Hiring can be a very daunting task. Especially if your criteria for the contact center agent is not clearly defined. Not everyone is suited for this job. It takes candidates that are naturally inclined to assist, that takes the time to explain and is solution-oriented. Top  performing service agents carry these traits:

• Friendly
• Customer Service focused
• Considerate
• Efficient
• Results-oriented
• Accurate

Any intelligent person can learn the technical skills of the job but it’s the true aspiration to help customers that is much more difficult to relay. Therefore seek out candidates that already possess this ability to have successful hires.

The best customer service comes from engaged employees. They go beyond and above to solve customer issues and consistently provide superior customer service.  Encourage agents to take the time to solve the issue a customer is experiencing to avoid having them call back again. And worse, call back upset that they haven’t been properly helped in the first place. Agents who connect with customers are likely to better access the issue by the rapport they have with the client and therefore better prescribe corrective action.

Engaged Employees add value to products and services. Disengaged employees with one word answers cost companies millions of dollars lost each year. It is imperative that each caller is properly welcomed by the front-line personnel. This is easily accomplished if employees are excited about educating customers. Front-line employees who place themselves as experts and take the time to answer customer queries not just correctly but with facts and helpful hints increase first-call resolution.  As fully informed customers don’t need to call back again. Issue is solved and the customer is happy.

It is important therefore to recognize engaged employees in your contact center. Here are three basic ways of increasing employee engagement:

ComputerTalk’s hosted ice Lync cloud can connect with your cloud for added communication features.

Adding communication capabilities to your contact center and day-to-day business processes can help drive business results and help you exceed customer expectations.  If you are looking for a full end-to-end unified communications solution for your office and contact center, combine Office 365 with ice in the ComputerTalk cloud.

You can also come to us for help in meeting technology goals.

If you are looking to replace your PBX with an IP-PBX, we can provide telephony expertise, so you can become SIP voice-enabled at the speed you choose. Once the transition is complete, you can take advantage of the benefits of SIP telephony in your office and in your contact center.

If your cloud is missing certain contact center or communication pieces, you can connect to ours for all the products listed in the ComputerTalk cloud (i.e. PCI compliant contact center, Lync IP PBX, ice, applications that make your processes more communications conscious.)

We can also work with you to provide your customers a joint offering.

Questions?  Send it to us using the Message Us section.

Unified Communications gained incredible popularity and usage since the inception of the first multi-modal smartphone in 2007. With the wide adoption of mobile smartphones and tablets in the market now, UC market has just exploded. It is clear that UC-enabled mobile communications (MCEBP) is at the top of everyone’s list for tablets and smartphones. The only concern is its security and how it’s handled for consumer usage vs. work usage.

There are several factors and perspectives to consider such as mobile operating systems, multi-modal mobile applications, support and access security privacy controls. Overall, UC mobility has value for any end users, no matter if it’s an individual consumer or an employee within an organization but both will shape where the market is going with new online and mobile technologies. This requires strategic planning for migrating into more “virtual” and hosted services in private and public “clouds”.

A recent survey by a recently formed consortium of enterprise software companies focused on mobility, the Enterprise Device Alliance, confirms some mobile impacts and trends for internal IT organizations. These include the following:

Skype is the communications hub that brings people together. With over two billion minutes used, it is a true testament to the effectiveness and its ease of use. Whether making a voice or video call, sending an instant message, connecting with business partners, stakeholders and customers has never been easier.

Do you have a contact center that supports connecting with your clients at such superior level? Contact us for direction on how to get there.

Lync - Skype connectivity for presence, IM and voice will be available to all Lync users. This move will begin to enable what we call B2X. B2X places the focus of business communication on enabling human interactions. B2X puts people first and looks at communications in a unified way, not as disparate technology silos focused on one task or protocol. Computer Talk is your gateway to unified communications.

Interested in revitalizing your current customer service strategy through Unified Communications? Learn about customer service trends and best practices at the 16th Annual Customer Service Conference, organized by the International Customer Service Association. This conference takes place April 24th – April 26th at The Old Mill in Toronto.

Swing by the ComputerTalk table on April 25 and April 26 and join the conference with a special discount at the Early Bird Rate because you are a ComputerTalk contact* - we'll be showing how you can use Microsoft Lync and our contact center technology to amaze your customers.

In case you haven't heard about it, this conference promises several benefits.

• You'll get face-to-face time with customer care specialists, who will be speaking in presentations.
• You can share and discuss customer care best practices with customer service professionals from across North America.
• You can explore different customer service models and technology leaders that help you create custom processes for your organization, with vendors who are attending this conference.

Hope to see you there.

Official website: www.amazeyourcustomer.com

*Please make sure to specify on your registration form that you are a ComputerTalk contact to enjoy the Early Bird rate.