A View Of The Industry Through ICCM's Window

Customer Inter@ction Solutions, Sep 2004 by Tehrani, Rich

Getting back to the corded headsets, there are 60 different cords that can be used with the headsets to connect with most competitive amplifiers as well as most phones. Sennheiser has people on staff who can help you with any compatibility issues you might have.

One last point: Sennheiser microphones are used by many performers, so if you want to offer incentive to your TSRs to come to work and stay long hours, tell them if they're good enough for Britney, Justin and Christina, they're good enough for them.

Smarter Hiring To Reduce Turnover

Depending on the research you subscribe to, replacing an agent can cost as much as $6,000 when all is said and done. Anything that can reduce agent turnover requires evaluation by contact center decision makers. Dictaphone (www.dictaphone.com) has been on the front lines of making sure contact center quality is at its best, and the addition of a new ContactPoint Recruiter module rounds out the rest of the product suite, which is comprised of products such as Trainer and Assessor.

Potential agents can be directed to use a kiosk or the Web, or they can manually fill out questionnaires to determine competency based on criteria you define for the job, allowing you to manage the applicant through the process. For example, if a prospective employee doesn't have a car and your center isn't near a bus or train station, you may not wish to proceed further with the hiring process for this applicant. Of course, you will want to check with your attorneys to make sure the questions you ask are all legal.

You want to hire people based on competency, and it is important to realize that the person who has the best chemistry with you or other coworkers may not be the most qualified for the position. With so many interviews necessary to hire just one good TSR, it makes sense to prescreen applicants as much as possible before making hiring mistakes. This is exactly where Dictaphone's Recruiter module comes in to play.

New Management At Genesys

Wes Hayden recently became CEO of Genesys (www.genesyslabs.com), and I took the opportunity to sit down with him and discuss his views on contact centers and how his company fits into the market both today and in the future.

Some of the technologies Wes sees as important in the future are speech, where he is seeing tremendous enthusiasm from his customers. Additionally, the linking of self-service and assisted service will become more and more prevalent in contact centers. Another area of growth is IP, where contact centers are moving to at a rapid clip.

I asked Wes where he sees the company in five years - his long-term vision, if you will. Wes replied that Genesys is in a fortunate position, as they are a dynamic company. He sees new technologies allowing virtualization in contact centers and more efficient routing of information to knowledge workers.

I asked him how his company differentiates itself from others, to which he replied that Genesys is the only open systems provider in the market (they are OS- and PBX-agnostic), allowing customers to preserve their investments in equipment.