Over 275,000 Hits Monthly! December 2003
New survey reflects growth and critical
challenges of call center operations
As today’s call centers shift from a
“service only” approach to a
growing focus on delivering sales,
call center operators are refining
their approaches to retaining,
training, and rewarding their
employees, a new survey finds.
The 2003 Call Center
Compensation Survey, conducted
by Mercer Human Resource
Consulting, reflects the growing
interest in call centers as a way to
handle a range of business
functions, including sales, customer
service, technical support, and
credit/collections. This year, 333
organizations — representing
386,320 employees in 1,707 call
centers nationwide — provided data
on 88 different call center positions.
In addition, about 40 of the survey
participants attended a Mercersponsored conference in
Scottsdale, Ariz., recently to discuss
the challenges they face with
employee programs and policies.
According to Dana Kraml, a Mercer
reward consultant with extensive
experience in call center issues, call
center operators are facing a
number of critical challenges,
including:
Retention. Despite the slow
economy and sluggish job market,
high turnover continues to plague
call centers. Management must
continue to focus on motivating and
retaining employees, particularly
since the projected outlook for the
job market in 2004 is promising.
According to Mercer’s survey, the
average turnover rate within call
centers is 33%. Above-average
turnover is not isolated to just lower
levels, but is an issue for all levels.
The retention techniques judged
most effective for retaining
employees are recognition
programs, a favorable work
environment, and high-quality
supervision and leadership.
Additionally, Mercer’s survey shows
that turnover occurs most often
within the first year of employment.
As a result, Ms. Kraml notes, it is
essential for management to
demonstrate strong leadership,
ensure employees get the
necessary training, and initiate
conversations about career paths
within the organization.
Base/variable pay mix. As frontline call center jobs are shifting
from a “service only” focus to one of
sales and service, employers
struggle with finding the optimum
balance between base and variable
pay, and strengthening the link
www.callcentertimes.com • 972-395-3225
1
between pay and performance.
Increasingly, organizations are
looking at their call centers —
and their customer service roles
— as an additional distribution
channel for products and
services. “This shift from pure
customer service to sales and
service requires management to
re-evaluate how they train,
motivate, and reward
employees,” says Ms. Kraml. “It
is leading to more sophisticated
incentive pay programs and
tracking systems to ensure the
appropriate behaviors are
reinforced and rewarded
accordingly.”
According to Mercer’s survey,
variable pay — which can include
bonuses, commissions, and/or
other incentives — is most often
based on achievement of
individual objectives, followed by
level of service provided and
achievement of department and
team objectives.
Base pay increases. Mercer’s
survey indicates that call center
operators are budgeting for base
pay increases of 3.4% to 3.6% in
2004, compared to 3.4% to 3.5%
in 2003.
Shift differentials. Seventy-six
percent of call centers use shift
differentials. Shift differentials are
offered for weekday second shift
(differential of $0.62 per hour)
and weekday third shift ($0.84
per hour), but are highest for
weekend second shift ($0.89 per
hour) and weekend third shift
($1.14 per hour). In addition, 84%
of call centers pay a premium —
typically 1.5 times hourly base
pay — for employees who work
on a scheduled holiday.
Multilingual employees.
According to Mercer’s survey,
45% of the responding call
centers pay a premium for
multilingual employees. Of these,
42% indicated that the amount of
the premium was dependent on
the language spoken. For
Spanish, the language most in
demand by employers, the mean
premium is $0.70 per hour.
Pay levels
Mercer’s survey also looks at pay
levels and trends for 88 call
center positions. For each, the
survey contains statistical
summaries for base salary, shortterm incentive, total cash
compensation (base salary plus
short-term incentive), salary
ranges, and short- and long-term
(e.g., stock options) incentive
eligibility.
The highest-paid positions in the
call center environment include:
top corporate call center
executive, with median total cash
compensation (includes base
salary and annual incentive) of
$200,000; group or regional call
center executive at $136,800;
and call center executive
(responsible for a single call
center or business segment) at
$105,900.
continued page 3
e-mail: neke@callcentertimes.com
tin# 75-2915747
P. O. Box 118451, Carrollton, TX 75011-8451
Bus. 972-395-3225 Fax 972-395-9205
Dear Vice-President of Sales/Marketing,
Here Is How We Can Help Increase Your Bottom Line!
Following is a synopsis of our programs:
♦ ____Call Center Book of Lists Directory:
• 1000 Call Centers Listed
• Each Call Center has at least One Decision Maker Listed
• Complete Contact Information
• 500+ E-mail Addresses
• The Directory is in CD-ROM (Excel Spreadsheet)
• FREE Quarterly Updates
Cost: $425
♦ ___ Call Center’s Buyer’s Guide: This section of our website is the most elaborate advertising program
that we provide:
• Your company will be profiled on our website, www.callcentertimes.com, for 12 consecutive months
• You will be listed in the Rolling Banner for 12 consecutive months
• Your company will receive one FREE month of advertising in our monthly newsletter ($275 Value)
Cost: $517
♦ ___ Newsletter Sponsorship:
• Your company will be profiled in our next print/electronic newsletter
• This will enable you to promote new product/service offerings, case studies of satisfied customers
and corporate announcements.
• Promotional text length can be negotiated
Cost: $275
Simply check the applicable column(s) and return by fax to (972) 395-9205. Please note that all
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Survey cont’
The survey reveals differences in
pay by call center type or function.
For example, pay for intermediatelevel representatives tend to be
highest in call centers focused on
full account management and
technical support. Pay is lowest for
the category of inbound order entry.
