE) for processing their accounts. The Titanium software was successfully implemented by CR Software, the world's leading collections and receivables management software supplier. After reviewing several software platforms to simplify their collection process, OCSC selected Titanium as their primary collections system.
1/20/2012

Intelliverse Rolls Out Cloud Communications for Contact Centers
A cloud-based platform allows contact center agents to operate in any office in any part of the world and reduces capital expenditures as well as IT and maintenance costs.
1/20/2012

Epicor Retail SaaS Solution Selected To Be Part of Love Culture's Expansion Plans
Epicor Software Corporation is an international organizations dealing in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution as well as retail and services organizations. The company recently announced that Love Culture had selected Epicor Retail Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.
1/20/2012

Enghouse Intros New CallRex Workforce Management Software
Enghouse Interactive, a company offering CallRex suite of IP call recording and contact center optimization solutions, has introduced the latest CallRex Workforce Management solution, which is aimed to meet the needs of small- to medium-sized businesses.
1/20/2012

Anne Bowman Joins Voxeo as Chief Customer Officer
Voxeo, a communications provider, has just appointed Anne Bowman to the newly created position of chief customer officer, where she will report directly to Jonathan Taylor, CEO of Voxeo.
1/19/2012

WhitePages Publishes List of 10 Most Aggressive 'Call Spammers' of 2011
Recently, WhitePages unveiled the 10 most aggressive Call Spammers of 2011. Call spam is defined as unsolicited calls or texts to mobile phones from telemarketers, debt collectors and scammers and the list was compiled after an analysis of over 45 million unsolicited calls or texts to its Caller ID customers.
1/16/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Taking a look at TMCs recent coverage of the outbound call center space, Anil Sharma reported that Frost & Sullivan recognized ALI Solutions for its integrated outbound contact center tool.
1/14/2012

Five9 Answers Common Questions About Hosted Contact Center Technology
Five9, a popular vendor of hosted call center tools and products, recently presented a good overview of the company's technology using a Q&A format to reflect some of the most common questions companies have when considering a switch to such technology:
1/13/2012

Frost & Sullivan Recognizes ALI Solutions for Integrated Outbound Contact Center Solution
Frost & Sullivan has recognized ALI Solutions for its integrated outbound contact center solution.
1/11/2012

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Looking at the first week of outbound call center news for 2012, TMC's Ed Silverstein reported that while Mitt Romney may have narrowly won the Iowa caucus for the Republican race for president, he and his fellow candidates sure have annoyed some local residents given all of the robo-calls they received in recent weeks.
1/7/2012

CRIF Gets Credit Rating Agency Registration
CRIF, a provider of credit management and lending solutions, announced it has obtained Credit Rating Agency (CRA) registration from CONSOB and ESMA (the European Authority supervising securities and markets).
1/5/2012

Star2Billing Offers Open Source Voice Broadcasting Platform
While most companies understand the value of quality inbound customer service - a customer or client calling in for information, queries and guidance, many customer-facing organizations often treat outbound customer contact as an afterthought. One outbound technology - voice broadcasting - has proved to be an effective tool in today's multimedia world.
1/5/2012

Iowa Residents Are Downright Angry with Flood of Robo-Calls Flowing from GOP Presidential Campaigns
Mitt Romney may have narrowly won the Iowa caucus for the Republican race for president, but he and his fellow candidates sure have annoyed some local residents given all of the robo-calls they received in recent weeks.
1/4/2012

PowerNet's Call Center Solutions Includes Inbound SIP DIDs
Inbound SIP DIDs have been added by PowerNet Global to their call center solutions suite. The company's outbound calling solution, NetDialer, will be complemented by Inbound SIP DIDs.
12/30/2011

Call Genie Inks Agreement to Acquire Assets of VoodooVox
Call Genie Inc. has entered into a Definitive Agreement to acquire the assets of VoodooVox, Inc., a US-based data analytics and mobile advertising network.
12/29/2011

Growth in Call Center on Demand Forces Five9 to Expand
The call center on demand space is experiencing a rise in demand - literally. According to a Mercury News report, call center on demand provider, Five9, is set to nearly double its size in the East Bay and will move hundreds of workers to San Ramon's Bishop Ranch business park.
12/28/2011

Quammen Health Care Consultants Signs Outsourcing Agreement with Faith Regional Health Services
Quammen Health Care Consultants, a healthcare information system and business consultancy, announced its a five-year outsourcing agreement with Faith Regional Health Services, the 227-bed Norfolk, Neb.-based regional referral center. The managed IT services deal will assist Quammen in governing all aspects of information technology, from strategic vision to vendor relations to day-to-day operations at Faith Regional Health Services that wants to transform the services.
12/19/2011

Phone.com's Virtual Office 300 Exceeds Quality Service Expectations
Quality customer service is one of the most important tasks for any small business, but it can also be one of the most challenging topics when it comes to training employees. A new review of virtual office provider, Phone.com's Call Recording and Group Text Messaging features explore automated messages management can set and send to ensure all communications with customers meets with high quality standards.
12/16/2011

Topguest Joins MileagePlus Loyalty Program
Topguest has joined United Continental Holdings' award winning MileagePlus loyalty program.
12/16/2011

New Global Channel Partner Program from Voxeo Positions Its Partner to Capitalize on $7.6 Billion Contact Center Technology Market
Voxeo, a provider of solutions for unlocking communications, has announced the Voxeo Connect, its new global channel partner program, which will enable its partners to capitalize on the rapidly expanding market for contact center technologies. The company's reseller and system integrator partners will be able to take expand into the contact center technology market which is slated to cross $7.6 billion in 2012.
12/16/2011

Merkle Grabs Silver Award at NCDM Database Excellence Awards Ceremony
Merkle, a customer relationship marketing firm that designs, executes and evaluates Integrated Customer Marketing programs for its clients, has announced that it has been honored with the Silver award at the 2011 NCDM Database Excellence Awards Luncheon & Ceremony, within the business-to-business marketing category. The company was selected for this award on the basis of the excellent level of services it offered to Schneider Electric, a well known company working in the energy management sector.
12/16/2011

Intelligent Office Brings Next-Gen Virtual Offices to Miami
Intelligent Office has brought the next generation of virtual offices to Miami.
12/16/2011

Five9 Supports the Call Center on Demand with Workforce Management Solution
With a clear focus on delivering the best service for your customer base, the call center on demand is an important option to consider. Powerful providers in this space offer a full range of solutions designed to meet the dynamic needs of the industry, while also focusing on flexibility to meet new demands on the fly.
12/15/2011

Contact Center Software Provider eGain Unveils eGain 10 for Cisco Unified Contact Center Express 8.5
eGain, a provider of cloud and on-site customer interaction and contact center software, announced the general availability of eGain 10 for Cisco Unified Contact Center Express (Unified CCX) 8.5.
12/15/2011

Turkcell Technology Providing Campaign Management Solution to Kuwait's Premier Telecommunication Provider, Zain
Zain, a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East, reportedly has selected Turkcell Technology's Campaign Management System.
12/14/2011

expressor software Partners with Melissa Data Corp
expressor software, a leading provider of simplified data integration software, recently signed a partnership agreement with Melissa Data Corp, a leading provider of contact data quality and address management solutions.
12/14/2011

ServiceSource Channel Sales Cloud Helps More Than 19,000 Channel Partner Subscribers
ServiceSource has announced that the company's Channel Sales Cloud application has been deployed on behalf of over 30 percent of ServiceSource customers to over 19,000 channel subscribers.
12/13/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
It's that time again: time for another wrap-up of the week's happenings in outbound call center technologies and services.
12/10/2011

High-Speed Internet Service from Frontier in Northwest Indiana
High-Speed Internet from Frontier Communications is now accessible by consumers and businesses in newly launched markets in northwest Indiana. Apart from email and quick download of movies, consumers and businesses will be able to share photos or video with friends and family with this high-speed Internet. They will also be able to create their own Internet content.
12/9/2011

MobileBits and Pringo, Inc Complete Merger
MobileBits Holdings Corp is a global technology company that delivers quick and easy mobile content. The company recently announced that it has completed its merger with Pringo, Inc. With this merger, MobileBits has now expanded its core capabilities and will now feature a single, end-to-end digital platform to expand its mobile and web solutions.
12/9/2011

Black Duck Launches Export 6.0
Black Duck Software, a leader in open source software knowledge, adoption and governance, recently released Export 6.0, an expansion to the Black Duck Suite enables the enterprise-scale use and management of open source software in software development.
12/9/2011

Public Mobile Deploys PacketLogic Solution from Procera Networks
Procera Networks, Inc., a provider of Intelligent Policy Enforcement (IPE) solutions for improving performance of networks, announced that Public Mobile, a provider of unlimited wireless services for customers in Ontario and Quebec, has deployed its PacketLogic solution to help it keep down prices and improve its customer offerings.
12/9/2011

White Drive Products Selects CDS SaaS Configurator and CAD Downloads
Looking to present and aid online configuration of products and CAD model downloads, Catalog Data Solutions (CDS) White Drive Products have implemented CDS Configurator and CDS ModelServer.
12/9/2011

2011 Contact Centre Technology Research Report Recognizes Strong Positioning of Presence Technology Dialler
As per the information available in the 2011 Contact Centre Technology Research Report that was released by BPeSA and Contact Industry Hub, Presence Technology Dialler is one of the leading technologies in its category especially in the South African contact center market. The maximum number of call centers that were part of this survey showed that the Presence Dialler along with Presence Voice Outbound was being made use of to conduct outbound campaigns. This was by going over the other providers and available in-house solutions.
12/9/2011

Trisys Releases Tapit NOVA
Trisys Corp. has said that it is giving businesses more control over their telephone expenses with the release of Tapit NOVA.
12/8/2011

Now Available: A Business Guide Book to Monetize Investments
The festive season always ushers in an air of expectation and holiday shoppers are constantly on the lookout for deals that help them "Get more for less." In keeping with this spirit, Dr. Natalie Petouhoff has launched an e-book, "LIKE MY STUFF," that promises to be of interest to business owners.
12/8/2011

SuccessFactors Acquires Jobs2web
To seek new markets and opportunities to expand business, Success Factors, a company specializing in business execution cloud-based software, has completed a definitive agreement to acquire Jobs2web, a recruiting marketing platform, delivering the first-ever Recruiting Execution Platform.
12/8/2011

Cellit Introduces Results of Year Long Study of QSR Mobile Marketing Programs
Cellit, a provider of mobile customer relationship management solutions that enable retailers, restaurants and enterprises to enhance their customer engagement through mobile based technologies, has announced the results of its yearlong study of around 9,000 mobile marketing campaigns that were conducted on behalf of 125 Quick Service Restaurant clients throughout the year 2011.
12/8/2011

Network Services Selects Esker Document Process Automation Solutions
Esker, a company specializing in document process automation solutions, announced that it has been picked by Network Services to automate outbound mailing and faxing of purchase orders, invoices and accounts receivable statements.
12/8/2011

Aspect Updates Unified IP CRM Connector to Include Latest Oracle Siebel and SAP CRM
Aspect, a provider of customer contact and Microsoft platform solutions, announced updated validations of AMC Technology's Aspect Unified IP 7 CRM Connector to include the latest releases of Oracle Siebel and SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM).
12/8/2011

Proposed Legislation Would Discourage Call Center Offshoring
If a bill introduced yesterday by U.S. Reps. Tim Bishop (D, NY-1) and Dave McKinley (R, WV-1) is passed, domestic companies that locate their call centers overseas would lose the ability to get federal grants and loans, would be kept on list at the U.S. Department of Labor, and would have to be able transfer callers to onshore call center representatives upon customer request.
12/8/2011

Adfortel Unveils VoiceAds
Offering real time targeting and more reach, Adfortel introduces a new feature to its Mobile Marketing service: VoiceAds.
12/7/2011

Azorus's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution to Be Deployed by the University of Westminster
Azorus Inc., a provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions for higher education institutions, has announced that the University of Westminster has selected its CRM solution to help in the creation of improved processes for attracting and retaining its future student population.
12/6/2011

PDX and mscripts Expand Mobile Capabilities
Allowing existing PDX Classic and Enterprise Pharmacy System (EPS) customers to easily add mobile to their customer-facing offerings, PDX has entered into a partnership with mscripts.
12/6/2011

Jabil Acquires Telmar Network Technology
Jabil Circuit, Inc, an electronic product solutions company, has recently completed its acquisition of Telmar Network Technology, Inc., a global provider of complex reverse logistics, repair services, technical support, and spare parts management solutions for communication network service providers, enterprise and original equipment manufacturers worldwide.
12/6/2011

ContactPoint Launches Public Beta Version of LogMyCalls.Com
ContactPoint LLC has recently introduced a public beta version of LogMyCalls.com for companies seeking optimized performance management in their sales and marketing efforts.
12/5/2011

Resource Blog Site Launched by Sound Telecom
A resource blog site has been created by Sound Telecom. A multi-dimensional forum has been created by pooling in the expertise of the company's management staff. The forum will not only make favorable branding impressions but also teach the art of professionally handling inbound and outbound phone traffic. With its experience of twenty five years, the company also makes suggestions to avoid pitfalls commonly encountered with incoming and outgoing company telephone traffic.
12/5/2011

Sytel Urges UK Companies to End Bad Outbound Dialing Practices
Calling the UK companies involved in telemarketing and outbound dialing to stop breaking the law or face an increasing consumer backlash, Sytel Limited has issued a challenge to these companies.
11/28/2011

Juniper Publishes its Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Report
Juniper Networks announced the publication of its Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Report.
11/22/2011

Kenexa Leverages LinkedIn to Help Candidates and Hiring Companies Save Time and Money
Kenexa is a leading global provider of business solutions for human resources. The company recently announced details of its partnership with LinkedIn. The company's integrations with LinkedIn will now assist candidates throughout the job application process and will also help recruiters speed up their work and be more productive in processing these candidates. Future product releases from Kenexa, will see the incorporation of these new tools.
11/22/2011

OneCommand Arranges for Santa to Call Kids on Behalf of Cincinnati Bell for the Sixth Time
To make the job of Santa, who has to cater to the needs of such huge number of kids, a bit easier using advanced technologies, OneCommand, a provider of integrated and automated, personalized communications solutions, has partnered with Cincinnati Bell. Under the partnership, OneCommand will provide Cincinanati Bell with an enhanced technology that will help the company in bringing Santa's message of holiday joy to thousands of children in the tri-state area. For the sixth year in a row, both these companies are coming together to hold this year's program, which will remain open between November 21, 2011 and December 24, 2011.
11/21/2011

Sabio Opens Singapore Service Hub to Support its Asia Pacific Operations
In an effort to strengthen its presence in the key markets of Asia Pacific, Sabio, the specialist contact center and unified communications systems integrator, has recently launched a new service hub in Singapore.
11/18/2011

DoctorSites Offers Online Marketing Solutions for Doctors
DoctorSites has announced a partnership with Medical Billers and Coders.
11/15/2011

Infofree Updates its Business Database
In order to improve efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction, and to exceed sales, infofree, a provider of Unlimited Sales Leads, Mailing Lists, Business Credit Reports and Email Lists for $39.95 per month, has updated their business database to include a variety of options which allow customers to segment and refine their list, altering it to their specific needs.
11/14/2011

Infofree Updates its Business Database
In order to improve efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction, and to exceed sales, infofree, a provider of Unlimited Sales Leads, Mailing Lists, Business Credit Reports and Email Lists for $39.95 per month, has updated their business database to include a variety of options which allow customers to segment and refine their list, altering it to their specific needs.
11/14/2011

UAE Airline Opens All-Woman Call Center
While the outside world may think of the gleaming cities in the United Arab Emirates as distinctly modern - with all that adjective brings with it, including gender equality - it's still unusual to find Emirati women working outside the home. The reason is that patriarchal ideas that women should not mix with men they are neither married nor related to persist, leading to low employment in places like Dubai or Abu Dhabi...even college educated women.
11/14/2011

Increasing Number of Clients Conduct Searches for Affordable Marketing Solutions, Reports Internet Marketing Company
Internet Marketing Company, provider of effective and cost-effective SEO services, has announced that an increasing number of clients are keying in the keyword "Internet Search Engine Marketing," which indicates a surge in the number of people keen on taking advantage of affordable marketing solutions to increase their website traffic and business revenue.
11/14/2011

Pinsonault Associates Launches New Deployment for Their Managed Care E-learning Training Modules
Pinsonault Associates is all set to provide a new way of deploying their Managed Care e-learning training modules. All a sales rep needs to do now is begin his training with an iPad. This can be done before the commencement of a sales call. With the help of a smartphone he can then create an executive summary for reference when he gets to a medical practitioner's office and finally complete his training on his personal computer at home.
11/14/2011

Inova Solutions Introduces Incentive Program
To help the enterprise users track, analyze, record and manage calls, Inova Solutions has formally introduced its customer incentive program.
11/14/2011

Dealership Call Center Debuts Online Reputation Pro, a Management Suite of Tools
Managing customer expectations and tracking experiences is essential to fostering long-term brand relationships, especially for large purchases like automobiles and homes. The power of the socially connected customer cannot be ignored, as more product research takes place outside the showroom than on the inside especially concerning automobiles.
11/11/2011

VADS Berhad Implements Ameyo for Call Center Operations
Ameyo is being used by VADS Berhad as the technology for its contact center processes. Apart from creating new business, the outbound call center was established as a parallel revenue-generation unit. VADS has been able to implement a structured customer contact strategy with the award-winning call center software, Ameyo. Efficiency to the agent's call-handling capabilities is provided by Ameyo's easy-to-user interfaces. Real-time performance monitoring and voice logging have also been enabled by Ameyo. VADS Berhad is a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia.
11/11/2011

QCSS' Job Creation Efforts Recognized by FCC
The Chicago-based call center and telemarketing firm, QCSS Inc. is one of the companies focused on creating more jobs for Americans through their participation in the jobs4america Coalition. The firm has recently been recognized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its job creating efforts.
11/9/2011

Olympus Uses Sales-i Sales to Boost Sales
To improve sales effectiveness, productivity, and cycle times, Olympus Imported Auto Parts, has chosen the sales-i sales and customer intelligence system to increase sales visibility.
11/8/2011

Future Simple's Base - The Free CRM and Sales Tracking Application
To help small businesses to manage their sales and customer relationships while keeping their cost low, Future Simple is releasing a powerful free version of their highly acclaimed Simple CRM and Sales Tracking application: Base.
11/8/2011

Infor Announces Acquisition of New Product Lines from Single Source Systems
Infor, a provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, has acquired new product lines from Single Source Systems, Inc., an Infor solution partner and leader in service management solutions.
11/8/2011

Whaleback Announces Launch of CrystalBlue Contact Center Solution for SMEs
Whaleback Systems is one of the leading providers of managed business services. They recently announced their CrystalBlue Contact Center Solution for small-to-medium enterprises (SME). This cloud-based solution has been designed especially for SMEs to help them manage and operate an independent contact center.
11/8/2011

