Category Contact Center
Let A Virtual Agent Do The Talking
“The Wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask.” Nancy Newhall You don’t need me to tell you how much the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world. It has disrupted the way we work, shop, socialize, relax, and communicate. In respect to business communications, it has done two things. First, […]
Moving From the Contact Center Agent to the Smart Speaker
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right. Thomas Paine Old habits are hard to break. In order to remind myself of the behaviors I want to stop doing, I recently put together a list of the worst of mine. I keep it close at hand […]
Three Questions with Andrew and Andrew (A Video Conversation)
I will just come out and say it. I hate seeing myself on video. Call it vanity or call it insecurity, but I always think I look dorky. So, it was with great trepidation that I accepted Andrew Maher’s invitation to virtually sit with him for three questions. However, after all the dust settled and […]
Game On – The Gamification of the Contact Center
I’m sure we’ve all been asked to name our worst job. For me, it was washing dishes at John Gardiner’s Tennis Ranch. I worked the breakfast shift and clocked in at the absurd hour of 5:00 in the morning. Not only did I have to put up with scalding hot water, an overbearing chef, and […]
Are You Experienced
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. — Confucius My wife and I enjoy eating out. We both work hard Monday through Friday and look forward to a weekend night or two of no meal […]
Out with the Call Flow — In With the Workflow
I started working with contact centers long before we called them that. Early in my career, we used the nerdy, yet technically accurate phrase, automatic call distribution (ACD). However, that wasn’t something you wanted to ever say in front of your customers, so the term call center was invented. While call center didn’t exactly describe […]
How to Master the Artful Science of Speech Queries
It has been said that everything old is new again and that has certainly been true for me. I began my career as a software designer, walked away from while-loops and if-statements about 12 years ago, and recently (and quite unexpectedly), found myself knee deep back in the world of Java programming and webpage design. […]
Please Don’t Make Me Repeat Myself
I am not alone when I say that I don’t like being forced to repeat myself. I dislike calling a company’s 800-number, punching in my telephone or account number along with the reasons why I am calling, only to find that when I finally do reach a live human being I am asked the exact […]
Tao, Zen, and Tomorrow 