A similar pattern occurs among
team/group managers. (See table
regarding Functional Pay
Variations.)
The 2003 Call Center
Compensation Survey is available
for purchase online at imercer.com
or by calling 800 333 3070. The
cost is $650 for companies that
participated in the survey and
$1,950 for non-participants.
Mercer Human Resource
Consulting, one of the world’s
leading consulting organizations,
helps employers create measurable
business results through their
people. With more than 13,000
employees serving clients from
some 150 cities in 40 countries
worldwide, the company is part of
Mercer Inc., a wholly owned
subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan
Companies, Inc., which lists its
stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the
New York, Chicago, Pacific, and
London stock exchanges.
Visit Mercer online at mercerHR.com/USpress
Functional Pay Variations
Call Center Function
Median Total Cash
Compensation* —
Intermediate-Level
Representative
Median Total Cash
Compensation* —Team/Group
Manager
$12.40/hr.
$57,400
Inbound order entry
Internet
$13.00/hr.
$60,500
Inbound with selling
$13.05/hr.
$64,200
Customer service
$13.20/hr.
$67,300
Outbound with selling
$13.40/hr.
$65,000
Collections
$13.77/hr.
$66,800
Full account management
$15.32/hr.
$70,800
Technical support
$15.59/hr.
$74,700
*
Median total cash compensation includes base salary and annual bonus/incentive. Statistics are
organization weighted.
Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting, 2003 Call Center Compensation Survey
CEMS-SC From Data
Collection Resources
Recording for small
call centers - $2,995.00
Why Consider CEMS-SC for
your Quality Monitoring
Program
Is management currently
performing live monitoring
multiple hours per day?
Is the majority of their time
spent manually trying to find
“good calls” to monitor?
Is it difficult to judge an agent’s
performance over time or to
judge their performance with
respect to their peers?
If you answered yes to one or
all of these questions then
CEMS-SC is good choice to
automate the monitoring and
recording process for your
small call center.
a new call to be presented to
the agent.
Finally, once an agent is
presented with a new call they
must struggle with
interruptions that will invalidate
the current monitoring session
or invalid call types that don’t
meet the monitoring criteria.
Based on our studies we have
found that 35% to 40% of a
supervisors’ time is lost simply
looking for a good call to
review. By automating the
process with CEMS-SC all lost
time is reclaimed because the
supervisor never has to
manually search for an agent
to monitor, it is done
automatically by system.
CEMS-SC vs. Live Monitoring
By its nature live monitoring
requires evaluators to first find
an agent that is either currently
on a call or an agent waiting for
a call. If the agent is on a call
then the analyst must wait unit
the conclusion of the call
(because the opening of the
call has been missed) and a
new call begins. This process
could take up to five minutes
for the current call to finish and
3
Contact: Data Collection
Resources –
www.monitoringmadeeasy.com
860-537-0649
P. O. Box 118451, Carrollton, TX 75011-8451
Bus. 972-395-3225 Fax 972-395-9205
2004 e-Newsletter Package Sign Up Form
Date __________
Invoice # 21049
TIN# 75-2915747
‘2004 Newsletter Package’
$500.00
• Free listing in Resource Directory/Buyer’s Guide
December ’03 – December ‘04
•
Logo placement in sections of our newsletter
January ’04 – December ‘04
•
Freepromotion of new product/service offerings as well as case
studies of satisfied customers and corporate announcements in our
media outlets (newsletter and website – www.callcentertimes.com)
January ’04 – December ‘04
Company Name: ______________________________________________________________________________________
Contact Name: ______________________________________________________________________________________
Address:
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Phone/Fax: __________________________________________________________________________________________
E-Mail:
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Remit To:
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P.O. Box 118451
Carrollton, TX 75011-8451
4
eOn Communications
Announces Plans to
Acquire Korean Call
Center Solution Provider
NeoMecca, Inc.
eOn Communications
Corporation™ (NASDAQ:
EONC), a leading provider of
unified voice, e-mail and Webbased communications systems
and software, has announced
that it has entered into a
commitment letter which outlines
the terms in which eOn will
acquire NeoMecca Incorporated,
a provider of contact center and
communications solutions in
Korea.
The commitment letter
anticipates a transaction in which
a newly formed subsidiary of eOn
will acquire substantially all the
assets of NeoMecca, including its
intellectual property rights.
NeoMecca will receive common
stock of eOn as a result of the
acquisition. It is anticipated that
660,000 eOn shares will be
issued upon closing the
acquisition, and up to an
additional 506,000 shares may be
issued over five quarters after the
closing date if NeoMecca attains
specified profit targets. The
number of shares to be issued
may be adjusted upon the
occurrence of certain events.
Jun Choi, President and CEO
of NeoMecca, welcomed the
proposed transaction by saying,
“We are very excited about the
opportunity this transaction
presents to become the leader in
providing call center services and
solutions in Korea. We have built
our reputation on providing
outstanding products and services
to our customers and partners,
and this combination with eOn will
allow us to build upon the success
we have already achieved in
serving the call center industry.”
Alpine Access Doubles
Client Base in Six
Months
Outsourcer successfully
brings on board 3,000th
“The acquisition provides eOn
with a great opportunity to expand
its international presence,” said
David S. Lee, Chairman and CEO
of eOn. “We believe NeoMecca
will add value to eOn through its
knowledge and expertise in the
Asian market. This acquisition will
combine two companies with
complementary expertise,
products and services to address
the growing call center market in
Korea. eOn may, in the near
future, investigate similar
opportunities to address the call
center market in China.”
home-based agent to
support new
engagements
Alpine Access, Inc., an outsourced
call center solutions provider, has
announced that it has doubled the
number of customers served in
the last six months of 2003.