Lawmakers Consider Telemarketing Bill, Robo-Calling to Mobile Phones
Federal lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow companies to make robo-calls to cell phones, generating debate over mobile devices, consumer rights and business concerns.
11/7/2011

Report on EMEA Contact Center Market Released
The sales of agent performance optimization or APO tools in the contact center market have been exerted a significant restraining effect. This is due to the recent economic downturn in Europe, Middle East and Africa or EMEA. Quality monitoring or QM, call recording and workforce management or WFM software have experienced a decrease in sales. With projections for future growth, the market is now slowly recovering.
11/7/2011

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Covering the outbound call center space this week, TMC's Madubanti Rudra wrote that Message Pad, the outsourced contact center services division of The Message Pad Ltd, recently announced a re-branding initiative.
11/5/2011

Glance Helps Reed Construction Data Reduce Sales Cycles
Glance Networks, a provider of the best instant screen-sharing tool for sales and support professionals, has helped customer Reed Construction Data reduce sales cycles and time-to-revenue by 60 percent. Glance has done a case study and the results were revealed in the same.
11/4/2011

iBuildApp Launches Mobile Coupons
iBuildApp has announced the launch of Mobile Coupons enabling businesses to tap the mobile marketing trend by offering mobile coupons to their customers.
11/4/2011

Availity Educates Health Care Business People
Availity will provide continuing education to health care business people through its newly released professional development product.
11/3/2011

Message Pad Receives New Brand Identity, Mplcontact
Message Pad, the outsourced contact center services division of The Message Pad Ltd, recently announced a re-branding initiative. The Message Pad Ltd was founded in 1994 as a telephone answering service and over the years, the company has acquired expertise in the field of contact center services and solutions. Message Pad Limited delivered its outsourced contact centre services through its Message Pad division. In an effort to carve out a new identity as a different type of contact solutions provider, Message Pad is rebranding as mplcontact
11/1/2011

Rogue Debt Collection Companies Get Clamped Down On by FTC
Debt collection companies that persist in putting a black mark on their entire industry have drawn the attention of an entity far more powerful than the consumers upon whom they have preyed-the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
11/1/2011

U.S. Airways to Bring 400 Contact Center Jobs Back to the U.S.
In case you needed a little good news today (and who doesn't?), here's a story of some jobs coming back to U.S. shores rather than heading offshore for parts unknown.
11/1/2011

KXEN's InfiniteInsight Improves Marketing Campaign Take-Up Rate for PT XL Axiata
KXEN, provider of predictive analytics for enterprise customers, announced that its InfiniteInsight solution offering has effectively doubled marketing-campaign take-up rate for PT XL Axiata Tbk, an Indonesian based telecommunications services operator, which currently serves more than 40 million subscribers. XL delivers customers with a suite of services which include data communication and broadband Internet services, mobile communication as well as 3G services via GSM 900/DCS 1800, and IMT-2000/3G networks.
10/31/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call center is a hopping place to be, here are some of the headlines from the week:
10/29/2011

IBM Business Analytics Improves Customer Retention at XO Communications
IBM announced that XO Communications, a provider of advanced broadband communications services and solutions, has leveraged IBM Business Analytics software to reduce customer churn rates.
10/28/2011

EXTENSION Enables Cisco Healthcare Customers to Take Advantage of Its Clinical Alerting Solutions
EXTENSION, a provider of solutions for facilitating instant communication between patients and clinicians, announced that all Cisco healthcare customers can take advantage of its clinical alerting solutions which have been integrated into Cisco's UC platform.
10/28/2011

Sword Ciboodle Announces New SAS Powered Intelligent Contact Center
Sword Ciboodle, provider of customer engagement solutions for a global clientele, has announced a new Intelligent Contact Center that is powered by SAS, provider of business analytics software and services. The Intelligent Contact Center has been designed with the robust customer engagement capabilities available from Sword Ciboodle. The Contact Center utilizes customer data in an efficient manner which makes it possible for the company's clients to enhance their customer experience offering while simultaneously taking advantage of new avenues for revenue.
10/28/2011

Presence Technology's Contact Centre Suite Version 9.0 Released
Version 9.0 of its contact centre suite has been launched by Presence Technology. With a primary focus on high availability, significant improvements have been included in this version. Redundancy, scalability and optimization of the number of licenses available to each customer have also been the focus of the new version.
10/28/2011

On Center Software Customer Service Now Available 24 Hours
On Center Software, a construction industry software provider, has just enhanced its customer service platform to run 24 hours every business day.
10/28/2011

Customer Service Fix May be Too Late for Vodafone
Customers will no longer tolerate poor products and poor service. Companies are learning the hard way that when customers don't get what they want, they complain loudly and/or take their business elsewhere.
10/27/2011

New York City's New 911 Contact Center is Mired in Delay and Overspending
New York City's planned cutting-edge 911 emergency contact center appears to be drowning...in red tape, bloat, inefficiency and frustration, and not even a phone call to NASA for assistance has been able to help.
10/27/2011

English-Only Mandate for Australian Telco Sales Staff
Call center agents whose accents reveal that English is not the first language they learned to speak can be a detriment to some businesses if those accents are so strong that customers are unclear about what they are purchasing from the business or need customer service and are less-than-happy with the experience.
10/26/2011

Call Center Workforce Management Provider InVision Software to Present at German Conference
Going to be in Germany the first week in November? If so, be sure to check out InVision Software, a provider of cloud-based workforce management (WFM) solutions who will be presenting at a German industry event called "Erfolgreiches Callcenter," all about how call centers can better optimize workforce management with assistance from the injixo WFM solution.
10/25/2011

Quality of Management: Companiesandmarkets.com Analyzes North American Hosted Contact Center Markets
Companiesandmarkets.com announced the release of its new study on the state of the North American hosted contact center market. The study focused on markets like hosted IVR, hosted ACD, hosted chat, hosted outbound customer contact, and hosted agent performance optimization (APO) applications. According to the Companiesandmarkets.com, the North American hosted contact center market has evolved for the most part over the last decade from stand-alone contact center systems/applications, delivered as hosted services.
10/25/2011

Convergys Opens Bilingual Call Center, Demonstrates Commitment to Quality of Management
One company that certainly believes in quality of management is Convergys Corporation, as the business process outsourcing company recently unveiled its headquarters and contact center in Bogota - a call center in which all call center employees are 100 percent bilingual.
10/24/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Lots happening in the outbound call center space this past week, let's get you caught up.
10/22/2011

Bacula Systems Enhances its Backup and Restore Solution
Bacula Systems has added fast and complete disaster recovery capability to its Bacula Enterprise Edition 4.0.
10/21/2011

Auto Parts Retirees Benefit from Auto VEBA Trust
Subsidized healthcare benefits will now be accessible to thousands of retirees of auto part manufacturers. A Voluntary Employee Benefit Association or VEBA known as the Auto Retiree VEBA Trust will be created as per direction received from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
10/21/2011

Enrollment Rx Secures New Clients
Enrollment Rx has announced that t he company has added various new higher education institutions to its customer list.
10/21/2011

IVR Training Course Offer Call Centers a Path to Success
Interactive voice response systems are ubiquitous in the call center space. Even if you're only using one to greet customer or help direct their calls, IVRs save you time and money while simultaneously increasing the information that your agents have at their disposal. Well, they would in a perfect world at least; let's not forget the other side of the coin: those horror stories you here about disconnected calls, menus that go in circles, or unresponsive commands.
10/21/2011

Office Ally's Rapid Growth Visible in its Future Plans
Office Ally, a True Health Information Network offering healthcare providers a full suite of revenue-cycle management services, currently located in Vancouver, Washington, is all set to acquire a new address. In addition to relocating its corporate office to San Antonio, Texas, it also plans to open a new state-of-the-Art customer call center and training facility.
10/20/2011

Chatter Box Call Center Forays Into New Markets
Chatter Box Call Center is providing specialized services for businesses that want to engage in information technology.
10/20/2011

J.D. Power and Associates Recognizes Aetna for 3rd Straight Year
Aetna, one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, recently announced in a press release that J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information services company, has recognized Aetna for providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" through its concierge customer service model. This is the third year in a row that Aetna has been recognized by J.D. Power and Associates.
10/19/2011

Field Agent iPhone App Helps People Earn While They Shop
Field Agent Canada announced a new iPhone app which will allow users to earn while they shop. Users are only required to leverage their expertise in certain situations.
10/19/2011

C3 Expands Operations with New Contact Center in Bulgaria
C3/CustomerContactChannels (C3), a global provider of customer management solutions, is all set to expand operations with a new contact facility in Sofia, Bulgaria.
10/19/2011

The Debt Collection Industry's Rotten Spots
While most debt collectors are legitimate businesses following legal tactics, every bunch of apples has a few bad ones. Unfortunately, the bad apples in the debt collection basket seem to make a lot of calls. Complaints over illegal, abusive and threatening behavior from debt collectors tops the list of consumer complaints to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). (Over 140,000 in 2010 alone!)
10/19/2011

Debt Collectors, Consumer Advocates Look for Common Ground
With the economy still tanking, debt collectors are certainly not complaining that they don't have enough work. Indeed, just the opposite is true. What they are complaining about is laws that they feel hinder their ability to perform their work.
10/17/2011

Act-On Software Picks PowerDialer for Salesforce 4.0
Act-On Software, a company specializing in marketing automation and based on ease of rollout, feature set, support standards, industry has recently picked PowerDialer for Salesforce 4.0 to improve its sales results.
10/17/2011

India Losing its Status as Call Center Capital of the World
Should screenwriters ever decide to do a remake of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire", they may want to consider moving the setting from India to the Philippines or Malaysia. When that film debuted in the U.S. in 2008, India was known as the most popular area for off-shore outsourcing of U.S. call center work. But that's changing.
10/17/2011

Cloud Based Call Centers Just as Safe as Brick and Mortar Operations
When you ask people what their major barrier to virtual software adoption is, many of them will say "control". The psychology of not being able to "see" the product you're paying for cannot be understated. But even when virtual software has been proven as effective as appliance based products, people still maintain some level of reservation leading up to a switch over. This is perfectly illustrated by call center managers who are reticent to use at home agents because they cannot physically monitor them. But even though you can't see you're agents, do you really have to be worry about the information they have access to?
10/17/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Plenty of news in the outbound call center space this week, let's get you caught up on some of the headlines.
10/15/2011

Atelka Signs Partnership Agreement with SATMAP
Atelka, a Canadian corporation created by skilled entrepreneurs from both the IT and the call center space, announced a strategic partnership with SATMAP, a world leader in call center industry technology.
10/14/2011

Alpine Access to Offer Targeted Selling Capabilities to Business Customers
Alpine Access, a provider of virtual contact center solutions and services, announced that it is going to offer targeted selling capabilities to a Fortune 100 financial services client's select group of business customers. The company's At-Home Workforce is supposed to increase the client's revenue with personalized selling.
10/13/2011

Yesso BPO Selects Ameyo
Yesso BPO, a provider of contact center software and enterprise communications applications, has selected Ameyo Communication Suite for managing critical outbound process.
10/12/2011

Effective Health Systems Launches New Application in BaseLine Platform
Effective Health Systems, provider of web-based applications, recently released a new application in the BaseLine Platform as a Service (PaaS) to enhance communication between the technologies of claims organizations and third party partners. With the new BaseLine application, a company can easily increase the effectiveness of the professional staff and deliver effective healthcare services in a timely fashion.
10/12/2011

PlusOne Wants to Hire 100 New Sales Agents in Salt Lake City Call Center
Amid growing concerns about further job cuts across industries, there's a ray of hope thanks to the substantial rise in call center hiring in the country over the past few months.
10/11/2011

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
There's always something happening in the field of outbound call center, here's some of the top news for the week:
10/8/2011

StratusLIVE Announces General Availability of 2011 Version of
StratusLIVE, creators of the StratusLIVE for Fundraisers, one of the leading Microsoft Dynamics CRM-based Constituent Engagement and Fundraising Suites recently announced its general availability for the 2011 version. CRM/xRM platform from Microsoft: Dynamics CRM 2011 is what is powering up this 2011 version.
10/7/2011

Concerro to Showcase Its ShiftPredict Tool at the ANCC National Magnet Conference
Concerro, a healthcare Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company, announced that its new ShiftPredict schedule modeling tool will be demonstrated at the ANCC National Magnet Conference, October 4-6, 2011 at Concerro booth #401 at the Baltimore Convention Center.
10/6/2011

Npower Wins Plaudits for Excellence in Call Center Functioning
Npower, which is one of Britain's largest energy suppliers across the United Kingdom, has been recognized as 'best in sector' class for utilities and also for excellent services rendered in the contact center.
10/6/2011

1-800 We Answer Call Center Ranked 1995 on Inc. 500|5000 List
1-800 We Answer Call Center, a call center service provider, announced that Inc. magazine has ranked the company at No. 1995 on its fifth annual Inc. 500|5000, a listing of the nation's fastest growing private companies.
10/5/2011

Call Center in Colorado Growing at Such a Rapid Pace that it Needs to Hire New Employees
Fort Collins-based call center Center Partners, have revealed plans to hire a large amount of workers for its Colorado centers. The company, which in charge of handling inbound calls for orders, customer service and help support would like to have the 275 full-time workers hired by December.
10/4/2011

Customer Satisfaction Levels in U.S. Soar, Convergys Customer Scorecard Reveals
Have you noticed something about the customer service reps you've encountered lately? Weren't they a bit nicer, a tad more helpful, more knowledgeable, self-confident? If you've made these observations, it's not because your imagination is working overtime.
10/3/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Outbound call center is one of those industries where there's always something interesting happening, and this past week was no exception. So let's review the top news stories:
10/1/2011

RS Components' Services Recognized with Contact Center Award
RS Components, a premier high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, has been recognized for its service in the contact center industry by receiving the "China Best Customer Contact Centre Industry Promising Star of the Year" award at the "2011 China Best Customer Contact Centre and CRM Awards." "Winning the award is a strong testament of RS Components' commitment to local customers to provide world-class service and support," said Clement Zhang, country manager for RS Components, China.
9/30/2011

TargetX Integrates Facebook and Twitter into its CRM System
Social media networks are continuing to visibly alter the ways in which we communicate, listen and promote. TargetX, a student recruiting firm, is making use of this popularity and is integrating Facebook and Twitter into its customer relationship management system. This integration, which is expected to reduce hassle for admissions offices, has been made possible by the enhancements made to TargetX's Student Recruitment Manager (SRM).
9/30/2011

Datamatics Global Services Announces a Center of Excellence at Puducherry
Datamatics Global Services (DGSL), provider of Information Technology (IT) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) and Consulting services, has announced that it will be establishing a Center of Excellence center next month at Puducherry. This is the 5th delivery center in the country to be set up by Datamatics Global. The company which is a partner to several Fortune 500 Companies has already successfully established 2 delivery centers in Bangalore and Chennai. The new Center of Excellence at Puducherry, which is being set up for the delivery of the company's Online, Publishing, and Retail Solutions (OPRS), will be designed with a seating capacity of 700 people
9/30/2011

Xactly Announces Its Participation in the Oracle CRM Pavilion at Oracle OpenWorld San Francisco 2011
One among Oracle's independent software vendor partners (ISVs) and system integrators (SIs), Xactly will illustrate to users of Oracle CRM On Demand the various benefits and capabilities of Xactly Incent which can help in enhancing sales.
9/30/2011

MAXIMUS Call Center Certified as Center of Excellence
"Certified Center of Excellence" recognition has been awarded to MAXIMUS' Georgia Childcare and Parent Services or CAPS call center. BenchmarkPortal, in collaboration with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality (CCDQ), has conferred this recognition on MAXIMUS. This is MAXIMUS' seventh call center to be certified as a Center of Excellence. An announcement in this regard has been made by the top global provider of government services, MAXIMUS.
9/30/2011

M5 Networks' New Version of Contact Center Offering Launched
Provider of business phone systems M5 Networks has launched M5 Callfinity Contact Center, saying that it provides digital call-center functionality for business clients and eliminates the need for an on-premise solution.
9/30/2011

Intuitive Business Intelligence Opens New Office to Serve the Americas
Intuitive Business Intelligence, the authors of business intelligence (BI) dashboard solution, Intuitive Dashboards, announced that it opened office in the U.S.
9/30/2011

Attunity Unveils New Data Replication Platform
Attunity, a provider of real-time data integration software, announced the launch of Attunity Replicate, data replication software.
9/30/2011

Pinpoint Media to Be Acquired by iSIGN Media
Pinpoint Media Group Inc will be acquired by iSIGN Media Solutions Inc. According to an announcement made by iSIGN, the company has signed a purchase and sale agreement for the same. A new contract with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is also being finalized by iSIGN. The contract is expected to be finalized within 45 days.
9/29/2011

From ITEXPO WEST 2011: Contact Centers of America
ITEXPO is the event where service providers learn how to profitably roll out services their subscribers need. This year's ITEXPO West was a huge success and, on top of bringing together sellers, resellers and manufacturers, TMCnet's Erik Linask had a moment to sit down with Joe Jacoboni, president and CEO of Contact Centers of America, an organization that recognizes the correlation of offshoring and impact on customer dissatisfaction. Formed specifically to bring jobs back to the United States, CCA utilizes next-generation technology platforms to provide innovative services to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
9/29/2011

3CLogic Report Highlights Top 5 CRM Mistakes That Sales Organizations Commit
3CLogic, one of the leading companies in cloud-based contact centers, has released a report entitled "The Five Most Dangerous CRM Mistakes That Sales Organizations Make."
9/28/2011

Rostrvm Sponsors 6th Annual North West Contact Centre Awards
Rostrvm Solutions , which is celebrating 25 years of successful business in the contact center industry, is sponsoring the 6th Annual North West Contact Centre Awards. The purpose of the award is to recognize and acknowledge excellence in a customer-oriented industry.
9/28/2011

Ameritas Ranked Fourth in BenchmarkPortal's Top 100 Contest
BenchmarkPortal, well known for its call center certification, hosts the largest call center performance metrics database in the world. It recognized Ameritas Group's contribution to the contact center industry and ranked it fourth in the BenchmarkPortal Top 100 contest.
9/28/2011

IBM Expands Call Center Operations with 175 New Jobs in Delaware
IBM Corporation revealed this week that it has added 175 jobs to its call center operations located in Daleville, Delaware in order for call agents to handle incoming calls from multiple clients. IBM initially opened its Daleville call center in 2008, at a former outlet mall along Interstate 69.
9/27/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This past week, reporting on the outbound call center space, TMC's Tracey Schelmetic wrote that Cincinnati-based outsourced call center services provider Convergys announced its intent to expand its operations in the Philippines.
9/24/2011

