Outsource Consultants' Blog

In a recent article, Daniela Puzzo discusses the importance of call center agent training (both initial and ongoing). However, she takes a unique approach to the concept by offering fun and unique methods of training that can break the grind of call center life and help engage agents. The following are her four fun and easy strategies to train call center agents:

In today’s competitive business environment, many companies are realizing the benefits and cost efficiencies of outsourcing some or all of their call center activities to a third-party partner that specializes in professional, inbound, outbound, and BPO services. Selecting an outsource call center partner is difficult and time-consuming. Because you are selecting a partner that is an extension of your business, your choice must be compatible, experienced, reliable, and cost-effective.

Is digital transformation only a competitive edge, or is it actually something that changes how you view your customers? According to a recent article by James Warner, going digital shifts the focus of companies from what they sell to who they sell their products to; their customers. Companies that utilize Big Data to analyze their customers by segmentation of their social media interactions, website interactions, and other behaviors will be able to shift their focus towards a customer-centric philosophy. According to Warner, only when companies utilize Big Data to give their company a digital transformation will they be able to provide customers with the experience that exceeds their expectations and ultimately lead to long-lasting customer loyalty. To read more about this topic, please check out the following article: "How Customer-Centric Digital Transformation is Doing Wonders” by James Warner

Contact centers are constantly trying to keep up to date with TCPA compliance. In a recent article, Mckay Bird discusses the challenges many call centers face when trying to stay complaint and how one false move can lead to expensive lawsuits and fines. Bird elaborates on the following features cloud call center solutions offer that can help contact centers maintain TCPA compliance: 

In this digital age with social media and Internet at our fingertips, are we closer to our customers than ever, or further apart? It can be very easy for companies to disconnect from their customers and distance themselves when many interactions are going to digital platforms over traditional in-person interactions. However, a recent article by Luc Burgelman points out that customers expect personal, humanized engagement from companies no matter what channel they contact them. Burgelman argues that companies need to look beyond making sales and strive towards making a real connection with customers with the goal of earning a long-term relationship with them. His article offers the following five keys to help humanize the customer experience:

Did you know that Big Data could be used to improve the customer experience? It’s true! Companies collect so much data on customers every day that can lead them to valuable insights into how customers think and how the company can better serve them. However, a recent article by Ryan Kh points out that this data can easily be interpreted the wrong way and could stifle the customer experience if used incorrectly. Kh’s article discusses the following four mistakes companies make when analyzing Big Data for customer service: 

Customer experience is all the buzz; after all it is the glue that keeps existing customers coming back and the honey that attracts new ones. According to Forrester Research, companies are increasingly leveraging customer experiences as a differentiator. Their 2015 report goes on to mention that “86% of [survey] respondents stated that quickly changing business processes to better align with customer expectations was their top challenge in their contact center organization.”* Your cloud call center software solution choice will directly impact the overall customer experience and the quality your team delivers every day. 

In a recent article, Ken Paetzold discusses how delivering a unified customer experience can be a challenge in an era where there’s such a disparity between generations. For example, the youngest generation is growing up in a world where they’re used to doing everything online through smartphones and sharing everything on social media, where some people in the older generations are still primarily used to utilizing phone calls for customer service. With such a broad range of customer experience preferences in a digital age, it can be a challenge to meet everyone’s needs. Paetzold elaborates on the following ideas for how companies can provide a solid experience for all of their customers:

In a recent article, Eleonora Israele discusses the following three ways call centers can create a great impression of your company for your customers: