Blog

What Is An Omni-Channel Contact Center & Why It Matters

by Justin Hill on May 10, 2021

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|A9B40B24-4AC0-4151-8F3C-6D8CC4F7A9A2 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|A9B40B24-4AC0-4151-8F3C-6D8CC4F7A9A2 In a time where nearly every industry is struggling to deal with rapid change along with countless uncertainties, the one thing that remains constant is the need for ever-adapting, well-designed contact centers.   As customers increasingly express expectations and elevate demands, especially in ...[Read More]

Taking Advantage of Workforce Management Software (WFM)

by Justin Hill on February 19, 2021

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|E0BBA30E-6C32-484E-A2F8-F50935F04E6E 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|E0BBA30E-6C32-484E-A2F8-F50935F04E6E Without the right tools, managing and paying a large number of workers on an hourly basis can be extremely difficult. Complex, high-turnover environments, such as call centers, are particularly vulnerable to complications, but workforce management (WFM) software can take care of the vast ...[Read More]

What is a call center outsourcer and what should you expect when working with one?

by Justin Hill on January 29, 2021

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|419D3291-42B9-4277-ADD2-D638868D954E 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|419D3291-42B9-4277-ADD2-D638868D954E As industries evolve and change with extraordinary speed, organizations need to stay on top of market demand and innovation. Unfortunately, with increased growth and expanded reach, internal capacity challenges start to arise. It is at this moment--when the capacity of an existing team ...[Read More]

Automation in Moderation: Balancing Call Center Technology and Personalized Customer Service

by Justin Hill on January 5, 2021

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|82528B9A-A9FE-4CE9-A427-1CE3A7DBDF6A 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|82528B9A-A9FE-4CE9-A427-1CE3A7DBDF6A We’ve all experienced it: endless automated phone menus, confused chat bots, and incompetent voice recognition. Automation can do great things for promoting the efficiency of call centers, but sometimes it just isn’t cut out for the job--at least not if you want happy ...[Read More]

What You Can Learn from Contact Center Wallboards

by Justin Hill on December 8, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|475D82B2-5020-4358-AB2B-1AE17A54BE82 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|475D82B2-5020-4358-AB2B-1AE17A54BE82 Wallboards are a common tool used in many contact centers serving as a visual way to see a wide array of information including real-time statistics, KPIs, and progress-towards goals. When used correctly, wallboards are an effective way to engage employees, increase productivity, and ...[Read More]

Potential Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on the Call Center Industry

by Justin Hill on October 26, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|575DC845-CF51-4F9F-B3AE-A6B4DAAA9606 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|575DC845-CF51-4F9F-B3AE-A6B4DAAA9606 The drastic changes in workplace norms due to the COVID-19 have had significant impacts on the call center industry and will likely continue to do so for years to come. While some of the changes are downright unwelcome, others might end up boosting ...[Read More]

The Rise of AI and Self-Service Strategies

by Justin Hill on October 5, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|86592112-1688-44BA-87C7-EC99EA57FC8E 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|86592112-1688-44BA-87C7-EC99EA57FC8E As with all technology-based things, call centers have changed dramatically over the years. Their options and capabilities have grown exponentially, in part due to artificial intelligence (AI) and self-service strategies. These tools allow greater flexibility for customers while assisting agents in making the ...[Read More]

5 Benefits of Migrating Your Business to a Cloud Contact Center

by Justin Hill on September 22, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|CFE8DD1F-925C-4B1D-BD4A-F9A33D60C129 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|CFE8DD1F-925C-4B1D-BD4A-F9A33D60C129 In a business world full of cloud solutions, it can be a challenge for enterprise businesses to pick and choose which ones are the most essential for business performance. However, choosing the right core services for your service delivery infrastructure must be done ...[Read More]

Ensuring Call Center Business Continuity in a post-pandemic economy

by Justin Hill on July 28, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|4F21BD99-8AEF-4A10-B49D-9A12298C69D7 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|4F21BD99-8AEF-4A10-B49D-9A12298C69D7 2020 has taken countless organizations in all sorts of industries for a ride for which they were not prepared. From transitioning to remote work, and then an economic crash, a lot of businesses and industries recently found out that they are not as ...[Read More]

