Staying ahead of the pack - Contact Management

contactmanagement.ca 

march / april 2011 

Reports on Unified Communications 

& First Call Resolution 

Staying ahead 

of the pack 

❱ Is a hosted UC solution right for you? 

❱ Why firms get high FCR scores 

❱ Does your centre need a GPS?

It is Xentrax’s expertise and experience in Workforce Optimization, 

Customer Satisfaction, Interaction Recording and Analytics 

Solutions that has helped power some of Canada’s most customer 

focused contact centres.

table of contents 

March/april 2011 

features 

Staffing Matters 

◗◗ 12. Does your centre need a GPS? 

Here’s how to adopt a GPS model and avoid any wrong 

turns in taking your centre where you want it to go. 

By Jeff Doran 

Unified Communications 

◗◗ 14. Is a hosted UC solution right for you? 

What’s driving contact centres to adopt cloud-based unified 

communications solutions? Here are the main drivers and the 

criteria for choosing such a lofty route. 

By Jason Alley 

departments 

◗◗ 4. From the editor 

A typically Canadian 

telecommunications knot 

◗◗ 6. Showtime 

Complete agenda of the Call Centre 

Week Canada show 

◗◗ 8. Readerboard 

The latest industry news 

◗◗ 13. Coming events 

12 

18 

22 

◗◗ 16. Integrating UC technologies with legacy systems 

This article helps contact centre executives understand business, 

technology and personnel considerations for successfully integrating 

unified communications services in a contact centre with legacy systems. 

By Paul Adams 

First Call Resoultion 

◗◗ 18. Staying ahead of the pack 

Responding efficiently and effectively through first call resolution 

is a sure way to raise customer satisfaction and gain a few strides 

on your competition. 

By Michael Perry 

◗◗ 20. Why firms get high FCR scores—Part 1 

Call centre executives with firms that have recorded exceptional 

FCR rates disclose the secrets behind their success. They are clients 

of SQM Group, which works with companies to improve FCR and other 

contact centre functions. More organizations will be covered in the 

second part of our survey in the May/June issue. 

By Ron Glen 

◗◗ 22. Software Solutions 

Unified Communications Applications 

Agent Productivity Tools 

◗◗ 26. Ask Affy 

With the many changes our business 

is going to face in the upcoming year, I 

need to evaluate my team. What is your 

benchmark of a good leader?--Susan 

By Afshan Kinder 

◗◗ 27. People 

Who is on the move? 

◗◗ 28. Association News 

Manitoba Customer Contact Centre 

The International Customer Service 

Association—Toronto chapter 

ContactNB 

Canadian Call Management Association 

Contact Centre Nova Scotia 

27

From the 

editor 

A typically Canadian telecommunications knot 

May 18 is the date when hopefully a stubborn 

knot on the Canadian telecommunications 

scene starts to unravel. It’s the day the 

Federal Court of Appeal has set to hear 

the appeals brought by WIND Mobile and the Canadian 

government following a Federal Court’s recent judgment 

that a Cabinet order approving the cellular company’s 

ownership and right to operate in Canada contained two 

“legal errors” and should be quashed. 

In early March, the Court of Appeal also granted a stay 

of that Federal Court judgment until it decides whether it 

should stand. It may take a year or more before the whole 

matter comes to some sort of resolution and we get some 

much-needed clarity of the foreign ownership conundrum. 

In the meantime, the fate of WIND Mobile and other 

foreign-based telecom businesses with plans to do 

business in Canada hang in the balance. What’s important 

is they represent jobs and potential jobs for thousands of 

Canadians. WIND Mobile employs more than 2700 agents 

in its Toronto call centre alone and has more than 200,000 

customers. 

A subsidiary of Globalive Holdings, Globalive Wireless 

(operating as WIND Mobile) is positioned to become 

Canada’s next, national wireless service provider. Globalive 

Holdings is a telecommunications provider in Canada and 

internationally to the consumer, business and hospitality 

markets. Other Globalive companies include Yak 

Communications, OneConnect, Canopco and Globalive 

Carrier Services. 

Globalive is heavily financed by Egyptian 

communications giant Orascom Telecom. The Canadian 

Radio-television Communications Commission (CRTC) 

originally barred Globalive from launching in Canada 

because it determined the company was “controlled in fact” 

by the Egyptian backer. The federal cabinet overturned that 

ruling, but the Federal Court found the government erred in 

law by doing so. 

“From the beginning, we have maintained that we are 

fully compliant with the rules,” declares Globalive Chairman 

Anthony Lacavera. “Cabinet saw this clearly. The Federal 

Court did not say otherwise, only that two ‘legal errors’ 

were in the Cabinet order. We are very confident the Court 

of Appeal will rule in our favour and look forward to putting 

these legal roadblocks set up by our competitors behind us.” 

The Federal Court’s ruling stemmed from a judicial 

review sought by rival wireless company Public Mobile. 

It further confuses the regulatory outlook for how much 

foreign capital telecom companies can use. 

The government has vowed to remove the restrictions, 

but has been vague on the timelines for doing so. Under 

current legislation, Canadian telecoms cannot be owned 

by foreigners and there are strict limits on the amount of 

foreign investment. Orascom holds about 90 percent of 

WIND Mobile’s equity and debt. 

Lacavera maintains he is open to striking deals with other 

new entrants, but is more firmly convinced the rules need to 

change, rather than him changing his company to suit rules 

that seem to keep changing. 

“We had the CRTC’s view,” he says. “We had the 

government’s view, and now we have the court’s view. And 

all three are different, which is, I guess, Canada. It’s pretty 

strong evidence our control and ownership regime needs 

an overhaul.” 

It has all led to this telecommunications knot, the result 

of a tangle of regulatory, legislative and judicial dictates. 

And it is so typically Canadian. 

“I’m embarrassed, as a Canadian, that we have this kind 

of uncertainty for foreign investors,” comments Lacavera. 

It’s more than embarrassing. It’s irresponsible. It’s a huge 

waste of time and money and a real threat to present and 

future businesses and jobs. At a time when so much of the 

world is in the grip of a shaky economy, what other country 

would dare indulge in this kind of negative wrangling? 

Sears takes toll-free Japan donations 

Sears Canada has announced its call centre lines are open 

and ready to accept donations on behalf of the Canadian 

Red Cross as a contribution to the relief efforts of the 

international community. Canadians can call Sears at 1-800- 

26-SEARS and make a donation using any major credit card, 

including Sears Card and Sears MasterCard. All money collected 

will be forwarded directly to the Canadian Red Cross 

to support the Japan Earthquake and Tsunamis Relief effort. 

“On behalf of our associates, Sears extends its heartfelt 

sympathy to the people of Japan,” says Sears Canada 

President and CEO Dene Rogers. “We have been collecting 

donations for the Japan relief effort during March in stores 

and are now making our toll free call centre available for 

Canadians to contribute who want the convenience of dialing 

from their mobile or home phones.” 

Sears is accepting donations to its 1-800-26-SEARS line 

and anyone who donates $10 or more on their Sears Card 

or Sears MasterCard will receive a tax receipt directly from 

the Canadian Red Cross. Also, donations made on Sears Card 

or Sears MasterCard can earn valuable Sears Club points. 

Donations can also be made at all Sears retail stores, hometown 

dealer stores and catalogue agents. 

“The Red Cross Movement is rapidly mobilizing to meet 

the urgent humanitarian needs following a devastating 

earthquake and tsunami in Japan,” says Conrad Sauve, 

secretary general and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross. “We 

are grateful to Sears for their generous support of Red Cross 

relief and recovery operations in affected communities.” 

Photo error 

The photo of the man identified as Barry O’Sullivan, senior 

vice-president, voice technology group, Cisco on page 20 of 

the January/February 2011 issue , was not Barry O’Sullivan. 

It was Tony Bates who left Cisco last year to become CEO of 

Skype. We regret the error. 

March/April 2011 

Volume 11 Number 2 

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Steve Lloyd 

steve@contactmanagement.ca 

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Next issue… 

May/June 

Essential themes are Speech Analytics 

and Outsourcing. Stories include what 

to look for in outsourcing relationship, 

a case study of a Canadian financial 

institution use of speech analytics, 

and the results of an Aberdeen contact 

centre survey. 

4 contact management.ca March / April 2011

eaderboard 

March / April 2011 contact management.ca 5

Showtime 

5 th Annual Call Centre Week Canada 

April 27-29, 2011, Le Meridien King Edward Hotel. Toronto, Ontario 

Organizers promise this edition of the conference will be a networking and discussion-filled event that gives 

attendees the opportunity to turn innovative practical solutions into tangible successes for their call centres. It is 

produced by International Quality & Productivity Centre, New York, NY. Following is a synopsis of the complete 

agenda. For more information or to register call 1-800-882-8684 or visit www.callcentrecanada.ca 

DAY 1 

April 27, Pre-conference 

workshops 

9:00-11:00 a.m. 

Workshop A--Leveraging 

Social Media Integration to 

Drive ROI to Your Centre 

Instructor is Valerie Jones, 

former director of Web 

marketing and chief online 

officer, Virgin Mobile Canada 

Social Media has increasingly become 

the leading means of customer 

communication over the course of 

this past year. This workshop offers 

practical steps as well as “learning s” 

that will assist in creating a successful 

social media integration strategy to 

directly support profitability. 

11:30-1:30 p.m. (Box lunch) 

Workshop B--Centre Culture as 

the Foundation of “Revenue” 

Centre Strategy 

Instructors are Sharon Stines, 

associate director of operations, 

LoyaltyOne [Airmiles] and 

Michelle Gardner, associate 

director of operations, 

LoyaltyOne [Airmiles] 

As call centres, look to move away 

from their traditional image of 

expenditure into a strategic unit, it 

has become essential to identify what 

the start point of your execution 

should be. From a workforce 

development and operations 

perspective, this workshop will look 

at how to successfully cultivate 

a revenue centre culture whilst 

maintaining the process driven 

attention to detail that geared the 

primary centre model. 

2:00-4:00 p.m. 

Workshop C--Leveraging 

Analytical Tools to Enhance 

the Customer Experience 

Instructor is Heather Cone, AVP 

of customer experience, The 

CUMIS Group 

As centre leaders seek to deliver a 

positive customer experience and 

increase service operation efficiencies, 

it is imperative that they take 

their service to the next level. This 

workshop will demonstrate analytical 

tools and solutions used to capture 

conversation data, automatically 

gathering relevant information towards 

call trends 

DAY 2 

April 28 

8:00 a.m. 

Registration & Coffee 

8:35 a.m. 

Chairperson’s Opening 

Remarks 

8:45 a.m. 

Your 2011 Guide to Developing 

Revenue Generating Call 

Centre 

Speaker is Cameron Schilling, 

director of direct sales 

customer experience: planning 

& implementation, Rogers 

Communication 

Call centres are transitioning from 

being perceived as cost centres to 

strategic revenue generating centres 

by creating a sales performance 

culture without compromising 

service excellence. This session will 

look at key best practices that are 

essential when transitioning from a 

cost to a profit centre. 

9:30 a.m. 

Integrating Social Media to 

Drive Customer Service 

Speaker is Andrew Gillespie, 

manager of worldwide 

reservations guest services, 

Four Seasons Hotels and 

Resorts 

Social media communication is 

rapidly becoming a primary customer 

channel in the very same light that 

email and phone are considered in 

the call centre industry. In this session, 

Andrew Gillespie of Four Seasons 

will explore how his organization 

developed an effective social media 

strategy that provides positive customer 

experience and shares what 

innovations have assisted in taking on 

this initiative. 

10:30 a.m. 

Morning Networking & 

Refreshment Break 

11:00 a.m. 

Do More with Less: Strategic 

Resource Planning 

Speaker is Angela Gordon, 

director of service optimization 

& contact centre, OTN [Ontario 

Telemedicine Network] 

The management of call centres is 

often tasked with making more out 

of less from a budget and a staffing 

standpoint to reduce bottom line 

cost without sacrificing quality. This 

session will look at how call centres 

are using workforce optimization 

[WFO] solutions to generate profitable 

results. 

11:45 a.m. 

Gaining Competitive 

Advantage through Employee 

Engagement 

Speaker is Eli Federman, 

director of customer care, Grand 

& Toy 

A predominant challenge among 

leaders in the call centre space is 

determining how to cultivate and 

maintain a motivational culture for 

employees. This session takes a look 

at new innovative strategies Grand 

& Toy has implemented to gain a 

competitive advantage through 

employee engagement. 

12:30 p.m. 

Spotlight Brief on Air Quality: 

Increasing Centre Productivity 

through Indoor Environmental 

Assessments 

Speaker is Frank Haverkate, 

president, Haverkate 

& Associates Inc, 

CallCenterTesting.com 

New legal changes in Canada inclusive 

of amendments to the code set 

out in Bill C-45 (217.1 in the Criminal 

Code) now require employers to perform 

regular indoor air quality assessments 

to ensure proper health and 

safety for their work force. This brief 

information session will elaborate on 

the correlation between production 

and air quality. 

12:45 p.m. 

Networking Lunch 

1:45 p.m. 

Innovative Strategies to 

Enhance the Customer 

Experience with VOC 

Speaker is Suzanne Pettigrew, 

senior manager of customer 

care, Northern Tel & Telebec, 

(div of Bell Aliant) 

With streamlined operations in place, 

call centre strategists can move into 

tiered development and advocacy 

programs that cater more to the 

voice of the customer. This session 

takes a look at new innovative strategies 

that are being taken to enhance 

the customer experience. 

2:30 p.m. 

Increasing Customer Service 

“Mobility” Through SMS and 

Mobile Applications 

Speakers are Julien Raymond, 

director of call centre 

operations, First Media Group 


Showtime 

[Lavalife] and Ben Newton, 

director of online products, First 

Media Group 

The last year has seen a wave of SMS 

and Applications being introduced 

into the consumer market in order 

to make customer service more accessible 

through mobile devices. In 

this session, Julien Raymond and Ben 

Newton of First Media Group [FMG] 

will explore how FMG successfully 

developed innovation strategies to 

better engage and interact with a 

mobile customer base. 

3:15 p.m. 

Afternoon Networking & 


3:45 p.m. 

Using Integrated Technology 

to Manage People and the 

Process 

Speaker is Marc Martel, call 

centre manager, Porter Airlines 

The battle to find compatible technology 

for your centre is often two 

fold where as the first half is finding 

the technologies that work for you 

and the second half is finding a way 

to integrate all or most of the desired 

technologies into one common 

interface. This session will explore 

how certain technologies are making 

customer service channels integrated 

and mobile in order to efficiently 

manage your workforce along with 

the process. 

4:30 p.m. 

Panel: Advancing Centre 

Performance with Quality 

Measures 

Moderator is Dolly Konzelmann, 

president ICSA Toronto 

Chapter. Panelists include: 

Anthony Lambie, AVP direct 

distribution & call centre 

application services, Sun Life 

Financial; Angela Gordon, 

director of service optimization 

& contact centre OTN [Ontario 

Telemedicine Network]; Neal 

Dlin, global head of customer 

care, Spin Master. 

Although the measurement and monitoring 

of quality varies from centre to 

centre, a common theme is the fact 

that all centre leaders are tasked with 

finding effective means of improvement. 

This session takes a look at 

innovative quality assurance strategies 

that are being implemented to 

improve customer service. 

DAY 3 

April 29 

8:15 a.m. 

Registration & Coffee 

8:50 a.m. 

Chairperson’s Welcome 

9:00 a.m. 

Keynote: Leveraging Social 

Media to Drive Sales 

Speaker is Amar Sidhu, head 

of sales operation strategy, 

Scotiabank 

The evolution of social media is 

changing the way call centres 

operate by becoming a customer 

service channel investment. This 

session will explore how to develop 

revenue generating social media 

strategies and what innovations will 

assist in taking on this initiative. 

9:45 a.m. 

The Canadian Call Centre Elite 

Panel: Achieving a Reputation 

of World Call Class Level 




Sharmane Good, vice-president 

of customer care operations, 

LoyaltyOne [Airmiles Customer 

Care]; David Bradshaw, vicepresident 

sales & services, ING 

Direct; Kevin Pierre, director 

of enterprise planning, Davis + 

Henderson. 

Each conference concerning call centres 

attempts to teach each attendee 

best practices in order to become a 

benchmark in the industry and excel 

at overall centre excellence. In this 

session, a panel of centre leaders will 

discuss how each business has been 

able to plan, execute, and measure 

successful approaches from an organizational 

stance. 

