By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Last fall I bought a new wireless router for my network. One of the features it boasted was the option to connect an external hard drive to it for backing up files from any network computer. As you might suspect, I wasn’t able to get it to work, so I […]
Category: Call Center
Call center articles by Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD When mapping out the future, it’s always wise to first look back to see where we’ve been. In 2009, the call center industry has gone through a lot. Like most industries in the United States, and likely around the world, the economy was – and continues to be – a […]
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Blogging about Technology
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I’ve been actively blogging for about two years (see blog.peterdehaan.com: 376 posts, 102,000 words, with 1,000 article views a week; the record is 2,065). I cover whatever is on my mind, anything and everything, from work to personal, from trivial to profound, from mainstream to geeky. I organize my musings […]
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Musings from the 2009 ATA Convention
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Having just returned from the 2009 ATA Convention and Expo in New Orleans, I am still processing all the valuable information that was presented and the insightful ideas that were shared. Between the several keynote addresses and multiple breakout sessions, there were over thirty presentations of which to avail oneself. […]
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Dealing with a Distributed Workforce
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD The label “call center” amuses me. Firstly, most call centers now process more than just calls, such as email messages and text chats. Though revising “call center” to “contact center” seems to adequately address that concern, it’s a moniker that’s never clicked with me. The second consideration is ironically that […]
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They Just Don’t Get It
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I wonder if my local phone company is clueless; it seems that they just don’t get it. By “it,” I mean everything: marketing, pricing, customer retention, technical support, and customer service. Although they are surely aware that they no longer function in a monopoly environment, their actions belie that reality. […]
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Call Center: The Wrong Way
By Peter Lyle DeHaan I selected on an internet firm to file my trademark application for my new publication, TAS Trader. After a perfunctory phone call to remove concerns over their viability, I submitted my information online. This set in motion a series of email communiqués with their “trademark team” that became increasingly frustrating, lacking […]
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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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Effective Change Management
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD There has been a great deal of change in the DeHaan household over the past year. Last summer Laura and Chris were married, with Laura moving out of state and looking for a new teaching job. Plus, they both started graduate school last fall. This spring, Dan and Kelli graduated […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In this column in the March issue, “Perceptions of Call Center Outsources,” I shared from a recent study conducted by ContactBabel, called The US Contact Center Operational Review. Billed as “the largest and most comprehensive study of all aspects of the US contact center industry,” this was their second edition […]