We’d like to share the top questions from the Q&A segment of the webinar:

Q: Can we blackout a sensitive field like a credit card number?

A: Yes. cc: Fusion can send blackout triggers to hide the screen capture and mute audio recording while sensitive information is being passed across the line.

Q: How is cc: Fusion looking for certain screen events to trigger an alarm? Is it looking at certain quadrants on the agent’s screen?

A: cc: Fusion is not doing geographical scraping (also known as X,Y coordinate scraping). It establishes unique identities for each field on a screen and applies logic matches to know what/when to parse values out of them.

Q: Does Fusion work with all desktop environments (PC, Citrix, Wnterm, etc.)?

A: Yes.

Q: Is cc: Fusion available as a stand-alone application, or only as a part of the CallCopy recording suite?

A: cc: Fusion is not currently available as a stand-alone application as it relies on communication with the CallCopy API server.

Q: Can fusion deliver prompts to agent based on screen activity? For example an upsell reminder.

A: cc: Fusion is currently communicates with the CallCopy API. We will be introducing functionality in the future that would allow for it to extend its reach to 3rd party components.

The report, Unlocking Business Intelligence in the Contact Center reveals opportunities for your organization to improve performance by leveraging business intelligence mined from data collected via contact center and CRM software.

As your partner in success, we’re excited to offer you a complimentary copy of this new report. Download it now to learn how best-in-class organizations were able to achieve:

• Cost savings of 45% per call,
• 27% higher first call resolution (FCR) rates, and
• Daily closure rate improvements nearly double the industry average.

» Access Your Complimentary Copy of the Report Now

» Learn How CallCopy Can Help You Achieve Best-in-Class Results

Please note that this $399 value expires 12/3/2010.

We were excited to be able to sponsor lunch for the U-Haul team and prizes for team members recognized in the following categories (based on interactions recorded with CallCopy software of course): Above and Beyond, Most Improved, Overcoming the Objections, Perfect Tone of Voice, and Sharp Listening.

Thank you to our fabulous customers for the opportunity to be a part of this exciting event!

As you enjoy the week and take part in a host of agent-appreciation events, remember to celebrate people skills with these six simple tips from customer services guru and people-skills coach Kate Nasser:

1) An authentic smile changes everything. On the phone, in person, and even the words you use in text, chat, emails, and your website design should smile at the customer.

Studies show that a physical smile can actually change the way you sound on the phone.  Use this technique to your advantage.

2) Treat people the way they want to be treated — not the way you want to be treated.

This is important to keep in mind as every customer is different!

3) Be the sun, not a thorn. Even with thorny difficult customers, be the sun.  Shine light on the problem to be solved and fix it.

There will always be difficult customers; remember to not take it personally and to shine on!

4) A plane flies well on auto-pilot mode. Customer service doesn’t! Adapt to each customer — personalize and localize including personality type, culture, geographic differences, and generational differences.

Not only is every customer unique, but every contact is unique is well.  Use all information at your disposal to create the best customer service experience possible – every time.

5) Empathize before you analyze! Show customers you care and they will care enough to help you help them.

In most cases, customers are more than willing to tell you what they want or need.  Listen to their suggestions and be considerate of any emotional responses.

6) Kindness transcends constraints. (Tristan Bishop) There are obstacles and challenges in customer service and technical support. Kindness to the customer ensures a continued bond while you work to overcome the challenges.

Kindness is key.  In customer service, in life.

For years, Americans have had their phone calls about credit card bills and broken cell phones handled by people in the Philippines or India. But American firms are starting to bring call centers back to the U.S. — and this time around, they are hiring more people to work in their own homes.

Home workers [...] represent one of the cheapest models for customer service. There are an estimated 60,000 people doing call center work from home.

[...] Industry watchers say so-called home sourcing will continue to grow as companies look for quality that used to be harder to afford.

We’ve seen many of our customers make this transition from brick-and-mortar call centers with higher overhead costs to work-at-home agents who are granted a sense of autonomy and independence.  It’s really a win-win situation for both the organization and the employee.

In fact, this shift in the market inspired our latest whitepaper, Building a Work-at-Home Program: What You Need to Know About the New Agent Spectrum.  This resource provides best practices for using workforce optimization applications to meet the demands of a shifting work environment, and empowers decision makers to deploy effective solutions.

• Download our Building a Work-at-Home Program: What You Need to Know About the New Agent Spectrum whitepaper.

We’re always eager to hear what customers and analysts really think about our solutions.  Honest feedback helps us shape and plan for future releases and gives us insight into the wants and needs of the market.

Naturally, we were excited to be featured in a recent blog post by Richard Snow, Global VP & Research Director at Ventana Research.  The post, CallCopy Emerges as a Player in Agent Performance Management, is a great review of our solutions from a respected industry analyst, and showcases CallCopy as a proven vendor in the agent performance management arena.