8x8 Expands Contact Center Software Offering with Contactual Purchase
Contactual may soon be known by a new name. The hosted contact center software provider has been acquired by 8x8 Inc., a provider of innovative cloud communications and computing solutions.
9/23/2011

Convergys Announces Expansion in the Philippines
Cincinnati-based outsourced call center services provider Convergys has announced its intent to expand its operations in the Philippines. The company, which has 70,000 employees in 68 facilities worldwide including one in Cebu, Philippines, says it plans to continue and broaden its relationship with that country, said Convergys president and CEO Jeffrey Fox said during a courtesy call with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
9/21/2011

TCN's 'Preview Dialing' Functionality Gives Agents More Control
The need for an effective automated dialing technique that gives agents control over the call process becomes more imperative in the changing call center scenario. Realizing this, TCN Inc., announced the release of its Preview Dialing functionality that enables agents to prioritize which contacts are to be made.
9/20/2011

OnStar Opens yet Another Call Center in Xiamen
OnStar, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, opened its sixth global call center and the second in the city of Xiamen, an indication of the rapid growth of the telematics market in China.
9/19/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
The outbound call center industry is huge right now, and there was a lot of news this past week. Here are some of the top headlines.
9/17/2011

Portal Claims Changes Call Center Address Look-up Software to Postcode Anywhere
By moving its call center address look-up software to Postcode Anywhere, Portal Claims, a Kent-based financial claims company announced that it has effectively managed to cut business costs. The company carried out careful evaluations of the Postcode Anywhere service and found that it was not only easy to switch to, but the service is much faster.
9/16/2011

Global Connect Introduces GC1 Peak Dialer
The cloud-based services are becoming popular due to their flexibility, fast deployment time and cost-effective model. Global Connect, a provider of cloud-based hosted dialing and communication services, has launched GC1 Peak Dialer, a hosted cloud-based dialer platform designed to help collections clients reach contacts quickly, easily, and cost effectively.
9/16/2011

Onstream and Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers Sign MarketPlace365 Services Agreement
Onstream Media Corporation, an online service provider of live and on-demand corporate audio and Web communications, virtual event technology, and social media marketing announced that The Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (CRB) has signed a MarketPlace365 services agreement to develop a virtual tradeshow and interactive social community for the real estate industry.
9/16/2011

Druva's inSync Cloud offers Enterprise- wide Automated Client Deployment
To offer Instant Global Provisioning, Global Administration, Enterprise-Scale Security, Druva, a company in enterprise endpoint backup and retrieval, has made enhancements to inSync Cloud. It is fully-automated enterprise-grade laptop backup solution provides secure, lightning-fast backups to a virtual private cloud powered by Amazon Web Services.
9/16/2011

Triplefin's Innovations Mobile to Provide Pharmaceutical and Consumer Packaged Goods Sectors Vertically Integrated Marketing Support Services
Triplefin, provider of integrated business process outsourcing solutions for pharmaceutical and consumer products industries, has announced the introduction of Innovations Mobile, provider of iOS and Android Consulting services and latest addition to Triplefin's family of companies providing vertically integrated marketing support services for pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods businesses.
9/16/2011

Red Box to Provide Call Center Recording at Wales & West Utilities
Voice recording solutions company Red Box Recorders has been chosen to provide a call recording system at Wales & West Utilities' main call center in Coedkernew, Newport in Wales. The solution will replace an existing legacy system and integrate seamlessly with the utility's existing Alcatel telephony platform.
9/16/2011

Survey: Customers Value Personal and Societal Benefits of Smart Grid Technologies
Market Strategies International, a market research consultancy with expertise in the energy industry, recently released a survey which showed that personal and societal benefits of smart grid technologies are equally important to customers' consideration, support and acceptance.
9/16/2011

Donegal Focuses on Increasing Inbound Call Capacity, Improving Customer Service by Setting Up Call Center Operations in Dublin
Established in 2008, Donegal Importers was created to support small businesses in Ireland expand their base of operations across the United States. As businesses expanded, the inbound call volume has substantially grown. In order to address the issue of increase in inbound call volume and to improve the quality of customer service provided, Donegal has announced the opening of a Call Center in Dublin, Ireland.
9/16/2011

Healthcare IT Provider Anthelio Unveils Physician-Staffed Clinical Help Desk
Anthelio, a provider of healthcare information technology services and business process solutions for hospitals and other healthcare providers, has launched IT-ology, a help desk staffed by physicians and other clinicians. Leveraging the 24/7 IT-ology, physicians will have an expert resource who understands the clinical implications of the doctor's technical concern.
9/15/2011

Call Center Jobs for PetCareRX Bring New Opportunities to Americus, GA
While job creation has been the hottest topic in Washington D.C. for the last week since President Barack Obama announced his Jobs Plan to Congress and the nation in a televised address, the town of Americus, Georgia, has already experienced what it feels like to learn that its citizens will have the opportunity to find new employment in the call center sector.
9/15/2011

Bill Aims to Improve Filipino BPO Working Conditions
Call center agents who work in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector of the contact center industry in the Philippines may soon be legally entitled to certain working conditions that are seen by some as improvements to their quality of life.
9/15/2011

GC1 Peak Dialer Released by Global Connect
GC1 Peak Dialer has been launched by Global Connect. Collections clients can quickly, easily and cost effectively reach contacts with this hosted cloud-based dialer platform. Clients are able to increase agent productivity with the new advances in Global Connect's hosted dialer functionality. At the same time, clients are able to keep the operating costs low. An announcement in this regard has been made by the top provider of cloud-based hosted dialing and communication services.
9/15/2011

Global Connect Delivers Dialing Intelligence to its Customers
Global Connect is putting powerful dialing intelligence into the hands of its customers with the launch of the first fully integrated score-based dialing solution from the cloud. The company has partnered with Global LiquidEdge Solutions, a provider of collection scores and workflow optimization solutions.
9/13/2011

Study Shows Contact Centers are Solid Contributors to Ireland's Economy
Contact centers are proving to be a bright spot in the otherwise dismal economy in Ireland. It appears, as well, that the contact center star will continue to shine even brighter for that country in the coming years.
9/12/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week, the news about Outbound Call Centers revolves around software packages, marketing campaigns and brand new ways to reach out to customers both new and old.
9/10/2011

ACS Expands and Adds Hundreds of Jobs
Call center service provider Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) is gearing up to hire 200 employees in Lewiston to carry out the jobs related to its new contracts.
9/9/2011

Infusionsoft Unveils new Features in Campaign Builder
Making it simple for small businesses to plan, create, launch and measure automated marketing campaigns that convert leads, get repeat sales and save time, Infusionsoft has unveiled new features and enhancements to its all-in-one sales and marketing automation software, the Campaign Builder.
9/9/2011

Intuit Unveils Salesforce for QuickBooks
Enabling small businesses to easily manage their customer relationships and close more deals, Intuit Inc. has introduced Salesforce for QuickBooks, the company has announced.
9/9/2011

Ventana Research Debuts Service Assurance 2.0
Vitria Technology, a provider of solutions for operational intelligence, asserted that Richard Snow, Vice President & Research Director of Ventana Research will be presenting its webinar that is stated to discuss how operational intelligence can optimize customer experience, bring down customer churn and maximize revenue.
9/9/2011

Callidus Software Wins Contract from Leading Global Software Vendor for Its Monaco SPM Suit
The leading sales performance management solutions provider, Callidus Software Inc announced the signing of a new deal with a global technology provider. According to the agreement that was signed in the third quarter of 2011, Callidus will provide a global technology company with its Monaco On Demand SPM suite, which has been designed to deliver a SaaS solution to help companies maximize their sales effectiveness
9/9/2011

Ace Marketing Completes Additional 50 Mall Rollout of its Location-Based Mobile Marketing Network
Ace Marketing & Promotions, Inc has started to offer it Location-Based Mobile Marketing Network under initial expansion to an additional 50 malls in the third quarter of 2011, bringing the total to 67 malls across the US. The company has also tested phase on the 50 new malls and has begun generating revenue over the network. Mobiquity Networks (a wholly owned subsidiary of Ace) is a leading provider of location-based mobile marketing solutions.
9/9/2011

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This past week, covering the outbound call center space, TMC's Calvin Azuri wrote personal injury solicitors at JMW in Manchester have said that Compensation Claims Companies, which make unsolicited calls to both private residence numbers and to mobile numbers inquiring and urging recipients to file for accident compensation claims might well be in violation of laws which govern the claims industry. The solicitors have urged recipients to report all such calls to the Ministry of Justice.
9/6/2011

Matrix Solutions Selected by Allbritton Communications CRM and Sales Analytics
According to media sales management software provider Matrix Solutions, TV station operator Allbritton Communications Company has chosen Matrix for its Web-based CRM and sales analytics software. The software helps media companies improve the effectiveness of their sales organizations.
8/31/2011

My Social Income to Launch Direct Marketing Services in India
My Social Income (MSI), a provider of communication services, announced its plans to enter the growing Indian market with a launch of its unique direct marketing program, products and services.
8/31/2011

Cold Calling by Compensation Claims Companies Could Be in Violation of the Law
Personal injury solicitors at JMW in Manchester have said that Compensation Claims Companies, which make unsolicited calls to both private residence numbers and to mobile numbers inquiring and urging recipients to file for accident compensation claims might well be in violation of laws which govern the claims industry. The solicitors have urged recipients to report all such calls to the Ministry of Justice.
8/31/2011

AT&T Currying Favor with Regulators by Promising U.S. Call Center Jobs
The longer this recession that the country has been mired in for going on three years now drags out, the more pressure we're starting to see on the so-called "Outsourcing Kings" to bring jobs back to U.S. shores. GE, once a proud outsourcer, has begun publicly committing that it would bring some jobs back to the U.S.
8/31/2011

Wondersoft Deploys Drishti's Ameyo Contact Center Software
In an effort to get better service delivery and efficient technical support operations, Chennai-based software applications vendor Wondersoft Pte Ltd. has adopted Ameyo, the call center software from Drishti.
8/30/2011

MyAssist Offers Live Agent Services to Victims of Natural Disaster
Moving along almost 1,100 miles of U.S. coastline, Hurricane Irene left its terrible impact as devastation ranged from North Carolina to Vermont. Millions had to be evacuated and MyAssist provided a unique live-agent personal assistance and telematics service to empower, protect and offer assistance to those who were affected by the hurricane.
8/30/2011

Contact Solutions Unfazed by Earthquake -- Operations Intact
Contact Solutions' Northern Virginia data center apparently remained unaffected by the strong earthquake which hit the nation's capital on August 23, 2011, for it claims that not a single customer call was affected.
8/29/2011

Five9 Equips 2-1-1 California with Cost Effective Telephony Solution
A nonprofit network dedicated to public service, 2-1-1 California claims that it can now successfully deliver information and referral services across the state in many different and difficult situations because it has selected Five9 as its virtual call center platform.
8/29/2011

TMCnet.com's Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This past week, reporting on the outbound call center space, TMC's Mimi Swamy noted that in a bid to create jobs and keep them onshore, CSG (Culture Service Growth), which offers outsourcing tools, announced that it had agreed to provide call center outsourcing support to two more Fortune 500 companies.
8/27/2011

JetBlue's Fatal Customer Service Flaw
If you fly a lot, it's probable that you have your favorite airlines...as well as airlines you avoid at all costs. Your preferences are based on experience: this airline has a better on-time rate, that airline offers first-class upgrades, yet another lets you use frequent flier points more liberally.
8/26/2011

Florida Agency Orders Utility Company to Change Customer Script
Utility companies are seldom known for their stellar customer service - being a natural monopoly with little to no competition has a way of making a company rather complacent with its customers - but one company took annoying their customers to such lengths a state agency Utility companies are seldom known for their stellar customer service - being a natural monopoly with little to no competition has a way of making a company rather complacent with its customers - but one company took annoying their customers to such lengths a state agency had to step in and reprimand it. Up until recently, customers calling Florida Light & Power were told, at the end of their call, to "hold for a confirmation number."
8/26/2011

Federal Agencies to Improve Customer Services by October 24, 2011
Federal agencies have been directed to improve customer service and productivity by October 24, 2011, according to a recent report by CFI Group.
8/26/2011

Level 3 Communications Enhances Business Intelligence with Informatica Cloud
Informatica Corporation, an independent provider of data integration software, claimed that the Informatica Cloud is helping fiber-based communications services provider Level 3 to attain a complete view of its on-premise and cloud-based data - a move that will supposedly enhance the business intelligence of Level 3.
8/26/2011

Novus Health Opens Contact Center in Montreal
Novus Health, which delivers innovative online and telephone support solutions for today's changing health care environment in Canada, has opened another contact center in Montreal, Quebec. Robin Ingle, CEO, made an announcement to this effect.
8/26/2011

US Largest Source of Offshore Work for APAC
The US is the largest source of offshore work for APAC, according to a new report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
8/26/2011

vConnect Selects Drishti's Ameyo Call Center Software
vConnect has selected the Drishti's award-winning communication suite, Ameyo as their customer interactions management tool. An announcement in this regard has been made by Drishti Soft Solutions. vConnect is the first phone-based directory services in Nigeria.
8/25/2011

IXACT Contact Integrates E-mail Marketing and Reporting Features to Real Estate CRM
IXACT Contact, a Web-based real estate customer relationship management (CRM) system company, announced that it has seamlessly integrated its powerful e-mail marketing and reporting functionality into its real estate CRM.
8/25/2011

Gila Group Unveils SmartDialz Service for Credit Unions
Gila Group, a company offering outsourced collections, payment processing and call center services to financial institutions nationwide, has recently launched SmartDialz service offering focused on targeted dialing campaigns.
8/24/2011

MBSB Selects SAS Rapid Predictive Modeler
SAS has announced that its SAS Rapid Predictive Modeler has been selected by Malaysia Building Society Berhad (MBSB) to get insights about customers.
8/23/2011

CSG Inks Agreement with Fortune 500 Companies to Keep Jobs Onshore
In a bid to create jobs and keep them onshore, CSG (Culture Service Growth), which offers affordable, world-class outsourcing solutions, announced that it had agreed to provide call center outsourcing support to two more Fortune 500 companies.
8/22/2011

TMCnet's Outbound Call Center Week In Review
Always a lot happening with outbound call centers, so let's get to the important news of the past week:
8/20/2011

Govig Using Tracer Solution for Maximizing Management and Performance of Its Call Center
OAISYS, a developer of call recording and contact center management solution, claimed that executive recruiter and placement firm Govig & Associates is leveraging the Tracer contact center management solution to maximize the management and performance of its call center.
8/19/2011

German Operator Goes Live with Convergys Solution
Telekom Deutschland's wireline subscribers have gone live on a state-of-the-art Convergys Smart Revenue Solution.
8/19/2011

Contact Center Software for Asterisk Drives Multi-Site Expansion for EECS
Indosoft Inc., developers of Q-Suite, a Call Center ACD Software for Asterisk, has succesfully configured a distributed contact center operation for East-European Communication Services (EECS).
8/19/2011

J.D. Power and Associates Recognizes T-Mobile USA for Its Excellence in Customer Sales Satisfaction
T-Mobile USA, a national provider of wireless voice, messaging, and data services capable of reaching over 293 million Americans where they live, work, and play, claimed that for the fifth consecutive time it has received top honors from J.D. Power and Associates in recognition of its excellence in customer sales satisfaction.
8/19/2011

VoltDelta Exec Talks 'Tractor-Trailer' Call Handling Capabilities, IVR at SpeechTEK
When it comes to handling exceptionally high call volumes for carriers, call center solutions leader VoltDelta offers solutions equipped with unmatched scalability and reliability
8/19/2011

Contactual's Five Essential Questions for Evaluating Call Center Technology
Thanks to you, Contactual, for your quick and solid list of the five questions we need to be asking when we're evaluating call center technology:
8/19/2011

Five9's Training Sessions Key to Call Center On Demand Literacy
Because the service they offer is sold on a subscription basis, effectively training agents is a major area of focus for on demand call center providers. Companies owe it to their customers to not only continue to improve the capabilities of their products, but also to help customer comprehend them. For Five9 ensuring that customers have continued support is not simply a matter of a few training videos or online classes, it also includes an extensive program that rewards completion with administrative certification.
8/18/2011

PCCW Teleservices Get 'Best China Call Center'Award by China Federation of IT Promotion
The 9th Annual China Call Center Industry Forum and Best Chinese Customer Contact Center was held at Lijiang, Yunnan Province, PRC and PCCW Teleservices is continuously recognized for industry best practices, customer service, and innovation.
8/18/2011

Customer Care Initiatives Crucial in Today's Economy: ITEXPO Exhibitor
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.
8/18/2011

Latest Results of Prime Performance Investment Call Center Satisfaction Survey Revealed
The latest Prime Performance 2011 Investment Call Center Satisfaction Survey results have been announced. According to the survey report, T. Rowe Price lead in client satisfaction while Vanguard topped in loyalty.
8/18/2011

Epic Marketplace Partners with RingRevenue to Launch Phone-Based Marketing Campaigns
Epic Marketplace, an integrated multichannel digital marketing solutions provider via social media, mobile, display, and video channels, announced a partnership with RingRevenue, which specializes in call performance marketing solutions.
8/18/2011

Transverse Enters Partnership Agreement with Pervasive
Transverse, an innovator in online billing and Dynamic Revenue Management, recently announced in a press release that it is partnering with Pervasive Software, a global data innovation leader, to eliminate the integration headaches so common for businesses evolving their apps and data services in SaaS and cloud environments.
8/17/2011

Aspect Offers Social Media into the Contact Center
To enable organization to utilize social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, web forums and blogs to expand business, Aspect, a provider of customer contact and Microsoft platform solutions, today announced the availability of Aspect Social Media Channel Integration. It will help businesses to turn social media engagements into productive customer dialogues that create a positive experience and deliver significant business value.
8/16/2011

Boost Mobile Ranked Highest for Customer Service and Purchase Experience by J.D. Power and Associates
Boost Mobile, a provider of no-contract wireless services, announced that J.D. Power and Associates has offered the company the highest rank in Customer Service Performance and Purchase Experience among Non-Contract Wireless Providers.
8/16/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
During a week that was fraught with stock market volatility and what seems to be a never-ending dour jobless outlook, it was refreshing to get the mid-week report TMCnet's Contributing Editor Tracey Schelmetic that "TMOne, which calls itself the 'most nimble BPO Firm in America,' has announced it has chosen Spearfish, South Dakota as a location for a new 500-seat inbound and outbound call center to serve its clients."
8/13/2011

SugarCRM Appoints Tony Hughes to Lead Asia Pacific region
SugarCRM, the world's fastest-growing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company, recently stated in a press release that it has appointed Tony Hughes as managing director of SugarCRM Australia Pty. Ltd. A proven leader in the technology and software industries in Australia, Tony will help SugarCRM build upon its tremendous success in the Asia Pacific region. Second quarter billings rose by 41 percent over the first quarter of 2011 and by 30 percent over the same quarter in 2010.
8/12/2011