These clients are in the direct
response TV, mass market retail
and government industries and will
bring approximately $10 million in
annualized revenue to the
company next year. In the fourth
quarter of 2003 Alpine Access
recruited nearly 800 additional
home-based agents to meet the
needs of its customers, and as a
result, reached the milestone of
It is anticipated that all current
employees of NeoMecca will be
employed by the eOn subsidiary
upon consummation of the
transaction. The proposed
acquisition is subject to a number
of conditions, including the
completion of due diligence, the
negotiation and execution of a
definitive agreement, and the
approval of the shareholders of
NeoMecca. Subject to these
contingencies, it is expected that
the transaction will be
consummated during the first
calendar quarter of 2004.
3,000 active agents.
“These recent client wins
demonstrate that the timing has
never been better for our unique
home-based agent model for call
center services,” said Reg Foster,
Chairman and CEO of Alpine
Access. “Our continued traction
with mass market retail and direct
response TV customers validates
our promise to increase revenue
generated per call and provide the
flexibility needed to handle
unusual call delivery patterns. Our
new government customer will
also benefit from our ability to
meet specific requirements to
steer opportunities to
disadvantaged populations of
workers.”
About eOn
Communications‘
eOn Communications
Corporation™ is a leading
provider of unified voice, e-mail
and Web-based communications
systems for customer contact
centers and general business
applications. eOn helps
enterprises communicate more
effectively with customers, convert
inquiries into sales, and increase
customer satisfaction and loyalty.
To find out more information about
eOn Communications and its
solutions, visit the World Wide
Web at
www.eoncommunications.com, or
call 800-955-5321. ■
Adds Peter Hantman, the
company’s Chief Operating
Officer: “These new engagements
have required hundreds of
5
additional agents, enabling Alpine
Access to meet the 3,000th agent
milestone earlier than forecasted.
We look forward to recruiting more
home-based agents to meet the
growing acceptance of the Alpine
Access solution by our
customers.”
Sixty percent of Alpine Access’
home-based agents hold degrees
from graduate schools, colleges
and other post-secondary
institutions, along with experience
in sales and other professional
environments. The company has
expanded recruitment efforts
beyond the greater Denver area to
include other metropolitan districts
in Colorado, Arizona and Utah.
ASC LAUNCHES NEW
CHANNEL-READY
CALL RECORDING
SOLUTION FOR SMALL
TO MEDIUM
ENTERPRISES
MARATHON EVOlite, part of
the latest generation of ASC
communications recording
solutions, has been
specifically designed to
satisfy smaller organisations’
need for cost-effective,
reliable and hassle-free
recording
ASC telecom
(www.asctelecom.com), a
leading provider of performance
improvement solutions for
contact centres, financial
institutions, public safety and
government organisations, has
announced the launch of
MARATHON EVOlite, ASC’s
new plug-and-play cost-effective
communications recording
solution for Small to Medium
Enterprises.
The recording of customer
interactions has been
considered in the past as a
requirement privy to large
organisations, with smaller
businesses resorting to it mainly
for legal compliance purposes.
Today’s consumer and quality
led market is increasingly
demanding the same service
level from any enterprise,
independently from their shape
or size, hence the SMEs’ need
to implement call recording also
for quality purposes. Additionally,
any call from any place. For
call evaluation purposes, up to
eight separate channels may
be replayed simultaneously
and by using the Last Call
Repeat function, calls can be
played back via any telephone
line.
smaller businesses are
becoming more aware that a call
recording solution can save time
and money as well as help
retain customers by swiftly
resolving disputes as soon as
they arise. With over 300 SME
customers in the UK alone, ASC
has a long and proven track
record in developing solutions
for the SME market and
MARATHON EVOlite is the
ultimate result of this wealth of
experience.
MARATHON EVOlite is easy
to use and deploy, requires
minimal training and
administration with built-in
multi-language support,
making it the perfect solution
for the reseller channel. ASC
is now introducing
MARATHON EVOlite to its
existing partners and it is also
proactively looking to expand
its market reach by recruiting
new SMEs focused resellers.
MARATHON EVOlite, lays its
engineering foundation on being
the WORLD´S FIRST Linuxbased communications recorder,
providing power, reliability, builtin scalability and open source
flexibility typical of enterprise
applications in a cost effective
package. MARATHON EVOlite
captures and records all
customer interactions from 4 up
to 32 channels simultaneously
with a minimum on-line storage
of 15,000 recording hours
allowing for both record-ondemand and full-time recording.
MARATHON EVOlite can be
configured to record, live monitor
and archive communications at
one location and to provide
search and replay facilities
through browser-based
interfaces both at the recording
unit and remotely via local
networks (LAN/WAN), Intranet or
a secure Internet connection. If
several business locations need
recording, MARATHON EVOlite
allows for multiple units to be
networked together for
immediate and easier access to
“Increasingly, smaller
businesses are asking for
much of the sophistication and
reliability of larger enterprise
solutions, but with a pricing
model that matches their
budgets” commented
Guenther Mueller, Chairman
and CEO of ASC telecom.
“MARATHON EVOlite
represents the ideal solution
for the SME market and its
reselling channel, combining
reliable, feature-rich
communications recording in
an almost out-of-the-box
affordable package.
MARATHON EVOlite is also a
further statement of our longterm commitment to small and
medium sized businesses.”