10:30 a.m. 

Morning Networking & 


11:15 a.m. 

Proactive vs. Reactive Care: 

Defeating Customer Turnover 

Speaker is Elizabeth Parry, 

vice-president of customer 

experience and learning 

solutions, Circles. 

“It costs four to seven times more 

to replace a current customer than 

it does to keep one”, is the phrase 

that is often quoted in reference to 

the need for retention. This session 

will look at how call centres are 

minimizing customer turnover and 

promoting consumer loyalty through 

proactive care. 

12:00 Noon 

Panel: The Future of 

Call Centres: Discussing 

Predictions, Forecast 

Methodologies, and Advance 

Strategies 




Cameron Schilling, director 

of direct sales customer 

experience: planning & 

implementation, Rogers 

Communication; David 

Bradshaw, vice-president sales 

& service, ING Direct; Neal Dlin, 

global head of customer care, 

Spin Master. 

The combination of a market of 

social media interactions, increased 

competition induced by economic 

fluctuations, enhanced centre 

models, and changing consumer 

perception all pose significant 

changes to the manner in which 

centres will operate in the years 

ahead. This session will be an open 

panel discussion of prevalent trends 

and forecasts regarding where these 

leaders see the market progressing to 

in the near future. 

12:45 p.m. 

Networking Luncheon 

1:45 p.m. 

Investing in New Inbound 

Technologies to Maximize 

Centre Performance 

Speaker is Anthony Lambie, 

AVP direct distribution & call 

centre application services, 

Sun Life Financial 

New inbound technology is indeed a 

venture; however what technology 

do you entrust when there is a market 

of infinite products that promise 

to revolutionize the manner in which 

your call centres operate and perform? 

This session will review call 

centre technologies and discuss why 

centres are investing, how effective 

they are, interpret how long they 

take to implement, and how they will 

impact your change management in 

addition to the bottom line. 

2:30 p.m. 

Interpreting Innovative Data 

Analytics to Add Value 

Speaker is Kevin Pierre, director 

of enterprise planning, Davis + 

Henderson 

Call centre leaders are often 

charged with improving operational 

efficiencies while maintaining 

customer service levels by means 

of data analytics. This session looks 

at how you can create innovative 

forecast strategies from sheer data. 

3:15 p.m. 

Afternoon Networking & 


3:45 p.m. 

Peer to Peer Centre Focus 

Roundtable Discussions 

Speakers are Elizabeth Parry, 

vice-president of customer 

experience and learning 

solutions, Circles, and Eli 

Federman, director of customer 

care, Grand & Toy. 

These roundtable discussions have 

been designed to allow heads of 

call and contact centres to share 

experiences and exchange ideas on 

the key themes covered throughout 

the conference. 

The topics to be discussed are: 

Integrating Social Media, Fostering a 

Customer-Centric Culture, 

Delivering a Consistent Customer 

Experience, Leveraging Technology 

Automation and 

Managing a Unionized Centre 

Environment 

4:30 p.m. 

Conference Concludes 


eaderboard 

Taylor Reach Group purveys 

call centre assessment tool 

Call centre consultancy The Taylor 

Reach Group (Taylor Reach), Toronto, 

has partnered with Customer 

Service Audit (CSA) to purvey in 

North America the call centre self 

assessment tool Snapshotz. It is a 

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tool. 

Taylor Reach Chairman and CEO 

Colin Taylor and CSA Managing 

Director Deepak Silvaratnam recently 

disclosed Taylor Reach as a certified 

partner for the CSA call centre self 

assessment product Snapshotz 

Online. 

“Snapshotz is the only SaaS-based 

call centre audit and tool in the 

world”, says Silvaratnam. Launched 

in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003 

and offered as a SaaS tool since 2007, 

Snapshotz has grown from a few local 

clients to a global organization with 

thousands of satisfied customers. 

CSA has recently also expanded its 

service offerings with benchmarked 

data and services. 

“I am quite impressed with the 

Snapshotz tool”, says Taylor. “It does 

many of the activities that a flesh and 

blood consultant would do on site, 

but does so at a fraction of the cost”. 

Under the agreement Taylor Reach 

is the certified partner for Snapshotz 

serving the U.S. and Canada. 

“Snapshotz will assist Taylor Reach 

1.0 

2.0 

3.0 

4.0 

5.0 

6.0 

Taylor Reach Chairman and CEO Colin 

Taylor says Snapshotz does many 

of the activities that a consultant 

would do on site, but at a fraction of 

the cost. 

in serving our clients and helping 

them to deliver a superior customer 

experience to their customers,” says 

Taylor. 

Snapshotz uses a holistic approach 

to review the workings of a customer 

service area, covering eight main 

sections, 29 sub sections and 550 

plus variables. Targeted at customer 

service functions of any size, 

Snapshotz is aimed at businesses 

looking to identify areas to reduce 

costs, improve productivity, identify 

risks or gain a snapshot of where the 

service area sits at a particular period 

of time. 

1.0 Corporate Objectives 

/ Business Process 

2.0 Customer 

Relationship 

Management 

3.0 Health & Safety and 

Staff Wellbeing 

4.0 Contact Centre 

Structure 

5.0 Recruitment / Career 

Development / 

Remuneration 

6.0 Training 

7.0 Internal 

Communications 

8.0 Operational Metrics 

The Snapshotz image here shows the relative comparison of the call centre’s score 

across the eight sections addressed in the audit. The higher the score the closer to 

best practices the centre is achieving in its operations. 

7.0 

8.0 

CSA Managing Director Deepak 

Silvaratnam maintains Snapshotz is 

the only SaaS-based call centre audit 

tool in the world. 

Snapshotz is well suited for 

planning purposes, and acts as 

comparison tool for reviews of the 

service function and teams within 

the customer service function, or 

even for comparison of geographic 

locations. Billed as the uniqueness 

of Snapshotz is that it enables a 

full review of the service area at an 

affordable price. 

To mark the inception of the CSA 

partnership, Taylor Reach is holding a 

draw with the winner receiving free 

usage of Snapshotz. The contest is 

open until May 30, 2011. Only call 

centres located in Canada or the U.S. 

are eligible. 

The winner receives a single user 

license that must be employed within 

30 days. The draw will be held May 31, 

2011 in Toronto. The winner will be 

notified by email and telephone. Prize 

value is $4,520. 

With three offices in North 

America and one in Australia, 

Taylor Reach is a major call centre 

consulting and customer service 

consulting firm. This award winning 

company founded in 2003 by Colin 

Taylor today boasts a stable of 

Fortune 500 and SME companies. 

The consulting staff at Taylor 

Reach each possess more than 20 

years of call/contact centre, customer 

service and customer satisfaction 

experience. For more information, 

visit www.thetaylorreachgroup.com 

or phone Colin Taylor at 877-979- 

8692 ext 200. 

Calabrio closes 

2010 with record 

growth 

Provider of workforce optimization 

software for the call centre, Calabrio, 

Minneapolis, MN, closed 2010 with 

a record 40 percent growth in sales 

through its enterprise channel 

partner network. Nearly half of its 

deployments in 2010 displaced an 

incumbent vendor. 

Calabrio also received indications 

from leading industry analytics 

that it leads the market in superior 

customer service and value. The 

company received the top mark 

for “Pricing” satisfaction and the 

second highest mark for “Innovation 

& Responsiveness to Enhancement 

Requests” in the DMG Consulting 

2009-2010 Quality Management/ 

Liability Recording (WFO) Product 

and Market Report, and was 

positioned as one of five vendors in 

the 2010 Gartner Magic Quadrant 

for Contact Centre Workforce 

Optimization report. 

“We are thrilled with the 

momentum experienced in 2010, 

particularly in our enterprise-focused 

business,” says Tom Goodmanson, 

president and CEO of Calabrio. “More 

and more customers are realizing 

that there is another choice for their 

workforce optimization needs. The 

advantages of operating a softwareonly 

solution and strong customer 

support are certainly key factors 

propelling our growth.” 

Tom Goodmanson, president and CEO 

of Calabrio, says the advantages of 

operating a software-only solution 

and strong customer support are key 

factors propelling the company’s 

growth. 


eaderboard 

Study cites Gen X as true 

social networking champs 

A report commissioned by Citrix Online, a 

division of Citrix Systems, has revealed that Gen 

X workers—and not those in the younger Gen Y 

generation—make up the majority of those who 

use social networking for business, followed closely 

by Boomers aged 55 and older. 

In a release, the company noted according to the 

data, Gen Y’s use of collaborative technology also 

lagged others. The survey, conducted by Forrester 

Consulting, provides a snapshot of how the global 

workforce communicates as work becomes more 

distributed and usage of collaboration technologies 

increases. It reveals a highly-dispersed workforce 

still favouring meetings, but increasingly using 

tools such as social networking and video chat to 

communicate and collaborate. 

The study asked information workers of all ages 

in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Australia 

about their business communication habits. 

Gen Y does not have the monopoly on 

technology use and social tools during the work day. 

Meanwhile, the older generation is getting with the 

program. 

Gen Y is least likely to share information via text 

message (26 percent, compared to 47 percent of 

those aged 55 plus), and least likely to use video 

conferencing, video chat and Web conferencing 

tools. 

Gen Y uses social networking the least frequently 

(40 percent of Gen Y workers who use social media 

for business do so daily, compared to 50 percent of 

those aged 55 plus). 

Older Boomers (55 plus) have increased their 

Social net tools—64% 

Video chat—56% 

Document sharing sites—55% 

Web conferencing—52% 

Study shows that people are increasingly 

turning to technology to help them collaborate 

with colleagues and customers. 

business use of social media 79 percent in the past 

year. 

The younger you are, the less you value meetings 

and the less you pay attention. Gen Y is least likely 

to think meetings are efficient. Only 29 percent of 

Gen Y workers think meetings used to decide on a 

course of action are very efficient compared to 45 

percent of Older Boomers. Gen Y is least likely to pay 

attention in meetings and barely half (51 percent) 

believe it’s very important to do so in meetings to 

decide a course of action. 

Americans have more meetings and pay 

more attention – 90 percent meet in person to 

communicate and build relationships, more than 

any other nationality. Of those, 51 percent meet 

daily, compared to a mere 31 percent of French. 

Seventy five percent of Americans believe it’s very 

important to pay attention in meetings to decide on 

of action, compared to 50 percent of the French. 

The in-person meeting is alive and well, but not 

necessarily effective. Eighty four percent of all 

respondents have in-person meetings, but meetings 

often don’t achieve their goals. Only 45 percent 

are very satisfied that planning meetings achieve 

the task in hand, and only 30 percent believe such 

meetings to be very efficient. Across all categories 

of meetings for designated tasks (e.g. review of 

documents, plan projects or initiatives, decision on 

a course of action), less than half of respondents 

believe those meetings are very efficient. 

In an era of multitasking, what is still considered 

rude in a meeting? Eighty three percent believe 

that side conversations are unacceptable during a 

meeting, and 77 percent frown on those doing other 

work on a computer or smartphone. 

We still like to look each other in the eye. 

Germans like to see each other during meetings (75 

percent), while Americans find it less important (55 

percent). Seventy nine percent of those aged 55 and 

over think it’s important, compared to 65 percent of 

Gen Y. Why? To read body language, say 78 percent. 

Usage among users of collaborative technologies 

is rising fast. Sixty four percent of those who use 

social networking tools in business use them more 

than last year. Video chat, team document-sharing 

sites and Web conferencing also experienced 

significant increases in usage, with 56 percent, 55 

percent and 52 percent respectively. 

“We know from our own experience that the 

workforce is more dispersed and mobile than ever, 

and that people are increasingly turning to technology 

to help them collaborate with colleagues and 

customers many miles away,” says Bernardo de 

Albergaria, vice- president and general manager, 

global marketing and ecommerce at Citrix Online. 

Interwork distributes Aastra phones 

optimized for Microsoft Lync 

Interwork Technologies, a value added distributor 

for new and emerging technologies, is collaborating 

with Aastra Telecom, Concord, ON, a company at 

the forefront of the enterprise communication 

market, to distribute Aastra IP phones optimized for 

Microsoft Lync. 

Already known for its innovative design, 

reliability and usability, Aastra has jointly developed 

with Microsoft a new line of telephones that 

seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Lync Server 

2010. The Aastra 6721ip and 6725ip phones are said 

to deliver exceptional quality and value while tightly 

integrating with Microsoft Lync, making them 

powerful unified communications (UC) devices. 

These phones can operate independently from 

a PC so can be easily and widely deployed. The 

Aastra 6725ip offers the additional benefits of PC 

connection via USB cable for a tight integration with 

Microsoft Lync Server 2010: click-to-dial is enriched 

with presence status ensuring a more efficient call 

management and team collaboration. 

“We are very excited to announce our launch 

of Aastra’s new line of Lync certified phones,” says 

Richard Earle, CEO, Interwork Technologies. “We 

expect that Microsoft’s Lync UC initiative will have a 

big impact on how people communicate and Aastra 

6721ip and 6725ip phones will quickly become a 

standard of excellence for Lync users.” 

The Aastra 6721ip and 6725ip phones were 

designed to provide a superior user experience and 

facilitate the adoption of UC including: 

• an intuitive interface clearly displayed on a full 

colour 3.5” LCD screen; 

• easy access to the most essential calling features 

through navigation keys; and 

• wideband audio enhancing call clarity 

“The launch of the 6721ip and 6725ip continues 

Aastra’s strategy of providing great choice, high 

quality and value to the enterprise communications 

market,” says Bruce Cook, Aastra’s vice-president 

of sales for Canada. “We’re delighted to work with 

Interwork Technologies to deliver intelligent and 

compelling UC solutions that meet the demanding 

needs of today’s workers to communicate in a 

variety of ways.” 

Aastra develops and delivers innovative 

communications products and applications for 

businesses. Its operations are global with more 

than 50 million installed lines around the world and 

a direct and indirect presence in more than 100 

countries. Aastra offers one of the most complete 

portfolios of UC solutions individually tailored to 

satisfy its customers’ requirements. These range 

from feature-rich call managers for small and 

medium businesses and highly scalable ones for 

large enterprises, integrated mobility, call centre 

solutions to a wide selection of terminals. 


eaderboard 

Study finds IT teams adopting 

virtualization, cloud computing 

Late last year, networking provider Cisco, San Jose, CA, 

released the final installment of the Cisco Connected 

World Report, an international study on the behavioural 

trends of workers in accessing information anywhere, with 

any device, and the ability of information technology (IT) 

professionals to address their needs. The latest results 

focus on data centre, virtualization, and cloud computing 

trends, and evolving IT roles, in the context of increasingly 

mobile and distributed workforces. 

The study found that global IT professionals are creating 

new job opportunities by increasing collaboration among 

teams in the data centre, and adopting new technologies 

such as virtualization and cloud computing. But they are 

also struggling to maintain security and data governance 

as employees demand more offsite access to networks and 

information. 

For example, across the 13 countries in the global 

study, 52 percent of the IT professionals stated they use 

or plan to use cloud computing, while much higher cloud 

adoption rates are predicted in Brazil (70 percent), China 

(69 percent) and India (76 percent). Across the world, 

respondents rated the following as their top data centre 

priorities for the next three years: 

• improve agility and speed in deploying business 

applications (33 percent), 

• better manage resource capacity to align demand and 

capacity (31 percent), 

• increase data centre resilience (19 percent), 

• reduce power and cooling costs (17 percent). 

These findings add to the initial survey results 

released in October, which revealed that workers want 

flexible access to corporate information from any mobile 

device, anywhere, anytime, and to the results released 

in November, which revealed disconnects in worker 

expectations around information access, IT policies and 

employee awareness of policies. The latest survey results 

examine how IT managers are evolving their data centres 

and taking advantage of new technologies, while working 

to accommodate trends in the workplace like social media, 

device proliferation, video and an increasingly mobile 

workforce. 

Across the study’s 13 countries, only an average of18 

percent of respondents are using cloud computing today, 

while an additional 34 percent plan to use the cloud. Brazil 

(27 percent), Germany (27 percent), India (26 percent), 

U.S. (23 percent) and Mexico (22 percent) top the list 

of countries that are already taking advantage of cloud 

computing, exceeding the average (18 percent) across all 

countries. A large majority (88 percent) of IT respondents 

predict they will be storing some percentage of their 

company’s data and applications in private or public clouds 

within the next three years. 