How a Custom Solutions Call Center Can Improve Customer Experiences

by Justin Hill on July 21, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|F054A9D5-B8DD-4184-9926-90A0401A1290 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|F054A9D5-B8DD-4184-9926-90A0401A1290 Ensuring excellent customer call center experiences is essential for gaining a competitive edge and building a loyal base of customers. This is not only because a good call center experience leads to more sales and more return customers, but also because of the ...[Read More]

Why Choose SMS for Your Call Center?

by Justin Hill on June 1, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|51E52525-BC7F-4801-8D39-7867C8C2EB7E 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|51E52525-BC7F-4801-8D39-7867C8C2EB7E SMS, or short message service, is a powerful tool for call center staff. One reason is that it’s such a widely used service among consumer bases. If you want to communicate with your customers in a way they can relate, you should use ...[Read More]

What you Need to Know to Implement New Call Center Software

by Justin Hill on April 10, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|0AF2FCE9-9351-4EED-A994-6D73D92D3853 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|0AF2FCE9-9351-4EED-A994-6D73D92D3853 With more and more call center software available, many teams are wondering what new products they should be implementing. But, before investing in call center software, it’s important to first do your homework and determine your team’s specific needs. When considering new ...[Read More]

5 Reasons Customers (Still) Need Your Contact Center

by Justin Hill on March 17, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|2100A9AE-B9F4-4D19-9797-A52237666EEB 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|2100A9AE-B9F4-4D19-9797-A52237666EEB With more and more talk about automation and AI, many businesses wonder about the future of contact centers and whether they’ll continue to be necessary to meet customer needs. Regardless of technological advances, the reality is that when customers have an issue, they ...[Read More]

How Quality Assurance Boosts the Contact Center Level of Performance

by Justin Hill on February 18, 2020

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|E2FC3D59-49C7-4310-AE98-B6144BCD17B2 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|E2FC3D59-49C7-4310-AE98-B6144BCD17B2 When it comes to the level of performance, first impressions always matter and ultimately leave a big impact when dealing with customers. A company usually only has one chance to make a first impression and that is often created by a contact center. Customers ...[Read More]

Call Center CX: Is Your Technology Building Relationships?

by Justin Hill on April 16, 2019

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|46A1F6F8-7B08-471F-848F-B3ACB33ED3C4 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|46A1F6F8-7B08-471F-848F-B3ACB33ED3C4 If you’re in the call center industry, or if you regularly deal with customer inquiries as part of you business, you need to ask yourself the following question: Is your business’s technology helping or hindering your customer experience (CX) and satisfaction? ...[Read More]

Why Customer Experience (CX) Is More Relevant Than Ever

by Justin Hill on March 26, 2019

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|A9389B17-83A0-42FE-8889-F305D8C07EE2 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|A9389B17-83A0-42FE-8889-F305D8C07EE2 The automated, digital direction of our industry has some insiders asking whether person-to-person customer experience (CX) is still a relevant concern. Consider this: The call center is your company’s primary, and often only, point of direct contact with your customers — the ...[Read More]

Speech Analytics: Shaping the Call Center Landscape

by Justin Hill on March 12, 2019

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|958D6619-3B2F-4C9F-895F-3C95F29E86F5 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|958D6619-3B2F-4C9F-895F-3C95F29E86F5 Our industry’s information collection and metrics technology has come far in recent years, with speech analytics now providing a wealth of data to guide individual operators in their customer interactions, aide management teams in their real-time decisions on the floor, and inform organizations ...[Read More]

Busylight: Custom Statuses Everyone Can See

by Justin Hill on February 28, 2019

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|ACC30A03-7FBE-44AF-BD4C-D3DE2A82A77D 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|ACC30A03-7FBE-44AF-BD4C-D3DE2A82A77D In all customer service situations, call centers in particular, everyone involved in an interaction has a vested interest in efficiency. On one side, the customer wants their situation handled quickly and efficiently, with as little wait time as possible. On the ...[Read More]

Call Center Trends Influencing Industry Best Practices

by Justin Hill on February 15, 2019

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|9A8A1CEF-D890-42A3-9202-650273747823 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|9A8A1CEF-D890-42A3-9202-650273747823 If we were to stop time and observe exactly what was going on in the call center industry at the present moment, we would see a number of developments and industry trends gaining momentum, including: Better analytics A steady increase ...[Read More]