Five9 Offers Complete Outbound Call Center Package
Looking for an upgrade for your outbound call center? Might want to give the Five9 Outbound Call Center a look-over, as it's a complete service consisting of outbound campaign management functionality with predictive, power, progressive or preview dialing.
8/11/2011

American Bible Society Enhances Fundraising Efforts and Multichannel Communications with Blackbaud's CRM
Blackbaud, Inc., a provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, announced that the American Bible Society (ABS) will leverage its Blackbaud CRM to expand its mission by boosting its fundraising efforts and enhancing its supporter's experience.
8/11/2011

Miratel Solutions Introduces Workplace Diversity Policy to Further Consolidate its Corporate Social Responsibility Policies
Miratel Solutions, an inbound and outbound call center, eBusiness and letter shop mail house, has effectively strengthened its Corporate Social Responsibility values with the introduction of a formal Workplace Diversity Policy.
8/11/2011

TMOne To Open Inbound and Outbound Call Center in Spearfish, South Dakota
TMOne, which calls itself the "most nimble BPO Firm in America," has announced that it has chosen Spearfish, South Dakota as a location for a new 500-seat inbound and outbound call center to serve its clients.
8/10/2011

TMOne to Open Inbound and Outbound Call Center in Spearfish, Iowa
TMOne, which calls itself the "most nimble BPO Firm in America," has announced that it has chosen Spearfish, Iowa as a location for a new 500-seat inbound and outbound call center to serve its clients.
8/10/2011

Volt Consulting Group Announces Release Of Its VAST Business Intelligence Offering
Volt Consulting Group, provider of consulting & process mapping, workforce design & delivery, workflow automation, and managed solutions has announced the release of its new VAST business intelligence offering. The company which is recognized as a leader in the human capital business intelligence market currently provides one of the most robust human capital data warehouses.
8/9/2011

Broadview Wins People's Choice Stevie Award for OfficeSuite ACD
Broadview Networks, a network-based business communications provider, has its Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and Recording solution OfficeSuite ACD to thank for winning a People's Choice Stevie Award in the Favorite New Telecom Product or Service category.
8/8/2011

American Teleservices Association Appoints Phil Grudzinski as New CEO
The National Board of Directors for the American Teleservices Association ("ATA") is pleased to announce that Phil Grudzinski has been named chief executive officer, effective immediately.
8/8/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
When a company makes a good thing even better, it gets our attention. This week not one but two outbound call center solutions providers got the attention of TMCnet editors who broke the news to readers.
8/6/2011

Customer Interaction Solutions Presents 2011 IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Award to Zultys
Zultys, a provider of unified communications solutions, asserted that its contact center solutions have won the 2011 IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Award from Customer Interactions Solutions (CIS) magazine, the voice of the call/contact center, CRM and teleservices industries.
8/5/2011

inContact to Supply Cloud Contact Routing WFM Solutions to a Major Hospitality Company
inContact, a provider of on-demand call center software and call center agent optimization tools, claimed that one of the nation's major hospitality companies has chosen to deploy its cloud contact routing Workforce Management (WFM) solutions.
8/5/2011

AuraPortal Intros New Modules into its BPM Suite
All organizations need to establish creation flows and approval processes for any content that has to be published. AuraPortal claims that the introduction of new modules into its BPM suite, capable of integrating with existing applications, will automate the entire process.
8/5/2011

HTC Wildfire S Gets CompanionLink's CRM Sync Support
As a developer of data synchronization solutions for mobile phones as well as CRM software and services, CompanionLink Software, a developer of data synchronization solutions for mobile phones and CRM software and services, has helped mobilize information across devices, computers, applications, and web-based services through its solutions.
8/5/2011

Giant Paintball Chooses Soffront's Integrated CRM
Giant Paintball, the corporate hub of the world's largest chain of Paintball Parks in Southern California, has selected Soffront's integrated CRM to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their sales operation.
8/5/2011

Wipro BPO Selected as TalkTalk's Strategic Partner
TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC, UK's premier provider of value for money fixed line broadband and voice telephony services to consumers and business users, has chosen Wipro BPO as one of its strategic partners for its outsourced contact centre operations.
8/5/2011

Sage North America Expands Endorsed Development Partner Program with TimeLinx's New CRM-based Project Management Solution
TimeLinx Software announced that Sage North America has selected its professional services and project management solution to expand Sage North America's Endorsed Development Partner Program to the Sage SalesLogix CRM solution. Sage's reseller channel across North, South and Central America and the Philippines will now distribute TimeLinx.
8/5/2011

Contactology to Simplify E-Newsletter Creation, Distribution, Tracking for Users
Enabling the repurposing and publication of online content to email newsletters in minutes rather than hours, Contactology, a Software-as-a-Service email marketing and online survey technologies provider, has extended its publisher-focused solution to Vangardistas, the developer of Metro Publisher, a Software-as-a-Service Content Management System (CMS).
8/5/2011

Attensity Releases Updated Attensity's Respond Application
Attensity, a provider of text analytics solutions for Customer Experience Management (CEM), just released the latest version of its Attensity's Respond application. Designed for the next-generation multi-channel contact center, Attensity Respond plays a significant role in optimizing business processes in the contact center environment, according to company officials.
8/4/2011

Enventis Enhances Total Care Support and Monitoring Service for Networks and UC
Enventis, a provider of integrated voice, data and network communication solutions in the Midwest, claimed that it has enhanced its Total Care support and monitoring service for network and unified communications.
8/4/2011

Constant Contact MarketPlace Gains Popularity among Small Organizations
Constant Contact announced that its MarketPlace, a huge collection of mobile apps and social integrations, has been accessed by over 100,000 small organizations since its launch a year ago. It also offers assistance from marketing experts to help small businesses and nonprofits maximize their marketing efforts.
8/4/2011

HardMetrics to Offer its Business Intelligence Solutions to C3/CustomerContactChannels
C3/Customer Contact Channels, a leader in the contact center industry, has selected HardMetrics' Performance Manager (HPM), a business intelligence solution, to monitor and analyze operational activity, efficiencies and business trends. The company will deploy the solution to its corporate management and operations at each of C3's contact centers, and to the agent desktop level for all of C3's employees globally.
8/3/2011

Selfinity BPO Selects Drishti's Ameyo Call Center Software to Power Outbound Calls
Drishti, a provider of contact center software and enterprise communications solutions, announced that Selfinity BPO, a global sales and marketing company, has selected its Ameyo call center software platform.
8/2/2011

Dealing with Debt Collectors When You Don't Owe Anything
The Federal Trade Commission received more than 140,000 complaints about third-party and in-house debt collectors in 2010. The industry's propensity for immoral and sometimes illegal collection tactics led the federal government to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new agency charged with the task of stemming debt collection abuse.
8/2/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Who doesn't want affirmation that their efforts are on the right track - certainly the former mayor of New York Ed Koch did - he asked his constituents "How 'm I doing?" so often that he wrote a book with the same title. But perhaps even better than a book, is being told by outside sources that your work is pretty good, and some key players in the outbound call center market let TMCnet editors know this week that the work they produce has been recognized with honors.
7/30/2011

Telligent Recognized by Garter Inc. as Visionary In 2011 Magic Quadrant For Social CRM
Telligent recently announced that it has been recognized by Gartner Inc. as a Visionary in "Magic Quadrant for Social CRM."
7/29/2011

Convergys Hiring 225 Agents in Cincinnati Metro Area
Outsourced call center services provider Convergys Corporation announced this morning that it has begun hiring in the Cincinnati metro area. The company, which is headquartered in Cincinnati, is seeking to fill 225 agent positions at its state-of-the-art contact center in Erlanger, Kentucky. The new jobs are for customer service/sales or technical support agents who will provide service to Convergys clients in a variety of industries.
7/29/2011

Verizon Ranked High For Excellence in Customer Care
Verizon Wireless, which claims to be the provider of the nation's largest and most reliable 3G network and the fastest, most advanced 4G LTE network in the world, received accolades from J.D. Power and Associates for excellence in customer care.
7/29/2011

Alterian Recognized for Social CRM in Leading Industry Analyst Firm's Magic Quadrant
Alterian, the leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, announced that it has been recognized by Gartner Inc., the leading information technology research and advisory company in its second Magic Quadrant for Social CRM.
7/29/2011

Payday Express Holding Friendly Matches as Part of its Team Building Initiative
UK's leading payday advance loans specialists Payday Express has adopted a unique approach to promote healthy competition among its employees. It all begun with a football match that took place earlier this month. Encouraged by the success of this interdepartmental event, the employees at Payday Express are planning to make such sporting events a regular feature.
7/28/2011

Aspect Completes Acquisition of Corsidian Businesses in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico
Aspect, a provider of customer contact and Microsoft platform solutions, has announced the closing of its acquisition of the Corsidian businesses in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Puerto Rico.
7/26/2011

Newgen Software Implements Solution at Dubai Bank
Newgen Software, the market leader in Business Process Management (BPM) and Enterprise Content management (ECM), recently announced the successful implementation of its advanced e-statement solution in one of the Middle-East's largest banks.
7/26/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
At a time when we have grown accustomed to hearing about cut backs, it was refreshing this week to learn of a number of expansion activities in the outbound call center space. We learned in a report from TMCnet Contributing Editor Rajani Baburajan that ContactPoint, a provider of sales and customer service optimitics, is expanding its reach through membership in the American Rental Association (ARA).
7/23/2011

Neural Technologies Joins TRMA
Neural Technologies, a provider of risk management and business intelligence software solutions, has joined the Telecommunications Risk Management Association (TRMA).
7/22/2011

Gale Brings Automation in Cloud, Sees Opportunity in Call Center and UC Environments
That's why Gale Technologies provides automation software for quality assurance, lab and production environments. The company's software automates configuration of compute, network, storage and virtualization environments.
7/22/2011

Silverpop Inks Deal with Varicent Software for Varicent Business Edition
Varicent Software Incorporated, a provider of incentive compensation and sales performance management (SPM) solutions, revealed its Varicent Business Edition has been deployed by Silverpop, a provider of email marketing and marketing automation platform to go live to automate its compensation plan design and delivery.
7/22/2011

Constant Contact Opens New Office in New York City to Help Small Businesses and Non-Profits
Constant Contact Inc. announced that it has opened its fifth office in New York City. The new office will be located in The Bendheim Building in Tribeca. Recently the company acquired the New York-based Bantam Live social CRM technology platform
7/22/2011

Mobile Messenger Recognized with ATSI Call Center Award of Distinction for Outstanding Service
Mobile Messenger, provider of mobile solutions, announced that it has been recognized with the prestigious 2011 ATSI Call Center Award of Distinction by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI). The Call Center Award of Distinction is used to measure the skills of professional call center agents across the North America and the U.K. ATSI congratulated the staff of Mobile Messenger for their dedication and for providing quality service to their customers.
7/21/2011

ContactPoint Joins American Rental Association to Target the Industry for Sales Training
ContactPoint, a provider of sales and customer service optimitics, announced its membership in the American Rental Association (ARA).
7/21/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Not yielding to the lure of summertime sloth, major players in the outbound call center market were busy this week alerting TMCnet editors of major announcements. Topping the list of ambitious announcements, Avaya (News - Alert), a provider of business communications and collaboration solutions and services, revealed it is bringing several new outbound call center-related products to market
7/16/2011

AOS Selects AltiGen's Mobility and Contact Center Solutions to Integrate with Microsoft Lync
AltiGen Communications, a provider of integrated Microsoft-based Unified Communications solutions, announced that Alexander Open Systems (AOS) will offer AltiGen Communication's mobility and contact center solutions for Microsoft Lync Server 2010.
7/15/2011

Five9 Remote Call Center App: Improve Your Customers' Experience
Hey, how do staff remote agents for your call center, anywhere in the world sound?
7/15/2011

Global Alert Network brings First-Ever Hands-Free Audio Alert Application
Global Alert Network (GAN), a national mobile platform that provides safe, automatic, hands-free audio alerts to a user's mobile phone, has come up with its first-ever hands-free audio alert application that will enable Boston residents access the latest local traffic and weather updates without ever touching their mobile phones.
7/14/2011

Global Alert Network bring First-Ever Hands-Free Audio Alert Application
Global Alert Network (GAN), a national mobile platform that provides safe, automatic, hands-free audio alerts to a user's mobile phone, has come up with its first-ever hands-free audio alert application that will enable Boston residents access the latest local traffic and weather updates without ever touching their mobile phones.
7/14/2011

Avaya Announces New Contact Center Products
Avaya, a provider of business communications and collaboration solutions and services, announced new contact center products.
7/13/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
The digital age of technology products and online services will double the demand for BPO agents over the next decade, according to research conducted by Caleris, a business process outsourcing (BPO) provider.
7/4/2011

APAC Announces New Contact Center in Montevideo, Uruguay
APAC Customer Services, a provider of global outsourced services and solutions, has opened a new contact center in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is located in Aguada Park, an international center for global services situated in the free zone area of Montevideo. APAC will occupy three floors of the building with initial capacity for 630 customer service associate workstations.
6/30/2011

Stamps.com Wins Gold Medal for Innovation in Customer Service from ATA
Stamps.com, a provider of online postage and shipping software, announced that it has won the Gold Medal for Best Innovation in Customer Service at the Call Center Olympics presented by the American Teleservices Association (ATA) West Coast Chapter. The Call Center Olympics is an annual ATA West Coast Chapter event that allows call centers from the western U.S. region to compete for gold, silver and bronze medals.
6/30/2011

Caleris: Demand for Technical BPO Agents Rises
The digital age of technology products and online services will double the demand for BPO agents over the next decade, according to research conducted by Caleris, a business process outsourcing (BPO) provider.
6/30/2011

uNotifi SaaS Marketing Services Provider for Automotive Industry Launched
Houston entrepreneur Fred van der Neut, the founder of iDriveonline, announced the launch of uNotifi, a national provider of customer-centric inbound marketing programs for automotive dealers, service centers and aftermarket retail operations. Van der Neut has 30 years of direct marketing experience in the automotive industry.
6/30/2011

Snowbound Software and NetXposure Enter into Technology Partnership
Snowbound Software, a market provider of document viewing and conversion solutions has entered into a technology partnership with NetXposure, providers of Digital Asset management solutions.
6/24/2011

Value Place Teams-Up with ContactPoint to Improve Customer Service and Increase Sales
Sales and customer service company ContactPoint recently announced an addition to its hospitality sector client portfolio. In a press release, the company announced that the nationwide extended stay hotel chain Value Place has hired ContactPoint to record and score customer phone calls.
6/24/2011

SalesNexus Allows Instant Automatic Upload of ACT! Databases
SalesNexus announced that users of its online CRM and Email Marketing solution can now upload ACT! Databases to the Web instantly and automatically. The SalesNexus online CRM helps sales teams to generate more leads close more sales and retain customers for a longer period.
6/24/2011

Telrex Unveils Latest CallRex 4.1
Telrex, a member of the Enghouse group of companies, and a provider of IP call recording and contact center optimization software, unveiled version 4.1 of CallRex Call Recording software.
6/23/2011

Convergys Hiring Staff for Contact Center in Clarksville, Tennessee
Convergys Corporation, a global leader in relationship management, recently announced the requirement of 300 on-site employees and 75 work-at-home employees for its contact center in Clarksville, Tennessee.
6/23/2011

TeamSupport.com Announces Integration with Batchbook
TeamSupport.com, a trend-setting provider of SaaS-based customer service and help desk tools, has announced integration with Batchbook, a powerful social CRM system from BatchBlue Software.
6/23/2011

Company Finds Contact Center Software Useful in Move to In-House Call Center
The addition of a new call center is always good news for the local economy. This is especially true when that call center is streamlining outsourced services back into local environments to boost the labor force and advance the delivery of contact center software.
6/23/2011

Call Center Solutions from RightNow Empower Toshiba Performance
Flexibility and efficiency are two elements that are important in any call center and Toshiba, a high technology provider, has determined that priority must be placed on such criteria. To demonstrate this importance, the company recently replaced an inflexible and expensive legacy contact center agent desktop solution with RightNow.
6/23/2011

PeopleAnswers Announces Software Licensing Agreement with The Cheesecake Factory Inc.
In an organization, hiring most qualified candidates while saving significant time for managers is a key factor for Human Resource (HR) personnel. In an effort to improve quality of hires and take the guesswork out of consistent talent selection, The Cheesecake Factory has deployed PeopleAnswers' HR solution for pre-employment selection.
6/22/2011

LiveOps Appoints Marty Beard as New President and CEO
LiveOps, a provider of cloud-based contact center solutions, announced the appointment of Marty Beard as President and Chief Executive Officer effective July 18, 2011.
6/22/2011

Well Known Non-Profit Membership Organization Selects Alpine Access to Deliver Service through Home-Based Agents
The pioneer of the virtual contact center model, Alpine Access, has been selected by one of the nation's largest membership organizations for people over 50 to provide nationwide support to thousands of its members. Under the contract, the company's home-based employees will provide assistance to both new and existing members of the organization.
6/22/2011

Ascom Debuts Ascom Home Care Services for the Independent Living Segment
Ascom Wireless Solutions announced the introduction of Ascom Home Care Services for the Independent Living Segment. These services will be suitable for the needs of the elderly who want to live independently within their own homes. This is made possible by Ascom, a supplier of on-site wireless communications.
6/21/2011

Altitude Software, Umanis Deliver Hosted Contact Center Solutions in France
Altitude Software, a global provider of hosted call center solutions, announced a partnership with Umanis, a management and information technology consulting services provider, to deliver the Altitude uCI Hosted Multimedia Contact Center Solution in France.
6/21/2011

Comcast Continues Investment in Connecticut Economy and Workforce
Comcast Corporation, one of the nation's premier providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services, is hiring 100 full-time customer service representatives for the company's state-of-the-art call center in Enfield.
6/21/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Welcome to the weekend, and another edition of the Outbound Call Center Week in Review, where we sum up the week's news in the newest in outbound technology.
6/18/2011

FE VELCOM Selects Teradata Relationship Manager
Looking to create individualized marketing offers to prospects and customers, FE VELCOM, the Belarus mobile telecommunications operator has selected Teradata Relationship Manager (TRM).
6/17/2011

Keynote Systems Integrates PagerDuty's Phone Alert Tools in MyKeynote Portal
Keynote Systems, a provider of Internet and mobile cloud monitoring solutions, has formed a partnership with PagerDuty to take advantage of PagerDuty's advanced phone alerting tools for users of the MyKeynote portal. Building on the power and flexibility of Keynote's Smart Alerts, the Keynote-PagerDuty integration allows Keynote e-mail alerts to be sent via phone or SMS directly to operations team members and support staff wherever they may be, company officials said.
6/15/2011