Overall, we’re thrilled with the coverage, but one part stood out to us in particular. After having spoken with several CallCopy users, Richard points out that while they are “well satisfied with the products,” the training we provide has room for improvement.  Fortunately, thanks to feedback collected during our ongoing customer surveys, we were already aware of this shortfall and had taken steps to enhance our training program.

Barry Knack was recently hired as CallCopy’s new Director of Education, and will spearhead our efforts to deliver the best training in the market. Barry brings extensive experience in the areas of coaching and training, combined with great leadership and high energy. With these skills, Barry and his team are working to rejuvenate CallCopy’s training offerings to meet the high standards we’ve set for ourselves. Look for additional news in the coming months, as we roll out new training features to serve our users, alongside our free monthly training sessions and active user community.

Thanks for this valuable piece of research, Richard!

Whether your organization performs manual or automated quality assurance (QA), call center coaching forms are an integral component of an overall QA program.

Developing Call Center Coaching Forms

There are several components you’ll want to consider when developing call center coaching forms for your organization.  For example, your call center coaching forms and the weighting of different sections should mirror your organization’s customer service goals and priorities.  In addition, ensure that all requirements are met by involving staff from different areas and levels of the organization.  Regardless of these special considerations, there are certain components that all call center coaching forms should include, such as:

• A section analyzing the opening and closing of the call.
• Space to define strengths and weaknesses associated with system knowledge, resolution skills, product knowledge and familiarity with business processes.
• A section reviewing the overall communication skills of the agent.
• An area to identify applicable best practices and up-training opportunities.

Because these requirements overlap from industry to industry, many companies choose to base their call center coaching forms on a pre-existing or sample form (CallCopy provides several sample forms in our Contact Center QA Guide).

Once a form is completed, review the results with the agent, either by scheduling time with the agent for a coaching session, or by using a tool like CallCopy to share the evaluation with the agent.  Follow up with the agent directly, or use our tracking tools to ensure that the agent has reviewed the content.

Why Use Call Center Coaching Forms

Ultimately, the end goal of any QA program should be to facilitate increased customer satisfaction.  In addition, call center coaching forms can help improve agent productivity, ensure better transaction quality and reduce enterprise risk.

Learn more:

• cc: Quality | Quality Management
• cc: Agent | Agent Coaching & Training
• Download our Contact Center QA Guide
• Download our Improving the Customer Experience with Peer-based QM Whitepaper

With this in mind, CallCopy has partnered with Dick Bucci of Pelorus Associates to bring you 10 Secrets to Boosting First Call Resolution, a new eBook loaded with best practices on how to improve satisfaction and cut costs through increased FCR.

“First call resolution is an essential metric for any best-in-class contact center for two simple reasons: it drives customer satisfaction and reduces operating costs.”

This eBook provides an inside look at the many benefits associated with increased FCR, alongside real-world techniques on how to do so, including steps you can take to measure FCR, ways to identify the causes of repeat calls, insight on how FCR relates to customer satisfaction, and, of course, the 10 secrets to boosting FCR.

So, whether your focus is on the bottom line, keeping customers happy, or striking a balance between the two, chances are your organization can benefit from improving FCR.  Download the eBook now to get started.

» Download 10 Secrets to Boosting First Call Resolution

When the brunt of the storms rendered other Columbus, Ohio offices (and offices across the country, for that matter), non-operational, we were able to work from home thanks to our communications infrastructure and our own CallCopy software.  As the Avaya Insights blog points out, snow days don’t mean what they used to….

For many organizations, hazardous weather conditions have historically meant that when school districts close, parents are forced to either try to find a babysitter at the last minute or take the day off to watch their kids. Inclement weather also traditionally means longer, more dangerous commutes for employees, shorter work days, and above all else, lost productivity.

But that was then, and this is now: our software can record our work-at-home IP phones, and our tools can be accessed remotely via VPN. To ensure our continued operations, we utilize the same technologies that our customers rely upon.

One customer leveraging this functionality is Mohawk Flooring. Using CallCopy software alongside their Avaya Unified Communications infrastructure, Mohawk was able to ensure business continuity despite a crippling ice storm impacting their Dallas, Texas facility several months ago. Agents were able to work from home during the ordeal, eliminating risky commutes and decreased productivity.

To remain competitive, businesses need to be well-equipped to handle inclement weather or even more extreme scenarios such as a pandemic, flu outbreak or natural disaster.

Fortunately, CallCopy’s solutions allow businesses to rest easy knowing that their employees can maintain productivity regardless of the situation. Our contact recording and screen capture technology allows organizations to manage the performance of remote workers – so they remain both safe and productive.

Topics include:

• Benefits of the peer-based QM model.
• Peer-based evaluations and supervisor calibration.
• The ideal environment for peer-based QM.
• How one company, Elgia, leveraged CallCopy to re-invent its QM program and drive a superior customer experience.

Download the whitepaper here: http://www.callcopy.com/document-library/whitepapers/peer-based-quality-management