The Omnichannel Approach to Customer Service

by Justin Hill on January 15, 2019

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|01F12765-F118-467F-9707-15CF39B92F3A 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|01F12765-F118-467F-9707-15CF39B92F3A Omnichannel has become quite the buzzword across a number of industries. As with most buzzwords, there are a lot of ideas and impressions floating around, but less factual understanding about what this term actually means. In fact, few people, even ...[Read More]

Your 3CX Platform: Custom Enhancements Unlock Its Potential

by Justin Hill on December 15, 2018

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|51ADFC58-B28B-4F83-9143-927ACBBB2F5F 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|51ADFC58-B28B-4F83-9143-927ACBBB2F5F Without a doubt, 3CX has become an industry-leading IP PBX system. 3CX is a powerful tool right off of the shelf, with basic features that include: Web conferencing Presence Softphones Smartphone clients Fax & voicemail to ...[Read More]

How a new 3CX integration delivered more customers and revenue for one midsized business

by Justin Hill on May 30, 2017

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|AC595AA0-F2A8-47EB-9C13-0240C2B9017A 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|AC595AA0-F2A8-47EB-9C13-0240C2B9017A Pizza is one of my favorite things; I love it. I also love success stories, especially when they involve clients who realize big gains by making relatively small changes in their call center technology. The only problem with these success stories – ...[Read More]

Those sneaky agents: Top strategies for managing call center agents

by Justin Hill on March 13, 2017

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|07B38D45-A72F-4C22-98B1-3DA4ACCBE608 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|07B38D45-A72F-4C22-98B1-3DA4ACCBE608 I’ll never forget the story I heard from one of my call center customers a few years ago. We had recently implemented a large 3CX customization project for his contact center. The whole project was going very well – except for one thing. ...[Read More]

Why your call center software should play nice with accounting

by Justin Hill on July 5, 2016

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|682990E3-767B-4B1C-BAC6-9C74CC3B60EC 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|682990E3-767B-4B1C-BAC6-9C74CC3B60EC In this series of blogs, we have been discussing the fundamentals of a cohesive call center solution where all the moving parts work together. This synergy between all your diverse systems is vital for many reasons, but underlying all of them is one ...[Read More]

How to boost customer and employee satisfaction with call center human resources software

by Justin Hill on May 1, 2016

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|DB716BC2-7538-4BC5-8662-A45F2A540F1C 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|DB716BC2-7538-4BC5-8662-A45F2A540F1C Managing employees in a call center environment – especially hourly-based call reps – can be a daunting task, even on a good day. But there’s no need for call center managers to feel like they’re herding cats. Using a proper call center workforce ...[Read More]

3 ways to outpace your competition using call center automation software

by Justin Hill on April 10, 2016

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|484185D3-E7DB-45AE-8EF5-F6C8AB8BC9F8 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|484185D3-E7DB-45AE-8EF5-F6C8AB8BC9F8 In this post, we’ll cover one of most critical items for a call center’s success: Workflow automation. “Workflow” is simply the set of processes a call center uses to manage its workload and ensure that reps are actually completing their tasks. Most ...[Read More]

8 critical questions to ask when choosing a call center VoIP phone system

by Justin Hill on April 4, 2016

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|3680D74C-C245-42CB-9303-EBDC4D7B4D7C 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|3680D74C-C245-42CB-9303-EBDC4D7B4D7C For a call center, there are few decisions more important than what phone system you choose. An advanced VoIP phone system is as critical to your team’s success as your circulatory system is to your body’s health. It’s what ties all the disparate ...[Read More]

5 ways your call center CRM software can make or break success

by Justin Hill on April 2, 2016

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|463FDC25-AD65-4FAE-BBDB-6A685CE2BA9D 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|463FDC25-AD65-4FAE-BBDB-6A685CE2BA9D Does your call center have three or more different software applications that users have to log in and out of to perform their tasks? If so, then it’s likely that the overhead of running multiple applications is sapping your overall efficiency. Think ...[Read More]

The art of reporting: Achieving your dream call center dashboard

by Justin Hill on March 28, 2016

2xa6rfxhinu0n4e|2CA4C7CC-D59A-4209-B44E-3BB5A8D318D4 2xa6rfxhinjsx0j|2CA4C7CC-D59A-4209-B44E-3BB5A8D318D4 Reporting is one of the most pivotal components of a comprehensive call center management system. Business intelligence is, after all, the actionable data you need to make key management decisions, such as staffing and workload management. You need the details of your ...[Read More]