Should We Embrace Technology in Our Medical Contact Centers or Fear It? By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Throughout the history of the call center industry we’ve looked for ways to help our agents be more effective. In the pre-computer days this often meant physical solutions and electromechanical devices that allowed staff to answer calls faster, […]
YouTube Is the Second-Largest Search Engine in the World In past months we’ve talked about our presence on various social media sites. Here’s my list: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Goodreads, and Google+. Let’s connect on your platform of choice. There’s also YouTube. People gravitate to video. As a writer, I don’t so much like this […]
Are you are a writer? Do you want to be a writer? If so, are you writing every day? I heard it said that if you’re a writer and not writing every day, then you’re not really a writer, you’re a reader. While that may seem harsh, it is something to seriously ponder. Although it […]
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Responding to Email
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD My website FindaCallCenter.com features a directory of call centers. All the information listed has been submitted by the businesses themselves. To ensure the information is current and accurate, I periodically email each call center, asking them to review and confirm their information. The lack of response—and the slowness of response—to […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD For some, the mere mention of social media produces a crooked smile and lights up their eyes. To them, it’s the preferred way to communicate; they would be lost without it. Others groan and roll their eyes at the mention of social media. Some give it a resigned yawn, quickly […]
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Euphemisms for Broken
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I subscribe to an online computer file backup service. It is easy to use and does its work automatically with little assistance from me. This is how all backups should function—automatically and without human involvement. However, there was a time that it warned me that it hadn’t backed up any […]
If you plan for nothing, that’s likely what you’ll achieve. By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I’m a big advocate of planning. I have a plan for each day and a plan for the week. I have a plan for the month and for each quarter. I also have a plan for the year. It’s not […]
The Other Side of Article Submissions from an Editor’s Perspective For the past thirty-five years, I’ve been submitting articles to periodicals. For the past sixteen, I’ve also been on the receiving end as a trade magazine publisher and editor. This gives me a 360-degree understanding of what happens to an article from conception to publication—and […]
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Customer Disservice
Sometimes a Call Center Is Its Own Worst Enemy By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD When call centers work as intended, they’re an amazing resource. They provide needed information and allow for the speedy resolution of problems. They’re fast, convenient, and effective—most of the time. Though I like to celebrate call center success in this column, […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Last time we talked about web chat and it’s growing used in the call center. Another interesting technology that will make inroads in the call center is video. Just as text messaging is driving demand for a webchat, the use of Skype, Face Time, and other video apps will spur […]