■
6
eGain Customers
Among Internet
Retailer’s Best of the
Web Top 50 Retailing
Sites
Web sites recognized for
merchandizing excellence, and
continual improvement of
shopping and service
experience
eGain Communications Corp.
(Nasdaq: EGAN), a leading
provider of customer service
and contact center software to
the Global 2000, has
announced that many of its
customers were among the
fifth annual Internet Retailer
Magazine’s “Best of the Web—
Top 50 Retailing Sites.”
Inclusion in the Annual Internet
Retailer Best of the Web—Top
50 Retailing Sites recognizes
excellence in web
merchandizing within a wide
range of retailers. “They are
not exclusively the biggest,
busiest or the most profitable
sites,” said Kurt Peters, editor
of Internet Retailer. “These
sites succeed in a competitive
market by knowing their
customers, understanding how
the web site fits into an overall
retailing strategy, and by their
continual improvement of the
online shopping and service
experience.”
The editors base their
selection of the Top 50 on
consultations with members of
Internet Retailer’s Editorial
Board of Advisers and with
industry consultants and
analysts, nominations from
readers, and the editors’ own
professional and personal
experience in dealing with
sites throughout the year.
Crate and Barrel, LLBean,
Timberland and Zappos were
among eGain customers
included in the Top 50. eGain’s
solutions for customer email
management, web selfservice, chat, co-browsing,
knowledge management and
service fulfillment have been
used by leading click-andmortar as well as web-only
retail companies around the
world to provide best-in-class
customer service, reduce
service costs and improve
PERFORMIX
TECHNOLOGIES
NAMED
ENTREPRENEURIAL
COMPANY OF THE
YEAR AS IT SEEKS
TO EXPAND ITS
SUCCESS BEYOND
THE CONTACT
CENTER INDUSTRY
Performix Technologies,
leading provider of employee
performance management
software has been named
Entrepreneurial Company of
the Year by Frost and Sullivan,
analysts of the world’s hi-tech
markets since 1961.
The award recognizes
Performix’s rapid growth since
its foundation in 1998 and its
plans to expand beyond its
Within the last six months
Performix has secured major
contracts with financial
institutions on both sides of
the Atlantic to implement its
software across broad
business areas. One of the
world’s largest banking
institutions is using Performix’s
Emvolve Performance
Manager to streamline back
office functions, while the UK’s
Co-operative Bank is engaged
in a program to deploy
Emvolve across 90% of its
employee base.
online sales.
“eGain has served leading
retail and e-tail companies for
many years, and we are
pleased to see that our
customers were among
Internet Retailer’s Top 50,”
said Arnold Adriaanse, SVP of
sales for eGain. “This is
testament to our ability to
enable retail companies to
extend their competitive
advantage through highly
differentiated online service
and improved browse-to-buy
conversion.” ■
Alpa Shah, Vice President of
Frost & Sullivan said; “We
watch with anticipation as
Performix takes the first steps
to broaden its marketplace.
The company has recognized
a key trend among businesses
of all sizes - the move towards
implementing an enterprisewide solution rather than a
department-centric one. All of
the indicators suggest this
technology has potential to
deliver significant benefits in
any business environment
where employees are
engaged in replicable
business processes, however
complex.”
heartland in the contact center
industry. Its employee
performance management
software suite, Emvolve
Performance Manager, which
launched in Ireland and the
UK in 2000 and in the US in
2001, is now deployed among
more than 36,000 contact
center agents in 115 client
locations across six countries.
In making the award Frost &
Sullivan, recognized not only
Performix’s success in
securing leadership in the
contact center industry, but its
software’s potential for
deployment in other highly
employee intensive business
areas, including back office
functions such as claims
processing, mortgage handling
and bill payment processing.
In giving the award Frost &
Sullivan also cited Performix’s
success in forging technology
alliances that will aid its
development, including those
with IEX, Verint, Envision,
7
Concerto Software and Aspect
Communications.
Performix Technologies was
selected for the award after
exhaustive research and
competitor comparisons
undertaken by Frost &
Sullivan, who also carried out
extensive interviews with the
company’s senior managers
and clients.
Performix Technologies was
also named ‘Contact Center
Supplier of the Year’ at the
2003 Irish Contact Center
Awards. The judges granted
the award in recognition that
Performix had delivered
quantifiable performance
improvements across its Irish
client base, as well as
universal return on investment
(ROI). Every implementation
of Emvolve Performance
Manager has achieved full
ROI within six months of
implementation. Performix
was founded in Ireland in 1998
and its clients include 2 of the
country’s leading banks, Allied
Irish and Permanent TSB, its
largest health insurance
provider, Vhi, and largest
telecom company, Eircom.■
Artisoft and Cynergy
Software Partner for
CRM Solution
Integrated solution
allows for enriched
Partnership con’t
help desk experience
time.”
Artisoft®, Inc. (OTC: ASFT),
developer of the first softwarebased phone system, and
Cynergy Software Corporation,
a leading help desk software
and CRM solutions provider,
has announced the availability
of a cost-effective CRM
solution. The integration of
Artisoft’s awarding-winning
PBX, TeleVantage® 5.0, with
Cynergy Software provides
exceptional desktop
application usage for service
desks, help desks, and remote
technicians. This strategic
relationship, formed under
Artisoft’s Open
Communication Alliance,
empowers both companies to
promote the solution to their
respective channels.
The joint solution enables
TeleVantage customers who
are connected to Cynergy’s
web-based help desk
application to have screen
pops for inbound customer
service calls, Integrated Voice
Response (IVR) connectivity
for call routing, and outbound
desktop dialing for customer
service call backs and CRM
flexibility. In addition, Cynergy
delivers web-based support for
the remote technician onsite,
as well as a vehicle to track
issues and inform customers
of up to date changes in the
issue or ticket.
