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As we’ve come to know that understanding our customers and meeting their needs is one of the key building blocks for this new decade, it has also become one of the most competitive areas in business. Two-thirds of businesses surveyed report that they compete mainly on customer experience. The global call center market is predicted to grow to $481 billion by 2024 , propelled by the need for businesses to deliver customer-focused services.
In 1999 everybody was worried about Y2K. Will our computers boot up? Can we pay our employees? Will cars start? Do we have enough toilet paper? I managed a global call center during the Y2K fear, and my company spent a full twelve months contingency planning for everything that could potentially fail when the calendar flipped over to the new millennium.
Tough conversations are a part of life and in business, it’s no different. But tough customer conversations can be just that – tough. In customer service, you’re bound to come across a difficult situation or two. People have bad days, get confused, and things go wrong. Angry, difficult and dissatisfied customers aren’t necessarily a reflection on how well your business is run (because people are, well, people).
This week we feature an article by Nikunj Dudhdat, a digital marketing executive at SoftwareSuggest. He discusses the overall value that a good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can bring to your business. Customers nowadays do not lack for options when it comes to buying any product or getting a service. This makes for a very strong competitive environment among the businesses.
Every year, $75 billion is lost to bad customer service — and your business could be bleeding loyalty without realizing it. AI is rewriting the rules. Imagine instant answers, 24/7 self-service, faster resolutions, and skyrocketing satisfaction scores. Companies like Amazon are already cashing in, and the technology is easier than you think — plug, play, and profit.
Just over a decade ago, just as the world was coming out of the deepest recession since the Greatest Depression, we carried out significant research across the globe with the largest container shipping company in the world. We repeated the research a year later when the economy was in full speed recovery mode and while some key drivers remained the same we found a noticeable and consistent change in every model we ran.
You can’t get anywhere unless you’re willing to take a risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. “This idiom dates back to Chaucer (c. 1374) and is similar to the late 14th century French proverb, Qui onques rien n’enprist riens n’achieva (“He who never undertook anything never achieved anything”). The proverb was included in John Heyword’s collection […].
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You can’t get anywhere unless you’re willing to take a risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. “This idiom dates back to Chaucer (c. 1374) and is similar to the late 14th century French proverb, Qui onques rien n’enprist riens n’achieva (“He who never undertook anything never achieved anything”). The proverb was included in John Heyword’s collection […].
Let’s face it, leadership in CX has never been a walk in the park. At the beginning of the year we saw some mixed predictions from Forrester that one in four CX professionals would lose their jobs whilst, in the same breath, stating that the number of CX execs would swell by 25%. What’s driving this paradoxical shift? Accountability. If you find yourself as a survivor of the cull or a newly empowered exec then here’s the brave new world in which we now reside: The Good News: The uphill battle to
Apple has an excellent experience. We could all learn a lot from how they approach business as usual to facilitate customer-driven growth. Why do I like Apple’s experience? Before I answer, I should have my guitar. I am just kidding. No one wants that. What we do want is to know how to facilitate customer-driven growth. Apple is an excellent example of how to do this.
What a difference a month can make. In February, we were looking at topics like growth and development, aligning strategy and technology, and tools for delivering an exceptional customer experience. We’ve now entered the strange new reality of the COVID-19 era. Our Top 5 most-read posts for March reflect the staffing challenges that contact centers […].
AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.
The actions of leaders should focus on common-sense decisions. A good “business-sense”, extensive life experience, having a good judge of character, and the ability to see-through-the-fog towards the intended goal will help most people make the “right” call as needed – when needed. As I’ve mentioned before, I’d rather act and make decisions based on the facts at hand than sit idle and wait for some arbitrary sign of approval later.
Managing a call center caught up in the uncertainty of a worldwide pandemic is no small feat. However, there are a number of important guidelines and tips you can keep in mind to help ease your center’s workforce into remote working and mitigate contagion risks. Remote contact center operations have been around for some time now, but the need for such operational approaches has been magnified by the growing threat of Covid-19 and the heightened importance of social distancing policies to c
Let’s face it, leadership in CX has never been a walk in the park. At the beginning of the year we saw some mixed predictions from Forrester that one in four CX professionals would lose their jobs whilst, in the same breath, stating that the number of CX execs would swell by 25%. What’s driving this paradoxical shift? Accountability. If you find yourself as a survivor of the cull or a newly empowered exec then here’s the brave new world in which we now reside: The Good News: The uphill battle to
I hope our April issue finds you safe and well. You may have seen Mr. Rogers’ quote that is so applicable for our times: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are […].
What does customer service excellence look like in 2024? According to our report with insights from CX expert Shep Hyken, customer expectations are at an all-time high, and there’s a bigger shift toward self-service and leveraging AI capabilities.