Cloud-based Call Center Company Five9 Awarded for CRM Excellence
Cloud-based call center software company Five9 has been named by Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) as a recipient of a Customer Interaction Solutions magazine 2011 CRM Excellence Award for its Five9 Virtual Call Center. Customer Interaction Solutions has been the premier publication in the CRM, contact center and teleservices industries since 1982.
6/15/2011

TriWest Earns J.D. Power and Associates Contact Center Certification
TriWest Healthcare Alliance has announced that its contact centers have been recognized by J.D. Power and Associates for providing outstanding customer service experience for the fourth consecutive year.
6/15/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center in Review
The outbound call center space was infused with a new product this week. TMCnet Contributor Calvin Azuri learned that Bomgar, a provider of secure, appliance-based remote support solutions, has unveiled Bomgar Analytics. He reported that it has been developed as a brand new dashboard and reporting solution which is designed to make it easy for IT organizations to easily view and analyze the valuable IT support data captured by their Bomgar remote support solution. The article said the Bomgar Analytics solution features dashboard views and customizable reports, and provides a unique view into the details of an organization's remote support sessions.
6/12/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center in Review
The outbound call center space was infused with a new product this week. TMCnet Contributor Calvin Azuri learned that Bomgar (News - Alert), a provider of secure, appliance-based remote support solutions, has unveiled Bomgar Analytics. He that it has been developed as a brand new dashboard and reporting solution which is designed to make it easy for IT organizations to easily view and analyze the valuable IT support data captured by their Bomgar remote support solution. The article said the Bomgar Analytics solution features dashboard views and customizable reports, and provides a unique view into the details of an organization's remote support sessions.
6/11/2011

Zendesk Joins Industry Leaders to Launch NetworkedHelpDesk.org Initiative
At Atlassian Summit in San Francisco, Zendesk announced NetworkedHelpDesk.org, an initiative to create seamless communication among multiple partners and suppliers to deliver an unprecedented customer experience. Zendesk, the leading provider of proven, cloud-based help desk software, has been joined by various industry leaders in the initiative that provides a uniform way to connect disparate systems for seamless collaboration through an open API, thus making it easier for companies to perform tasks such as project management, customer relationship management, or customer support.
6/10/2011

European Utility and African Bank Win Altitude Awards
European energy company EDP and to BCI, the second largest financial institution in Mozambique has received the Innovation Awards, ex-aequo from Altitude Software, a independent global contact center solutions vendor.
6/10/2011

Drishti's Ameyo Awarded as the 'Best Contact Center Technology Platform'
Drishti-Soft has announced that the company has won a joint-award for their technology deployment at Department of Transport (DoT), Abu Dhabi, along with their VAR (Value Added Reseller) - City Services. Drishti-Soft is an innovator of Contact Center Software and Enterprise Communications Applications.
6/10/2011

360-Degree Customer View Delivered through Zendesk's Partnership with SugarCRM
Zendesk and SugarCRM's alliance was announced recently. Zendesk, a leading help-desk software provider on cloud technology, integrated its service with one of the fastest growing CRM or customer relationship management companies in the world, SugarCRM. The Zendesk and SugarCRM service allows customers to flawlessly support agents' access to the SugarCRM customer information from the Zendesk help desk software, with the reverse also being possible.
6/10/2011

Bomgar Launches Bomgar Analytics, a Dashboard and Reporting Solution for IT Service Desks
Bomgar, a provider of secure, appliance-based remote support solutions, has unveiled Bomgar Analytics, which has been developed as a brand new dashboard and reporting solution which makes it easy for IT organizations to easily view and analyze the valuable IT support data captured by their Bomgar remote support solution. The Bomgar Analytics solution features dashboard views and customizable reports, and provides a unique view into the details of an organization's remote support sessions. This makes it easy for IT service desks to help in the optimization of their operations and performance.
6/10/2011

Miratel Solutions Completes Phase One of Business Expansion Plans
Toronto based Miratel Solutions, an inbound and outbound call center, eBusiness and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services, announced the completion of its phase one of business expansion plans.
6/8/2011

Convergys Looking for 100 Employees in Orem, Utah Area
Convergys Corporation, a global provider of relationship management, has announced open positions for 100 full- and part-time positions at its contact center in Orem, Utah.
6/8/2011

TMCnet Outbound Call Center Week in Review
This week in the world of outbound call center technologies and services, TMCnet's Anil Sharma wrote about Digerati Technologies, Inc., a provider of cloud communication services, and its introduction of a cloud-based predictive dialer solution specifically designed to meet the needs of businesses with call center or telesales departments. Officials with Digerati said that its Only in The Cloud solution automatically initiates an outbound call, distinguishes between a live person answer and an answering machine or voice mail system, then transfers "live" calls to a call center agent.
6/4/2011

Robert N. Pinkerton Joins Alpine Access as Chief Financial Officer
Alpine Access, the premier provider of virtual contact center solutions and services, has appointed Robert N. Pinkerton as the new chief financial officer.
6/3/2011

Digerati Expands Product Suite with Predictive Dialer Solution
Digerati Technologies, Inc., a global provider of cloud communication services, has introduced a cloud-based predictive dialer solution, which has been designed to meet the needs of businesses with call center or telesales departments.
6/2/2011

Outbound Call Center Week in Review
Here's something you might want to pay attention to, especially if you have trouble paying your debts: TMC Special Guest Jeff Stalnaker, CEO of First Orion, wrote that since landline usage is dropping by over 10 percent per year as more and more individuals are moving to the exclusive use of their mobile phones as their primary means of communication, your email signature, your business cards, your orders and other places you use your contact information can potentially fall into the hands of a telemarketer or other data providers, which will lead to potential telemarketing calls.
5/31/2011

How Telemarketers and Debt Collectors Obtain Your Mobile Phone Number
A Look at the Tactics Used by Theses Organizations and Tips on How to Avoid Annoying Sales Calls
5/26/2011

Spain's Telefonica to Raise Capital with Call Center Division IPO
Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider Telefonica SA (TEF) is reportedly looking to raise money. The Madrid-based company, which is Europe's second largest phone company and a provider in both Europe and Latin America, hopes to raise 745 million euros ($1.1 billion) by making an initial public offering of its call center division, called Atento Inversiones y Teleservicios SAU.
5/26/2011

Alterian Included in the Gartner Magic Quadrant Analysis
Gartner Inc., the world's premier information technology research and advisory company has recognized Alterian, the major player in customer engagement technology and solutions, in its Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management.
5/25/2011

Everbridge Prepares Communities for Hurricane Season
Incident notification systems provider Everbridge said Monday that numerous clients are proactively testing their notification service and preparing for the upcoming hurricane season with Everbridge's SmartGIS application.
5/25/2011

Avaya on Contact Center Interaction, Routing Trends
There has been a shift in the control of business relationships from the companies to the customers. Fickle only-as-good-as-the-last-product/service/price performance loyalty, parsimony with downturn-limited incomes, the ability to check out and compare offerings via the Web and social media, enabled by broadband and wireless has placed the buyers in charge. This change has impacted customers' interactions with firms. TMCnet recently interviewed Jorge R. Blanco, vice president, marketing, Contact Center Solutions for Avaya to find out how.
5/24/2011

Value Matrix for CRM Released by Nucleus Research
Nucleus Research, a global provider of investigative, case-based technology research and advisory services that offer real-world insight into maximizing technology value recently released the 1H2011 Technology Value Matrix for CRM.
5/20/2011

DIRECTV #1 on American Customer Satisfaction Index
DIRECTV, a pay TV provider, has once managed to retain its hold on the number one spot in the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the eleventh year. The company beat other competitors such as DISH Network and AT&T U-Verse, both of whom have witnessed declines of four points in the ACSI this year.
5/20/2011

DIRECTV Ranked Number 1 on American Customer Satisfaction Index
DIRECTV, a pay-for-TV provider, has once again managed to retain its hold on the number 1 spot in the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the eleventh year. The company beat other competitors such as DISH Network and AT&T U-Verse, both of whom have witnessed declines of four points in the ACSI this year.
5/20/2011

CompanionLink Announces Direct Synchronization of Zoho CRM
CompanionLink Software has announced direct synchronization of Zoho CRM contacts, calendar, and tasks with Android, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and BlackBerry devices.
5/20/2011

Efficiency of Customer Care Differentiates Telecommunications Providers: J.D. Power and Associates
Gaps in network performance issues are reducing among major telecom service providers. In the wake the narrowing gap, the efficiency of account teams and customer service representatives has emerged as a key differentiator in customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power and Associates.
5/20/2011

SalesFocus Solutions Expands Its Presence in India
SalesFocus Solutions has announced the opening of a new office in India which will increase its presence in the country. The office is situated at Hyderabad, capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh and will expand SalesFocus Solutions' research, development and sales capabilities.
5/20/2011

Call Center Software Week in Review for the Week of May 20th
Given the pace with which call center software evolves, it's important for those in the industry to keep abreast of trends emerging throughout the week. This week we saw partnerships and unveilings that tell us about the future of the call or contact center and show it increasingly moving to the cloud.
5/20/2011

Noble Systems Updates Browser Access Tool For Mobile Contact Center Management
While contact centers of old were physical places, today's contact center is more of a concept than a location. Workers may be located anywhere...in satellite offices or even their own homes. Extra support may be provided by back-office workers in another location, and some subject matter experts or managers may need to be able to jack into the contact center from the road. As a result, contact centers today cannot succeed with a robust way to manage contact center operations remotely.
5/20/2011

New Mexico Job Market Gets a Boost As Sitel Announces 120 Positions for Its Albuquerque Call Center
In an effort to improve its customer services, the leading provider of outsourced customer care services, Sitel is actively expanding its customer care call center in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the initiative is going to be a job spinner for the local market.
5/20/2011

ASCI Reports Positive Swing in Customer Satisfaction, Drop for Information Services
Primarily due to gains in the utilities and health care sectors, which offset a drop for the information sector, customer satisfaction as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)saw a positive spike this quarter. For the first quarter of 2011, the Index has risen from 0.4% to 75.6 on the ACSI's 0-100 scale.
5/20/2011

Verba Technologies Expands Central European Operations
Responding to the burgeoning demand for its high-performance call recording and contact center quality assurance solutions, Verba Technologies has expanded its central European operations by opening an office in Budapest, Hungary. Officials with Verba Technologies said that with an expanded team, the company's engineers and sales professionals can conveniently assist regional Verba staff, partners and customers in various time zones across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
5/19/2011

SoundBite Recognized as Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan
SoundBite Communications, a provider of cloud-based, multi-channel, proactive customer communications solutions, has been recognized with the 2011 North American Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award.
5/19/2011

Host Analytics Improves its SaaS-Based CPM Suite with More Than 30 New Features
Host Analytics, a provider of SaaS-based corporate performance management (CPM) solutions, announced that it has upgraded its Host Analytics Corporate Performance Management Suite with more than 30 new features in Q1 2011.
5/18/2011

Trends in the Call Center Market: At-Home Agents, Cloud Applications and Social Media
If the phrase call center agent conjures up images of college students or recent grads slogging away on a contact center floor filled with gray cubicles, think again. At least for Working Solutions, a provider of outsourced customer service support and sales, that is not an accurate description of the workforce.
5/16/2011

TeleWare Meets New FSA Call Recording Rules with New Solution
TeleWare has unveiled the first "clientless" mobile call recording solution for financial services organizations. This launch has been made so that these organizations can easily meet the new FSA call recording rules governing conversations on the mobile phone.
5/13/2011

New Call Center, Staff Enabling Arlington National Cemetery to Better Serve Public
Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) receives in the range of 5,000 calls a month - ranging from basic information to scheduling funerals. Last year, staff answered all of those calls, presenting a huge strain on the system. Teaming with the Army's IT Agency, the Consolidated Customer Support Center (CCSC) answers about 65 percent of those calls, providing the first level of support to the public.
5/13/2011

Personality Mapping - A Way To Use Call Center Agents' Personalities to your Advantage
A recent webinar titled "Transformational Call Center Results Through Personality Mapping" discussed the benefits and features of a new trend in new call center technology, Personality Mapping. This is the ability to drive Agent/Customer pairings based on more than their demographic and psychographic attributes, resulting in dramatically improved results," according to webinar officials.
5/13/2011

Video: Site Selection Group Benefits the Call Center Industry
The call center industry is nothing if not dynamic and one company specializing in multi-market evaluations of communities around the world with a keen focus on call centers is Site Selection Group.
5/13/2011

Call Center on Demand Software is an Easy Choice for Startups
For start ups, reducing the cost of operating a call center is priority number one and at this point there's really only one way to achieve it. Opting for a hosted solution over premise- based alternatives, grants newer companies the flexibility to spend as the need arises, and because the software is being carried on a remote server, it can completely remove it maintenance charges.
5/12/2011

Optimal Call Center Operations Rely on Proper Training
Customer service is heavily focused on within all aspects of call center operations, as performance consistently staying at a high level remains a key initiative. Agents and supervisors alike must be able to perform according to established criteria or risk being replaced. When the focus of the call center changes especially, there is an increased need for training and coaching to ensure the success of agents and supervisors, in order to contribute to the productivity goals established by the center.
5/12/2011

Expedia Hotels App Helps to Expedite Bookings at Hotels
Expedia.com is the world's leading online travel site, helping millions of travelers easily plan and book travel. In keeping with its commitment to provide the latest technology, Expedia launched a hotel booking app and also released a set of upgrades for its mobile Web customers.
5/12/2011

Verizon Helps Ticketmaster to Improve Call Center Operations through a Higher Level of Customer Care
Once a new show opens, Ticketmaster needs to be able to answer all of the exorbitant amounts of customer calls, while still delivering a high level of customer service. This is where Verizon comes in -helping to improve overall call center operations.
5/12/2011

CommerceTel Facilitates Voting for Miss Universe Organization
CommerceTel, which provides proprietary mobile marketing technologies and solutions, says that the Miss Universe Organization will now leverage online, social, and mobile audiences to influence the outcome of the event.
5/12/2011

BenchmarkPortal Recognizes Midwest Real Estate Data for its Excellent Customer Service
Midwest Real Estate Data's Technical Help Desk has been recognized as one of 2010's Top 100 Call Centers in the small center category by BenchmarkPortal.
5/12/2011

Teleperformance Upgrades Its Columbus, Ohio Facilities
Teleperformance, a provider of outsourced CRM and contact center services, announced the completion of its newly remodeled and expanded site in Columbus, Ohio. Teleperformance spent around $1.5 million to remodel this facility to make it an exceptional place to work.
5/11/2011

New Emergency Alert Broadcasts to be Available on Cellphones
Federal officials announced this week that soon some cellphone users in New York and Washington will be able to receive alerts by text message in the event of a national or regional emergency, according to a story in the New York Times.
5/11/2011

TXU Energy's Abilene Call Center Receives Its First Expansion in Three Months
TXU Energy, the leading provider of electricity and related services to Texas' 2 million customers, announced that its three month old Abilene call center has exceeded all of the company's ramp-up expectations.
5/11/2011

SpeechCycle Launches New Technology that Helps Increase the Adoption of Phone Self-Service
SpeechCycle, a provider of customer interaction management solutions, announced it is deploying a technology that adapts to callers' behavior for the automated and continuous optimization of the user experience.
5/11/2011

Parks Associates Organizes a Session at CONNECTIONS: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase
Parks Associates, a market research and consulting firm focused on residential product and service segments, recently noted that global smartphone sales surged more than 70% in 2010. Such high sale figure, according to Parks Associates, is making app stores, social networking platforms, and cloud-based innovations force mobile operators to reexamine their business models and ensure improved connectivity and content access.
5/11/2011

Demand for Virtual Business Processes Leads to Alpine Access Expansion
It is always uplifting to learn of business growth and the creation of new jobs, especially when the drone of the opposite news is so prevalent in so many sectors. In Denver, Colo., that high is not coming solely from the altitude today but from news emanating from the contact center sector. Alpine Access, which provides virtual contact center solutions and services, announced today that it is opening a new Technology & Operational Excellence Lab that it says will complement its downtown Denver headquarters by providing a location dedicated to driving innovation, improving operational efficiencies and supporting its extensive technology infrastructure. The new facility will also create 50 new jobs
5/9/2011

Mobile Mentor Teams with CosmoCom to Implement New Contact Center Suite
CosmoCom, a company that empowers enterprises and service providers to build private and public cloud contact center solutions, announced that mobile support provider Mobile Mentor has employed the CosmoCall Universe virtual contact center suite to help support its rapid growth as a leading provider of mobile phone customer support and mentoring.
5/6/2011

TCN Boasts Innovative New Website
Can you hear that? There is a definite buzz over at Utah-based TCN these days following the company's unveiling of its innovative new website, www.tcnp3.com.
5/6/2011

Vocalcom Committed to Bringing Dialer to Entire Call Center Market
Call center technology leader Vocalcom has not only seen unprecedented success of a growing repertoire of 650,000 agents, but its innovative dialing product has been overhauled to bring enhanced dialing features to call centers across North America.
5/6/2011

Accola Release Latest Version of ContactManager for US Legal Firms
Accola, an IT solutions provider to the legal industry, recently launched the latest version of its flagship CRM product-ContactManager. The new version has been exclusively designed for the US legal professionals, the company said in the release.
5/6/2011

Social CRM for Large Enterprises Released by ListenLogic
ListenLogic understands that large enterprises now want to listen and respond to social media in real-time. To address this need, the company recently announced the general availability of its Enterprise Social CRM solutions. The Enterprise Social CRM which is currently serving a number of Global 1000 brands leverages ListenLogic's proprietary Integrated Social Intelligence Platform to assist large organizations to smoothly scale their customer service engagement and marketing outreach operations.
5/6/2011

New Cooperative Agreement Announced Lime Light CRM and Profinity LLC
Profinity LLC and Lime Light CRM recently formed an alliance to provide value-added services to Internet retail, eCommerce and direct response marketers. This new partnership between Profinity and Lime Light CRM will provide value to marketers by creating new incremental revenue streams. They will also get extra benefits which will include identifying and stopping fraudulent orders while reducing chargebacks.
5/6/2011

Magic Software Forms Alliance With BigMachines
Magic Software Enterprises Ltd., a global provider of cloud and on-premise application platform solutions and business and process integration solutions, and BigMachines, a major player in product configuration, pricing and quoting, proposal generation, and B2B ecommerce, have formed an alliance focused on integration services for the BigMachines Selling Platform.
5/6/2011

AT&T Could Gain from T-Mobile Customer Loyalty: Vocal Laboratories
The acquisition of T-Mobile will bring AT&T more loyal customers, according to Vocal Laboratories' study on phone-based customer service quality.
5/6/2011

Leads360 Names Nick Hedges as its President and Chief Executive Officer
Leads360, the industry leader in sales lead management software, has named Nick Hedges as its new President & Chief Executive Officer. As a part of CEO's responsibilities, Hedges will focus on expansion of Leads360's product and customer footprint in order to maintain and further accelerate growth.
5/5/2011