“Cynergy Software was the
answer I was looking for in a
web-based help desk
application that works with
TeleVantage. Screen pops on
TeleVantage were seamless,
and the outbound dialing fits
our business model perfectly,”
said Jim Trimble of Satcom
Industries. “We are able to log
tickets and our customers are
able to log their own tickets
over the web, both of which
automatically send e-mails to
whoever we set up. This saves
our technicians immeasurable
your desktop computer with the
most advanced
communications technology
available today. Its robust
feature set includes intelligent
call management, powerful call
center, advanced IP telephony,
comprehensive messaging,
web browser, and graphical
desktop call control. Built on an
open systems architecture and
supported by world-class Intel®
hardware, TeleVantage
enhances customer service,
increases productivity and
improves the bottom line for a
variety of customers, from
small offices to large enterprise
organizations with
sophisticated call centers.
Artisoft’s Open
Communications Alliance is
comprised of industry-leading
companies working with Artisoft
to deliver standards-based
communications solutions with
TeleVantage as the focal point.
“TeleVantage is uniquely
positioned in the help desk
market. This integration
reaffirms Artisoft’s commitment
to providing customers with
help desk solutions,” noted
Rob Black, Product Marketing
Manager of Artisoft. “The
Cynergy product is particularly
noteworthy because of its
strong computer telephony
integration with TeleVantage
and this partnership opens up
new sales opportunities for the
Artisoft channel.”
“Cynergy Software was
designed with customer service
and telephony connectivity in
mind. This partnership with
Artisoft affirms our commitment
to open standards in telephony
and our commitment to the
Artisoft Channel,” commented
Steve Davidson, President of
Cynergy Software Corporation.
“We believe that TeleVantage’s
ease of use and connectivity to
Cynergy gives us an edge in
Artisoft’s award-winning
TeleVantage is a feature-rich,
software-based phone system
that combines the power of
8
the Help Desk space.”
Cynergy Software has two
products in one. First and
foremost Cynergy is a
sophisticated help desk
application that allows
companies to more effectively
handle customers and their
support issues. Cynergy’s CRM
functionality also allows for
customers’ sales staff to focus
on client relationships instead
of administrative tasks. After a
rapid Cynergy implementation,
customers enjoy improved
communications with their
clients, partners, and
employees. Management can
monitor success with
sophisticated reporting
capabilities. Cynergy also
provides service desk support
via email or pager. Cynergy’s
comprehensive telephony
integration allows its users to
be more productive. ■
State of Indiana Uses
Communications
Software from
Interactive Intelligence
to Provide Convenient
Access to Agency
Services
The state of Indiana has rolled
out communications software
from Indiana-based Interactive
Intelligence Inc. (Nasdaq: ININ)
to provide more convenient
Indiana con’t
access to information about
child support payments and
nursing certifications to
Hoosiers throughout the state.
The state is providing this
information via the software’s
interactive voice response
application. IVR has been
used for years by many
industries, including the credit
card industry, where it enables
card-holders to get automated
account information 24 hours
a day, seven days a week
using a touchtone phone.
The state’s Division of
Information Technology (DoIT)
installed Interactive
Intelligence’s IVR to capitalize
on cost savings that can be
realized by providing services
that are shared across
agencies, according to Laura
Larimer, chief information
officer for the state of Indiana.
The first two agencies to take
advantage of the new
technology are the Indiana
Family & Social Services and
the Indiana State Department
of Health.
“We continually look for ways
that new and innovative
technologies can allow citizens
to more conveniently access
government services,” Larimer
said. “We looked at IVR
software from a lot of different
vendors and were thrilled to
installed the state’s new IVR.
The company’s local team of
account managers and service
technicians provides ongoing
maintenance and support.
find that the best software to
meet our needs was Hoosier
born and bred.”
FSSA uses the IVR to enable
individuals either paying or
receiving child support to find
out the status of their support
payments 24x7 by calling
(800) 840-8757. The
information can be accessed
via any touchtone phone. The
IVR has processed between
350,000 and 400,000
incoming child support calls
monthly since installation.
“State and local governments
that are under severe budget
constraints are turning to
technologies such as speech
and IVR to help increase their
responsiveness to constituents
and at the same time reduce
costs,” said Yankee Group
senior analyst, Art Schoeller.
“By deploying a standardsbased platform like Interactive
Intelligence’s, and with the help
of a capable value-added
reseller such as Expanets, the
state of Indiana ideally
exemplifies this trend.”
“Custodial parents all over the
state appreciate being able to
obtain information about their
support payments at any time
of the day or night,” said Karla
Mantia, deputy director of child
support at FSSA. “The IVR not
only gives parents more
convenient service, but it frees
up time, which allows our
employees to give personal
attention to more complex
inquiries.”
The Interactive Intelligence IVR
application runs on the
company’s Windows 2000based Interaction Center
Platform®. The IVR enables
organizations to easily create
scripts of virtually unlimited
complexity with no arbitrary
limits on the number or depth
of menus. Features include
text-to-speech, speech
recognition, wide-ranging
database access, mainframe
connectivity, pre-built reports,
multiple interface points for
integration to existing
telephony and IT systems,
built-in monitoring and system
logs, multi-server clustering for
scalability, a menu-driven tool
Citizens wanting to verify
nursing certifications can do
so through the service
provided by the ISDH at (317)
237-7920. The agency
reported that the IVR has
processed about 3,000 calls
per month since installation.
