By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In every industry, there exists a Standard Operating Procedure, or SOP. This SOP is a collective compilation of what has been known, proven, and verified to work over time. It is the prevailing wisdom of how things should be done and how things are done for that industry. This is […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. With the United States’ fall elections behind us, I am now recovering from the inundation of all messages political. From these saner confines of a post-election U.S., I can address the “serious” problem of outsourcing. Succinctly put, outsourcing, an often prudent, wise, and cost-effective practice, has been politicized. Once a […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD People often contact me looking for information about the outsourcing call center industry. Sometimes I am able to point them to content residing on the Connections Magazine website or one of our other related online resources. These queries are the easy ones. Other times the inquiries relate to benchmarking and […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Years ago, as a first-time manager, I was green and had much to learn. I walked down the hall with my boss; he had just given me yet one more assignment, a task that I didn’t have time to do. I protested at his directive, insisting that I already had […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD My son, Dan, recently completed his first year of college. After spending last summer relegated to working a smattering of part-time odd jobs, he desired a different outcome for this year’s educational respite. He learned that it was important to start his search early to beat out the competition. By […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD My daughter graduated from college this spring. She majored in English and minored in Math; her focus — and passion, however — is elementary education. Although reports abound of a teacher shortage, that is not the case in our area. With above average compensation and several respected local schools churning […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Based on the title of this article, StarTrek fans may be anticipating an enlightened discourse on Seven of Nine’s unremitting pursuit of Borg-style perfection. Alas, this is not the case. (If you are disappointed, I recommend watching, “The Omega Directive” – StarTrek Voyager, season 4, episode 19 – and then […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Last month’s column, entitled “Answering the Call,” discussed the decreased call volume that most inbound call centers experienced in past years; many are still in the throes of this downturn. At this same time, a groundswell against outbound calling and its associated practices occurred, ultimately led to the enactment of […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. It was a lazy summer afternoon, a Friday. Things were a bit slow at the office and upper management had left to get an early jump on their weekend. I, being a front-line manager, did not have that luxury. Besides, I had work that I wanted to complete before the […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD A few weeks ago, I did something outrageous. I stopped answering my phone. Although that is a bold, foolhardy step for anyone in business, it is heretical for someone whose entire professional career has revolved around the telephone. However, before you plan an intervention on my behalf, let me assure […]