LiveOps Looks to Maximize Direct Response With LiveWeb
LiveOps, a provider of solutions aimed at solving technology and workforce needs for businesses, unveiled a new service, LiveWeb, at Response Expo 2011. LiveWeb provides pay-for-performance online marketing opportunities for the direct response (DR) industry.
5/5/2011

Outsourcing Institute Expands Management Team with Contact Center Solutions Expertise
The Outsourcing Institute, the world's largest and most trafficked neutral professional association dedicated solely to outsourcing, announced the expansion of its management team with the hiring of Jeff Russell as Managing Director of its Contact Center Marketplace. Russell will oversee The Outsourcing Institute's newly formed solutions designed specifically for the contact center industry.
5/4/2011

TalentSoft Acquires 10 new Large Accounts in the Cloud in First Quarter 2011
TalentSoft, a major player in SaaS-based Integrated Talent Management, has cemented its strong international growth with the acquisition of 10 new clients in the first quarter of 2011.
5/3/2011

TalentSoft Acquires New Large Accounts in the Cloud in Q1
TalentSoft, a major player in SaaS-based Integrated Talent Management, has cemented its strong international growth with the acquisition of 10 new clients in the first quarter of 2011.
5/3/2011

Talk2Rep to Provide Outbound Teleservices to Electronic Company
An International Electronics Manufacturer has contracted Talk2Rep to provide customer services and Tier 1 desk support.
5/3/2011

Will 'Crazy Tuesday' Live Up to its Reputation?
If Black Friday, the shopping day after Thanksgiving is meant to be a profitable day for retailers, then Crazy Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day is supposed to do the same for the self storage industry. This year Crazy Tuesday falls on May 31.
5/3/2011

DYXnet Launches Online Housekeeping Service for China's Thriving Online Retail Sector
In response to dramatic growth of online retail industry in China, DYXnet, Greater China's leading ICT service provider, recently launched eShopKeeper online housekeeping service. As a part of the company's Contact Centre Outsourcing services portfolio, eShopKeeper will provide online retailers with quality customer services, both before and after sale, artwork support and many more.
5/2/2011

Callidus Software Launches Sales Coaching Solution for iPad and Android Phones
The Sales Performance Management (SPM) Company Callidus Software Inc recently announced the launch of a next-generation coaching application for mobile devices. Called MySalesCoach, the application is based on Callidus ForceLogix SalesForce Optimizer and will be available on the iPad and Android platforms in the second quarter of 2011.
5/2/2011

AnswerFirst to Volunteer Tampa May Classic 5K Run in support of the Child Abuse Council
AnswerFirst Communications, a provider of international telephone answering service and customer service solutions, announced its volunteer participation for Tampa May Classic 5K Run in support of the Child Abuse Council.
5/2/2011

Talk-2-Me SaaS Solution to be Launched at Canada 3.0
Canada 3.0 is a joint effort of the Canadian Digital Media Network and the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus. True Voice Technologies is all set to launch its new Talk-2-Me SaaS solution at Canada 3.0 in Stratford Ontario May 2-4, 2011.
4/29/2011

Customer Satisfaction or Profitability--- Foresee Results Offers an Answer
Michigan based international customer satisfaction firm ForeSee Results recently published its latest research that sparked off a new debate---should priority be given on customer satisfaction or on the profitability of the organization?
4/29/2011

Sydney-based Mobile Mentor Deploys CosmoCom Contact Center Platform
CosmoCom, which empowers enterprises and service providers to build private and public cloud contact center solutions announced Sydney-based Mobile Mentor, a provider of mobile phone customer support and mentoring, deployed the CosmoCall Universe virtual contact center suite to support their rapid growth.
4/29/2011

Illinois City Scaling Back Grant Money for Contact Center Falling Short of Hiring Goal
It's not an uncommon scenario: a new contact center promises a city x number of jobs, and the city, in turn, promises grants to the contact center company based on those jobs. So what happens when the contact center hires only a portion of the employees it originally promised? A Rockford, Illinois-based contact center company called FMS is about to find out.
4/29/2011

Comcast To Open New Minnesota Contact Center
Cable giant Comcast Corporation is bucking the current economic trend and hiring new employees. The Philadelphia-based company plans to open a new call center in Minnetonka, Minnesota this summer to handle customer inquiries from western states. The new call center will result in the hiring of about 450 new workers, reports Twin Cities Business.
4/29/2011

Hartford Financial Offers FleetAhead Risk Management Program to Commercial Fleet Customers
The Hartford Financial Services Group announced it will offer its FleetAhead risk management program to commercial fleet customers with loss sensitive insurance programs.
4/29/2011

ECOtality to use ABB's Sales Distribution Channels
According to a recent agreement signed with ABB, ECOtality, Inc. will use ABB's sales distribution channels to offer ECOtality's Blink electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to ABB's network of North American commercial and utility customers. ABB and ECOtality have signed some big contracts in the past, which has strengthened their relationship, including a deal in which ABB invested $10 million in ECOtality.
4/25/2011

26th Annual Top 50 Interactive Teleservices Agencies Ranking Revealed
Norwalk, CT (April 20, 2011) TMC, a global, integrated media company helping clients build communities in print, in person and online, today announced the Customer Interaction Solutions magazine's 26th Annual Top 50 Interactive Teleservices Agencies Ranking. Customer Interaction Solutions has been the preeminent publication in call center, CRM and teleservices industries since 1982.
4/21/2011

Kaseya Expands Capabilities and Visibility of its IT Automation Platform
Kaseya, a provider of IT systems management software, unveiled two new modules, Service Billing 1.0 and Service Desk 1.3, that are designed to expand the financial capabilities and organizational visibility of the Kaseya IT automation platform. The Kaseya platform can be used by clients to take advantage of the changing market dynamics and meet growing demands from small to medium-sized businesses for ongoing, proactive IT services.
4/21/2011

Syntellect a Sponsor at UK Call Centre Management Association Awards
Enghouse Systems Limited's, wholly owned subsidiary Syntellect Inc., is a global leaders in contact center and telephony self-service software solutions. The company recently announced that it will sponsor the UK Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) Support Manager of the Year Award for 2011. At CCMA's sixteenth annual Awards Gala dinner on the May 12, 2011 at the Palace Hotel in Manchester, the winner of this prestigious award will be announced
4/21/2011

UAE's Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Opens All-Woman Call Center
United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has announced the launch of its Al Ain call center. Not really big news? This contact center is bound to be a little different. The center will be entirely staffed and run by Emirati women. The women-only call center in Al Ain comes as a realization of the bank's strategy to "employ and empower UAE nationals and to magnify the vital role of the Emirati women in society," said the bank in a statement.
4/21/2011

Singo Solution Selects AdaCore Products
The Ada programming language and GNAT Pro Development Environment from AdaCore have been selected by Singo Solution, Inc., a global provider of specialized call-center solutions.
4/21/2011

PNMSoft to Discuss Benefits, Challenges of BPO
Hoping to finish strong after three successful webinars the past few months, PNMSoft is gearing up for its final webinar in the series, "Managing Change in BPO," which will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. BST (British Summer Time) on Tuesday, April 26.
4/21/2011

IVR Technology Group Unveils iCall to Streamline Automated Outbound Call Processing
IVR Technology Group, a provider of intelligent voice response services and solutions, announced the launch of iCall, a feature-rich, streamlined approach to automated outbound call processing.
4/20/2011

Crytek Uses New Autodesk Scaleform in its New Game
German video game firm Crytek has selected Autodesk Scaleform software, to be used in the development of a new game called "Crysis 2."
4/20/2011

OnboarD's IssuTrax Selected by Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Cruises has signed a fleet-wide contract OnboarD and has selected IssuTrax Facilities Maintenance Management system to provide the highest level of service within the industry when addressing guest related matters.
4/19/2011

Craftmatic Expands Adjustable Beds Call Center Sales Department
Craftmatic, a leading innovator of adjustable beds, has recently expanded its sales team and call center in order to meet the growing demand for adjustable beds. Craftmatic's sales for the first quarter of 2011 were higher than those in 2010.
4/19/2011

Fake FTC Sweepstakes Scam Operation Busted by VerifyPhone.com
VerifyPhone.com, an online public directory with specialized service, has announced that the recent spate of callers posing as FTC employees has been exposed. An increase of phone scammers impersonating Federal Trade Commission employees has been brought to the notice of FTC and VerifyPhone.com and the company has issued warnings to the general public to be aware of the scams. VerifyPhone.com provides its users access to all the information that they require.
4/19/2011

JPay Relocates its Call Center to Miramar & adds 75 New Jobs
Payment service provider JPay, Inc. has announced that it is moving its call center operations to South Florida, generating 75 new jobs in the state.
4/18/2011

InfoGrow Launches CRM2Maps for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
InfoGrow Corporation, an expert in location intelligence, mapping and CRM, has recently announced that it has introduced CRM2Maps for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
4/15/2011

Ramco's New OnDemand ERP Finds Favor with the Public
Ramco Systems, a leading software company focused on consulting, products, and managed services, is offering manufacturers in the Aviation, Aerospace and Defense industry a choice in enterprise solutions.
4/15/2011

Toshiba's Strata CIX Phone Systems Improve Customer Experience at Barnes Motor & Parts
The Telecommunications Systems Division of Toshiba America Information Systems announced that it assisted Barnes Motor & Parts to enhance customer service at call center and 16 NAPA automotive parts stores in Eastern North Carolina with Toshiba's Strata CIX IP business phone systems.
4/15/2011

Affinion Chooses Syntellect to Provide Outbound Call Center Services
Affinion International, a leading innovator of customer to brand marketing, protection and travel products, has recently announced that the company has chosen Syntellect Inc. to provide automated telephone services for customers. Syntellect is a global leader in telephone self-service software solutions and according to the terms of the agreement, its UK partner CCT will help to provide automated telephone services for customer management. Affinion states that the company has already experienced an immediate improvement in efficiency of their customer service operations.
4/15/2011

American Support Included in WorldBlu's 52 Most Democratic Workplaces
American Support, a Chapel Hill-based billing, technical and customer support service provider, recently announced that it has been named one of WorldBlu's 52 Most Democratic Workplaces.
4/15/2011

Autodesk Unveils AutoCAD WS Mobile App for Android
Allowing Android users to view, edit and share their designs through web browsers and mobile devices, Autodesk has announced the availability of the AutoCAD WS mobile application on the Android platform.
4/15/2011

Koç.net and Surado Form Partnership to Promote Surado CRM Online Turkiye
Koç.net, a leading independent alternative operator in corporate data market and telephony services, has recently announced that it has formed a partnership with Surado to offer SMEs Localized Turkish online CRM solutions.
4/15/2011

Raiffeisenbank Picks Altitude uCI Solution
To drastically improve agent productivity and customer contact success, ZAO Raiffeisenbank has recently adapted Altitude Software's uCI solution. One of the busiest banks in Russia since 1996, ZAO Raiffeisenbank offers a full range of services to retail and corporate customers both resident and non-resident, in roubles and foreign currencies. According to Interfax-CEA, ZAO Raiffeisenbank ranked 6th in Russia in terms of private deposits and 8th in consumer lending in Russia, based on 2010 results.
4/13/2011

Cincom's Selling Platform is Now Available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
Cincom, a Gold Certified Partner of Microsoft Corporation, announced that its Cincom Acquire, the knowledge-based selling platform is now available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
4/13/2011

MGF Supports Japan Through Text-To-Give Campaigns
Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF) is continuing its Japan Relief Efforts initiatives through Text-To-Give Campaigns.
4/13/2011

eGain Knowledge 10 Solution Integrated with Oracle CRM On Demand
eGain has accomplished Oracle Validated Integration of its eGain Knowledge 10 solution with Oracle CRM On Demand Release 18 via the through Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN). eGain is a Gold-level member of the OPN.
4/12/2011

Omnilert Launches Emergency Notifications Solutions through U.S. Communities Contract
Omnilert, a provider of e2Campus and Amerilert unified emergency notification systems (ENS), launched their solutions through U.S. Communities Contract.
4/8/2011

Gold Competency for CRM Given to CIBER in the Microsoft Partner Network
CIBER, Inc. recently announced that it has been awarded with a Gold competency in the U.S. for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN). The certification further demonstrates the value that the company provides to its customers by showcasing best-in-class solutions that have been subject to rigorous and auditable approval processes.
4/8/2011

Three Contact Center Software Necessities for Quick ROI
Improving the quality of a call center operation is something that all communications operation managers wish they could do. Getting results out of your team means you'll need each of them performing at top quality, and to make sure they do this there are a number of contact center software solutions that you can incorporate.
4/7/2011

Workforce Software an Essential Component to Call Center Management
Payroll cost is the single largest piece of a call center's budget, which is why effective management of your call center operation is so essential. By ensuring that your agents are being used as effectively as possible, you stand to save a considerable sum.
4/7/2011

Faith Call Center Offers Outbound Services
Company officials at the Faith call center have realized that an outbound campaign can radically alter the number of sales leads that are generated. It has now decided to offer packaged outbound services designed by seasoned industry specialists to comprehensively address the needs of companies.
4/5/2011

Hosted Contact Center Provider Five9 Named One of the Largest Companies in the Bay Area
As the hosted and on-demand industries have exploded over the past decade, so have the companies most eager to adopt the methodologies that the cloud allows. Included in that group is hosted call center service provider Five9 which was recently ranked the 22nd largest software company in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company attributes their recognition to their customers.
4/5/2011

CALL CENTER: TAKE THE EXTRA STEP FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE
Imagine that every single person in your business feels like they are personally accountable for the satisfaction of every customer. Imagine how hard every employee would work in that case. Now visualize that there is a way that you can track not only the service calls but the service tech that handled the call, right to the last detail.
4/5/2011

Assurant Solutions' RAMP Ramps Up Revenue-Producing Sales
The American Teleservices Association or the ATA is the only nonprofit trade organization that dedicates itself exclusively to the advancement of companies that utilize contact centers as an integral channel of operations. It acknowledged Assurant solutions' patented, analytics-based call processing system- RAMP- and conferred on it the 2011 Technovation Award at its annual Awards Gala.
4/4/2011

Bruce Telecom chooses Telax Hosted Call Center
In locations like Bruce County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, harsh weather can be a real threat to businesses' service continuity. That's one of the reasons Bruce Telecom, a 100-year-old communications provider, announced today it has entered into a five-year partnership with Telax Hosted Call Center.
4/1/2011

Hyundai Securities To Improve Customer Marketing By Using SAS Customer Intelligence Analytics
Hyundai Securities, one of Korea's biggest financial institutions is utilizing SAS Customer Intelligence for its Customer Segmentation system, which is used for customer marketing across the company. The company plans to target and cater to VIP customers to increase its retail profits. The company is utilizing SAS Analytics to design a new customer welcome program, and a VIP customer management program. It will employ statistical models that will help it to recommend products to its VIP customers, based on analysis of the individual purchase preferences of each customer.
4/1/2011

Asia-Pacific's Contact Center Industry Scrutinized in New Report
According to a recent study by Frost & Sullivan, the Asia Pacific "continued to be a high-growth region for the contact center industry even during the global economic slowdown."
4/1/2011

Why Are On-Demand Contact Centers Becoming More Popular?
Companies that regularly attend industry gatherings and stay abreast of what the trades as well as mainstream news sources are reporting know that on-demand contact center solutions have received growing attention. The more clear this becomes, the more the answer everyone is looking for is, of course, why is this concept so popular?
4/1/2011

Convergys to Build Fourth Facility in Cebu City, Philippines
Convergys Corporation, a global player in relationship management, has decided to expand again by opening a fourth state-of-the-art facility in Cebu City.
4/1/2011

CollectPlus Debt Collection Software Implemented by Patient Finance and Loan
Patient Finance and Loan (PFL), a state of the art medical and pre-collections company dedicated to providing high quality services to both patients, and providers, has recently announced the successful implementation of CollectPlus.
3/31/2011

Interior Concepts Shows the Benefits of Ergonomic Furniture to the Outbound Call Centers of the ACA
Interior Concepts offers call center furnishing options for tons of different contact center operation styles. From Inbound to outbound and from warehouse sized operation to startups-there really are many call center types that the workstations of interior concepts haven't been utilized in. Last week, Interior Concepts headed out to the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals conference where it showcased its workspace solutions. Considering that many, if not all collection and credit businesses have outbound call faculties associated with them, the show was the perfect place for Interior Concepts expertise in the field.
3/31/2011

Customer Interaction Solutions Magazine Announces 26th Annual Top 50 Outbound Teleservices Agencies Ranking
Norwalk, CONN. (March 30, 2011) TMC, a global, integrated media company helping clients build communities in print, in person and online, today announced the outbound winners of Customer Interaction Solutions magazine's 26th Anniversary Top 50 Teleservices Agencies Ranking. Customer Interaction Solutions has been the preeminent publication in call center, CRM and teleservices industries since 1982.
3/30/2011

Debt Collection Drives Up Dialer Demand in Europe, Middle East: Frost and Sullivan
A tight economy means both more past-due bills and a greater urgency by organizations to collect them so that they can pay their bills, and avoid having them go past-due. This is prompting more outbound calls: with predictive and progressive dialers that make them more efficient, resulting in higher net proceeds.
3/30/2011

Acqueon Technologies Releases New Communications and Notifications Management Application
Acqueon Technologies, Inc., a premier product specialist in customer interaction management, has introduced ProActive Reach, new communications and notifications management application. ProActive Reach is a software application that helps organizations to quickly and efficiently communicate with large groups of employees, customers or other groups of corporate stakeholders.
3/30/2011

The Benefit of Home Agents in Your Call Center Strategy
With the advent of easy to deploy, hosted and virtualized contact solutions, call center operators have more options than ever for developing new hiring and workforce strategies. Chief among these are home-based alternatives, which employs a number of geographically dispersed agents to form well trained support for your operation.
3/30/2011

Acqueon Intros New Communications and Notifications Management Application
Acqueon Technologies, a product specialist in Customer Interaction Management (CIM), has announced its new communications and notifications management application called ProActive Reach.
3/30/2011

Vodafone Germany Deployed Amdocs Mediation 8 to Manage Large Data Volumes
The global provider of customer experience systems (CES), Amdocs recently announced the selection of Amdocs Mediation 8 by Vodafone Germany, the largest service provider in Europe, serving nearly 35 million subscribers with mobile, fixed and broadband Internet services.
3/30/2011

Harvesting Information from Call Center Utilities for a More Effective Strategy
The information a contact center has access to can offer a vital avenue for process improvement. Especially in the workforce management space, tracking individual adherence rates and staff stats offers an easy way to make sure your call center is always prepared for an unexpected increase in call volume. By tracking this incoming information and prominently displaying it to the staff, call center operations can quickly improve adherence rates and customer service representative availability.
3/29/2011