Communications solution
provider, Expanets of Indiana,
recommended, designed and
9
for administration, and a
graphical user interface for
customization.
The Interaction Center
Platform® also enables
organizations to maintain
customized applications across
telephony interfaces and add
other interaction management
applications - such as
multimedia routing, Web chat
and unified messaging without investing in additional
hardware or maintaining
redundant systems. The
platform was designed to
reduce costs and simplify
management by providing a
centrally administered and
maintained system from which
multiple contact center and
business applications can be
accessed.
“As a locally based company,
it’s especially gratifying to know
that the benefits of our
technology - both in the form of
cost reduction and customer
service enhancements - can be
passed on to tax payers
throughout the state of
Indiana,” said Dr. Donald E.
Brown, president and chief
executive officer of Interactive
Intelligence.■
eTelecare Opens Third
Philippine Call Center,
Expands to 1850
Seats
eTelecare International has
officially opened its third
greater-Manila call center.
The new center has 150
inbound seats and will expand
to 300 by January, growing
eTelecare to a total of 1500
inbound and 350 outbound
seats. Call Center 3 is located
in the Cyber One building in
the Libis section of
metropolitan Manila.
“This is a great moment for
everyone at eTelecare. Our
continued rapid growth reflects
the value that each and every
employee brings to our clients
every day,” says eTelecare
president Derek Holley.
“Three years ago, we started
with 20 agents. Today, with
more than 3000 employees,
we are the leading Philippinebased outsourcer of call center
services.”
Like its siblings, Call Center 3
is located in a secure modern
office park with redundant
power and
telecommunications
infrastructures. “Call Center 3
will use the same state-of-theart technology found in our
other centers,” says Holley.
“This includes Avaya switches
and CRM solutions, Cisco
routers, NICE Systems
monitoring software, Blue
Pumpkin scheduling software
and Pentium IV-based
workstations.”
(www.etelecare.com)
outsources contact center
operations for leading firms in
the financial, technology,
telecommunications and other
sectors. eTelecare hires only
university graduates and
invests heavily in technology,
training and quality practices to
provide award-winning service.
eTelecare has more than 3000
employees working on 17
programs for 16 clients.
The majority of the new
center’s seats will be
dedicated to technical support
programs for a major US
computer manufacturer, one of
eTelecare’s largest clients.
This client’s move into Call
Center 3 will open up space in
Call Center 1 for several other
clients to expand their stored
value card, gift check and
incentive gift programs over
the holiday season.
■
CitiStreet Expands
Verint ULTRA
Intelligent Recording
Solution
ULTRA Will Deliver
Actionable Intelligence
to Global Benefits
Provider for Enhanced
Productivity
eTelecare expects further
growth to quickly fill the
available space in Call Center
3, so the company is already
scouting possible locations for
Call Center 4. “We expect to
open our next center in Cebu,”
says Holley. “Operating in the
country’s second largest city,
on a separate island from
Manila, will diversify eTelecare
geographically and enhance
our disaster recovery
capabilities. It also enables us
to spread the opportunities we
offer to other parts of the
Philippines.” Call Center 4 is
currently slated to open in
April 2004.
Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:
VRNT), a leading provider of
analytic solutions for
communications interception,
digital video security and
surveillance, and enterprise
business intelligence, today
announced that CitiStreet has
expanded its ULTRA™
Intelligent Recording solution in
support of important customer
service initiatives.
CitiStreet, a 50/50 joint venture
between State Street Corp.
(NYSE:STT) and Citigroup
eTelecare International
10
(NYSE:C), is one of the largest
and most experienced global
benefit providers, offering a
range of products and services
for defined contribution, defined
benefit, and health and welfare
plans in the corporate,
government, healthcare and
education areas. With more
than $170 billion in assets
under management and 6.4
million participants, customer
service is a primary focus for
CitiStreet.
“As a benefits provider, our
customer service initiatives are
our most important priority, and
we look forward to using
ULTRA to unearth actionable
intelligence that will help us
enhance customer experience
while improving operational
efficiency,” said Greg Sexton,
senior vice
president of CitiStreet. “ULTRA
will give us easy access to the
information we need and
enable us to use our people
most effectively. And because
ULTRA is scalable, it will allow
us to expand the capabilities of
the system as our business
continues to grow.”
ULTRA Intelligent Recording
drives total quality by enabling
organizations of all sizes to
cost effectively capture
customer interactions and
extract actionable intelligence
from telephone, Voice-over-IP,
email, chat or agent assisted
co-browsing contacts. Easy
access to all customer data
through ULTRA’s Web-based
desktop portal enables
enterprises to use what they
learn from customer contacts
to optimize their processes,
increase productivity, comply
with risk management
requirements and improve
service to their customers.
“We are pleased that
CitiStreet, a company with a
reputation for customer focus,
has selected ULTRA to
support its customer service
initiatives,” says Dan Bodner,
Verint President and CEO.
“ULTRA will deliver actionable
intelligence that will help
power quality improvements,
speed issue resolution and
increase productivity across
the CitiStreet enterprise.” ■
CIMA SYSTEMS
SELECTS
VOICETEXT(tm) TO
POWER ADVANCED
PHONE SYSTEM FOR
AUTO DEALERS
NeoSpeech, a provider of
speech technologies for handheld, desktop and network
applications, has announced
that Cima Systems has
selected NeoSpeech’s Text-to-
communications applications,
making it the most
comprehensive software of its
type. The system proactively
mines an auto dealership’s
dealer management system
(DMS) for relevant customer,
contact and sales/service
information such as recall
notices, service appointments
and lease terminations on a
daily basis. Cima then
automatically creates service or
marketing messages,
converting data elements into
speech or personalized emails.
