Voice of the Customer

So you’re looking at “customer experience.” Great. Now what?

Moderated by: Linda Van Doren, Vanguard Communications

More and more companies are figuring out how to measure customer experience.  Contact centers have always been very good at tracking practical information about customer contact.  Ask any call center agent what the service level is and they’ll tell you.  Every representative knows what the center’s talk time goals are.  What’s less easy to measure is the elusive “customer experience” – as it includes many factors outside of the contact center.  An experience at a branch or store will impact the customer experience.  Stories (good and bad) from friends will impact the customer experience.  Brand image, commercials, political views, “greenness” and stances on other issues, website layout, experiences on the IVR, transactions with phone reps, and many other elements all impact the customer experience.

A Basic Voice Service Comes of Age

Moderated by: Anne Keefer, Vanguard Communications

Since shortly after Alexander Graham Bell first called Watson into his office, the fifty thousand foot view of the basics of managing voice services is simple; dial tone, connectivity 24 hours per day, seven days per week, with zero tolerance for busy signals and dropped calls.  For nearly a century if a voice services manager could manage this he or she could be guaranteed a job for life.  Even until sometime in the 1990s understanding basic circuit switching and the navigation of a series of menus through a command line software package equated to meeting 100% of the basic goals of voice services management.

Banking on More than Just a Pretty Face?

Moderated by: Jason Alley, Vanguard Communications

My wife and I recently went to our bank’s local branch to sign loan documents.  What we planned as a 15 minute visit turned into two hours of customer service agony…

When we arrived, a nice young associate escorted us into a private room to complete the transaction.  But it turned out that the loan documents had not been sent or were lost.  The associate called a centralized loan processing center to see how to proceed.  She was on hold for several minutes, after which a loan processing specialist helped her navigate screens to re-print the documents.  Following what seemed like an eternity – yes, even though our new best friend (the associate) shared heartwarming stories and unleashed her charm on us – the documents were finally ready for review and signature...

Siemens at a Crossroad

Moderated by: David Powis, Vanguard Communications

I am sure most people are aware that Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEC) has found an investment partner, The Gores Group, to acquire 51% of the company.  I wrote a few weeks ago about the possible options or partnerships that might happen and put those in a drawer in my desk.  Let’s see how my predictions came out…

http://voiceofthecustomer.vanguard.net/voice_of_the_customer/2008/06/when-presence-m.html#more

Well, I wasn’t even close. I won’t tell you which vendors I wrote down, but let’s just say The Gores Group was not on that list.