T-Mobile to Upgrade Contact Center as Merger with AT&T Rolls On
Upgrading a contact center when its owning firm is in the midst of a merger may be a strange move; for if most mergers are any indication, it leads to consolidation of facilities like contact centers to cut costs and increase profitability. Especially as other feature-rich, less expensive and increasingly customer-friendly methods such as inbound and outbound IVR/speech recognition and web automated and social community self-service take hold and eat away at call volumes.
3/28/2011

ECT Selected by Major European Network Provider for Broader IVR
As a vendor of complete solutions for value-added services in the multimedia, IVR, and voice domain, European Computer Telecoms (ECT) enables new cloud-based contact center products to integrate effectively with network providers. A provider yet unnamed has chosen ECT's INtellECT Next-Generation Intelligent Network with its effective Network-Based Contact Center to facilitate the incorporation of cloud-based products into its network.
3/25/2011

Indosoft Solution Offers Enhanced Customer Retention Features
Indosoft, a provider of call center software for Asterisk, has announced the general availability of improved customer retention feature sets.
3/25/2011

Contact Center Agent Performance Optimization Market Recovering Strongly in EMEA Region, Says Study
The economy of the last few years hasn't really been good to anyone (except maybe for a few Wall Street bankers, but that's a different story). The downturn, which was far reaching and affected not only North America but Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) as a whole, slowed the growth in a lot of enterprise software market sectors, and the agent performance optimization (APO) marketplace was no exception. Even as the sector declined in 2009, the seeds of recovery and future growth were apparent. The highest growth was witnessed among centers in the 150 to 200 contact center seat range, according to a new study by analyst group Frost & Sullivan.
3/25/2011

DOLE 24/7 Call Center Contributed To the Safe Reparation of Hundreds of OFWs in Libya
Philippine's Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) recently reported the achievement of its 24/7 call center in assisting the individuals and families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who got stuck in the middle of Libyan crisis. Since the Libyan crisis began, the Call Center helped in the process of safe reparation of more than 4,000 OFWs.
3/25/2011

Maine Senators Reach-Out to AT&T on Behalf of T-Mobile Call Center Workers
AT&T's Sunday announcement that it will buy T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom, Germany's largest phone company, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $39 billion that will make it the largest cell phone company in the U.S., was received with trepidation by the people of Maine.
3/24/2011

SupportSquad Partners with TigerDirect, CompUSA and Circuit City
Looking to offer unlimited 24/7 tech support to its customers, SupportSquad has entered into partnerships with TigerDirect.com, CompUSA.com and CircuitCity.com. The company now provides services such as automatic system cleanup, optimization of PC performance and minimizing online threats.
3/24/2011

Sitel Makes Global Outsourcing 100 List
For the sixth straight year, global customer care outsourcing provider Sitel has been included in the Global Outsourcing 100 list, a ranking that recognizes world's best outsourcing service providers and advisors.
3/23/2011

Forrester Call Center Research Includes User Centric's Input
User Centric is well known for its game-changing approaches that take user experiences to a whole new level in contact center operations. The company which is based in Chicago has contributed to Forrester Research's latest report, "Reinvent Your Call Center Culture to Create Amazing Customer Experiences."
3/18/2011

Skype Facility Now Available on Ameyo Software
Customer support centers are established to address customers problems via written or voice communication. Many customer support centers only support voice and written communication. Offering video call facility to customers, through customer support centers, helps companies to provide more effective support service.
3/18/2011

Get International Toll-Free Service Over Skype Using Ameyo Call Center Software
Drishti-Soft, an innovator of contact center software and enterprise communications applications, has recently announced the availability of Ameyo for Skype. Ameyo is Drishti-Soft's call center software, which will now be connected with Skype to enable a full-featured contact center with Ameyo, in addition to an international toll free communication platform through Skype.
3/18/2011

SuccessFactors Forms Strategic Partnership with Avanxo
SuccessFactors, a provider of sales, consulting, complementary business solutions and technology through its SuccessFactors Partner Program, has recently announced that the company has formed strategic partnership with Avanxo.
3/17/2011

APAC Contact Center Market Employs a Record 3.16 Million Agents in 2010: Frost
The Asia Pacific region continues to be a growth center for the contact center industry. To meet customer demand, the region registered an 8.5 percent growth in contact center agent seats in 2010. By 2017, the number of seats is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5 percent, according to a study by Frost & Sullivan, a research firm.
3/17/2011

Great Bay Plans Virtual Collector Enhancement for Product
Great Bay Software will launch a virtual collector enhancement for its flagship product, the Beacon Endpoint Profiler. This enhancement will offer greater flexibility in identifying all network-attached endpoints, thereby boosting the already robust database of endpoint information in enterprise environments. The customer can use the VMware Collectors to deploy the Beacon Endpoint Profiler in the major areas of the IT system while reducing their carbon footprint.
3/17/2011

DYONYX Reports Strong Fourth Quarter and Announces Corporate Expansion
DYONYX, a provider of information technology outsourcing, managed and consulting services, has announced strong 4Q 2010 result. The company added several clients in segments such as commercial real estate, utility, energy and oil and gas sectors. The value of booked contracts is $16 million.
3/16/2011

Bolder Calls and Blitz Lead Manager Offer Effective Tele-Business Solution
According to a press release, a leading contact center solution provider, Bolder Calls teamed up with renowned sales lead management and business contact software provider, Blitz Lead Manager.
3/14/2011

FTC to Host Workshop on Technology Use in Consumer Debt Collection Process
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will host a workshop next month on the impact of new technology in consumer debt collection.
3/11/2011

Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Aspect's Leadership in Outbound Contact Market
Frost & Sullivan has named Aspect as the Global Market Share Leader for the outbound dialer systems market based on product revenue in 2009. The global outbound dialer systems market is valued by the research firm at $250 million and Frost attributes 22.3 percent of this revenue to Aspect.
3/11/2011

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Sounds Alarm on Space Industrial Base, Jobs
With the shutdown of the space shuttle, the U.S. space industrial base is facing a crisis, according to Jim Maser, president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Maser says his company, a division of United Technologies Corporation, already has plans to close half its offices and factory space over the next three years, and might have to lay off hundreds of employees, reports Reuters, unless NASA puts together a plan for a next-generation heavy lift rocket within the next four to eight months.
3/10/2011

Video Contest Open to Call Center Professionals
The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), a global provider of comprehensive resources for customer management professionals, revealed that the 2011 ACCE Conference & Expo will feature a video contest open to all call center professionals.
3/10/2011

Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Aspect as Global Share Leader for Outbound Dialler Systems
Aspect, a provider of customer contact and Microsoft platform solutions, recently announced that the company has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan as the global market share leader for the outbound dialler systems market.
3/8/2011

Oco in Gartner's 2011 Business Intelligence Platforms Magic Quadrant Report
Oco, an innovator of enterprise-class Software-as-a-Service business intelligence (SaaS BI) solutions, recently announced that it has been included in Gartner's 2011 annual Business Intelligence Platforms Magic Quadrant Report, the first such report to include a separate section on Software-as-a-Service Business Intelligence (SaaS BI) offerings.
3/8/2011

LiveOps and City of Newark to Create Work Opportunities for Citizens
LiveOps, a provider of solutions aimed at solving technology and workforce needs for businesses, and the City of Newark announced a partnership to create work opportunities in the greater Newark, N.J. region.
3/7/2011

Innevo and TechMark Bring Outsourcing Services to US, Canada
Innevo, a software developer from Guadalajara, Mexico, recently collaborated with TechMark Global, a technology-focused business development firm located in Binghamton, N.Y., in order to offer development and outsourcing services to the U.S. and Canada.
3/7/2011

Bloomberg Backs Liu's Fiscal Approach to 911 System Modernization
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to back his New York City Comptroller John Liu in advocating for fiscal responsibility in still trying times. Bloomberg recently acquiesced to Liu's demand that the city stop putting millions into its 911 system modernization. In January, Liu refused to approve a contract with Northrop Grumman Corporation, a leader in global security, for $286 million. The contract called for the design and installation of computer software for a $650 million backup 911 call center the city is building in the Bronx as part of that modernization, the New York Daily News reported.
3/4/2011

InsideView, The Vanella Group Partnership Helps Business Achieve New Revenue Levels
The Vanella Group, a provider of teleservices for the technology industry with their Telesales 2.0 methodology, announced a partnership with InsideView, a provider of sales intelligence.
3/4/2011

Heartland Payment Systems Adds ACH Functionality to its Platform
Allowing companies to process all check transactions from one location, Heartland Payment Systems has added Automated Clearing House (ACH) functionality to its Express Funds check management platform, the company has stated.
3/4/2011

UTOPY Inks Reseller Agreement with Veridian Solutions to Cover Australia and New Zealand
Veridian Solutions has inked a reseller agreement with UTOPY, Inc., a provider of voice of the customer and performance optimization solutions powered by speech analytics.
3/4/2011

Shred-It Partners with Sky Technologies to Roll Out CRM-Service
Shred-it, which offers secure destruction of electronic documents, has partnered with Sky Technologies, a provider of enterprise mobility solutions, to roll out a Mobile Enterprise CRM-Service Solution.
3/4/2011

Redwood Collaborative Media Launches Contact Center Association
Redwood Collaborative Media has launched Contact Center Association, which will offer benefits that combine traditional professional association benefits and a new, highly interactive Website.
3/4/2011

Liberty Mutual Group Expands Presence in Boston
In addition to helping people live safer and secure lives, the Liberty Mutual Group, a diversified global insurer and fifth largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S., has decided to offer the residents of the Boston community an opportunity to recover from the economic setback it suffered, by expanding its presence in Massachusetts.
3/4/2011

21st Century Insurance Call Center Singled out for 'Outstanding Customer Service'
The Call Center Certification Program was launched by J.D. Power and Associates in 2004 with the aim of helping call centers in various industries to increase their efficiency and effectiveness by improving the way service calls were handled.
3/4/2011

Equiduct Moves Matching Engines Into Interxion's City of London Data Center
Equiduct has moved its matching engines into its City of London data center to take advantage of Interxion's leading connectivity and Financial Hub community. Interxion is a European provider of carrier-neutral colocation data center services.
3/4/2011

Global Telesourcing Named as Call Center of the Year by Comcast
Comcast has recently awarded Call Center of the Year for 2010 to Global Telesourcing, a sales-focused, premium provider of native-English and Spanish language call center services in Monterrey, Mexico.
3/4/2011

Sentry42 Launches New Gatehouse Data Centre
Sentry42, which offers secure, purpose built, data center facilities, has launched a 60,000-square-foot data centre in the U.K.
3/4/2011

UK's Apex Credit Management on Awards Shortlist: With Help From Noble and Nexidia
Nominees for the Oscars can rest with the awards handed out last Sunday. Those nominated for the United Kingdom's contact center equivalent, the Contact Centre Innovation Awards 2011 have to wait until April 12 at the Customer Contact Planning 2011 at Birmingham, England to find out whether they have won.
3/3/2011

Avtex Expands Contact Center and UC Applications Portfolio
Avtex, a provider of integrated, interactive technology solutions, announced an addition to its Contact Center optimization portfolio and the launch of new Communications Enabled Business Process (CEBP) applications for Unified Communications (UC).
3/3/2011

Cox to Go Green by Enrolling in the Legends Energy Group's Demand Response Program
Cox Communications, along with Legends Energy Group (Legends), recently announced that Cox has made Legends its official demand response partner for all Cox Virginia locations. Not only will Cox receive a payment by reducing its electricity during times of stress on the electric grid, but the company's reduced energy consumption will also have a profound effect on the local environment.
3/3/2011

Lenovo Care Premium Support Services for Consumers is Now Available
Lenovo recently announced Lenovo Care Premium Support Services, which is a new support solution for consumers and small businesses that goes beyond basic PC hardware assistance. The new service will also support home network set up, operating system upgrades and browser troubleshooting, among other activities. Lenovo has created this service after analyzing the most common issues cited in customer feedback to Lenovo's support centers. This premier service will now focus on the initial set-up through the entire lifecycle of Lenovo's PC products and the related digital home environment.
3/3/2011

Convergys Expands in Philippines with New Contact Center in Baguio City
Convergys Corporation, a major player in relationship management, will expand its operations in the Philippines with a new, state-of-the-art contact center in Baguio City, its first in Northern Luzon.
3/3/2011

Avtex Launches New Contact Center Applications
Avtex, a provider of communication and collaboration technologies to its customers, has announced the launch of its Contact Center optimization software and new Communications Enabled Business Process (CEBP) applications for Unified Communications (UC). The company is a Microsoft Gold Partner and also an Interactive Intelligence Elite partner, and has unveiled the new products at the Enterprise Connect conference taking place this week.
3/3/2011

Thirty Percent of Companies Will Use Social CRM for Customer Service in Two Years
About 30 percent of companies will use social customer relationship management (CRM) to extend their online community initiatives in the next two years, according to Gartner, an independent information technology research firm.
3/3/2011

C5 Insight Releases Dynamics CRM 2011 Bible by Wittemann and Ables
C5 Insight, a provider of cloud-based solutions on industry-leading software platforms, announced that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Administration Bible, co-authored by C5 Insight team members Matt Wittemann and Geoff Ables, is now available for purchase.
3/3/2011

Liberty Mutual Group Opens New IT Center in Boston; Fuels Local Job Market
A Boston-based global provider of insurance products and services, Liberty Mutual Group has created a new Information Technology Development Center in Boston. According to the company, the new center is going to be a job-spinner.
3/3/2011

SAP Sales OnDemand Presents New Competition to Rivals
Salesforce.com and Microsoft CRM Online could be looking at some stiff competition from SAP's Sales OnDemand later on in the second quarter of this year. Although it was first discussed at SAP's two-day analyst summit in December 2010, SAP is officially revealing its forthcoming application, Sales OnDemand at the CeBIT 2011 show in Germany today.
3/1/2011

ICAP Ocean Tomo Introduces Instant Messaging for Automated Sales Channels
Vendors must find new ways to promote and sell their products as customers spend more time using communication related media and entertainment sources. To help vendors provide better service to their customers, Shadow Enterprises, represented by ICAP Ocean Tomo have designed a patented process that will be of interest to virtually anyone that deals with eCommerce.
3/1/2011

Singlewire Software Upgrades its InformaCast Notification Platform
Singlewire Software specializing in the development of voice applications for providing secure, fast and reliable mass notifications announced the release of InformaCast 8.0, which is an upgrade to the popular InformaCast notification platform.
2/28/2011

Q&A With InetSoft on Business Intelligence
One key management axiom is that "you can never have enough information." The more you know, the better the chance that the decisions you make will be the right ones. Business intelligence (BI) enables organizations to derive information from the vast and increasing amounts of data collected -- and needed -- for timely and effective decision-making. That includes strategically for enterprises and especially tactically in contact centers where revenues and operations can be improved and costs lowered to drive up profitability.
2/25/2011

LifeWatch Announces the Opening of Third Call Center in the United States
LifeWatch, a provider of wireless telemedicine, announced the opening of its third call center in the U.S.
2/25/2011

Virtuoso Sourcing Installs Latitude Software Debt Collection Solution
Virtuoso Sourcing Group, a provider of outsourced ARM solutions, recently deployed the debt collection solution from Latitude Software, an Interactive Intelligence company that provides debt collection software and services.
2/23/2011

Calabrio Closes 2010 with Record Growth and Unmatched Customer Support
In release today, Calabrio, Inc., a leading provider of workforce optimization software, announced that sales of its workforce optimization (WFO) products through the Calabrio enterprise channel partner network grew more than 40 percent in 2010. Nearly half of its deployments in 2010 displaced an incumbent vendor.
2/18/2011

Blue Nile Picks ShoreTel Contact Center Solution
In order to generate customer satisfaction, Blue Nile, an online retailer of certified diamonds and fine jewelry, has partnered with ShoreTel for a new contact center solution.
2/17/2011

Mitel Optimizes Customer Operations with Benbria's Incident Notification Solution
Benbria, a provider of intelligent incident notification solutions, announced that Mitel, a provider of unified communications software solutions, deployed Benbria BlazeCast to improve their customer service operations with advanced notification, tracking and reporting.
2/16/2011

Bally Total Fitness Selects Customer Service Provider Sword Ciboodle
Bally Total Fitness, a widely recognized health club brand in the United States with 270 clubs and approximately 3 million members worldwide, has selected Sword Ciboodle as lead contact center technology provider to reinvigorate its customer service program.
2/16/2011

Newell Rubbermaid Improves Customer Experience with Help from RightNow
RightNow, a customer interaction company, has announced that it is helping Newell Rubbermaid's Home & Family Group to deliver exceptional consumer experiences and has been in this role since 2005.
2/11/2011

T-Mobile UK Deploys Omnivex Software Within its Call Centers in UK
Omnivex Corporation, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and provider of enterprise software for digital signage networks, recently announced that British cellular telecommunications provider T-Mobile UK is using Omnivex software within its call centers in the United Kingdom. The system displays the current RAG status view of the call center metrics in addition to other important information.
2/11/2011

Most Popular Uses for IVR in Retail Sales
If you want to see how IVR can be used well in retail sales, one way is to look at a popular product and see what the core functionality is. Voxeo's Prophecy IVR platform and Prophecy IVR hosting products have been used by retail sales enterprise customers and VoiceWorks Partners to create and deploy IVR applications.
2/11/2011

Marketing Architects Selects Verifi To Enhance Direct Response Merchants' Customer Acquisition
Verifi, a Software-as-a-Service-based global electronic payment and risk management solutions provider, and Marketing Architects, an outsourced sales and marketing services provider, has jointly announced the selection of Verifi's payment gateway by Marketing Architects targeting enhanced customer conversion for its direct response merchant clients. The integration of Marketing Architects' proprietary IVR platform, Voce, with Verifi's payment gateway would tremendously support customer evaluation while also contributing towards quality enhancement of the acquired customers for their merchants.
2/9/2011

http://unified-communications.tmcnet.com/
Full Avaya DevConnect Compliance has been secured by Sabio CallBack. The application now provides comprehensive integration and interoperability with Avaya Voice Portal. Sabio is a specialist contact center and unified communications systems integrator.
2/9/2011

Covario Enhances International Capabilities, Resources with New Appointments
Covario, Inc. a provider of search marketing software solutions and agency services announced that it is enhancing its international capabilities and resources by hiring Larry K. H. Jenkins as vice president of global client strategies and services. The company also announced significant investments for expanding its team of digital marketing experts in China.
2/4/2011

B2B Soft And Protect Cell Launch Integrated Handset Protection Membership Program
Delivering on their customer-first philosophy, B2B Soft has entered into a strategic partnership with Protect Cell to leverage their handset protection services along with B2B's Wireless Standard product, thus providing clients with handset protection alternatives to the wireless carrier's limited warranties and insurance. As a leading provider of business-to-business software solutions with focus in retail management for wireless/cellular retail industry, B2B Soft has launched its flagship product, Wireless Standard, offering robust POS solution across 4,000 locations in North America.
2/4/2011

