News

ContactCenterWorld.com, the Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking is pleased to announce its 15th Birthday!

ContactCenterWorld.com originally established in the UK back in 1999 as CallCenterWorld.com relocated its HQ to North America in 2001 and at that time became one of the first in the industry to change its branding to Contact Center in recognition of the multichannel status of the industry.

The brainchild of Raj Wadhwani, ContactCenterWorld.com has over 137,000 members worldwide in all industry sectors and levels of industry professionals. ContactCenterWorld.com started off as an information resource – an electronic magazine for the industry but over the years has grown to become a powerhouse and the global association for the industry with market leading solutions and services that help managers and executives running centers improve their business through best practices and networking.

ContactCenterWorld.com recently introduced networking amongst members and also offers live instant chat between connections a member may have. Like many industry standard social media sites, ContactCenterWorld.com [...]

The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) finds that eighty-one percent (81%) report their organization recognizes correlations between the customer experience and loyalty.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — January 13, 2014 — The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) has released its 2014 report,Customer Experience Management in Action! Insight to Differentiate YOUR Company & Contact Center, a composition guide to customer experience management.
Today, customer experience management (CXM) is no longer a luxury; rather CXM is a competitive necessity. In fact, customer experience programs can optimize an organization’s customer service, provide valuable competitive data, and give a brand the competitive edge to create a more loyal customer base.
It’s unfortunate, but customer experience management doesn’t just happen naturally. It needs to be consciously created, holistically supported by the organization; and tracked, measured and acted upon.

In response, ICMI decided to conduct a research survey in the third quarter of 2013. This new research, along with other current ICMI data, provides contact center professionals the [...]

The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) reveals that a commitment to agent engagement and training, investment in new technologies and the wise use of metrics are key to improving the multichannel experience.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — December 19, 2013 — The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) has released its latest research report, The Multichannel Agent: A 2014 Contact Center Roadmap, Research Report and Best Practices Guide, which evaluates the role of contact center agents in a multichannel environment.

ICMI turned its attention to agents after analyzing data from Extreme Engagement in the Multichannel Contact Center: Leveraging the Emerging Channels Research Report and Best Practices Guide, published in July 2013. Those findings revealed that – irrespective of channel – a happy, well-trained agent was at the core of customer satisfaction.

In response, ICMI conducted a new survey: “The Agent’s Experience in the Multichannel World.” Results were collected and analyzed from 525 respondents, including senior executives, directors and managers. Analysts, contact supervisors and [...]

2013 ICMI RESEARCH RELEASED: Actionable Data in Today’s Multichannel Contact Center Research Report and Best Practices Guide

Due to confusion over which metrics are important, the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) finds that many contact centers are struggling with the challenge of data overload.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — December 19, 2013  — The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) has released its 2013 report, A WOW Customer Journey: Actionable Data in Today’s Multichannel Contact Center, a guide to the more effective use of data and analytics in a multichannel environment.
The problem of big data has been building in contact centers for some time. While harvesting data has become extraordinarily easy, knowing which numbers to crunch or which metrics to track can be a far more challenging prospect.

The proliferation of messy unstructured data – emails, calls, chats, tweets, video, desktop usage, etc. – has further complicated matters. Without the right tools and guidance, contact center agents cannot handle the volume of [...]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                     CONTACT:    Vicki Herrell

QATC Executive Director

888-488-0006

QATC Announces Publication of QATC Survey Report

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – October 29, 2013 – The Quality Assurance & Training Connection (QATC) is proud to announce the publication of the QATC Survey Report, Best Practices in Contact Center Hiring, Training, & Quality Assurance, which contains 80 pages of exciting information including interesting insight into the organization, structure, processes, problems, and solutions in the areas of hiring, training, and quality assurance. This report provides information that can assist organizations in understanding how their processes compare to others as well as new ideas for performance improvement based on what other organizations have implemented with success.

There are many industry reports on the state of technology in the contact center today. But the success of customer interactions often depends more on the people side of the contact center than the technology side. Therefore, it’s important to understand best practices at getting the right staff on board, [...]

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – September 10, 2013 – The Quality Assurance & Training Connection (QATC) has announced Gregory Harris of The Home Depot as winner of the 2013 Quality Assurance Professional of the Year Award, which recognizes a quality assurance professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry.

“We are so pleased to announce Gregory as the winner of this prestigious award,” said Vicki Herrell, QATC Executive Director. “His knowledge, leadership, and vision have helped him achieve great results for his company.  We believe he is truly representative of the great quality assurance professionals around the world.”

Gregory has served as the Quality Assurance Manager for The Home Depot over the past year and a half.  The Home Depot has four contact center sites supporting its ecommerce activity with over 900 agents handling up to 6.5 million ecommerce-related voice interactions annually.  The Ecommerce Quality Assurance Department sought to gain important insight into its customer interactions in order to improve sales effectiveness, customer [...]

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – August 30, 2013 – The Quality Assurance & Training Connection (QATC) has announced the five finalists for the 2013 Quality Assurance Professional of the Year Award, which recognizes a quality assurance professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry.  The finalists are Craig Brasington of Deloitte LP, Joanne Gallant-Roberts of FRHI Global Reservation Centre, Gregory Harris of The Home Depot, Brenna Simms of Las Vegas Valley Water District, and Heather Vega of Outerwall, Inc.

“I am very proud to present these five quality assurance professionals as finalists for this important award,” said Vicki Herrell, QATC Executive Director. “They are truly representative of the ‘best of the best’ in our industry, and have demonstrated great leadership and ability in the field, as well as shown measurable results for their companies.”

Craig Brasington is Senior Quality Analyst for Deloitte LP.  Craig began his customer service career in 1998 as a Life Insurance Specialist with CNA Insurance Companies followed by a [...]

VPI, the leading global provider of contact center workforce optimization solutions, today announced that Ventana Research, an esteemed benchmark research and advisory services firm, has selected VPI VirtualSource as this year’s Customer Technology Innovation Award winner. The prestigious awards distinguish pioneers that have developed clear visionary and transformative technology. The Technology Innovation Awards showcase what technology vendors have done to advance the potential of their applications and technology to drive better productivity and outcomes.

VPI VirtualSource is a revolutionary, hosted, pay-as-you-go service that uses conversational virtual call agents powered by artificial intelligence. Hailed as the perfect supplement to human contact center agents, the scalable virtual workforce in the cloud enables organizations to drastically reduce costs by effectively automate a much broader range of their inbound and outbound calls while maintaining the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

“I would like to commend VPI on its significant achievements in technology innovation to improve the timeliness of the customer experience and for [...]

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – September 27, 2012 – The Quality Assurance & Training Connection (QATC) has announced Michael Baldwin of C2 as the recipient of the 2012 Learning Development Professional of the Year Award, which recognizes a learning development professional who has shown outstanding leadership in the industry.

“We are so pleased to announce Michael as the winner of this inaugural award,” said Vicki Herrell, QATC Executive Director. “His knowledge, leadership, and vision have helped him achieve great results for his company.”

Michael Baldwin serves as Vice President, C3 Performance Optimization (PO).  In his role at C3, Michael is responsible for overseeing the company’s highly interactive and engaging training utilizing adult learning principles.

The C3 PO Team uses the company’s proprietary “Boot Camp Training Methodology” to turn training into a fast-paced, interactive, and highly retentive experience for trainees while maintaining a fun learning environment --- all with no PowerPoint presentations.  The curriculum is developed using adult learning theories and includes interactive role-plays, writing exercises, [...]