Consider the implications of the call center versus contact center debate By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In Connections Magazine we use the terms call center and contact center interchangeably. Some authors who write for us are content to use the more traditional label of call center, while others prefer the more accurate label of contact […]
Tag: call center management
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Be Careful What You Say
People Judge the Company We Represent on Every Single Phone Call By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I once had a call center agent work for me who had a compulsion to offer commentary at the end of every call. Her comments ranged from snarky to crass. Occasionally she voiced her opinion a bit too quickly, […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Bots, sometimes called chatbots, are applications used to automate responses to social media and online inquiries. The purpose of bots is to speed answers to customer information requests. And they do this automatically. They’re programs, after all. They can do in seconds what it might take a person minutes to […]
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Call Center: The Right Way
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Recently, I had questions about my HSA (Health Savings Account). Expecting the worst, I reluctantly called my provider. To my delight, my call was quickly answered, there was no queue, and no queue announcements. I don’t even recall being subjected to an IVR on the front end of my call. […]
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False Alarms and Other Considerations
Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD False alarms and erroneous error messages: if you have technology in your call center, then you’ve likely been frustrated by these events. I was recently reminded of this as I searched for the source of an electronic alarm, warning me that something was awry in my home. Eventually, I found the […]
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You’re Being Acquired
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Most employees fear the changes wrought by acquisition. I have never been “acquired,” but I have been on the other side — about a dozen times, buying small and medium-sized telemessaging call centers and integrating them into a larger operation. The almost universal response to an acquisition announcement is trepidation […]
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A Holistic Approach to CRM
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD About six years ago, I made a presentation at a trade show about CRM (Customer Relationship Management). When I was asked to speak at this event, the choice of topic was left to my discretion. At the time, CRM was the new buzzword. Because I was unsure about what CRM […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD North American culture salutes the solitary leader, the charismatic visionary, and the lone voice. It celebrates those boldly marching to the beat of a different drum. It is this perspective that makes for exciting cinema, painting an inspirational picture for viewers to admire and emulate; it successfully offers to fill […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD By leaps and bounds, the ubiquitous Internet is becoming more pervasive and accepted, even expected, in our daily lives and the world around us. While some call centers strive to be innovators on the leading edge of this societal evolution, most are content to follow the lead and experience of […]
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Language Interpretation
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD As the economy becomes more global and society becomes more ethnically diverse, differences in language become more pronounced. In some areas, where there is a heavy concentration of a particular ethnic group, it is not uncommon for call centers to effectively be bilingual. In some areas of the United States […]