One in three IT professionals said more than half of their 

company’s data and applications will be in private clouds 

within the next three years. Private cloud adoption was 

predicted to be higher in Mexico (71 percent), Brazil (53 

Lew Tucker, Cisco’s chief technology officer, cloud 

computing, says the latest installment of the Cisco study 

demonstrates IT professionals worldwide are embracing 

new technologies such as virtualization and cloud 

computing while helping their companies meet their 

businesses goals. 

percent) and the U.S. (46 percent.) 

Of those respondents that will use public clouds, one 

of every three (34 percent) plan to deploy within one year, 

and 44 percent predicted their companies would use public 

clouds within the next two years; 21 percent are expected 

to do so within two to three years. 

Server virtualization is not yet widespread in production 

and nonproduction environments. Only 29 percent of 

the respondents worldwide have more than half their 

production servers virtualized, and only 28 percent have 

more than half of nonproduction servers virtualized. 

IT professionals cited an increase in IT agility (30 

percent) as the top reason to deploy virtualization, followed 

by the ability to optimize resources to reduce costs (24 

percent) and by faster application provisioning (18 percent). 

The picture changes over the next three years. Almost 

half of the IT respondents (46 percent) expect that 50 to 

100 percent of their production environment servers will 

be virtualized. 

They see big savings from virtualization with 40 percent 

of respondents expecting a data centre cost reduction 

of between 25 and 49 percent, and another 30 percent 

anticipating up to 24 percent in cost savings. 

“The data centre is evolving to meet employee 

expectations for accessing networks, applications and 

information anywhere at any time with any device,” 

says Lew Tucker, Cisco’s chief technology officer, cloud 

computing. “The third installment of the Cisco Connected 

World Report demonstrates that IT professionals worldwide 

are embracing new technologies such as virtualization, 

cloud computing, desktop virtualization, and unified data 

centre infrastructure to meet employee expectations while 

helping their companies meet their businesses goals.” 

Goldbeck 

Recruiting 

forms IT and 

Telecom 

division 

Goldbeck Recruiting Inc., Vancouver, 

a major recruitment and executive 

search firm in BC, late last year 

launched its new recruitment 

division specializing in Information 

Technology jobs. 

The new IT and Telecom division 

will cover all IT related fields such as 

networking, software engineering, 

programming, R&D, and IT project 

management. It will also include sales 

and marketing positions in IT and 

telecommunications industries. 

“We are giving this sector the 

attention it deserves,” says Henry 

Goldbeck, president of Goldbeck 

Recruiting. “The timing of our launch 

has been fuelled by an increase 

in client requests. To meet the 

demands of this industry, we are also 

expanding our recruitment services 

to include contract positions.” 

Julia MacKenzie has joined 

Goldbeck Recruiting as the new 

division’s lead recruiter. Her strong 

business development background 

and networking experience with 

senior level executives of Fortune 

500 companies will be critical to the 

growth of this new division. 

Henry Goldbeck, president of 

Goldbeck Recruiting, says the launch 

of the new division was fuelled by an 

increase in client requests. 


eaderboard 

Salesforce.com 

purchases Dimdim 

for US$31 million 

CRM company Salesforce. 

com, San Francisco, CA, has 

acquired enterprise application 

development firm Dimdim, 

Lowell, MA, for approximately 

$31 million in cash. 

Salesforce.com will 

leverage Dimdim’s real-time 

communications technologies to 

enhance its Chatter collaboration 

platform. More than 60,000 

customers have used Chatter 

since it was deployed in June. 

The Dimdim purchase will 

allow Salesforce.com to offer 

an integrated collaboration 

and communications platform. 

The company expects it to 

drive greater Chatter adoption, 

increase customer loyalty 

and differentiate its product 

portfolio. 

“With Dimdim, we gain 

important communication 

technologies and an exciting 

team of developers,” says George 

Hu, executive vice-president 

of platforms and marketing at 

Salesforce.com. “This acquisition 

provides the foundation for 

future growth in the market.” 

Salesforce.com is not 

disclosing additional details 

about its plans for Dimdim. It 

does say Dimdim will not be sold 

as a standalone platform. The 

success of Facebook as a realtime 

collaboration tool is cited as 

a reason Salesforce.com bought 

Dimdim. 

“It will take us some time 

to iron out the road map,” says 

Salesforce.com CMO Kendall 

Collins. “But think of the things 

you already do on Facebook, 

such as presence - when you see 

the green dot and know your 

friends are online and that you 

can communicate with them in 

real-time. That ability presents 

an opportunity to completely 

change how you work.” 

Dimdim was founded in 2007. 

It also has an office in India. 

TelStar Hosted Services gets 

US$1 million debt facility 

Square 1 Bank has extended a US$1 million debt facility 

to TelStar Hosted Services Inc., Leesburg, VA, provider 

of state-of-the-art, VOIP-based hosted contact centre 

services. 

TelStar’s contact management solutions are said to be 

based on leading edge technologies, and have been used 

by small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprises 

for longer than 10 years. TelStar’s solution offers features 

and functionality that includes intelligent predictive 

dialling, true blended call centre services, and automated 

messaging service. 

TelStar’s hosted solution is described as highly cost 

effective, allowing clients to minimize capital expenditure 

and use at-home agents, scalable, stable and reliable with 

restoral capabilities, and delivered competitively and 

proficiently by a highly professional team. In addition, 

TelStar provides personalized training, in-house customer 

support, and is housed in a SAS70 compliant, secure facility. 

“We’re impressed with TelStar’s progressive business 

model and we’re pleased to help grow a business that 

shares the visionary, creative approach valued by Square 1,” 

Achieving Excellence in a Multi-Channel 

Contact Center Environment 

Don’t miss the chance to gain contact center solutions and help 

your call center excel in a multichannel, social media world. 

Find out how to enhance customer experience across channels, 

create a culture that inspires excellence, drive strategic direction 

 

top line revenue from the event’s speakers – senior level call 

center practitioners. 

Some of this year’s featured keynote speakers are: 

Discover Financial Services 

Clint Morley, VP Customer Service and Engagement 

Comcast 

Michael DeCandido, SVP Call Center Operations 

Citigroup Global Consumer Bank 

Adriana Torres, Global Contact Center Head and MD 

says Alan Spurgin, Square 1 Bank executive vice-president. 

“Square 1 Bank has been proactive at identifying and 

supporting innovative small businesses, and we’re proud 

to be included as one of their clients,” says TelStar Hosted 

Services CEO James P. Dunn. We’re so pleased to have 

Square1 Bank supporting our growth and working capital 

needs, and look forward to a lasting relationship as we 

continue to grow.” 

Square 1 Bank is a full service commercial bank 

dedicated exclusively to serving the financial needs of 

the venture capital community and entrepreneurs in all 

stages of growth and expansion. The bank offers tailored 

products and solutions aided by the latest in technological 

innovations. 

TelStar Hosted Services Inc is a communications-as-aservice 

technology provider offering blended call centre 

services, predictive dialer capabilities, and automated 

messaging via the cloud. Its offerings permit clients 

to avoid large capital expenditures and benefit from 

competitive long distance rates. 

Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. 

Jim Halloran, VP Quality Management Group 

Match.com 

Michele Watson, VP Global Customer Care 

REGISTER 

NOW 

Register today and bring your team! Complimentary Exhibit Hall passes are available and 

pricing for the full conference can be found at www.callcenterweek.com or call 

1.800.882.8684. Mention your unique registration code CCW11CSN and receive an exclusive 

20% discount off standard All-Access pricing. 


Does your centre 

need a GPS? 

It’s all about knowing your destination and getting there 

as quickly and directly as possible. The same applies to 

where you are taking your contact centre. So here’s how to 

adopt a GPS model and avoid any wrong turns. BY JEFF DORAN 

Is your contact centre headed 

in the right direction? As the 

old saying goes, if you don’t 

know where you are going, any 

road will take you there. 

This is particularly apropos when 

it comes to business planning. If you 

don’t plan the right route to reach 

your destination, you may never get 

there. If you’re struggling to meet 

your goals, you may need a GPS 

(Global Positioning System) for your 

contact centre. 

What is a GPS? 

It is a global navigation system 

that provides reliable positioning, 

direction, and timing services 

to users on a continuous basis 

anywhere on the planet. GPS assists 

in everyday activities such as 

banking, mobile phone operations, 

and even the control of power grids. 

A GPS structure is made up of three 

segments: 1) Space – satellites, 2) 

Control – master control station, 

monitoring stations and ground 

antennas, and 3) User – people who 

are accessing, updating and securing 

the network. 

Now how does this apply to 

contact centre planning? 

Well, if you could take all of the 

variables that need to be analyzed for 

your business plan, enter them into 

one system, and produce a road map 

on how to achieve your goals, you 

would save a tremendous amount of 

time, resources and frustration. 

With a GPS model, you can 

manage your planning process more 

effectively for better results. Let’s 

look at the three main segments in 

more detail. 

Space - The final frontier! 

(sorry about that) 

Whether you operate a domestic 

contact centre or a worldwide 

operation, you need to have a 

global perspective on your markets, 

customers, competition and the 

economy. You need timely and 

accurate information coming in on a 

consistent basis. 

Are your markets changing, 

are your customers asking for 

different products/services, is your 

competition eating into your market 

share, has the economy shifted and 

affected spending habits? 

You can get this information 

through traditional media sources 

such as newspapers, trade 

publications, television and radio. 

However, you should use the Internet 

to tap into newswire feeds, chat 

rooms, Webinars, blogs and social 

networking sites. These provide some 

of the best and most current sources 

of information available. 

Also, don’t forget about 

attending industry networking 

sessions, conferences, seminars and 

tradeshows. These are still excellent 

sources of information and allow you 

to personally connect with customers 

and competitors. 

Once you’ve developed a robust 

system for acquiring this information, 

you need to manage and nurture it. 

The more aware you are of emerging 

trends, the better equipped you will 

be at guiding your business through 

rough waters. 

Control 

Collecting lots of pertinent 

information is great, but you must 

do something with it. You need a 

central point to house the data and a 

methodology to assess it in a timely 

fashion. 

First, set up a task force to 

manage this segment. This will be 

GPS Task Force 

Contact Centre 

Management 

Employees 

Executive 

your “master control station”. All 

information will feed into this group. 

People on the task force need 

to be focused, reliable and be 

accountable. Look for people who are 

detail oriented and have an affinity 

for doing research. Distribute the 

workload equally to ensure a steady 

stream of relevant information. 

This group will be responsible to 

assessing data/information, making 

recommendations for improvement, 

developing plans of action, 

determining budget, presenting to 

upper executives. 

You will also want to establish a 

section on your corporate Intranet 

to allow people on the task force to 

connect virtually. You may want to 

open this up to a broader audience 

if you feel that more input would 

be advantageous. If you go this 

High 

Low 


Staffing 

Matters 

route, make sure you are prepared for a significant 

increase in data. 

Monitoring your performance based on the 

information you collect and the decisions you 

make is critical. Make sure everyone involved in 

the process is looking at their role and their input 

through a discerning eye. 

Establish a schedule of regular followup 

meetings to discuss any new trends and 

developments and determine if any changes in 

direction are required. It’s better to alter your 

course mid-stream than to come to the end of your 

journey and find out you are in the wrong town. 

User 

Users are people who have access, provide input 

or are affected by the GPS. This includes virtually 

every employee in the company. 

Determine who will have access to the system 

and their level of authority. People on the task 

force will have the highest level of access while 

the general employee population will have limited 

access. The accompanying diagram illustrates the 

access hierarchy. 

If people are to feel connected to the established 

goals and vision, they need to be a part of the 

process. Holding periodic briefings or town hall 

meetings provides a forum for discussing your 

plan and getting feedback from employees. 

Also, set up an internal company-wide Web page 

so all employees can learn more about their 

organization’s vision and direction. 

The following is a quick checklist to help you get 

started on developing your own GPS. 

• Determine your destination/goal 

• Is everyone on-board? 

• What is the most direct route? 

• Where and when will you take breaks for review? 

• How will the process be managed 

• Who will be accountable 

When it comes to good business planning, 

you need to know where you’re going and how 

you’re going to get there. Using a GPS structure 

as a planning model, you can set a course for your 

contact centre that will get you to your destination 

faster, safer and more cost effectively. Happy 

travelling! 

Jeff Doran is president of CCEOC Inc., Newmarket, 

ON, which oversees the administration and 

delivery of the Contact Centre Employer Of Choice 

(CCEOC) certification and development program 

for regional, national and international centres. 

He has worked with many organizations including 

FedEx, Scotiabank, CAA, HILTI International, The 

Shopping Channel, Netelleer, CIBA Vision, Rogers 

Communications, Roche Diagnotics, Crawford 

Adjusters and Grand & Toy. He can be reached at 

416-886-7007; jdoran@ccemployerofchoice.com 

Coming 

Events 

April 27-29—Call Centre Week Canada returns 

this spring after being held in the fall last year. 

Sessions will cover inspiring innovation through 

social media, empowering frontline agents, 

evaluating new technologies, analyzing customer 

experience ROI, optimizing efficiencies through 

leaner processes, and transitioning call centre 

changes seamlessly, among others. Location is Le 

Meridien King Edward Hotel, Toronto. Producer 

is International Quality & Productivity Centre 

(IQPC) North America. 

May 4-5—The International Customer Service 

Association Canada Annual Conference will be 

held in Mississauga. Location is RBC, 6880 Financial 

Drive, Mississauga, ON. 

May 9-10—The 2011 Call Centre Executive Summit 

is hosted by the Contact Centre Network 

Group and designed exclusively for contact centre 

executives and directors. Location is Dallas, 

TX. For more information and to register, visit 

www.execsummit.com. 

May 10-11—The Customer Response Summit II 

caters to executives who have direct responsibility 

for the voice of the customer and/or overall 

customer satisfaction. The summit explores 

the importance of providing customers with 

choices for their preferred method of support. 

It encompasses multi-channel service options, 

self-service via knowledgebases and downloads, 

live chat sessions, mobile applications, social 

networks, and easy issue escalation paths via the 

Web to improve the customer experience and 

increase customer satisfaction. Location is The 

Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa, Hollywood, FL. 

For more information and to register, visit www. 

customerresponsesummit.com/register.php 

May 12—HDI Trillium Chapter Annual Conference. 

Location is Hart House at University of 

Toronto in Toronto. For more information and to 

register, visit HDI Trillium chapter annual conference 

Web site. 

May 17-19—The Select Noble Users (SNUG 2011) 

is the annual conference of users of Noble Systems 

products. Location is Westin Atlanta North, 

Atlanta, GA. For more information and to register, 

visit nobleusersgroup.com/SNUG2011.htm. 

May 23-25—The 2 nd Call Centre for Financial 

Services promises to address the most pressing 

management concerns such as agent career 

management, regulation and compliance, call 

centre profitability, benchmarking new technologies 

and social media implementation. It is 

produced by IQPC. Location is Hyatt Regency 

Dallas, Dallas, TX. 

readerboard 

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Enter online by May 30, 2011 

at www.thetaylorreachgroup.com/snapshotz 


Unified 


Cloud-based communications can offer contact centres costeffective, 

fast, and reliable access to a wealth of applications 

whether agents work at headquarters, at remote offices, or even 

from home. 

Is a hosted UC solution right for you? 

What’s driving contact centres to adopt cloud-based unified communications solutions? 

Here are the main drivers and the criteria for choosing such a lofty route. BY JASON ALLEY 

It’s tough to flip through a 

technology publication today 

without seeing some mention 

of “cloud computing.” And it’s 

no wonder why. Cloud computing 

is providing scalable, cost-effective 

resources as a service over the 

Internet. In this tight economy, that’s 

a huge value proposition. 

The trend of cloud computing 

has increasingly spurred technology 

decision-makers in contact centres 

to ask: “Why can’t we reap the same 

benefits from moving our unified 

communications (UC) applications to 

the cloud?” 

Vendors are responding. Today, 

there exists a wealth of hosted UC 

solutions for contact centres. What’s 

interesting is how the original drivers 

for this migration have already begun 

to change. 

Traditional drivers boiled down 

to reduced costs: lower up-front 

capital expenditures, a “pay-asyou-go” 

pricing model, and reduced 

IT maintenance and management 

expenses. 

A more recent driver, however, 

is flexibility: both the ability to 

quickly scale up and down (especially 

the ability to quickly provision 

multiple sites and remote agents), 

and the ability to more quickly add 

sophisticated applications. This latter 

benefit is especially crucial because 

it gives contact centres a key 

competitive advantage by enabling 

them to differentiate services. 

While not a major driver yet, 

contact centres are weighing “green” 

factors more heavily too, which is 

making the eco-friendly attributes of 

hosted UC solutions more desirable 

(e.g. less infrastructure equals 

reduced carbon footprint). 

The growing number of hosted 

UC solutions offered, combined with 

new drivers for adoption, makes the 

decision-making process for contact 

centres increasingly complex. But 

contact centres must start at the 

beginning. Despite the potential 

benefits of hosted UC solutions, it’s 

not for everyone. 

Hosted versus premise 

How do you decide if a premisebased 

or hosted UC solution is best 

for your contact centre? There are 

certain business environments that 

might be better suited to a premise 


Unified 


model. These include the following: 

• IT staff requires full administrative 

access and control 

• Applications require a high degree 

of custom development 

• Industry requires stringent 

compliance with many regulations 

and/or security policies 

While all of these are valid 

considerations, it’s important to note 

that the industry is rapidly addressing 

them. Some hosted UC vendors are 

offering new delivery models and 

new server architectures designed 

to dramatically improve control, 

security, and reliability. 

In addition, migrating to the 

cloud is no longer an all-or-nothing 

proposition. More vendors today are 

offering hybrid options that enable 

contact centres to host some UC 

applications, while keeping others 

on-premise. 

Though not a reason alone to 

keep UC applications on-premise, 

contact centres should also be 

mindful of cultural shifts that must 

take place if they elect to migrate 

to the cloud. Senior staff will have 

to learn new best practices for 

managing processes and people. If 

these inevitable cultural shifts are 

not addressed early in the decisionmaking 

process, even the best hosted 

UC deployment will be compromised. 

Should your contact centre 

decide to move to the cloud after 

a thorough due diligence process 

based on benefits, risks, and business 

requirements, the next step is 

selecting the right vendor. 

Selection criteria 

What are the criteria contact centres 

should use to select a hosted UC 

solutions provider? 

Control, security, and reliability 

One of the most important factors 

to consider when selecting a hosted 

UC vendor is the degree to which it 

offers control, security, and reliability. 

Differences in hosted delivery models 

and server architectures directly 

impact these capabilities. 

For instance, does the vendor’s 

delivery model allow your contact 

centre to keep all voice traffic on the 

company’s network? Does it enable 

you to record and store all calls 

behind your firewall? And does the 

vendor offer virtualized, dedicated 

servers for each customer? 

Finally, be sure to conduct a 

thorough audit of the vendor’s 

hosted facility (both the 

infrastructure and policies). How 

many data centres does the vendor 

operate and where are they? Are 

they 24/7-monitored and SAS 70- 

certified? If the vendor can provide 

all these capabilities, then you can 

be pretty confident your control, 

security, and reliability requirements 

will be met. 

Software supplier 

versus third-party 

Another important factor is whether 

the service is offered by the company 

that developed the software or by 

a third-party. If it’s the software 

supplier, as long as the vendor has 

a proven track record developing 

and delivering hosted UC solutions, 

there are typically only advantages to 

acquiring services from them. 

First, the software supplier gives 

contact centres immediate access 

to enhancements -- customers don’t 

have to wait for third-parties to 

get trained on enhancements and 

test them. Second, contact centres 

have a greater ability to influence 

development. And third, because the 

supplier develops the software, they 

are maximally invested and odds of 

them abandoning the business are 

reduced. 

Migration path to premise 

Providing contact centres with an 

easy migration path from hosted 

to premise is another crucial factor 

when selecting a vendor. 

Does the vendor even offer 

a migration path? If so, what, if 

any, application re-writes will the 

“The fastest adoption of hosted UC solutions 

is among organizations with 500 or more 

contact centre seats.” 

“Contact centres should also be mindful of cultural 

shifts that must take place if they elect to migrate to 

the cloud.” 

contact centre incur as a result of the 

migration? 

If the hosted UC vendor also 

offers premise-based solutions, and 

if it also functions as the software 

supplier, odds are good that this 

migration is possible with no impact 

on applications. 

Single-platform architecture 

This is where the “UC” aspect of 

hosted really kicks in. Many hosted 

UC vendor solutions are based on 

premise equipment composed of 

loosely integrated products from 

different manufacturers. This 

introduces an element of cost and 

complexity that the movement of 

“UC” has tried to address. 

But don’t be fooled. Many of 

these same vendors have simply 

slapped the UC label on the same 

old products. Ask the vendor 

which applications were inherently 

developed versus which are offered 

via partnerships or acquisitions. 

The more platforms in the mix, the 

greater chance of management 

complexity and finger-pointing 

should things go awry. 

A true UC hosted solution should 

include a wealth of applications 

running on the same all-in-one 

platform. And this platform should 

be open and software-based for 

maximum customization and 

interoperability. 

The future 

Industry analyst firms are 

increasingly bullish on the hosted 

contact centre market. Most are 

predicting growth rates during the 

next few years of between 18 and 35 

percent. 

While many expected much slower 

adoption among large organizations, 

interestingly, this trend is reversing 

quickly. In fact, according to most 

analyst reports, the fastest adoption 

of hosted UC solutions is among 

organizations with 500 or more 

contact centre seats. 

While growth is occurring across 

all vertical markets, the financial 

services industry is currently the 

leader of hosted UC adoption. 

Communications, retail, and 

healthcare verticals are also showing 

strong interest in deploying hosted 

UC solutions for their contact 

centres. 

Today, most core contact centre 

applications are offered via a hosted 

model. These include automatic 

call distribution, call recording, 

outbound dialing, screen pop, and 

more. The market has also seen a 

surge in interactive voice response, 

multichannel, and workforce 

management applications. Most 

recently companies are turning to 

hosted providers to provide the full 

suite of contact centre applications, 

soup-to-nuts. 

However the hosted UC market 

grows, one thing is for sure, growth 

will continue into the foreseeable 

future. Innovations in the areas of 

networks, virtual server technology, 

and Web interfaces will eliminate 

any remaining functional limitations, 

and vendors will continue to add 

applications to their hosted UC 

solutions. So do your due diligence 

and be glad to know that you’ll have 

plenty of company should you decide 

to walk the hosted path. 

Jason Alley is solutions 

marketing manager for 

Interactive Intelligence, 

Indianapolis, IN, a 

global provider of unified 

business communication 

solutions for contact centre 

automation, enterprise IP telephony, 

and business process automation. 

Alley has more than 16 years experience 

in customer interaction 

management technologies, and has 

served as product manager and strategist 

for Aspect, Nortel, and Hipbone. 

Interactive Intelligence employs 800 

people serving more than 4,000 customers 

worldwide. The company can 

be reached at +1 317.872.3000, info@ 

inin.com or www.inin.com. 


Unified 


Integrating UC technologies 

with legacy systems 

This article helps contact centre executives understand business, technology and 

personnel considerations for successfully integrating unified communications 

(UC) services in a contact centre with legacy systems. It addresses: business and 

technology factors driving greater integration of UC services with legacy contact 

centre systems; strategies to ensure seamless integration of UC services; and 

benefits to the contract centre of integrating UC services. BY PAUL ADAMS 

Unified Communications 

(UC) continues to 

emerge as an invaluable 

customer relationship 

management tool in contact centres 

for its ability to more quickly link 

internal experts and knowledge 

workers with agents, drive 

efficiencies through collaboration, 

empower agents that are homebased, 

remote or equipped with 

mobile devices, and improve the 

customer experience. 

Interest among organizations 

has also been accelerated by the 

shift from premise-based UC 

solutions in the contact centre 

to hosted UC, which can deliver 

more dramatic cost savings, new 

service options for organizations 

that could not previously afford or 

support UC services, and better 

business continuity in the event of 

downtime. To benefit from contact 

centre unified communications, 

however, requires full and more 

seamless integration of UC services 

such as unified messaging, video, 

presence & IM, enhanced automatic 

call distribution (ACD) with legacy 

contact centre systems. 

Factors driving integration 

of contact centre UC services 

There are key market, business and 

technology factors driving greater 

demand among enterprises for 

unified communications in the 

contact centre in a way that is fully 

integrated with voice capabilities and 

legacy systems. 

• Shift from premise-based to 

hosted UC solutions – Enterprises 

now have access to on-demand UC 

features as a “service,” as opposed 

to a premise-based solution that 

requires on-site installation, 

operation and management of 

UC products. Hosted UC in the 

contact centre makes unified 

communications available and 

affordable for a broader range of 

organizations, and can be more 

seamlessly – and cost effectively 

– integrated with legacy contact 

centre systems. 

• Increased focus on customer 

satisfaction – Customer 

expectations for the contact 

centre experience continue 

to rise, which means that 

organizations are hyper-conscious 

of customer satisfaction given 

the brand damage a customer can 

video 

presence 

wreak via online sites and social 

networks. The legacy voice system 

experience of long hold times, 

dropped calls and automated 

routing black holes are all fodder 

for customer dissatisfaction, and 

organizations are seeking scalable, 

affordable and flexible ways to 

create more rewarding customer 

experiences. 

• Need for consistent customer 

experience – Unified 

communications are, in a way, 

about unifying the customer 

experience. As the number of 

possible customer touch points 

expands to mobile devices, 

instant messaging 

Unified 


ACD 

social networks, video and chat, 

organizations are recognizing the 

need to ensure that a customer’s 

experience remains consistent 

and effective. 

• Drive to improve contact centre 

efficiencies – Contact centres are 

relentlessly driven to increase 

agent efficiency, lower costs, and 

increase customer satisfaction 

– and balance these competing 

objectives appropriately. The 

introduction of an IP-based architecture 

and growth in innovative 

Web-based applications enabled 

via the IP network now allow contact 

centre agents to address the 

core objectives in ways that were 

never possible with simple legacy 

ACD platforms. 

Strategies to ensure seamless 

integration of UC services 

Ensuring successful integration of UC 

with legacy contact centre systems 

requires that organizations first 

recognize associated challenges, 

as well as strategies that can be 

employed to ensure the process is 

seamless. Key challenges include: 

email 

cellphone 


Unified 


legacy investments, cost of UC 

adoption, and resistance to change 

workflows. 

Many enterprise contact centres 

remain saddled with aging and 

cumbersome legacy systems 

(PBXs, IVRs, etc.) – investments of 

significance that can’t simply be 

tossed aside. As a result, integration 

of UC must be mindful of leveraging 

these investments to minimize sunk 

costs and maximize productivity 

benefits UC can deliver. 

Contact centres are cost sensitive, 

and as a result the ROI must be 

clear before investing resources on 

new technologies. Premise-based 

ACD platforms have been adding 

UC capabilities, but at a fairly steep 

cost, so enterprise customers have 

been slow to adopt them. Hosted UC 

solutions can lower overall costs, but 

certainly do require an investment on 

the part of the enterprise. 

Contact centres are fast-paced 

environments designed around 

efficient use of a high-turnover 

workforce. That means when 

something works, you try not to 

change it. New UC tools can greatly 

increase productivity, but will change 

the ‘normal’ workflow, so enterprises 

should introduce these new tools 

while remaining mindful of the 

broader impact. 

With these challenges in mind, 

there are strategies enterprises 

should consider prior to integrating 

UC with legacy contact centre 

systems. Strategies to consider 

include the following. 

Understand required workflow 

modifications 

Call centres are designed around 

efficient call handling: how queued 

calls are handled, how calls are 

distributed to available agents, how 

calls are handled/overflow during 

peak hours, etc. Bottom line is the call 

flows used with legacy systems were 

designed to work with the legacy 

technology. They were designed 

around the concept of multiple 

trunks into the ACD platform where 

they were queued and distributed to 

agents when they became available, 

with overflow routes that would 

re-route the call to a new site or 

platform when necessary. 

The workflow must be modified to 

leverage the capabilities of the new 

ACD service. 

Hosted ACD services, on the 

other hand, handle call queuing 

and routing in the network, and 

allow for fundamental changes 

in the call flows. As a result, the 

most important consideration with 

a migration to a hosted service 

is evaluating the basic call flows 

and adapting them to leverage the 

routing capabilities of an IP-based 

network, with network-based 

queuing and ‘virtual queues’ that can 

include agents from any location. 

Simplify workflow 

A key UC business driver in the 

contact centre is the ability to 

provide agents with immediate 

access to subject matter experts 

and information throughout 

the organization. To ensure this 

information becomes an asset – 

rather than a liability – to the agent, 

contact centre executives must be 

sensitive to not overload agents with 

too much information. 

Efficient contact centres are 

built around a very structured 

workflow, which ensures callers get 

a ‘consistent’ positive experience. 

Introducing change to the workflow 

can be disruptive, so contact centres 

should focus on introducing UC 

features that help the process and 

improve efficiency, rather than 

simply adding information noise the 

agent must filter. 

Focus on integrating high value UC 

services 

As previously addressed, seamless 

integration of UC services requires 

initially focusing on those capabilities 

that will deliver an improved, 

consistent customer experience as 

well as cost and productivity gains 

with the contact centre. While each 

contact centre has its own unique 

customer bases and communications 

channels, the industry is currently 

“Contact centre executives must be sensitive to not 

overload agents with too much information.” 

“Contact centre executives must be sensitive to not 

overload agents with too much information.” 

gravitating towards a defined set of 

UC features delivering significant 

positive impact for enterprise 

contact centres. 

These services include: Instant 

Messaging and Presence (IM&P) that 

enables agents to resolve issues by 

tapping the knowledge of co-workers 

or subject matter experts quickly 

and in a non-disruptive manner 

when they are on calls; Video contact 

centres that enable face-to-face 

video interaction with customers or 

permit the agents to include internal 

subject matter experts via video; 

and remote/home-based agents 

that can easily transition between 

different environments (home, office, 

remote) and permit organizations to 

ensure a more consistent customer 

experience and more effectively 

manage customer-agent interactions. 

Benefits of integrating UC 

into contact centre operations 

After outlining demand for UC in 

the contact centre and strategies 

for ensuring seamless integration, 

it is important to highlight key 

benefits that can be experienced by 

the organization – particularly with 

regards to hosted UC. 

Hosted UC solutions introduce 

some dramatic improvements in the 

contact centre environment, and 

when the UC solution consists of an 

integrated voice and ACD service, it 

offers a win-win scenario for both 

the service provider offering the 

service and the enterprise that is 

using the service. Specific benefits 

of integrating UC into the contact 

centre include: 

• Reduced TCO – Integrating 

hosted UC can deliver lower 

total cost of ownership 

relative to premise-based 

UC (50 percent lower in some 

cases) or standalone legacy 

contact centre systems. This is 

achieved through the elimination 

of capital expenses and lower 

operational costs. 

• Improved efficiency – With hosted 

UC, agents can handle more calls 

efficiently through the use of 

Web screen pops with scripts, 

automatic delivery of customer 

information to the desktop (CRM 

info, location info, data entry 

screens). Agents can also resolve 

problems immediately through 

the use of Instant Messaging 

and Presence by seeing who is 

available, communicating via 

a chat session, and resolving 

problems in real time. 

• Improved customer satisfaction 

– Hosted UC solutions provide 

contact centres with access to 

high-end features (ACD, callback 

services, outbound dialers, 

CRM integration, etc.) typically 

reserved for large, multinational 

corporations – triggering new 

economies of scale for organizations 

of any size. Some examples 

are call back services, outbound 

dialers, and CRM integration. 

Conclusion 

While some aspects of UC-legacy 

system integration have been 

available to contact centres for some 

time (with the exception of more 

recent developments for mobile 

touch points), the price point has 

been prohibitive for all but the largest 

organizations. And even though 

large organizations could afford the 

equipment, the process of integrating 

that equipment to deliver a ‘unified 

experience’ was difficult. 

The decreasing cost point and 

increased comfort level of agents 

with unified communications 

improves the value proposition for 

a wider swath of organizations to 

integrate UC with legacy contact 

centre systems. 

Paul Adams is director, 

product management 

at BroadSoft, a leading 

global provider of IPbased 

communications 

services to the 

telecommunications industry. He can 

be reached at padams@broadsoft. 

com. BroadSoft is a worldwide 

innovator of residential and business 

Voice over IP (VoIP) applications. For 

longer than 10 years BroadSoft has 

been at the forefront of IP technology, 

helping to advance the convergence 

of voice, video and data. 


First Call 

Resolution 

Unified 


Staying ahead of the pack 

Responding efficiently and effectively through first call resolution is a sure way to 

raise customer satisfaction and gain a few strides on your competition. Contact 

centres can set the pace with a strong unified communication infrastructure that 

leads to effective Management Experience with customers. Here are five strategic 

guideposts. BY MICHAEL PERRY 

One of the most important 

elements driving 

contact centre success 

is first-call resolution 

(FCR). Companies with a keen focus 

on customer service understand the 

bottom-line benefits of ensuring 

that customers reach the right agent 

or expert resource on the first try in 

order to address and solve issues. 

But in today’s business 

environment, rapidly changing 

demographics and rising 

expectations for accommodating the 

latest modes of communication are 

challenging FCR strategies. 

Is your approach dealing 

effectively with all of the media 

channels and real-time expectations 

that characterize today’s savvy 

customers? And if so, is it maximizing 

the time of both the agent and the 

customer in a way that keeps an eye 

on the bottom line? 

Today’s best companies operate 

on a customer service playing field 

that goes beyond voice call-based 

service, and addresses the challenges 

faced in a world where Web chat, 

email, instant messaging, video 

communications and social media 

are the new norm. In this multimedia 

world, FCR remains a paramount goal, 

and one that can be best achieved 

through a strategy of Experience 

Management. 

Experience Management uses 

open communications to orchestrate 

people and information, leverage 

customer data, bring full context 

to sessions, and immerse agents, 

experts and customers into a collaborative 

session where all requests 

and issues can be handled in real 

time. When properly implemented, 

Experience Management enables 

businesses to keep the focus on customer 

needs no matter how customers 

choose to communicate. And in 

a shifting, always-on world, FCR is a 

first step towards ensuring customer 

experiences are being managed for 

business success. 

Yet, even as companies realize that 

superior customer experiences are 

integral to business success, most are 

not aware of any disconnect between 

themselves and their own customers. 

According to a recent study by 

Webtorials (May 2010), approximately 

80 percent of companies believe they 

deliver good or superior customer 

service, while only 20 percent of 

consumers agree. Clearly, companies 

need to reach higher and do better. 

But where should they start? 

Here are five strategic guideposts 

for incorporating an effective FCR 

strategy and achieving greater 

service success through high-quality 

customer experiences. 

Context is King 

The first step to successful FCR is to 

know where a customer is coming in 

from and how they arrived. The more 

companies know about a customer’s 

context – history, preferred mode of 

communication, current needs – the 

better they can handle the inquiry 

request or issue, and the faster they 

can close the transaction. 

To do this, businesses need to have 

an integrated view of the customer 

and the information shared should 

be consistent with each experience. 

Agents should have the ability to 

know if a customer has recently 

contacted the company, what was 

discussed, and how they prefer to 

communicate – whether by email, IM 

or voice. 

If an expert needs to join a call, the 

customer’s context should be shared 

seamlessly without requiring a recap 

of name and information. Context is a 

core element of FCR, driving greater 

customer satisfaction and better 

contact centre efficiency. 

A Resilient SIP foundation 

Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, is 

a standards-based technology that 

simplifies the integration between 

a contact centre and back office 

applications. It allows enterprises 

and organizations to more easily 

carry customer contacts and 

information throughout multivendor 

environments, speeding FCR. 

This enables customer service 

organizations to use all their agents 

and experts more effectively, 

regardless of which vendor’s 

equipment they are on or where they 

are located. As a result, customer 

contacts can travel further, faster 

and with key information intact – and 

enable the completion of more calls 

on first contact. 

A SIP foundation reduces the 

amount of time customers spend 

waiting for the right agent. It quickly 

gets them to the best agent, no 

matter where the representative is 

located, and enables a more reliable 

transfer of customer information. 

This helps erase two of the most 

common frustrations voiced by 

customers: that it takes too long to 

reach a live person and that they 

must repeat their information when 

they finally do. 

This also offers a more costeffective 

way to bring FCR to the 

forefront. SIP simplifies architectures, 

reducing the need for more costly 

and time consuming CTI (computer 

telephony integration) deployments. 

It also makes it easier to develop, 

implement and maintain applications 

of all kinds that contribute to 

Experience Management. 

Get a Clearer View 

Companies with a laser-like focus 

on the customer usually extend this 

approach to their FCR strategy. But 

customer focus alone will not yield 

results if there is not a full view into 

the agent’s skills and activities. 

Starting with an effective work 

assignment program, companies can 

gain a better understanding of their 

agents’ highest skills, the times they 

perform best, and the areas where 


“When properly 

implemented, 

Experience Management 

enables businesses 

to keep the focus on 

customer needs.” 

they need assistance. This can help 

businesses match the right customer 

with the right agent at the right time 

to speed results at first contact. 

Additionally, through effective 

reporting capabilities, businesses can 

know which agents are best at upselling, 

cross-selling and taking care 

of customers – essential elements 

to driving greater profits from 

customers’ initial calls. 

Note, however, that while systems 

can get you closer to your goals, it is 

only when you have reports available 

to you that you can clearly see if you 

are measuring up to your metrics. 

Then you can see if it’s necessary to 

make tweaks or alter course with 

your contact centre agent program. 

Automate Multichannel 

Customer Service Transactions 

A business should be prepared to 

handle any mode of communications 

a customer chooses to reach a 

company. This includes self-service 

across any of the customer service 

channels, which now play integral 

roles in FCR. Today’s automation 

strategies must incorporate the 

right applications customized to a 

company’s needs, while also having 

the ability to expand beyond the 

borders of voice to operate within 

all kinds of multimedia avenues 

– instant messaging, SMS (small 

message service), email, even video. 

For instance, there will 

increasingly be opportunities to 

incorporate dynamic video-based 

information into automated services, 

enhancing the customer experience 

in a way that is not only convenient 

and informational, but entertaining. 

This enables automated customer 

service to play a central role in the 

process of Experience Management, 

where being able to meet and 

respond to customers wherever they 

are in a multimedia world is essential. 

Anticipate Customer Requests 

The ultimate goal of a business is to 

anticipate the needs of customers 

before they arise. Through new 

levels of intelligence, businesses now 

have the ability to identify issues 

or requests early-on, and carry 

them out in a more proactive – and 

productive – manner. 

This goes beyond FCR. It can help 

customers avoid the need to call 

companies altogether. 

Solutions are now available that 

can reach out and deliver valuable 

information to customers for a wide 

range of transactions or interactions. 

In the healthcare field, for example, 

automated calls, emails or text 

messages can alert customers to 

pending events like prescription 

refills or appointment reminders. 

When properly applied, these applications 

can eliminate a large percentage 

of inbound calls to the contact 

centre while driving up customer 

satisfaction. Any business aiming to 

bulk up their FCR capabilities would 

do well to anticipate customer needs 

early and often. 

Michael Perry 

is director of contact 

centre product 

management for 

Avaya. He has led 

Avaya’s global contact 

centre and self service 

businesses units since 2005. Prior 

to joining Avaya, he has held a 

variety of leadership roles in product 

management and marketing at 

Intuit and several leading CRM and 

speech application companies. With 

longer than 13 years of experience 

in the industry, he is credited with 

launching some of the first packaged 

B2B commercial speech applications 

in the industry. Avaya is a global 

leader in enterprise communications 

systems, providing unified 

communications, contact centres, 

data solutions and related services 

directly and through its channel 

partners. For more information, visit 

www.avaya.com. 


First Call 

Resolution 

Why firms get high FCR scores - Part 1 

Call centre executives with firms that have recorded exceptional First Call 

Resolution (FCR) rates disclose the secrets behind their success with this 

important customer satisfaction metric. They are clients of SQM Group, which 

works with companies to improve FCR and other contact centre functions. More 

organizations will be covered in the second part of our survey of high FCR 

achievers in the May/June issue. BY RON GLEN 

Sharon Craver, director of centralized 

claims for ICBC, says when adjusters 

listen to their calls and get feedback 

from the customers, they take them 

to heart. 

How are some contact 

centres able to raise and 

sustain high levels of First 

Call Resolution (FCR)? 

Contact Management surveyed 

client firms of Service Quality 

Measurement (SQM) Group that have 

accomplished this feat to learn what 

they did. Following are interviews 

with three companies. 

The Insurance Corporation of 

British Columbia 

The Insurance Corporation of British 

Columbia (ICBC) is a provincial Crown 

corporation established in 1973 to 

provide universal auto insurance to 

B.C. motorists. It is also responsible 

for driver licensing, and vehicle 

licensing and registration. 

ICBC maintains a claims contact 

centre that is manned entirely by 

agents who are claims adjusters. 

It operates 24/7 with every claim, 

minor or major, funneled to one of 

268 adjusters, 104 of whom work 

full time. 

“What distinguishes us as a 

contact centre is the majority of 

calls we receive occur because 

something negative has happened 

to somebody,” says Ash Megalli, 

manager of contact centre 

operations. “It can run the gamut 

from an inconvenience like somebody 

vandalizing or scratching a car to the 

worst case scenario where there is a 

catastrophic claim like a fatality. 

“Our adjusters don’t know what 

kind of call they are going to get 

when they are logged on and ready 

to go. It can range from a relatively 

simple straight forward claim to a 

very serious fatality involving a lot of 

emotion.” 

All car accidents, big or small, are 

stressful and emotional to people 

calling in the claims, says Sharon 

Craver, director of centralized claims 

for ICBC. It’s vital the adjusters 

respond to these customers with 

empathy and efficiency. 

When she first joined the call 

centre, customers were surveyed 

only once or twice a year, she says. 

They were done mainly to get an idea 

of how the centre was performing 

as a whole. Supervisors would plug 

into adjuster calls a couple of times 

a year and evaluate them in a very 

subjective manner. 

Adjuster call surveys 

Craver wanted more thorough 

analysis that extended down to 

the rep level. In 2007, she drove an 

initiative to create greater alignment 

to the customer with specific 

surveying of adjusters. 

Each full-time employee gets 

four surveys done a month of the 

customers they interacted with. The 

ratios are slightly less for part-time 

adjusters. 

SQM Group conducts the phone 

surveys within one to three days of 

people placing a call to the centre. 

All surveys are done randomly, but 

no survey is taken of any customers 

involved in a fatality. 

The surveys provided a piece of 

the puzzle. But while some customers 

might have been pleased with 

their treatment, the call still wasn’t 

positive if the adjuster failed to 

convey the right information. 

In that same year, the call centre 

introduced call quality monitoring 

using software from Nice Systems. It 

reveals how the adjusters are fielding 

the calls for technical accuracy and 

efficiency. 

“When you get the two 

components together, the voice 

of the customer and the quality 

monitoring, then you get more 

of a holistic view of the customer 

experience,” says Craver. 

FCR rates jump 

The effect of both approaches on 

FCR rates was dramatic. In 2007, the 

centre’s FCR rate was 75 percent. In 

2008 it jumped to 83 percent with 

ICBC being recognized that year with 

most improved FCR by SQM Group. In 

2009 and 2010 FCR consistently hit 

86 percent. 

Initially ICBC was set up simply to 

book appointments for field offices 

referred to as claims centres, says 

Megalli. Agents would take the 

details of the incident and book a 

time for an adjuster at a claim centre 

to handle and resolve. This practice 

was still in effect until the early 

1990s. 

Now with adjusters taking the 

calls, the centre handles 71 percent 

of all claims from start to finish. This 

comprises 53 percent of material 

damage claims and 18 percent of 

personal injury claims. More complex 

claims are moved to claims centre 

offices. 

“We handle 53 percent of the 

material damage claims from end 

to end,” says Craver. “We adjust the 

claim, determine who is at fault, 

make sure the car gets fixed and then 

we make any payments out on the 

claim. All this is done through the 

call centre. 

“Nearly all claims are reported 

through us. So the FCR is on all claims 

per se. But for actually handling the 

claim and processing it right through 

to the very end, 53 percent of the 

material damage claims stay with us.” 

Overcoming resistance 

There was some resistance to 

the introduction of call quality 

monitoring and customer surveying 

because it conjured up an Orwellian 

Big Brother spectre for some 

adjusters, says Craver. But the intent 

was to use them for coaching and 

training and management has stayed 

true to that commitment. 

“Now when employees listen 

to the calls and get the feedback 

from the customers, they really take 

that to heart. They are harder on 

themselves than we are on them.” 

Kari Price, operations manager at 

the claims contact centre, explains 

staff were consulted well in advance 

of the implementation of the call 

monitoring system and asked for 

their feedback and involvement. 

This helped demystify the move and 

brought more staff onboard. 

Both the customer surveys and 

call quality monitoring were tried out 

first in a few pilot groups, says Craver. 

This stimulated staff discussions and 

more positive reactions so the moves 

were not seen as threatening when 

rolled out across the board. 

Quality management team 

More Lately the ICBC centre formed a 

quality management team headed by 

Price that includes one full-time and 

two part-time supervisors. They are 

dedicated to working with adjusters 

and other supervisors in enhancing 

call quality and driving top results in 

FCR and customer satisfaction. 

“We have a very large leadership 

team here so to be able to have a 

quality team provide a consistent 

approach to reviewing calls and 

providing feedback to staff has been 

very helpful,” says Price. “The quality 

team can also identify trends when 

they are listening to calls that we 

can act upon or create strategies on 

things we want to address.” 

Employee morale has risen 

appreciably. Soon after the two 

approaches incorporated in 2007, 

SQM did a staff survey of the 

claims centre that saw employee 

satisfaction soar 13 percent. Craver 

credits the fact employees better 

understand their accountability and 

how they are being evaluated, which 

makes them more comfortable in 


First Call 

Resolution 

Amy Frenzel, vice-president of service 

operations for Blue Cross Blue Shield 

Michigan, credits FCR improvements 

to agent education, training, 

monitoring, incentives and a change 

in how the organization evaluates 

Plan performance. 

their roles. 

Another SQM customer survey 

taken soon after 2007 found 

customers who were very satisfied 

climbed from 68 to 82 percent. 

This was a poll on overall customer 

satisfaction with the figure of very 

satisfied customers now at 84 

percent. 

SQM also probes customer 

satisfaction with call centre reps or 

adjusters in the case of ICBC. In this 

regard, the claims centre ended 2010 

with an 87 percent approval score. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan 

(BCBSM) serves that state as a dental 

and healthcare insurance provider. 

It has fulfilled a unique non-profit 

mission for longer than 70 years. 

Amy Frenzel is vice-president 

of service operations. She says 

when members phone a BCBSM 

centre, they are calling for claim 

determinations, benefit education, 

eligibility, and billings among other 

matters. 

In November 2009, FCR for BCBSM 

measured 60 percent. By the fall of 

2010, it had climbed to 70 percent. 

Frenzel describes it as a proud 

accomplishment that comes with the 

recognition that more work needs to 

be done. 

She credits the improvement to 

a combination of agent education, 

training, monitoring, incentives and 

a change in how the Blue Cross Blue 

Shield Association will evaluate Plan 

performance. It is moving away from 

transactional goals toward member 

satisfaction goals, starting in 2011. 

In April 2010, a servicing lead was 

assigned to develop a project charter, 

assign team members, monitor 

results and communicate updates 

monthly. She says this has helped 

maintain focus on FCR in the midst of 

all other activities that occur in the 

service centres. 

Steve Lukey, vice-president & director 

of the Calgary customer contact 

centre of Scotiabank, says more than 

just good service, customers want 

to be engaged and feel someone 

understands their unique situation. 

All service centre leaders from 

team leader to vice-president have 

specific FCR goals in 2011. 

“FCR is a component of one of 

the company’s long term goals,” she 

says. “This has taken FCR from the 

call centre to the organization and 

heightens the sense of accountability 

and ownership to reach beyond just 

the servicing team.” 

Specific steps to upgrade 

customer service rep (CSR) FCR 

abilities included revising or 

developing scripts. Specific leaderonly 

sessions were conducted on how 

to coach CSRs on FCR. 

Service centre blitzes 

“We began supplementing the 

roll out of new best practices with 

‘blitzes’ in service centres where 

the coaches were available all day to 

listen to live calls and coach the CSR 

on what they did well, and how they 

could improve on the next call,” says 

Frenzel 

New hire training encompasses 

the FCR philosophy, she says. 

