Ask the Experts
Ask the Experts
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Industry standards for call center staff shrinkage
Call center expert Lori Bocklund answers a question from a workforce optimization (WFO) executive who asks whether there are industry standards for shrinkage, and how they can be used in the call center. Continue Reading
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Agent performance management for the help desk
Call center expert Lori Bocklund answers a reader question about the best ways to score help desk agents and which metrics to use for a fair assessment. She suggests service levels, quality and customer satisfaction to start, with varying metrics ... Continue Reading
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Motivate call center agents: Eight tips for success
Learn advice for motivating and rewarding call center agents in this expert tip from Donna Fluss. Continue Reading
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Call center staffing tools
In this tip, Lori Bocklund provides advice on using Erlang models and other call center staffing tools, from low-cost to sophisticated software. Continue Reading
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Centralizing customer service to improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs
Donna Fluss explains how centralizing customer service can increase service quality and customer satisfaction, improve effectiveness and reduce costs in this call center tip. Continue Reading
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Call center terms and definitions -- utilization, attrition, occupancy, shrinkage
Lori Bocklund reviews common call center terms including attrition, utilization, occupancy, shrinkage in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Customer loyalty programs for Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
CRM expert Michael Lowenstein answers a reader question about customer loyalty programs for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Continue Reading
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System integrators with call center software products
In this expert tip, Donna Fluss, call center software and call center management expert, provides a list of system integrators who sell call center software products. Continue Reading
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Metrics: ROI, IRR, NPV, payback, discounted payback
Which metric will provide a most effective cost evaluation for a CRM project: payback, discounted payback, ROI, NPV or IRR? Tom Pisello offers his advice. Continue Reading
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Call center transition from inbound to inbound-outbound
Lori Bocklund explains to a reader what factors to consider when turning a small inbound call center into a dual inbound-outbound call center. Continue Reading
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SAP CRM and Siebel CRM -- a side-by-side comparison
Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of SAP CRM and Siebel CRM with this side-by-side vendor comparison by CRM expert Srini Katta. Continue Reading
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Remote call center agents can offer cost savings and other benefits
Learn call center strategy from Donna Fluss in this expert tip, including the benefits of remote agents for the call center. Continue Reading
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On-demand CRM -- benefits and drawbacks
SearchCRM.com's SAP CRM expert analyzes SAP's commitment to the on-demand market and discusses tech-savvy users and the potential for on-demand software that meets user needs more quickly, especially for small and midsized businesses. Continue Reading
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Hybrid CRM deployments -- advantages and disadvantages
Read this tip to understand what hybrid deployments really are and to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of this CRM deployment option. Continue Reading
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Quantifying soft ROI vs. hard ROI for CRM
Read Tom Pisello's advice on defining soft ROI and hard ROI for CRM in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Do you believe in Peppers & Rogers' Return on Customer concept?
Read an evaluation of the Peppers & Rogers' concept of Return on Customer (ROC) for CRM. Continue Reading
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How to prepare a service-level agreement (SLA)
Lori Bocklund advises a reader on what to include in a service-level agreement (SLA) for the call center. Continue Reading
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Call center cost per seat -- new vs. existing call centers
Call center expert Lori Bocklund provides some tips for calculating cost per seat in this expert Q/A. Continue Reading
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Is there a call center metric for average hold time?
Learn how to reduce hold time and find other benchmarks for the call center in this tip from Lori Bocklund. Continue Reading
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Six questions to help build customer loyalty
Want to increase customer loyalty? Start by answering these 6 questions... Continue Reading
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Is average handle time (AHT) a good performance metric?
Forcing agents to watch their average handle time could lead to cutting calls short, thus reducing sale efforts and resulting in overall poor customer service. Continue Reading
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Creating a bonus structure for a call center manager
How should you create a bonus structure for call center managers, and what should it be based on? Our call center expert provides some tips on compensation and bonuses for call center management. Continue Reading
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First call resolution (FCR) -- what does it really mean?
A debate on what constitutes first call resolution (FCR) in the call center with advice from Lori Bocklund, call center metrics expert. Continue Reading
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The difference between AHT and calls per hour
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BPM and business intelligence
Does business performance management (BPM) impact a business intelligence project -- or is it just another buzzword? Read advice on BI and BPM from a business intelligence expert in this tip. Continue Reading
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Essential technical skills of a Data Warehouse Architect
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The roles of data warehousing, data mining and OLAP in knowledge discovery
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Industry standards for average speed of answer (ASA) and abandon rate
Are there industry standards for average speed of answer (ASA) and abandon rate for the call center? Learn more in this expert tip from Lori Bocklund. Continue Reading
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Calculating cost per seat for the call center
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Customer address verification during incoming calls
It is a fairly common practice to verify customer addresses with incoming calls, but it adds time to calls, says Lori Bocklund. Learn more in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Definitions: NPV, IRR, ROI and payback
Learn the definitions for commonly confused terms related to return on investment (ROI) in this expert Q/A. Continue Reading
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Datawarehousing hardware requirements
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Labor costs for call centers
Wages for call center agents vary greatly, based on location and the type of calls being handled. Learn more in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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The role of ISO 9000 in the ICT industry
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CRM vs. portal tool
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CRM for FMCG companies
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How early is too early for outbound calls?
Conduct a customer survey to determine how early is too early for outbound calling, says Lori Bocklund in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Determining frequency of customer contact
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Exporting data from Siebel
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Using voice recognition
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CRM functions and processes
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Thoughts on Model Driven Development (MDD)
Learn to deal with a system that uses well-established standards to create a new architecture that operates from a platform independent model. Continue Reading
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What does "churn" really mean?
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Integrated Relationship Management - a real term?
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Methods of data mining used by credit card companies
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PeopleSoft vs. Siebel
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CRM implementation framework
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Confidence and support in data mining
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Justifying customer satisfaction measures
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E-tail vs. retail
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Segmentation of customers in the telecom sector