Contact Center to Fulfillment: It's Logically Seamless for ClientLogic Nov 19, 2003 12:00 PM
JobZone
Search and post jobs for the Multichannel Merchant. Including jobs for brand & agency marketers, e-commerce, catalog marketers, ops & fulfillment, direct marketing and more.
Let me start with a quick overview as to who ClientLogic is.
ClientLogic desires to be the leading business process outsourcer in
the contact center and fulfillment space. [In terms of ] the SCOR
model, our expertise is to deliver stock product and deliver
made-to-order product. That's really where we play from a supply chain
perspective, but that being said, we can extend the supply chain on the
customer side significantly, and that is really where ClientLogic
plays: We are a customer management company.
We manage customer relationships on behalf of our clients. That's
what we do, day in and day out. Managing a customer relationship means
you have to be able to interact with that customer through a variety of
channels, to provide multichannel interaction. Those multiple channels
can be a call-phone-e-mail, Web chat; it can be pop display units; it
can be white mail-as you know, there's a significant amount of white
mail that still exists in the industry by way of surveys, coupons,
redemption offers, rebates, etc.
O+F: Have you developed your own CRM
effort-is it your own software, or have you put things together with
best-of-breed components?
AS: If you look at every facet of CRM from
every perspective, it's really a combination of best of breed and some
proprietary stuff. If you look at the continuity service we offer, it
is actually a proprietary application. But on the back end, the
customer management application, we use either Vantiv or Siebel; for
the knowledgebase we use Primus; for marketing or campaign management
we use Unica; and we use PkMS in our fulfillment shop with a
proprietary order management system; then we bring it all together and
we have what we call the "universal desktop," an agent interface into
multiple systems. The universal desktop has to have the flexibility,
through middleware, to access n number of client applications.
To answer your question a different way: As an outsourcer, we have
to be very clear and cognizant and able intermarry our clients' systems
with ClientLogic systems. In that sense, ClientLogic becomes somewhat
of a de facto systems integrator, because we're integrating data and
system elements from our clients into ClientLogic systems and data to
deliver a consistent experience to the agents and customers.
O+F: At O+F we're sensing some shifts,
both economic, and technological, especially in fulfillment. Are there
any technological changes coming down the pike that are going to make a
difference in how you have to operate? There's a lot of buzz about
RFID, and we're wondering what you see or hear in these areas. Are
things really picking up; are customers getting more excited? Or is
this a false herald of the holiday season?
AS: From a technology perspective you're
absolutely right. We've heard a lot about RFID. We haven't seen any of
that translate into a change in requirements on our clients' end as
yet. And what I mean by that is that as we pursue opportunities and
speak with clients, none of them thus far have asked us to implement or
adopt any kind of RFID needs. I think where we are is very early in the
discovery phase of RFID technology. While there's a buzz, I'm going to
drive to a very tactical level and tell you that we haven't seen any
prospect or client make that a requirement. That's not a commentary on
whether it's good, bad, or otherwise.
In terms of other technologies, the other one we're watching out for
is SMS messaging. I believe it's a few to several years until this
technology really becomes one that enables and allows companies to
support their customers. Right now it's kind of like Web chat. SMS
today is about messaging, not about service and support. But that's one
we're watching, because the younger generation is growing up around
SMS, and as they mature, this will become a de facto standard. As that
happens, it will become crucial to provide support.
From the economic perspective, it's a little difficult to break up
the upbeat purchasing news into what's truly being driven by a base,
fundamental change or shift in the economy vs. the season. These months
are among our largest months in the year. A majority of our clients,
irrespective of industry, are forecasting a fairly strong Q4. Whether
it's consumer products, ISPs, electronic products, almost all our
clients have an increased interaction volume during this period. But
it's very difficult for us to tell whether that's a fundamental
economic drive or season-driven.
I will say that as a matter of comparison, the optimism for the 2003
Christmas season is higher than it was for the 2002 season. For one of
our accounts, an Internet service provider, we are adding about 200
positions this season. That's about a 25% increase in capacity just for
this period.