Training materials have been 

updated, and the internal quality 

program modified to include the 

voice of the customer. 

Processes were updated with a 

focus on “taking the customer out of 

the middle,” she says. As an example, 

CSRs now place internal or external 

calls to collect the information 

necessary to respond to the inquiry. 

“In addition, our CSRs end every 

call by offering a summary of the 

information provided so the caller 

can ask clarifying questions, and the 

CSRs specifically ask if the reason 

for the inquiry was resolved for 

the caller,” she says. “We have also 

changed our quality monitoring 

processes to include evaluation of 

the CSRs’ ability to close on first 

contact.” 

As far as adding or upgrading 

software to help improve FCR, 

she says the company is exploring 

multiple options to enhance servicing 

capabilities over the next few years 

as strategies unfold. 

Scotiabank Calgary 

Steve Lukey is vice-president & 

director of the Calgary customer 

contact centre of Scotiabank. He 

says calls range widely from a basic 

balance inquiry on a savings account 

to complex credit and interest 

inquiries. Customers want more 

than just ‘good service.’ They want 

to be engaged and feel someone 

understands their unique situation. 

“Our bankers see themselves as 

valuable partners to branch staff, “he 

says. “Creating a connection with 

the customer that registers positively 

in the customer’s mind is vital to our 

long term success “ 

For 2009 the Calgary centre 

registered an FCR score of 73 percent. 

For 2010 it went up to 78 percent for 

a net increase of five percent. Lukey 

says being in the top SQM client 

group in FCR improvement has been 

a source of great pride since it means 

customers are very well served. 

He attributes the improvement 

to an evolution in the way each 

customer interaction is approached 

rather than a focus specifically on 

FCR as a key measure of success. 

“It’s been great to see that our 

FCR each month for 2010 stayed 

within a range of approximately ± 

five percent. This tells us we aren’t 

sacrificing our commitment to the 

customer in the face of any number 

of different challenges our customer 

service officers face.” 

CARE model followed 

Lukey contends there’s a big 

difference between providing good 

service and creating customer 

loyalty. The bank has developed a 

service program that has helped 

deliver higher levels of personal 

and professional service to 

customers, and yields higher levels 

of enjoyment for all who serve 

its customers. Dubbed as CARE 

(Committed, Adaptable, Responsive 

and Empathetic), the new model 

focuses on going beyond ‘customer 

satisfaction.’ 

“Our CARE model allows us the 

flexibility to more effectively deliver 

on our mission: ‘World Class Care… 

Every Customer, Every Time’,” 

he says. “The CARE philosophy 

is designed to create a culture of 

emotionally intelligent employees 

who can deliver memorable 

experiences to our customers, in 

every interaction.” 

The idea behind this mission 

statement is to consistently treat 

each customer as a unique individual 

with a unique set of needs, he says. 

This caused a rethinking of methods 

of recruiting, training, coaching, and 

measuring success. 

“Again it comes back to 

consistency; we want to make sure 

each client receives world class 

CARE each time they speak to one 

of our representatives,” he says. 

“By delivering a consistent message 

across all our sites (Halifax, Toronto, 

Cornwall, and Calgary) we’re 

endeavoring to ensure our customers 

have that consistent service delivery 

that reflects our culture.” 

After the development of the 

CARE model, the goal was to provide 

all employees with a sophisticated 

training program that appropriately 

integrated and embedded the CARE 

principles, he says. The aim was also 

to create corresponding Emotional 

Intelligence competencies into the 

culture and translate its delivery to 

customers. 

“We engaged a third party vendor 

specializing in transformational 

training programs, who worked 

with us to develop a customized and 

tailored approach to our training and 

coaching needs. A big part of our 

early success has been due to the 

way we introduced the new model, 

by providing initial training to our 

managers and then having them 

deliver the training to their teams.” 

The bank launched a new 

employee Web site in November 

2010 called Daily News, which allows 

for interactive communication 

with staff, he says. The bank also 

provides several online resources 

to employees to allow for quick 

response times to any questions they 

need help with. 

“We’ve made a commitment to 

keep growing these online resources 

in order for our staff to more quickly 

attend to client needs.” 


Software 

Solutions 

Unified Communications Apllications 

ClearOne introduces video collaboration for UC users 

Global communications solutions company, 

ClearOne, Salt Lake City, UT, recently unveiled 

Collaborate, an all-in-one voice, video, and data 

collaboration console for organizations using unified 

communications (UC) software or Web services 

to handle voice, video and data communications. 

Delivering true plug-n-play simplicity in a business 

solution for video collaboration, Collaborate allows 

small groups in an executive office or conference 

room to converse and see each other while 

simultaneously viewing data from applications, Web 

sites, or other local or network sources. 

The system, ClearOne’s first to incorporate 

video capability, features an integrated ClearOne 

HDConference audio conferencing system, a 46- 

inch HD LCD monitor, an HD USB video camera, and 

a built-in quad core PC with Windows pre-installed. 

Collaborate is also available without an operating 

system for enterprises that have customized or bulk 

licensed software. 

Tracy Bathurst, chief strategy officer for 

ClearOne, says Collaborate will suit large 

organizations running on UC platforms as well 

as small and midsize businesses using Web 

conferencing applications like Skype. Collaborate 

can also be used for applications such as Internet 

telephony, VoIP softphones, and instant messaging, 

he says, and it allows audio/video playback of files 

saved in Quicktime, RealPlayer, Windows Media and 

other formats. 

Companies whose applications run on 

Collaborate include Avaya, Cisco, Google, IBM, 

Microsoft, Mirial, Siemens, Skype, and Yahoo. 

Collaborate includes a ClearOne Soundbar 

speaker, which mounts to the bottom edge of 

the video screen; a ClearOne microphone pod; 

and a wireless keyboard and mouse. Additional 

microphone pods can be added so that larger 

This is the Collaborate console with pedestal feet 

for credenza or tabletop location. The screen is 

displaying data with live video; the screen can also 

be video only or data only as the user prefers. 

groups can participate in conferences. 

ClearOne claims to be the world’s leading 

supplier of professional audio conferencing 

systems. Collaborate provides full PC functionality 

and enables users to create split screen modes 

where live video can share the screen with data and 

content from PC or network applications. Its design 

allows a companion 46-inch monitor to be attached 

side-by-side to the first monitor, permitting fullscreen 

data presentations to appear next to live, 

full-screen HD video images. 

The underlying product concept of the 

Collaborate console is to give customers an all-oneone 

solution that avoids the technical complexities 

of component solutions – installation, hook-up, 

integration, and training – and allows them to 

work with the desktop interface they already use 

in daily communications. Collaborate will allow 

an enterprise to leverage its investment in UC 

software to enable video collaboration almost 

anywhere. 

Inova Solutions joins Cisco developer net in UC category 

Provider of real-time visual reporting technologies, Inova Solutions, Charlottesville, VA, recently 

joined the Cisco Developer Network as a solution developer within the Unified Communications 

technology category. In addition, Inova Solutions’ Inova LightLink version 5.7 has successfully completed 

interoperability testing with Cisco Unified Contact Centre Express versions 4.x-8.x and Cisco Unified 

Contact Centre Enterprise versions 4.x-8.x. 

The Cisco Developer Network unites Cisco with third-party developers of hardware and software 

to deliver tested interoperable solutions to joint customers. As a solution developer, Inova Solutions 

shares Cisco’s strong commitment to customer service and satisfaction, has completed interoperability 

verification testing based on criteria set forth by Cisco, and can provide their customers 24 hour, 7 days a 

week customer support. 

With offerings such as LightLink 5.7, customers can more quickly deploy a broad range of Cisco 

compatible business applications, devices, or services that can enhance the capabilities, performance, 

and management of their Cisco network. 

Inova Solutions furnishes real-time visual reporting technology that fosters instant awareness and 

drives informed action. Contact centres use Inova’s software and signage solutions to communicate realtime 

operational data and messages to agents, supervisors and executives, who make strategic business 

decisions based on that data. 

Cisco unveils UC 

platforms for small, 

mid-sized businesses 

The Cisco UC 300 Series is a complete collaboration 

system delivering everything a company with two 

to 24 users needs for business-class networking and 

voice communications. This easy-to-use, affordable 

solution lets a small business take advantage of IP 

telephony to reduce phone costs, boost employee 

productivity, and create a more collaborative 

company. It includes built-in data and wireless 

support, along with features such as voicemail and 

automated attendant. 

Three-year, zero percent financing is available 

from Cisco Capital in the U.S., Canada and the UK 

for the Cisco UC300 Series through the end of July, 

2011. 

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager 

Business Edition 3000 is an economical unified 

communications platform designed for growing 

mid-sized businesses, and supports a capacity of 

300 users across 10 sites. The system is quick for a 

trained Cisco partner to set up, and easy-to-use, 

with an intuitive user interface, helping these 

customers save time and money, and helping 

channel partners optimize their implementation, 

support, and maintenance practices. 

The Cisco Unified CM Business Edition 

3000 offers essential features like voice mail, 

conferencing, the ability to park or hold calls, auto 

attendant, and standard mobility features like single 

number reach, extension mobility, and tele-worker 

support to connect business calls and voice mail 

messages to employees anywhere they work. 

The Cisco Unified SIP Phone 3905 is an affordable, 

IP-based phone that integrates with the Cisco 

Unified CM Business Edition 3000 to address the 

need for uncomplicated 

voice communications 

for mid-sized 

businesses. It includes 

fixed keys for redial, 

transfer, hold and 

resume, speakerphone, 

volume toggle, 

and a PC switch port to 

reduce cabling installation 

requirements. 

Cisco Unified Communications 

320W is 

currently available. 

Cisco unified Communications 

Manager 

Edition 3000 is scheduled 

to be available 

in the second quarter 

2011. 

Barry O’Sullivan, senior 

vice-president, Voice 

Technology Group, Cisco, 

says Cisco is delivering 

UC solutions tailor-made 

for the characteristics 

of small and mid-market 

business partners and the 

customers they serve. 



Solutions 


Integrated Clarus, HP solution troubleshoots IP telephony 

Supplier of integrated Voice over IP 

(VoIP) management software and 

services for Unified Communications 

(UC), Clarus Systems Inc., Redwood 

City, CA, last fall announced its 

signature product, ClarusIPC Plus+, 

has been certified as a Smart Link 

Integration (SLI) for HP Network Node 

Manager i 9. 

By definition, a Smart Link Integration 

is an out-of-the-box component 

linking the ClarusIPC Plus+ application 

with HP products. This, in turn, 

extends the management capabilities 

for joint customers. 

ClarusIPC Plus+ SLI for HP NNMi 

9, an integrated solution, maximizes 

Cisco IP Telephony availability by 

testing and monitoring end-user 

calls for problems such as call setup 

failures, poor voice quality, fraud or 

incorrect routing. When any irregularities 

are encountered, SNMP traps 

are forwarded to HP Network Node 

Manager i -- automatically creating 

actionable incidents that can be 

evaluated immediately by the designated 

IT or telecom professional. 

Simplifying communications 

in a complex world 

With this integration, users will 

have more insight and remote testing 

and troubleshooting capabilities at 

their fingertips and will be able to: 

• Monitor the daily Cisco UC Manager 

and Unity systems for add, 

remove and update configuration 

changes 

• Perform automated end-user 

tests, on-demand or schedules as 

daily health checks, and receive 

integrated alerts when tests fail 

• Cross-launch into the ClarusIPC 

Plus+ remote phone control application 

to troubleshoot issues using 

actual phones 

• Cross-launch into the ClarusIPC 

Plus+ Help Desk application to 

view phone/line settings, recent 

call history and compare configurations 

of “trouble” and “reference” 

phones. 

• Enterprise customers can use 

ClarusIPC Plus+ and HP NNMi 9 to 

trim costs and maximize their sys- 

Brendan F. Reidy, president and CEO, 

Clarus Systems, says by working in 

tandem with HP, the goal is to ensure 

customers have service availability 

and achieve peak performance. 

tem availability by resourcefully 

managing their Cisco IP Telephony 

and UC systems. 

Streamlined user experiences help drive greater productivity and more 

effective collaboration. Shown here is a conference call using the Avaya 

Flare Experience. 

Communications technologies have long-fueled increasing levels of 

productivity for businesses. Today’s rapidly-changing landscape of 

business communications and collaboration technologies encompass 

more applications, devices and ways to be connected than ever before. 

With options running the gamut from the traditional telephone to social 

networking channels like Twitter and Facebook on smartphones and 

tablets, the proliferation of these technologies should make it easier than 

ever to communicate. The reality, however, is that they often increase 

complexity—and stress—for users. 

The rainbow of tools intended to increase productivity can hinder it 

when the right communication is not used at the right time or with the 

right person. Simply identifying which phone number, email address, 

conference bridge code or social network to use can be a hurdle in the 

effort to access colleagues and customers. 

The path to productivity is a user experience that simplifies and unifies 

access to the people, information and tools needed to effectively address 

the subject at hand and move it forward. Ideally, the tools and devices 

should bridge every facet of business communications with easy-to-use 

interfaces geared for the way people work. 

The Avaya Flare Experience leverages the full power of Avaya Aura to 

become a one-stop shop for all communications applications, directories 

AvayaFlare Experience page 26 

Are you facing these situations? 

1. Not sure if you are spending too 

much for telecom services or 

equipment 

2. Looking for integrated solution 

for remote offices and associates 

3. Looking to improve customer 

service 

4. Require coverage for telecom staff 

on vacation 

Areas we help 

1. Expert Telephone & Call Centre 

Systems Administration 

and management 

2. Traffic Studies 

3. Call Centre Design 

4. Project Management 

Telephone & Call Centre 

Systems, Expert Support, 

Services and Solutions 

5. Staff require training on telecom 

systems 

6. Looking to increase associate 

productivity 

7. Looking for reliable, responsive 

telecom support 

8. Moving locations or expanding 

Why ARC Consulting? 

ARC Consulting have compiled a team of Telecom specialists and solutions 

that enable companies to improve how their telephone needs are handled; 

improving service levels and reducing business risks. 

5. Training: Systems Administration 

and End User 

6. Remote Office & Remote 

Associate Solutions 

7. Digital Call Recording 

8. Call Centre Display solutions 

For more information go to: www.ARCconsulting.ca or contact 

Ian Roxburgh 905-944-0770 extn.4001 ian@arcconsulting.ca 



Solutions 


Aspect Unified IP 7 platform yields 

next generation customer contact 

Supplier of customer contact and Microsoft platform 

solutions, Aspect, Chelmsford, MA, recently released 

Unified IP 7, the platform that powers Aspect’s unified 

communications applications for customer contact. The 

release is said to provide significant new functionality 

that gives contact centres power and control over 

business workflows, efficient and flexible enterprise-wide 

administration across multiple locations, high scalability, an 

intuitive user experience and simplified IT management. 

It serves as a foundation to deliver what is described as 

next-generation communications for customer service, 

collections, and sales and telemarketing organizations, 

while providing for collaboration between the contact 

centre and the rest of the enterprise to improve the 

overall customer experience. Aspect Unified IP unites 

a comprehensive set of customer contact capabilities 

including inbound routing, outbound dialing, voice selfservice, 

recording, quality monitoring, short message 

service (SMS), instant messaging (IM), chat, email and realtime 

and historical reporting. 

“Aspect Unified IP 7 addresses both the changing 

landscape of customer contact—driven by rapid advances 

in communications and mobility technologies—and 

the shift in technology necessary for customer-centric 

organizations to create rich, multichannel customer 

contact experiences,” says Gary Barnett, chief technology 

officer, Aspect. “And it is designed to help organizations 

easily transition to a next-generation, multichannel 

platform at their own pace while benefiting from cost 

containment and greater efficiency through collaboration 

within the contact centre and between the contact centre 

and the rest of the enterprise.” 

Contextual enterprise routing of calls between multiple 

locations and enterprise administration of agents and 

services allows contact centres to connect their customer 

to the best skilled resource no matter where located across 

the enterprise. It yields the ability to centralize enterprise 

contact distribution strategies to create a virtual queue 

across networks of Aspect Unified IP systems and to define 

dynamic routing rules that increase flexibility and control 

over inbound contact handling. 

Centralized administration across multiple systems 

and platforms through Unified Command and Control - 

Administration provides manageability, improved visibility 

across the enterprise and facilitates efficient disaster 

recovery capabilities. 

