The Business Software Advisor

You ask the questions, and our resident software guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question: My company’s business travel expenses are out of control. What can I do to reduce costs?

A: These days, travel isn’t cheap. Facing the climbing costs of sending employees out into the field, companies are tightening the reigns, placing restrictions on all business activities that impact travel budgets. Yet, travel is a necessity in today’s dynamic marketplace, and severe restrictions can hinder critical business operations.

What’s the solution? Many companies are finding that Web conferencing is the answer. According to a market study done in April by Scottsdale-based In-Stat, about 20 percent of U.S. businesses use Web conferencing to some extent, and 13 percent plan to add it in 2008. Small and medium-sized businesses are especially gravitating towards the new technology: Frost & Sullivan, a leading research firm, reports that 64% of SMB’s use Web conferencing regularly in their business. Read more »

The Business Software Advisor

You ask the questions, and our resident software guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question: What is a virtual call center and how could it benefit my company?

A:  When you think of a call center, you may imagine a noisy room, scattered with desks and overpopulated with chattering agents in headsets at all hours of the day.  In traditional call centers, agents are housed in a single site and are guided and monitored by in-house supervisors and managers. Quite oppositely, a virtual call center (VCC) is a customer contact center in which agents work remotely and are connected through an online software system that centralizes the center’s operations.   

Often referred to as the “call centers of the future”, VCC’s leverage Web and software technologies to achieve greater flexibility, accessibility, and, ultimately, a higher level of customer satisfaction.  These next-generation call centers feature integrated workforce optimization, speech-recognition technology, real-time reporting, comprehensive analytics, enhanced customer surveying and feedback mechanisms.   Several key technologies that support and define the VCC model are VOIP, scripting, intelligent routing, workforce management, and call monitoring/recording. 

According to the American Marketing Association, the average yearly costs associated with running a 200-agent operation top more than $10 million in some industries.  These costs come in part from investment in real estate and capital equipment, as well as from cost-of-living constraints in the headquartered region. 

Ask yourself: is the cost of operating a traditional call center a concern for your company? If so, you may want to consider going virtual.  In addition to cost-savings, transitioning to the virtual model of call center operations brings several other benefits: 

* Having no geographic constraints means companies have broader pool of talent from which to find agents.
* Agent retention improves: studies show that agents who work in more flexible virtual contact center environments experience less stress and greater satisfaction than their counterparts who work in traditional call centers. This, in turn, reduces turnover.
* Strategically placing agents in offices around the globe can ensure more effective and affordable 24/7 service by eliminating such barriers as time zones, foreign languages, and cultural differences.

VCC’s are not solely suitable for large enterprises.  Small-to-medium size businesses have the same goals of effective CRM, multichannel integration, efficient call routing, customer self-help, and first-call resolution as the “big guys”, and providers of virtual call center software are recognizing and responding to this market need.  Today, there are a number of reputable vendors who offer scalable, easily-deployed, cost-effective and readily-integrated solutions, designed specifically for SMB’s. 

If you’re thinking of implementing a virtual call center solution in your company, it would behoove you to research those vendors whose software systems fit with your company’s specific needs and goals.  A good starting point for this research is the free Business-Software.com “Top 10 Virtual Call Center Vendors - 2008” report. Now may be the perfect time to get out of that old customer service office and move to a new location: the World Wide Web. 

The CRM Advisor
You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question:
“The CRM vendors we are currently evaluating have been talking about opportunity relationship management.  What is it and what value can it provide?”

A: Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions are highly effective at helping businesses manage clients throughout their lifecycle – from the time they first make contact with the company, until they “sign on the dotted line” and continue to interact with various members of the organization as they use its products and services.  In most cases, these relationships become more multifaceted after a prospect is converted to a client, when multiple departments – such as sales, service, and accounting – interface with customers on a day to day basis.

Read more »

The CRM Advisor
You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question: “How can we extend our email security solution to provide the same level of protection for our desktop messaging applications?”

A: The instant messaging (IM) services offered by AOL, Yahoo, and other vendors have emerged as valuable productivity and communication tools for many businesses today.  In fact, in a recent Gartner survey, more than 70 percent of organizations claimed to rely on instant messaging, in some form, to facilitate fast and effective collaboration among employees, as well as between staff members and clients and other external business partners. 

Read more »

The CRM Advisor
You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question: “How important is the use of personalization in our email marketing campaigns?”

A: Email is one of today’s most popular marketing communication channels, and as a result, buyers receive hundreds of unsolicited promotions every week.

Read more »

The CRM Advisor
You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question: “We are about to launch an aggressive email marketing program. Which approach is more effective – HTML or text?”

A: This long-standing debate is one that has yet to be resolved.  As the email marketing landscape shifts dramatically, the answer to this question isn’t so “cut and dried”, and even the top industry experts have yet to agree on which one works best. 

Read more »

The CRM Advisor
You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question:
“We are in the midst of our CRM implementation, and our consultant is recommending extensive customization. How much modification should an out-of-the-box CRM solution typically need?”

A: There is no black-and-white answer when it comes to CRM customization. The level of customization required will vary greatly from one company to the next, and will depend on a multitude of factors, including the functionality contained within the solution you chose, the level of complexity and uniqueness in your customer-facing processes, and the needs of your users.

Read more »

The CRM Advisor
You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question:
“We recently implemented a call center management system as part of our CRM strategy. What key metrics should we be measuring?”

A: For many businesses today, the call center is the “front line” to the customer. Therefore, you want to make sure your agents are performing at optimum levels and delivering the highest quality experience. Read more »

The CRM Advisor
You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question:
“I’m currently evaluating email marketing solutions.  If I choose a hosted solution, how secure will my customer contact information be?”

A: The good news is that most third-party vendors are aware of concerns like these, and have addressed them quite successfully.  Read more »

The CRM Advisor

You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question: “When should I get my IT department involved in my CRM project?”

A: Any CRM initiative is more likely to succeed when all key stakeholders are involved in the project from the very beginning. This includes not only managers and end users from functional departments, but IT support staff as well. Read more »