Avtex Sponsors Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
Avtex has announced its plans to sponsor the national Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 launch event series, which kicked off yesterday in San Francisco. The company will showcase a breadth of CRM knowledge at each event. It will answer questions around implementing or upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, and how other technologies can complement its already robust feature set.
2/4/2011

Yahoo! Selects RightNow and RightNow Agent Desktop Solution to Provide Superior Multi-Channel Support for Millions of Customers
RightNow , helping rid the world of bad experiences one consumer interaction at a time, eight million times a day, has been chosen by Yahoo! to bring exceptional customer experiences around the globe. Yahoo! will implement RightNow CX, the customer experience suite, to help their global contact center agents deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centers, all via the cloud.
2/3/2011

Partner and Customer Momentum Trigger Record Growth for SugarCRM
The fiscal year ending December 31, 2010 proved to be an amazing year for SugarCRM as it recorded immense growth in terms of customer and billings in Q4 2010. Company officials claimed that this was enough to prove that organizations, regardless of size, were opting for flexible, intuitive and open solutions from a trusted source rather than for the traditional proprietary restrictive CRM solutions.
2/2/2011

OETC Joins with e2Campus for Emergency Notification Solution
Omnilert, a provider of e2Campus, a safety communication solution for education, announced its alliance with the Organization for Educational Technology & Curriculum (OETC).
2/2/2011

Sabio Gets Pan-European Contract from Office Depot
Sabio, a contact center and unified communications systems integrator, has been awarded a pan-European contract from Office Depot, the global supplier of office products and services.
1/27/2011

iReminder Launches Reverse Texting for Medication Adherence
iReminder, a healthcare technology company focusing on increasing medication compliance, has announced the development of reverse texting, a new and innovative approach aimed at enhancing persistency and medication adherence among teens and young adults. Therefore, this will help them in better handling asthma, controlling diabetes and adhering to their vaccinations schedules.
1/27/2011

nuBridges Protect Token Manager Intregates With Semafone's Payment Technology
Delivering innovative new data protection solutions to the call center industry, nuBridges has partnered with UK-based Semafone to deploy and integrated nuBridges Protect Token Manager solution, ensuring increased protection of credit card numbers on the phone. Integrated with Semafone's payment security technology, the industry-leading Format Preserving Tokenisation solution helps combat call center fraud by masking and tokenizing credit card numbers taken over the telephone.
1/26/2011

Kobek Named Interim President of American Teleservices Association
Robert Kobek has been named interim president of the American Teleservices Association (ATA) after CEO Tim Searcy left to take another post. Searcy is becoming CEO of Accent Marketing Services, a member of the MDC Partners Network. He was praised by his former colleagues.
1/25/2011

NetSteps Introduces Next Generation Technology for the Direct Sales Industry
NetSteps, a leading supplier of world-class business applications for the direct sales industry, announces ENCORE, a next generation technology platform providing a total solution for global direct sales companies. Full integration is provided to financial systems, logistics, fulfillment, merchant banking and commission payment applications.
1/24/2011

CosmoCom Assists ColibriumDirect with Consumer Health Insurance Demands
CosmoCom has announced that its cloud-based virtual call center technology is being used in conjunction with Microsoft's Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM by ColibriumDirect, a progressive Atlanta based healthcare insurance business process outsourcer (BPO), to be of assistance to the various health insurance companies in endowing U.S. customers with efficient and economical access to private health insurance.
1/21/2011

Blackbaud Unveils Top Trends In Nonprofit Technology
The report on Top Technology Trends released by Blackbaud, Inc., a global provider of software and related services, exposes the growing trend of nonprofit organizations in resorting to technology for aid in the reinvention and evaluation of fundraising programs.
1/21/2011

A Challenge for T-Mobile: Reducing Sky-High Customer Churn Rates
Ever since wireless number portability became the law of the land about seven years ago, wireless companies have been struggling with a big problem: customer retention. Once, customers stayed with carriers they weren't entirely pleased with in order to avoid changing their phone numbers. Now that customers can wander at will without penalty at the end of their contract periods, wireless companies have had to work harder to keep their customers.
1/20/2011

Nine Mobile Marketing Trends for 2011
Relevance will be the key revenue driver for new mobile-based services in 2011 and beyond, according to K2 Communications Pvt. Ltd., an India-based public relations firm.
1/20/2011

RainedOut Recognized with 2011 Soccer Product of the Year Award
RainedOut, a provider of event and group communication services, has been honored with the 2011 Soccer Product of the Year Award for Best Web Application.
1/20/2011

Max Stiegemeier Partners With P.O.P for Voice Broadcasting System
Max Stiegemeier has entered into an exclusive partnership with the P.O.P Marketing Group whereby Division 5 Technology's VOIP Platform will offer voice broadcasting to home business and affiliate marketing customers with about 0.009 cent per minute dialing rates.
1/20/2011

Emailvision Acquires ObjectiveMarketer
Emailvision, the major player in software as a service for e-mail marketing, successfully completed the acquisition of ObjectiveMarketer, a pioneer in social media marketing.
1/20/2011

Blackboard Delivers Over 13 Million Messages Due to Winter Storms
Blackboard Inc. delivered more than 13 million messages in a single day on Jan. 11, marking an unprecedented level of outreach in a 24 hour period for the company and highlighting the speed of its mass notification services.
1/19/2011

Online Software Suite for Small Businesses from Groobix.com
An integrated suite of affordable and easy to use online business applications are brought together by the cloud-based service, Groobix.com.
1/19/2011

Division 5 Technology's VoIP platform Offers 1 Cent/Minute Rates
Division 5 Technology, a communications holding company, announced that its VoIP platform will offer home business and affiliate marketing customers access to 1 cent/minute dialing rates through a partnership it forged with P.O.P Marketing Group.
1/19/2011

myDIALS Offers 14-Day Free Trial of Online Marketing Module
Recently much attention has been paid to performance management within collaborative environments. To improve operational performance and business results through SaaS performance management platform service, myDIALS, a vendor of SaaS performance management solutions, has introduced a innovative 14-day free trial program of its myDIALS Online Marketing Module, the industry's first auto-deployed SaaS performance management solution.
1/18/2011

Vitality GlowCaps Now Available From Amazon
Vitality andAT&T have announced that Vitality GlowCaps are now available on Amazon. These are intelligent pill caps, company officials say, "designed to help patients take medications regularly by sending reminder calls, weekly e-mail reports and monthly updates sent to your physician."
1/18/2011

Voice2Phone Releases Auto Dialer, Eases Phone Surveys, Reminders
Company officials say the product "automates the process of broadcasting voice message by phone making it easier to perform phone surveys, send voice notifications or reminders to clients." It's being pitched to those looking for mass phone notification, customer surveys and reminders with virtually endless number of possible applications.
1/17/2011

Delta To Shut Down Contact Center in Jamaica; Bring Jobs to U.S.
In a sign that American consumers' preference for U.S. based contact center agents may be penetrating, Delta today became the latest airline to say it will bring call center jobs back to the U.S., according to TheStreet .
1/14/2011

U.S. Cellular has Buy-One-Get-One-Free Offers for Valentine's Day
U.S. Cellular is offering a buy-one-get-one-free sale on all of its Android-powered devices, now through Feb. 17.
1/14/2011

Alorica Awarded for its Analytics Tool and Web-based Management Service Platform
Alorica Inc. a provider of outsourced customer contact management services announced that it has been selected as winner of the 2010 Product of the Year Award for both Alorica Analytics, its proprietary, state-of-the-art analytics tool, and Helix by Alorica, its Web-based technology management service platform.
1/14/2011

CyberTech and Teleopti Become Partners
CyberTech, a call recording provider, and Teleopti, a provider of strategic Workforce Management (WFM), have entered a partnership agreement. The partnership will help CyberTech expand its ever-growing base of best-of-breed contact center solution vendors.
1/14/2011

Pitney Bowes Introduces Volly, a Comprehensive B2B Communications App
If you're a business-to-business company, no doubt you regularly drown your customers via a variety of media. You may mail them invoices, statements and reminders, bulk mail them catalogs and brochures, e-mail them updates and newsletters, text them coupons and send them promotions via social media. What you may be looking for is a way to streamline the flow of multimedia communications. It would save you time, and it would cut down on the annoyance factor for the customer - and perhaps save some trees.
1/14/2011

Cell-CRM.com Offers Free CRM Software
No doubt 'customer relationship management' has been a seductively attractive concept to discuss among trendsetters, organizations and customers.
1/14/2011

Sales Enablement Solutions Help Outbound Call Centers and SMBs with Revenue Generation
To compete in today's sluggish economy, an organization's sales and marketing departments need to be more strategic than ever before. Enterprises and SMBs that are able to succeed in the current market are those that consistently drive revenue, while at the same time operating their business in a responsible and sustainable manner.
1/14/2011

Insurance Provider MajescoMastek Announces Latest Version of STG Billing System
MajescoMastek, the U.S. subsidiary of global technology solutions provider, Mastek, introduced the latest version of the STG Billing system at their third annual User Conference at the Ritz Carlton in Miami, Fla.
1/14/2011

iSPRINT Packaged Solutions Adds SugarCRM to its List
SugarCRM Professional on Demand software is now listed under iSPRINT for Packaged Solutions. An announcement in this regard has been made by customer relationship management or CRM Company, SugarCRM.
1/13/2011

US Army Deploys RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite
The U.S. Army, looking to streamline its service desk operations, has selected the RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite, which provides 24/7 online service desk support. RightAnswers provides enterprise knowledge management, self-service and knowledge base development solutions to support organizations providing internal support, and those who offer customer service. The solutions provided in this suite consist of three components: software, content, and services.
1/13/2011

Cycle30 Completes Cable Conversion with Billing Platform
Comverse, a provider of billing and active customer management solutions, and Cycle30, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Communication Inc. (GCI) , announced that the cable TV services provided by Alaska's largest telecommunications and cable provider have been converted to Cycle30's hosted billing platform, powered by Comverse BSS.
1/10/2011

Q&A with Altitude Software
These are "interesting times" for contact centers what with a slow, but recovering economy, ever-more (and rightfully) demanding customers requiring topnotch service and limited resources. The advent of the social channel as a customer interaction vector, with its tremendous power to sway business and of new UC solutions and increasingly improving service options including outsourcing and home-based agents are providing considerations and choices for center managers.
1/10/2011

Promocall Contributes to Charity Through Monthly Draw
Pormocall, a leading U.K.-based call center, has recently announced that the company is launching a monthly draw in partnership with its offshore partner in Tangier, Morocco. The winner will receive 40 hours of free outbound telemarketing for any project of their choice.
1/7/2011

Intelestream Implements ROI-Driven CRM Solution for Jaffe PR
Intelestream, Inc., a provider in CRM consulting and CRM software-as-a-service, has implemented a successful ROI driven CRM solution for Jaffe PR. The application is designed as an affordable, turn-key CRM solution that can be easily customized according to individual requirements. An Internet connection and a Web browser are all that is needed to use the application, so getting started is easy.
1/7/2011

Call Center Service Provider FaithCallCenter Expands Call Center Offering
FaithCallCenter, a leading call center services, data entry services, virtual assistant services and software development provider, has recently announced that it has now increased its call center offerings to include a multilingual contact center. By outsourcing to call centers, organizations can expect swift responses, cost saving, and precise solutions to issues.
1/7/2011

CSU Picks EnergyConnect to Provide Demand Response Services
EnergyConnect, Inc., a provider of smart grid demand response services and technologies, secured a multi-year contract to provide integrated demand response services to the California State University system(CSU).
1/5/2011

Drishti Deploys Ameyo IPCC at Shell Transource
Drishti-Soft Solutions Pvt. Ltd., an innovator of communications technologies for next-generation enterprises, has deployed Ameyo IPCC at Shell Transource to power the company's critical domestic processes.
1/4/2011

Operations Monitoring Crucial to Improved Call Center Performance
A blog post at Medarch.net offers some insight on how "analytics and contact center quality monitoring are changing the way companies do business and dramatically improving contact center operations."
12/30/2010

Kanoo Travel Opens Women Only Call Center
The Saudi travel agent, Kanoo Travel, opened a call center with women employees only. As per a report in Arab News, around 20 women employed by Kanoo Travel have completed telephone operation training and are now operating the company's first and exclusive ladies-only call center.
12/29/2010

ASC Introduces Business Process Automation Solutions at Call Center World 2011
To support the definition, execution and tracking of business process, ASC Telecom will present its business process optimization (BPO) solutions at Call Center World 2011 at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 21 to 24, at booth C2a, Hall 4.
12/28/2010

Etisalat DB Opens Second Customer Call Center
Cheers Mobile Services, the GSM service from Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Limited, a joint venture between UAE'S Etisalat and the Dynamix Balwas Group, inaugurated its second customer contact center in Noida, India.
12/27/2010

Veterans' Administration Opens Call Center Services in Hot Springs
On the first day of business at the Veterans' Administration Call Center in Hot Springs, the agents handled nearly 1,000 calls that were coming into the Black Hills Health Care's VA Call Center in Hot Springs, S.D.
12/27/2010

GoDaddy.com Enhances Call Center Services with Verint
GoDaddy.com has implemented the next-generation Impact 360 Workforce Management solution from Verint Witness Actionable Solutions, a provider of enterprise workforce optimization software and services.
12/27/2010

India's Cheers Mobile Opens Second Call Center
India's Cheers Mobile Services, the GSM service from Etisalat DB Telecom (Etisalat DB), this week announced the opening of its second contact center in Noida, India. Etisalat DB, which is a joint venture between United Arab Emirates-based Etisalat and Indian firm Dynamix Balwas Group, has an end-to-end outsourcing partnership with Tech Mahindra for the north and south regions.
12/23/2010

inContact Offers Powerful Value Proposition in Call Center Outsourcing
The call center is an important division within any organization simply because it provides an important interaction point between the company and its customers. The challenge, however, is that not every company has the infrastructure to support an in-house call center organization. To help meet the customer interaction needs of the business and still stay within budget limitations, many are turning to call center outsourcing.
12/23/2010

Proper Contact Center Data Warehouse Methods Help Produce Call Center Certification
The call center is an important division for any organization as it serves as the primary interaction point between customers and the company. In many situations, it is the only interaction point and therefore, responsible for the customer's experience and satisfaction. Due to this heightened level of importance, it is critical that the contact handling process is conducted both efficiently and effectively.
12/23/2010

Do You Have A Hotline For Your Customers?
On the Call Center Metrics blog, a recentpost noted that these days, "almost all big (and even small) companies have their own call centers or use services of external call centers who handle customers' calls."
12/17/2010

New Small- to Mid-Size Call Center Product for 2011
Aspect, a provider of unified communications (UC) and collaboration services and software, announced its plans to deliver a software-based product for small- to mid-size contact center applications using Microsoft Lync as its media server, in 2011.
12/17/2010

Amerilert Renewed Contract to Provide Personnel Alerting Services for Defense Logistics Agency
Omnilert, LLC, is a maker of Amerilert one of the leading unified mass notification systems for mid-sized corporations, nonprofits and government clients. The company recently announced that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) activities at the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center have gone ahead and renewed a contract for the Amerilert unified mass notification system. The DLA Installation Support team at Battle Creek, Michigan has been using Amerilert to securely broadcast critical news and public safety information to all DLA employees and contractors associated with the facility.
12/17/2010

Adelaide Contact Center Chosen by Toyota
Adelaide's contact center Contact 1-2-1 has been tapped to operate the Toyota Fleet Contact center (TFCC) for its national dealer network and sales and marketing teams for the next three years. Vic Johnston, manager of Fleet Strategy for Toyota National Fleet, said that the goal is to make the TFCC an integral part of the Toyota Fleet sales and marketing team.
12/10/2010

Rostrvm Solutions: Contact Centers 'Must Not Fail'
According to officials of Rostrvm Solutions, customer contact services have experienced a significant change in what their customers expect and the way that they want to do things over the last few years.
12/10/2010

Northeast States Receives Improved Access to Jitterbug J Cell Phones
GreatCall, which sells developing wireless services "focused on keeping people connected, safe and healthy," according to company officials, announced that Tri-State appliance and electronics retailer P.C. Richard & Son will carry the Jitterbug J cell phones.
12/10/2010

Outbound Call Center: Utah's Method Communications Hires New Leaders
In order to meet with the growing demand for its targeted, strategic public relations and integrated marketing services in the region, Utah-based premier public relations and integrated marketing firm Method Communications recently bolstered its leadership tem by welcoming three communications professionals in its family.
12/10/2010

Eliassen Group Acquires Staffing and Data Management Consulting Firm
Wakefield, Mass.-based Eliassen Group, a technology staffing and clinical data management consulting firm, announced the acquisition of the IT staffing division of Dextrys, a provider of product engineering and application services outsourcing.
12/10/2010

Outbound Call Center: World First Commits to Improved Customer Service
A U.K.-based company, World First, has turned its back on automated answer machines for good. It is the fastest growing foreign exchange broker in U.K. and has announced a new commitment to customer service. The award-winning company has committed to answering the phone within three rings with a welcoming human voice.
12/10/2010

Q&A with Avidian Technologies on CRM Trends
Avidian Technologies say its goal is to build the "easiest CRM software in Outlook": a vision that has attracted business from over 15,000-plus customers and growing worldwide. That has led the privately-held firm to be, it reports, profitable and financially stable with record revenues in 2010 even in the face of the economic slowdown.
12/9/2010

Sitel Expands Call Center Services Footprint in Nicaragua
Sitel, a global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider, has opened an additional call center in Managua, Nicaragua to serve English and Spanish-speaking U.S. consumers.
12/9/2010

Apptis Awarded EPA Call Center Task Order
Apptis, Inc., a leading provider of essential IT and communications services to key defense and civilian agencies, has been awarded the EPA Call Center Task Order under the ITS-EPA II Blanket Purchase Agreement. The contract is for one year and has five one-year options.
12/7/2010

Convio on CRM for Nonprofits
Customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and enabling technologies have become vital for profit-oriented companies to permit them to maintain and grow revenues while reducing costs through maximizing customer lifetime value.
12/6/2010

Acuity Achieves Success With TeleNet
Contracting out contact center tasks to the right partners-BPO (business process outsourcer) firms that excel in people, process and technology--can generate significant bottom-line results. For these outsourcing companies' success depends on how well they can make their clients' programs successful.
12/3/2010

Call Center News of The Week
This week the call and contact center space was alive with talk about new programs, new customers and new regulation. The stories came from some major players in the field including Zeacom, Spectrum Corp and InContact.
12/3/2010

ADI Time to Provide Workforce Management Solution to PSI
In an important announcement made by ADI Time,