It sends these customized,
targeted sales or service
promotions online, over the
phone or via e-mail, on the
days and times the dealer sets.
Dealership customers can
schedule or cancel
appointments any time, day or
night, by phone or the web. If a
customer does cancel an
appointment without
rescheduling, the system
automatically contacts them by
phone to reschedule for
another day.
Speech product,
VoiceText(tm), to power its
advanced phone system for
auto dealers. Cima Systems’
interactive communications
software combines automated
data mining with voice and
email messaging to automate
communication with customers
via phone and the Web.
VoiceText automates the
phone component, enabling
dealerships to effortlessly send
outbound calls to customers
based on appointments made,
services scheduled or
promotions launched.
“By dynamically generating
customer names and other
specific information,
NeoSpeech’s VoiceText helps
differentiate Cima’s product,”
said Cima Systems CEO Gary
Nixon. “Dealerships can now
deliver highly personalized
reminders, notifications and
messages to their customer
base by phone, email or text
messages.” By providing this
level of automated, intelligent
communications, Cima helps
dealerships increase customer
contact, customer satisfaction
and sales, while drastically
lowering overhead and
expenses.”
“By using Cima’s automated
system, we are able to reach
twice as many customers a day
for a fraction of the price,” said
Brian Keegan, Director of
Service and Parts at San
Leandro Honda. “Cima frees
our time spent on
administrative phone items, so
Cima combines interactive
technology with scheduling,
marketing, client survey and
11
that we can spend more time
with customers. Yet, outbound
calls feature the real voice of
sales and service managers,
enabling us to maintain a
personal touch by ensuring that
every customer gets
‘personally’ contacted by the
sales or service manager.”
“Cima’s interactive customer
communication and relationship
management applications
enable auto dealers to get the
right message to the right
people at the right time,” said
Yoon Kim, NeoSpeech CEO.
“By incorporating NeoSpeech’s
Text-to-Speech technology into
Cima’s solution, we enable
dealerships to affordably
deliver highly personalized
communications that improve
their customer relations and
drive sales.”
About NeoSpeech
NeoSpeech, Inc. is a leading
provider of speech-enabled
solutions based on a suite of
best-of-breed core capabilities
in speech recognition, speech
synthesis, speaker verification,
and voice animation. The
company offers flexible,
innovative products for the
mobile, enterprise,
entertainment and education
markets. The privately-held
company, headquartered in
Fremont, California, is backed
by Voiceware Co., Ltd of
Korea. Visit
www.neospeech.com for more
information on NeoSpeech
products, solutions and
services.■
Quadstone Introduces
WNP Offering to
Combat Customer
Churn Related to
Wireless Number
Portability
Customer Analysis
Veteran Leverages
International
Experience in Number
Portability to Help US
Carriers Predict and
Save High Risk
Customers
Quadstone, the leading
provider of customer analysis
software for agile business,
has introduced its WNP
(Wireless Number Portability)
offering to help providers
predict, and put in place save
offers for those customers
most likely to churn as a result
of the new U.S. wireless local
number portability regulation
effective, November 24, 2003.
Drawing on its unparalleled
experience with leading
European wireless providers
such as T-Mobile, Telenor and
month’s churners look like this
month’s churners. History has
shown that WNP radically
changes the marketplace and
customer behaviors
Quadstone’s WNP offering is
based on three key
components designed to
manage this rapidly changing
landscape:
Vodafone, Quadstone is
strongly positioned to help
U.S. providers quickly identify
customers most at-risk, and
effectively implement solutions
for retaining those customers.
Quadstone’s WNP offering is
unique in equipping analysts
and business managers with
the tools to collaborate and go
beyond simply predicting
which customers are likely to
churn, to understanding why
those customers might switch
services, as well as identifying
which customers are most
likely to respond to a save
offer.
1. Speed – analysis and Churn
Models should be updated
daily, not monthly to stay in line
with the unstable marketplace.
2. Analysis – a view of all
customers is necessary to
understand where to focus
marketing resources, as
traditional assumptions often
prove to no longer be valid.
3. Collaboration – business
area experts and statistical
analysts need to work together
as neither customer data nor
analysis tools provide magic
answers on their own.
Wireless Number Portability
allows customers to switch
services while retaining their
current phone numbers. By
relying on pre-WNP customerretention strategies and
models, service providers are
at risk of losing large numbers
of customers historically
considered loyal. Studies
indicate providers are likely to
lose upwards of 30% of
customers to better offers; the
impact to revenues lost is
predicted to run in the billions
of dollars. Providers must be
ready to explore, model and
exploit new data immediately
after the new regulation goes
into effect. Current churn
management solutions are
based on the premise that last
Quadstone’s WNP offering
combines years of knowledge
in customer analytics with
dynamic interactive software,
allowing analysts and
executives to collaboratively
explore high volume data and
test hypotheses in real time.
The impact of this efficient
predictive modeling-to-action
process is what sets
Quadstone apart and helps
build customer value for
12
service providers.
“Wireless Number Portability
turns current thinking about
identifying high-risk customers
on its head. Customers who
were once considered loyal
might have been so only
because of their reluctance to
change cell phone numbers,”
said Mark Smith, President,
Quadstone-US.