Aspect Unified IP 7 meets the high demands of mission 

critical contact centres that require optimum performance 

for call handling reliability and data integrity and is 

designed for high availability and redundancy to deliver 

99.999 percent reliability. IT administrators get simplified 

footprint, security, and deployment enhancements. 

Dynamic Inbound Routing (Advanced Skills) allows 

customers to increase flexibility and dynamic control over 

inbound routing capabilities 

by providing the ability to 

use skill requirements for 

specific business processes 

combined with real time 

system performance to 

automatically select the best 

skilled resource to handle a 

customer inquiry. Benefits 

of this feature include better 

resource use with greater 

flexibility and the ability to 

respond to opportunities with 

greater agility. 

A completely redesigned 

agent user interface built to 

enhance agent productivity 

helps to maximize key 

strokes, enrich information 

presentation, minimize 

footprint, improve workflow, 

streamline screen pops, and 

allow for agent personal 

greetings. The unified agent 

desktop also allows for unified 

communications enablement 

through Microsoft Lync, 

whereby agents can 

access IM, presence and 

Aspect Chief Technology 

Officer Gary Barnett 

says Unified IP 7 helps 

organizations move 

to a next-generation, 

multichannel platform 

at their own pace while 

benefiting from cost 

containment and greater 

efficiency through 

collaboration within 

the contact centre and 

between the contact 

centre and the rest of the 

enterprise. 

collaboration capabilities in addition to contact centre 

functions, such as handling non-contact centre calls within 

the same Unified Agent Desktop. 

Aspect has also further enhanced its “Ask an Expert” 

functionality, available within the agent desktop, to use 

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for additional search capabilities 

across the enterprise. This enhanced agent desktop supports 

complete workflow scripting that allows for preferred 

agent routing and multi-case handling and incorporates 

new multi-line telephony features. The innovations within 

the Unified Agent Desktop empower agents to handle the 

traditional contact centre interaction tasks with ease while 

augmenting the agent workflow experience with fully integrated 

UC capabilities for true next-generation capabilities. 

Customers can deliver consistent proactive contact 

across multiple channels by using outbound SMS and 

email strategies, as well as enhance dialing flexibility and 

improve high availability, footprint and performance. 

Another key benefit with the latest functionality is callback 

management which allows administrators to manage their 

outbound callbacks. 

The general availability of Aspect Quality Management 

3.5 meets the recording and quality management needs of 

contact centres, back-office employees, and knowledge 

workers. 

Broadcore 

adds voicemail 

transcription 

to UC suite 

Purveyor of all-in-one business 

communications service with 

comprehensive client support, 

Broadcore, Los Angeles, CA, recently 

added Voicemail Transcription to 

its suite of business class Unified 

Communications (UC) services. The 

advanced, fully integrated voicemail 

transcription service simply converts 

voicemail message into text and 

delivers the transcription via email 

along with the original audio file to 

the user’s email inbox of choice. 

“Whether users are on their 

mobile device or at the office, our 

Voicemail Transcription Service 

enables them to immediately see 

who has called and what was said 

at a glance,” says Dean Manzoori, 

Broadcore EVP of marketing strategy. 

“In addition, the caller ID of the caller 

is included in the email subject line, 

enabling the recipient to archive 

or quickly retrieve messages and 

even forward them to others. This 

productivity multiplier service 

allows our clients to respond to their 

customers faster.” 

Broadcore leverages industry’s 

best Voicemail transcription engine 

offered by Ditech Networks. This 

reliable voicemail transcription 

service is provisioned, managed, 

and supported directly by Broadcore 

saving clients time and expense 

related to dealing with third-parties 

to configure or manage the service. 

“Voicemail Transcription service 

is an excellent productivity tool for 

any organization and we are happy 

to provide this service as part of our 

standard voicemail service,” says 

Dawn Goodnight, Broadcore product 

manager. “We include machine based 

Voicemail Transcription service with 

our Unified Messaging service at no 

extra charge while human assisted 

Voicemail Transcription service is 

optionally available to those clients 

who require the highest level of 

transcription accuracy.” 

Broadcore is a provider of 

hosted UC services. Through an IP 

communications system, Broadcore 

offers a UC platform for voice (VoIP), 

data, and mobility communications. 


eaderboard 

Agent Productivity Tools 

Application manages, 

tracks, measures agent 

coaching 

Provider of analytics-powered 

performance management software, 

Enkata, San Mateo, CA, recently 

released Coach 3.0 as part of Enkata 

8.0, the latest version of its ondemand 

contact centre analytics 

solution. 

Coach 3.0 is an on-demand, standalone 

coaching application for the 

contact centre that can be deployed 

in less than one day. It includes a rich 

workflow authoring platform for the 

ability to change standard coaching 

workflows or create new ones. It 

features: 

• Seven standard coaching 

workflows / forms such as group 

coaching (unique to Enkata), sideby-side 

and planned coaching, and 

agent recognition 

• Centralized monitoring of 

agent development activities. 

They include coaching & 

follow-up sessions, team 

coaching / training, eLearning 

assignments, and agent 

improvement plans – by metric, 

call reason 

• Notifications and alerts related 

to activities and tasks. For 

supervisors, scheduled sessions 

appear in supervisor dashboard. 

There are alerts if task is past due 

or agent amends notes 

For agents, scheduled sessions 

appear in agent dashboard. There 

are notifications when scheduled, 

or supervisor adds notes, or if 

supervisor schedules follow-up tasks 

(coaching, eLearning, etc.) 

• Increased visibility into coaching 

compliance, effectiveness at 

all levels. This includes trend 

reporting and enhanced task 

management across roles 

• Agent involvement in 

development process. This 

encompasses task management 

and verification, dialogue with 

supervisor, coach or QM, and 

the ability to request coaching 

or eLearning Coach 3.0 can be 

deployed as an on-demand SaaS 

solution with the full Enkata 8.0 

performance management suite 

for FCR and contact reasoning or 

as a stand-alone application. 

Noble Composer 9.2 Web Agent 

creates Web-based agent desktops 

Noble Systems Corporation, 

Atlanta, GA, purveyor of contact 

centre technology solutions, last 

summer released Noble Composer 

9.2 Web Agent, described as the 

next generation of Noble Systems’ 

versatile interface for creating Webbased 

contact centre agent desktops. 

Noble Composer 9.2 Web Agent 

builds upon the scalable desktop 

unification design tools introduced 

in the Noble Composer program, 

expanding them to include greater 

functionality for browser-based 

applications. The Noble Composer 

desktop solutions streamline agent 

workflows to improve productivity 

and overall customer experience. 

Designed using the Microsoft 

Windows .NET framework to 

ensure unmatched flexibility, Noble 

Composer 9.2 Web Agent supports 

all major browsers and operating 

systems. Because it functions in 

a Web-based environment, the 

program can be accessed from 

any location through a broad array 

of desktop and mobile devices, 

seamlessly integrating work-fromhome 

agents and off-site personnel. 

New and enhanced capabilities 

featured in Noble Composer 9.2 Web 

Agent include: 

• Intuitive desktop design tools in 

a point-and-click environment 

that allows users to develop 

customized workflows without 

programming knowledge or 

expensive technical assistance; 

• Flexible agent desktop screens 

that enable users to allow agent 

access to tools by campaign for 

point-and-click navigation; 

• Web-based support for Noble 

Mimic, an agent desktop 

management portal that 

uses common interfaces for 

multiple data sources, workflow 

automation, call scripts and 

tools for communicating with 

customers; 

• Lightweight Directory Access 

Protocol (LDAP) support to avoid 

the confusion of multiple agent 

login IDs. LDAP and Microsoft 

Active Directory service 

integration allow simplified 

user administration including 

addition and deletion of users, 

management of user permissions 

and user authentication. 

• Enhanced support for Noble 

Composer Debtor Contact 

Management System (DCMS), 

a customizable workspace that 

empowers account recovery 

agents to move seamlessly 

between predictive, preview and 

Softworks unveils Unified Agent Desktop 

Noble Systems President and CEO 

James K. Noble Jr. says Composer 9.2 

Web Agent delivers results without 

requiring expensive transitions to 

a new operating system or agent 

device. 

‘push-to-connect’ dialing. 

“Noble Composer Web Agent 

continues to evolve, offering even 

more advantages for the Web-based 

agent environment,” says James 

K. Noble, Jr., president and CEO of 

Noble Systems. “It combines the 

award-winning functionality of Noble 

Composer to unify the agent desktop 

with an expanding suite of features 

that improve flexibility, productivity 

and the customer experience. What’s 

more, Composer 9.2 Web Agent 

delivers results without requiring 

expensive transitions to a new 

operating system or agent device.” 

As call centres strive to deliver more effective campaigns on behalf of their customers over a multitude of new 

communication channels, Interactive Softworks, Leesburg, VA, a provider of customer engagement solutions, has 

enhanced capabilities in its Metaphor software to help address this challenge. Interactive demonstrated Metaphor’s 

Unified Agent Desktop driving a single campaign across multiple channels, including voice, SMS and email, using an iPad at 

the 2010 American Teleservices Association (ATA) Convention and Expo, held in Orlando, Fla in September. 

Metaphor is a powerful software platform that lets call centres quickly build, change and manage multichannel 

campaigns that acquire more customers, retain existing customers and improve overall agent performance. Today’s 

customer is more tech-savvy than ever before and expects to communicate whenever, wherever and however they 

choose. Call centres can no longer afford to rely solely on single channel call scripts to satisfy every customer’s needs. 

Leading companies are beginning to adopt tools and strategies that provide agents with the real-time information they 

need to quickly and intelligently react to specific customer demand, ultimately delivering powerful and personalized 

customer experiences. 

Metaphor’s process-driven Unified Agent Desktop simplifies the delivery of real-time information from backend 

systems and Web services directly to your agent desktops, driving more informed conversations. Metaphor’s easy-to-use 

business tools allow companies to quickly define and reuse critical campaign elements, resulting in better time-to-market 

and less reliance on IT. Whether your customers prefer communicating using a smart phone, Web site portal, IVR or a 

combination, Metaphor ensures that each and every interaction is consistent and accurate, thereby delivering the rich 

communication experience today’s customers demand. 


Ask Affy 

Need Advice? Ask Affy! 

Q: 

With the many changes that our business is going to face 

in the upcoming year, I need to evaluate my team. 

What is your benchmark of a good leader? Sincerely, Susan 

The speed of change in organizations 

is often moving faster than our speed 

to react. In our efforts to mobilize and 

incorporate change, we look to our 

front-line leadership team as our key 

instrument to lead, communicate and 

integrate changes. When change is 

not implemented well, you may find 

these thoughts whirling around in 

your head: 

• “I wish my team leaders were 

more accountable…” 

• “They don’t seem to know how to 

get things done …” 

• “They have a serious lack of 

business acumen and judgment...” 

• “Performance isn’t improving and 

they don’t know how to lead the 

changes needed...” 

Obtaining alignment in 

understanding what makes a good 

leader is the first step as it will lead 

to consistency in behaviours within 

your team. Take the test - ask your 

front line managers to identify what 

is expected of them and see if it 

matches to your expectations. You 

may be surprised! 

When we designed the 

“SwitchGear Coaching and Change 

System”, we teamed up with multiple 

clients to explore the root causes of 

poor operating results and developed 

the most important first step to 

solve the leadership issues above – a 

clearly stated set of well-defined 

Specific Leadership Behaviours and 

their black-sheep equivalents -- Non- 

Leadership Behaviours. 

The final outcome was a set of 

attributes or you may call them skills / 

behaviours. They have been validated 

with dozens of senior managers to 

reach consensus that this is the “… 

common-sense best list of Five 

Essential Leadership Attributes 

that describes what is needed to be 

successful as a front-line Operating 

leader.” 

One senior leader passionately 

explained: “If we could improve their 

skills at these even a small amount, 

our customer experience would be 

unbelievable and our competitive 

advantage pretty significant!” 

While these Five Essential 

Leadership Attributes have been 

validated time and again, the 

observable behaviours that describe 

them may vary greatly from team 

to team and will require a targeted 

dialogue and complete customization 

to ensure that they are relevant to 

those who are expected to operate 

by them. Fair warning…without 

collaboratively customizing the 

observable behaviours with your 

team, these attributes run the risk of 

becoming another meaningless and 

obsolete document (not that any of 

those exist in our organizations!) 

To help you get started, I’ve 

included three examples of 

observable behaviours for each of 

the Five Attributes that might best 

describe it. The best way to decide 

if this is a good list for your business 

is to ask your team one question: 

“What does our team performance 

look like when these leadership 

behaviours are NOT present?” 

1. Development/Coaching 

• Side-by-side coaching is a priority 

and there is evidence of formal 

development processes. 

• Consistent and effective 

management of conflict on team. 

• Team player with all levels in 

company and demands that from 

others. 

2. Getting Things Done 

• Proactive in dealing with daily 

issues, driving projects, finding 

new efficiencies. 

• Clear about accountabilities and 

takes strong ownership. Good 

decision maker. 

• Personal ability to multi-task, uses 

time management processes and 

keeps fast pace. 

3. Change Leadership/ Setting 

the High bar 

• Effectively leads team through 

change by reducing anxiety and 

positive positioning. 

• Recognizing need for and creating 

or recommending positive change. 

• Understands importance of a 

strong team approach and works 

hard to establish team culture. 

4. Ideas and Solutions 

• Quality of contribution in 

management meetings. 

• Concerns expressed only with 

solutions/ideas attached. 

• Strong balance of analytical (data 

driven) and subjective (culture 

driven) to run the business. 

Work Ethic, Integrity, 

Emotional Maturity 

• Strong reputation for handling 

tough issues with maturity and 

professionalism. 

• Trusted by staff, peers, and boss 

for being honest and keeping 

promises. 

• Accountable when things go 

bad without excuses and finger 

pointing. 

Once again, Susan, these are 

just examples to help illustrate the 

meaning of each attribute. We 

believe that when this exercise is 

complete, there is closer to six to 

eight observable behaviours that 

describe each Attribute. 

Using this framework is a powerful 

change tool for any leadership team. 

That said, it can only be effective 

if you, or an experienced external 

facilitator, engage your team leaders 

in the dialogue of “What is OUR 

definition of Leadership?” 

Only then can you collaboratively 

set precise expectations as to what 

leadership is (…and is not) that 

resonates for YOUR team. Once 

you’ve buttoned down the six to 

eight observable behaviours for each 

Attribute that are relevant for your 

team, then you are ready to answer 

the question, “Where and how do we 

invest in leadership development and 

how do we get started?” 

Afshan Kinder has 20 years 

experience in the call centre industry. 

She is a partner at SwitchGear 

Consulting, one of Canada’s foremost 

consulting groups for contact 

centres specializing in accelerating 

revenue growth, lowering costs 

and taking Employee and Customer 

Satisfaction to a higher level. Please 

send your Ask Affy question to ron@ 

contactmanagement.ca. We’ll run the 

Q&A anonymously in the next issue. 

AvayaFlare Experience page 23 

and more. It provides access to 

voice, audio/video/Web conferencing, 

email, social media, 

presence, and instant messaging 

through an easy to use, touch 

and swipe interface. There is no 

need to remember addresses 

and numbers—instead, swipe 

the contact(s) into the spotlight 

and tap on the desired method of 

communication. Context history 

is provided automatically, so users 

can see all recent communications 

with each contact. 

Designed to simplify the way 

people communicate and collaborate, 

the Avaya Flare Experience 

delivers a communications experience 

that is easy to use and ready 

in real time to help users focus on 

the task at hand. It streamlines 

applications into unique personal 

workflows, and helps sidestep the 

barriers between technologies. 

The Avaya Flare Experience is 

meant to make communications 

simple, seamless and convenient. 

Taking complexity out of 

processes and streamlining 

the end user experience 

through open, standards-based 

communications architecture, 

applications and devices is a 

win-win for everyone. With the 

right approach, it’s possible for IT 

departments to enable the kind 

of end user experience that gets 

everyone in the same boat, rowing 

in the same direction, to a more 

agile, productive organization. 


People 

Etelesolv expands 

sales team into 

western Canada 

Etelesolv, Montreal, QC, has 

appointed Calgary-based Tracy 

Presiloski director of sales. 

Continuing to build market in Canada, 

Etelesolv’s hiring of Presiloski 

geographically expands Etelesolv’s 

sales team into western Canada. 