Keep remote employees’ skills sharp with our customized, engaging, live virtual training. We start with a video conference to learn about your challenges and goals. Once we agree on your training content, we set a date for live virtual training that includes breakout rooms, online hand-raising, polling questions, and PDF workbooks. Plus, we record the training and hand it over to you to use as you wish.
The Customer is Your Bottom Line. Creating Purpose for Your Employees and Your Business. Shep Hyken interviews Horst Schulze. They discuss his book, Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise , and strategies for hiring the right team, building the right service vision and delivering an unparalleled customer experience.
Last week I discussed that Business Continuity for both Aspect as well as our customers has taken on a whole new dimension. Better yet, we have learned that the term “business continuity” has become an assumed deliverable by all companies. The true measurement of success is really whether your company has Technology Continuity as well as Workforce Continuity.
Start building the AI workforce of the future with our comprehensive guide to creating an AI-first contact center. Learn how Conversational and Generative AI can transform traditional operations into scalable, efficient, and customer-centric experiences. What is AI-First? Transition from outdated, human-first strategies to an AI-driven approach that enhances customer engagement and operational efficiency.
Along with the global economy, how businesses operate is also massively hit, with the spread of COVID-19. This is forcing business owners to take major steps towards overhauling their existing workplace practices – work from home (WFH) is one of them – it has become mainstream in less than two weeks. Happy to share that we at ProProfs kicked off our continuity plans well in time and are glad to share how we cracked the code and are able to keep the ball rolling while still keeping ou
Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too. Maintaining Your Team’s Morale And Productivity During COVID-19 by Denise Graziano. (Chief Executive) The challenges posed to business by the novel coronavirus are unprecedented, but CEOs can help keep spirits up with these tips.
What You Should Learn from Apple’s Outstanding Experience. I am a huge fan of Apple products. If there were already a waiting list for the next iPhone, I would be on it. For me, buying Apple products is emotional, intuitive, and automatic—all the things a brands needs to foster customer-driven growth. Apple is excellent at incorporating principles of behavioral economics and psychology that are hugely influential on customer behavior in all the right ways.
In 2025, contact centers aren’t just changing—they’re being rebuilt by AI. This no-fluff, executive-ready guide shows you how to capitalize on the transformation. Inside: proven ROI calculators, workforce optimization tactics, deflection strategies, and a 90-day AI deployment plan. Built for CIOs, COOs, CX leaders, and contact center strategists, it goes beyond buzzwords into play-by-play implementation.
Ensuring business continuity and the safety of employees and customers is top of mind for companies delivering essential services across industries such as utilities, medical technology and telecommunications. These are lifelines for millions of people and in field service, COVID-19 represents a unique challenge. With so many people currently at home – whether on a voluntary or mandatory basis – customers are likely to experience more issues than usual and need far more support.
With the constantly increasing expectations of customers, providing 24/7 support is no more a choice. Instead, it has become a need of the hour, indispensable to survive the intense competition existing in the business ecosystem. Unlike a decade ago, when customers were willing to wait for brands to act on their requests, modern-day customers lack such patience.
by JD Fairweather. If you asked any contact center manager two months ago about their business continuity plan, they’d likely opine on their facility’s readiness to address just about any emergency scenario. These same managers have seen their expertise and resolve put to the test in recent weeks due to COVID-19. And with effects of the virus being felt worldwide, contact center leaders are scrambling to support higher-than-projected call volumes in the wake of an ever-increasing risk of higher
Managing a contact center team is a challenge at the best of times. If your contact center hasn’t been driven remote by the pandemic, it will likely feel the impact soon — so prepare to go remote now. Besides the obvious technical issues, this presents to those still working on legacy systems, employees are getting more and more worried for their health , pointing the contact center conditions as perfect for transmission of the virus.
ZoomInfo customers aren’t just selling — they’re winning. Revenue teams using our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform grew pipeline by 32%, increased deal sizes by 40%, and booked 55% more meetings. Download this report to see what 11,000+ customers say about our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform and how it impacts their bottom line. The data speaks for itself!
Is it time to question your assumptions about the signals and signs you use to manage your staff ? . The promise of work at home, or work anywhere, sometimes called “ smart working ,” is that employee s can work where they please, when needed, when the company and its customers require. The evaluation of a “ smart work ” employee then needs to shift to rating the impact of their work, the achievement of their goals and the quality of work output rather than other methods.
No matter if you run a million-dollar business or are employed, the chances are that you have come across a survey. Be it rating your overall experience of staying at a 5-star hotel in Vegas or simply rating your Uber driver, we have all been there and done that! For most business owners, surveys have helped to quench their thirst for customer feedback.
In just a matter of few weeks, the coronavirus has become an all-consuming global pandemic wreaking havoc in the business world and in our personal and professional lives. Businesses are now facing an unprecedented double bind – they not only need to look out for their employees’ and clients’ well-being but also ensure business continuity. The majority of the world’s population and large organizations have adopted remote working quicker than anyone could have expected.
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