Quadstone’s WNP Program:
Gain control of customer churn
in 10 days
To minimize the impact of the
new number portability rule on
customer churn, Quadstone
provides the wireless carrier
with tools to analyze and
understand the root causes
that drive customer decisions.
Quadstone con’t
Quadstone’s WNP
engagement process includes:
• Define high-risk customer
segments
• Audit and analyze existing
churn models
• Identify customers likely to
churn as a direct response to
WNP (e.g., business users or
people who receive more calls
than they make calls)
• Develop counter actions for
customer segments likely to
churn after WNP
• Analyze actions to strengthen
customer relationships and
prevent churn of specific
segments
• Identify high-value versus
high-risk customers to help
develop long-term customer
loyalty programs
• Provide tools to continuously
explore, model and exploit
new customer data to develop
timely churn prevention and
customer retention strategies.
■
The Call Center
School Publishes
Workforce
Management Book
a call center. Topics include:
Nashville, TN. The Call
Center School (TCCS)
announces the publication
of its latest book, Call
Center Staffing – The
Complete, Practical Guide
to Workforce
Management. The book is
written by TCCS founding
partner Penny Reynolds,
with contributions by TCCS
co-founder Maggie Klenke.
• Data gathering and analysis
• Overview of call center
staffing issues
• Forecasting workload
• Calculating staff
requirements
• Evaluating staffing tradeoffs
• Creating staff schedules
• Skill-based routing and
scheduling
• Managing intra-day staffing
and service
• Calculating trunk/network
requirements
According to Reynolds,
“Running a successful call
center operation means
managing by the numbers,
and perhaps the most
important number of all is
the number of resources in
place to respond to
customer contacts. Since
over two-thirds of call center
operating costs are related
to personnel, getting the
“just right” number of staff in
place is critical in terms of
both service and cost.”
• Staffing for multi-media
contacts
• Automating workforce
management
• Call center staffing
alternatives
• Workforce management
roles and responsibilities
The retail price of the book is
$39.95. The book is available
at Amazon.com or on The
Call Center School web site
at:
http://www.thecallcenterscho
ol.com/bookstore/index.html.
This book takes the reader
through the step-by-step
process of forecasting
workload, calculating staff,
creating schedules, tracking
daily performance, and
managing by the numbers in
14
About The Call Center
School
The Call Center School
provides a wide range of
education and training services
for call center professionals.
Based in Nashville, TN, the
company provides e-learning
programs for training front-line
staff on call center operations,
a 35-topic web seminar
curriculum entitled The Masters
Series in Call Center
Management, and a variety of
traditional, classroom courses
on a wide range of call center
operational topics. The Call
Center School also specializes
in customizing educational
programs to fit the specific
needs of any organization. For
more information, visit
www.thecallcenterschool.com
or call 615-812-8400.
■
Corporate Sponsors
COMPANY PROFILES
VoiceLogger
VoiceLogger’s objective is to
increase the performance and
efficiency of your workforce
with an effective and versatile
system that delivers highly
reliable voice recording and
quality monitoring solutions.
With uncomplicated features
such as Slim CTI and
customizable evaluations the
digivoiceXE solution enables
you to boost agent productivity
and effectively manage your
contact center.
digivoiceXE delivers
everything that your
administrators and workforce
need to raise the
bar and exceed past
performance with an effective,
versatile, and simple solution.
digivoiceXE empowers
supervisors with the ability to
live monitor, evaluate, and
analyze the performance of
your agents resulting in an
unrivaled workforce,
accelerated profits, and
enhanced customer loyalty.
Versatile
digivoiceXE meets your needs
now and in the future.
Customized scorecards,
search queries,
and quality reporting allows for
personalized solutions that
can be adapted around your
business goals.
Simple
digivoiceXE is easy to use.
It’s intuitive design and open
architecture provides a smooth
integration to existing
platforms that deliver effortless
training and unprecedented
management confidence.
Supervisors, as well as
agents, will find the operating
environment of Microsoft
familiar and easy to
understand.
Scalable
The digivoiceXE system is
highly scalable to
accommodate your rapidly
growing business. The same
system designed for a small
operation with a dozen seats
easily supports much larger
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Service
With VoiceLogger, you receive
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Reliable
digivoiceXE is dependable and
inspires confidence among a
growing list of satisfied
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Motors, AOL/Time Warner,
Matria Healthcare, Sprint, Dell,
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Cost Effective
digivoiceXE delivers an
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Contact:
sales@voicelogger.com
www.voicelogger.com
■
Witness Systems
Witness Systems (NASDAQ:
WITS) provides the contact
center industry’s first integrated
performance optimization
software suite to help global
enterprises capture customer
intelligence and optimize
workforce performance.
Comprised of business-driven
and/or full-time customer
interaction recording,
performance analysis and elearning management
applications, the browser-
based eQuality® solution is
designed to enhance the
quality of customer contacts
across multiple
communications media,
including the telephone, e-mail
and Web. The closed-loop
suite enables companies to
record, evaluate, analyze and
learn from customer contacts
and the touch points they use
to develop staff, generate
revenue, reduce costs, and
achieve greater customer
retention and loyalty - all by
sharing captured customer and
business intelligence
throughout the entire
organization. An integrated
business consulting,
implementation and training
methodology provides services
to support an effective, rapid
deployment of eQuality that
enables organizations to
maximize their return on
investment.
Paul Sewell | Witness Systems
| Corporate Communications |
Office ( 678-254-5411 | Cell (
404-808-6522 |
psewell@witness.com |
www.witness.com
Publisher: Nosa Eke • www.callcentertimes.com • Ph. (972) 395-3225 • Fax (972) 395-9205