Using Speech IVR As a Holiday Staffing Strategy, Part II
A recent Oracle survey entitled “Holiday Season 2006: What’s in Store?” noted that merchants “are putting IT solutions into place to address [holiday staffing] issues.” Speech automation—also known as speech-enabled interactive voice response, or SIVR—is well suited for addressing such issues because it enables you to streamline your contact center operations. A speech automation application gives customers a self-service option to access information or services they are requesting without the need for a live CSR. This solution can take the best attributes of their best contact center agents and replicate those in a consistent manner. ...
Cramped Space a Problem in the DC?
The effect of growth on the distribution center can be negative. Growth can decrease your performance and increase your errors. Space problems can occur so gradually that you may not even be aware of them. The easiest answer to a space crunch is to get more, but this may not always be the wisest decision. There is often a tradeoff between space and labor and adding space can actually increase your labor costs. Fortunately, there are some strategies can improve both space and labor! Here are a few low cost solutions as well as some higher tech equipment and system based options....
Using Speech IVR as a Holiday Staffing Strategy
This is the first in two-part series using speech IVR in the contact center during the holidays. Next week, we'll discuss how to use and implement speech...
B-to-B Marketers: Start the Chatter Now, and Bring in the Sales!
Last month, we discussed five ways business-to-business marketers can use online chat to engage prospects and close deals in “Hey, B-to-B Marketers: Online Chat Isn't Just for B-to-C Anymore.” But if you’re still not convinced that chat is right for your marketing team, you’re not alone. Many b-to-b marketers have hesitations about integrating chat into their programs. Here are the most common concerns voiced by marketers and how to address each one of them: ...
Survey: 48% Plan to Increase Contact Center Spending
According to research from Indianapolis-based American Teleservices Association nearly half of survey respondents planned to increase contact center spending. Among the key findings on spending and investment plans:...
The Fulfillment Doctor Pays a House call to...Reverse Logistics
I've read about the advantages of reverse logistics. I’m a $15 million multichannel business, processing 50,000 orders with a 4% return rate. Are reverse logistics services really going to be able to help me? ...
Court Denies Ecometry Infringement Suit against PCS
A copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Delray Beach, FL-based Ecometry Corp. against Uniondale, NY-based PCS Software was denied by a Florida court on June 20. ...
Evaluate Your Own Service
Most merchants will say that they shop their own catalog and Websites to monitor customer service, and most customer contact centers have a call monitoring process. But many aren’t doing a good job of evaluating the total customer service experience for their company. Curt Barry, president of Richmond, VA-based operations consultancy F. Curtis Barry & Co., has a question for multichannel merchants: “Are you shopping your company in a consistent and methodical manner across the fulfillment and returns process?” ...
Service is Key to CCM Strategy
Customer contact management (CCM) is the method and approach that a company uses to manage all of its customers interactions, both incoming and outgoing, across all business functions such as sales, marketing, service, billing and others. CCM is a component of a company's broader customer relationship management and customer loyalty strategy....
Report: RFID Tide Turning?
Another encouraging dispatch from the RFID front: Nearly three-quarters of second-generation RFID users report better read rates and are more confident that their technology won't soon become obsolete....
Mandatory Employment Verification on the Horizon
Direct marketing organizations, like all businesses, have been collecting I-9 information since the original Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, which made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire unauthorized workers. Although your attention may be focused on your hourly workers—typically high turnover individuals working in contact centers—all employees must meet the same scrutiny. Part of the IRCA created the I-9 document and the verification process employers must follow today in order to avoid sanctions. ...
Legislative Update: Strengthening Port Security
The U.S. House of Representatives in May overwhelmingly voted to pass H.R. 4954, the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE). The act focuses on enhancing the security at U.S. ports, preventing threats from reaching the U.S., and tracking and protecting containers en route to the country....
Supply Chain Evolution: Survival of the Fittest
There has been much debate in the logistics community about the lifespan of supply chain networks under the pressure of rapidly changing global markets. Some experts have gone as far as saying that very few networks are good for more than about twelve months....
Measure for Measure—Shipment Beats Delivery
What's the better benchmark when it comes to shipping the customer's goods? Is it when the order ships or when the order is delivered? It seems not even distribution center managers can agree. According to a recent survey by the Warehousing and Education Research Council (WERC) more distribution center managers measure “on-time shipment,” rather than “on-time delivery.”...
Six Steps for Dealing With Difficult People
There’s no getting around the fact that some people are just plain difficult. And you know who they are. They come in every form, at different levels, and no workplace is immune. Differences and disagreements are a natural part of working together. In a healthy organization, where there are appropriate channels and ways of expressing differences, a certain amount of disagreement—or "conflict"—is energizing and often creative. But when differences lead to personal confrontation, inappropriate aggression, or intolerably high levels of tension, you have to do something to mitigate the tension and redirect the behaviors of those involved. This is not only a part of your job, it is also a responsibility of your managers, in partnership with an HR professional. ...
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