Previously western sales were done 

from Toronto. 

A pivotal part of Etelesolv’s 

expansion, Presiloski brings a wealth 

of sales experience with longer than 

20 years in the telecom and wireless 

solutions industry. He previously held 

senior sales leadership roles in Comu 

Networks, Meru Networks and Bell 

Canada. Now the director of sales 

at Etelesolv, he will be working with 

western partner channels (carrier, 

consultant, and technology) to help 

companies take back control of their 

telecom infrastructure. 

Etelesolv is one of Canadas 

leading providers of telecom expense 

management (TEM) for large 

Canadian multinational corporations. 

I Love Rewards 

appoints vicepresident 

of finance 

I Love Rewards, Toronto, provider of 

employee rewards and recognition 

solutions, has appointed Dwayne 

Walker as its vice-president of 

finance. He joins I Love Rewards 

as a finance and accounting expert 

with proven global experience and 

success. 

Walker has extensive experience 

in executing tactical finance and 

accounting strategies. Prior to 

joining I Love Rewards he held 

management positions with KPMG, 

Excapsa Software Inc, North Plains 

Systems, and most recently with 

Sigma Systems Canada Inc. He was 

directly involved in the initial public 

offering of Excapsa Software Inc. on 

the AIM Stock Exchange in London 

in February 2006. At I Love Rewards, 

he is responsible for overseeing all 

financial and fiscal management 

aspects of operation strategies 

including auditing, budgeting, profit 

and cost analysis, compliance with 

policy, and managing the finance and 

accounting department. 

McLeod leaves VOXDATA 

and contact centre industry 

After longer than two years as vicepresident 

of business development 

at call centre service bureau 

VOXDATA Solutions Inc. and more 

than six years in the contact centre 

space, Jennifer McLeod is moving 

into something totally new and 

different. She accepted a job as 

director of sales for Canpages, a 

division of Yellow Pages Group. 

“The last several years have truly 

been a learning experience, and the 

passion I have for customer care 

remains,” she writes in a message to 

industry colleagues. “I have had the 

pleasure and opportunity to meet, 

work with, collaborate with and share 

with some truly brilliant minds, and 

for that I will be forever grateful. 

“I have been humbled by many 

experiences over the years, and will 

take some invaluable learnings with 

me on this next journey. Life often 

goes in circles so I fully expect that I 

will land back in the field of customer 

care again in the future. 

After more than two years as vicepresident 

of business development for 

VOXDATA, Jennifer McLeod accepted 

a job as director of sales for Canpages, 

a division of Yellow Pages Group. 

“Thank you to all of you who at 

one point or another, added to my 

knowledge of this industry and 

provided me the opportunity to 

learn and grow both personally and 

professionally.” 

She was a member of the 

Canadian Marketing Association’s 

Contact Centre Council, whose 

mandate is to serve the contact 

centre industry in ways that will 

provide outlets for understanding 

and sharing of best practices 

Telemerge appoints new 

chief executive officer 

A Canadian company delivering 

predictable videoconferencing 

and telepresence strategies to 

large corporate and mid-market 

companies, Telemerge, Richmond 

Hill, ON, has appointed Simon Doo 

president and CEO. He has been with 

the company for longer than six years 

in which time he has developed and 

grown partnerships with such key 

partners as IPV Gateways to engineer 

a class-leading global IP network and 

managed services infrastructure. 

He has helped Telemerge sustain a 

year-over-year growth in excess of 

100 percent. 

During the last 10 years, 

Telemerge has helped companies 

build and deploy videoconferencing 

strategies for their businesses. Once 

seen as spotty and cumbersome, 

telepresence has since emerged from 

the shadows and is quickly becoming 

a well-defined strategic initiative 

to improve employee engagement, 

collaboration and information 

retention, as well reduce travel time, 

expenses, and carbon emissions. 

Telemerge, Inc. is a privately held 

video conferencing company that 

provides telepresence strategies 

to large corporate and mid-market 

companies. It delivers these 

strategies using its proprietary global 

video communications network. 

Telemerge offers the infrastructure 

to deliver a complete suite of Video 

Managed Services (VMS) including 

proactive client support, network 

management reports, IP/ISDN 

bridging, 6000+ global video room 

rental suites, Webcasting, audio/ 

Webconferencing. 


Association of Canada presents our 

14th Annual Customer 

Service Conference 

May 4th-5th, Mississauga, ON 

11 Speakers Vendor Displays $499 

Register: www.icsa.on.ca 905-477-5544 


People 

2010 US and Canada NetRiders (Post Secondary) 

Association news 

Canadian pair wins Cisco NetRiders Challenge contest 

A Canadian team of Carl Verge and 

Brian Wilson, Algonquin College, 

Ottawa, won the 2010 NetRiders 

Skills Challenge competition from 

networking systems provider Cisco, 

San Jose, CA. Cisco Networking 

Academy NetRiders Skills Challenge 

is an interactive contest designed 

by Cisco to give technical education 

students the opportunity to 

showcase their information 

communications technology 

(ICT) and networking skills and 

to recognize excellence among 

Networking Academy students. 

“I am extremely proud of both 

Carl and Brian for this well-deserved 

international recognition,” says 

David Bray, network technology 

coordinator/curriculum lead, Cisco 

Networking Academy, Algonquin 

College. “This award has huge 

implications for their careers and it 

gives them a third-party, objective 

measure of their excellence in 

computer networking. These two 

students have reached this pinnacle 

of success not only because of the 

knowledge and skills gained through 

hard work within the program 

of study, but also because they 

set extremely high standards for 

themselves, driving them to achieve 

beyond the boundaries of their 

course work.” 

Another Canadian team of 

Michael Antonette and Feng Yang 

from Southern Alberta Institute of 

Technology placed seventh. 

More than 1,000 college and 

university students from across the 

U.S, and Canada competed in the 

competition, which consisted of 

three rounds culminating Dec. 8, 

2010, in a live virtual event. NetRiders 

is an annual competition that uses 

Cisco Web 2.0 technologies to create 

Finishing first in the NetRiders Skills Challenge for North America was the team of 

1 st Carl Verge (left) and Brian Wilson (right), Algonquin College 

Place Team: Carl Verge (left) and Brian Wilson (right), Algonquin College 

an interactive experience, enhance 

classroom learning, and motivate 

young people to further pursue 

technology education and training. 

More than 10,000 students 

across 80 countries have competed 

in regional NetRiders competitions 

over the past year. The U.S. and 

Canada NetRiders Theatre Finale 

competition involved more than 

45 teams representing 42 states 

and five provinces. Networking 

Academy students competed in a 

variety of activities, including a timed 

theoretical exam, a Cisco Packet 

Tracer network simulation activity, 

and a Cisco Packet Tracer exam. 

The top 10 winners received 

prizes, including a grand-prize study 

trip to Cisco U.S. headquarters in 

January 2011, which was awarded to 

the first- and second-place teams. 

Other prizes included Flip video 

cameras and Linksys wireless routers. 

- The U.S. and Canada Theatre 

Winners were: 

• 1st Place: Carl Verge and Brian 

Wilson, Algonquin College 

(Ontario) 

• 2nd Place: Jeremiah Shore and 

Nathan Buchholz, Blue Ridge 

Community and Technical College 

(West Virginia) 

• 3rd Place: Alandra Oukrop and 

Kent Savage, Montana State 

University-Billings (Montana) 

• 4th Place: Ryan Stalets and Albert 

Kennis, University of Illinois- 

Springfield (Illinois) 

• 5th Place: Zachary Lichliter and 

Donald Block, West Kentucky 

Community and Technical College 

(Kentucky) 

• 6th Place: Michael Lowry and 

Michael Schanck, New Hampshire 

Technical Institute-Concord (New 

Hampshire) 

• 7th Place: Michael Antonette 

and Feng Yang, Southern Alberta 

Institute of Technology (Alberta, 

Canada) 

• 8th Place: Michael Eckhart and 

Barry Fedon, Northamption 

Community College (Pennsylvania) 

• 9th Place: Ross Weseloh and Brian 

Berg, Lake Area Technical Institute 

(South Dakota) 

• 10th Place: Nathan Miller and 

Stephen Mesik, Youngstown State 

University Academic (Ohio) 

Global LT picks 

Lambert as global 

marketing manager 

Global- LT, Troy, MI, a language, 

translation and relocation 

destination services company, 

has hired Kristin Lambert as 

global marketing manager. 

With longer than 10 years of 

industry experience in North 

America working alongside global 

companies, she brings a wealth of 

experience that will evolve Global- 

LT’s global marketing strategy. 

In her previous roles, she 

worked for MWW Group where she 

specialized in public relations work 

for Volkswagen. Her dedication 

and experience has landed her 

an excellent placement record, a 

rolodex of media contacts and an 

eye for creativity and cutting edge 

marketing strategies. 

Lambert’s position is integral to 

the continuing growth that Global- 

LT has seen in its longer than 30- 

year existence. She will support 

US-based headquarters as well as 

remote offices in London, Hong 

Kong and Frankfurt. 

Kristin Lambert has longer than 

10 years experience in North 

America working alongside global 

companies. 

On March 17, 2011 the Manitoba 

Customer Contact Association held 

an education forum “$peaking to a 

$ucce$$ful, $ound Future. The key 

topics included: Social Response and 

the Contact Centre, (and the impact 

on contact centres ;) Remote is Green 

(trends and successes with a variety of 

remote applications); What’s Working 

and What’s Not in Recruitment, 

Recognition, Retention; and Tapping 

into an Untapped Labour Pool (and 

meeting diversity requirements). 

MCCA staff thanks all presenters 

and delegates for their part in adding 

to the success of this event. 

Visit the Web site www.mcca. 

mb.ca and watch for further details 

on: - 

1. The Annual General Meeting 

(AGM) is scheduled for Thursday, 

May 12, 2011 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. at 

the Fairmont Winnipeg, Wellington 

Room, 1 Lombard Place, Winnipeg. 

2. Mark your calendar for May 26, 

2011 and plan to attend the fun 

golf tournament being held at the 

Kingswood Golf and Country Club, 

La Salle, Manitoba. 

The MCCA exists to promote the 

development and sustainability of 

a growing, healthy and dynamic 

industry. Find out how membership 

can add value to your organization. 


Association news 


Association (ICSA) Toronto Chapter 

will be hosting its 14 th annual 

Customer Service Conference on 

May 4 th & 5 th in Mississauga, ON, at 

the RBC building. It is entitled “3D 

Customer Service.” 

Topics include building social 

networks, personnel management 

techniques, how to improve 

customer satisfaction, outsourcing, 

analytics, the voice of the customer 

and more. Speakers are industry 

experts and the conference will also 

feature a panel discussion. 

Brochure and registration forms 

are available on the Web site, or 

people can contact ICSA Toronto 

Chapter for more details. Some new 

programs and initiatives will be 

launched at the May Conference. 

Participants will have an 

opportunity to visit and learn from 

the vendors on a host of different 

items including technology, 

processes and systems. The 

association recommends registering 

early to avoid disappointment. 

There are also vendor and 

sponsor opportunities left for the 

May Conference. Those who want to 

be recognized as a customer service 

leader can be a part of this success. 

ICSA Toronto Chapter has completed 

a number of public training 

sessions so far in 2010. It has a few 

more coming up including its popular 

Customer Service Fundamentals 

certification course and Coaching 

for Performance. Check the events 

calendar section of the Web site for 

more information. 

For more conference and 

association information, visit the 

Web site at www.icsa.on.ca or call 

905-477-5544. 

The year opened with some 

disappointing news in the contact 

centre industry in New Brunswick. 

The RCI division of the Wyndham 

Worldwide centre in Saint John 

announced in February that it would 

be laying-off approximately 300 

employees. Though more than 600 

jobs will remain at the centre, the 

news was a terrible blow to the 

affected employees. 

As it has done in the past, 

ContactNB took a lead role along with 

Enterprise Saint John in assisting 

Wyndham with a career fair to help 

find new opportunities for employees 

with other companies. The response 

from the local contact centre 

community and local businesses was 

nothing short of incredible as more 

than 30 employers and agencies 

registered for the event to meet the 

employees and discuss opportunities. 

Wyndham also provided 

employees with workshops to 

upgrade resume writing and 

interview skills. The hope is these 

efforts will help the employees make 

a smooth transition. 

ContactNB is moving ahead with 

an aggressive schedule of events 

over the course of the spring and 

into the summer. March ended with 

a successful session “Essentials 

for HR Managers” which brought 

HR professionals up to date with 

recent legislative changes and court 

rulings on labour law and HR cases. 

The session also helped clarify the 

use of social media in recruiting in 

performance management. In April, 

there will be best practice sessions in 

Quality and Workforce Management 

and then a technology roundtable 

in May. 

The 2011 Awards of Excellence is 

coming up June 9 in Saint John and 

will feature MC Mark Black who will 

deliver an inspiring message of hope 

and perseverance. The gala dinner is 

expected to draw approximately 225 

people from across New Brunswick 

as well as industry supporters from 

around the region to see a recordnumber 

of awards handed out to the 

industry’s best. 

Even though spring has barely 

begun, plans are well underway 

for this fall’s Contact Atlantic 

conference coming up November 

2-3 in Fredericton. One of the 

keynote addresses will be delivered 

by Bernard Lord, president and 

CEO of the Canadian Wireless 

Telecommunications Association and 

former New Brunswick Premier. 

More speakers and sessions will be 

announced in the coming weeks. 

For more information on any of 

ContactNB’s events, visit the Web site 

at www.contactnb.ca. 

In a message, Membership 

Development Chair Doug Swift 

notes the rewards and benefits 

of membership in the CAM-X 

Association are many. He cites: 

ongoing education for all levels of 

organizations; invaluable networking 

opportunities; a most unique 

willingness to share information and 

ideas with direct competitors; the 

Award of Excellence and the Call 

Centre Award of Distinction, which 

have raised service levels within the 

industry exponentially; the inherent 

bonus of developing and solidifying 

lifelong friendships; the venue to 

grow personally and professionally by 

helping each other. And the list goes 

on and on. 

He points out CAM-X also has two 

other very prestigious awards, one 

designed to promote recognition of 

member companies and the other to 

reward the employees who day in and 

day out exemplify that which is the 

true mission of the association. 

The Tom Ryan Award for Ethics, 

Integrity and Quality Above All 

recognizes industry leaders in the 

answering service and contact 

management industry whose 

companies are founded on principles 

of quality service delivery, ethical 

business practices, commitment to 

a progressive working environment, 

and on contribution to the business 

and industry communities. This 

award is the highest honour that 

can be bestowed upon a member 

organization. 

The Donald Swift Education 

Endowment (DSEE) is borne of the 

belief that if an individual is given an 

opportunity not normally available 

to them, a motivated personality will 

deliver amazing results. It is designed 

to assist one dedicated employee 

(who may not normally be afforded 

this opportunity) the chance to 

experience the value of a CAM-X 

convention. 

This outstanding achievement 

award (DSEE) is presented to the 

person who is deemed to most 

exemplify the mission statement 

and values promoted by CAM-X. 

The winner will be rewarded with 

the chance to actively participate in 

the CAM-X annual convention and 

trade show with all their expenses, 

including conference registration, 

accommodation and travel being paid 

for from the DSEE fund. 

He encourages members to 

submit applications for their own 

organization or nominate another 

company they believe is deserving 

of one or both awards. Applications 

can be obtained at www.camx.ca. All 

CAM-X member offices are eligible to 

participate in each award. 

Contact Centre Nova Scotia (CCNS) is 

looking forward to an exciting spring! 

CCNS will be holding its Annual 

Awards Gala on May 12, 2011 from 

6:00 pm – 10:00 pm at the Lord 

Nelson Hotel in Halifax, Nova 

Scotia. Hosted by media personality 

Morrissey Dunn, and sponsored 

by NSBI, the event provides an 

opportunity to celebrate the Industry 

and its people. Awards will be 

provided in the following categories: 

• Leader of the Year; 

• Community Involvement Award; 

• Innovation Award; 

• Employee of the Year Award. 

As well for the first time, CCNS will 

introduce an Environmental Award. 

Tickets are $75.00 each or $750.00 

for a table of 10. 

Later in June, CCNS will hold its 

Annual General Meeting (AGM). 

For more details about the Gala 

and AGM, check the Web site www. 

contactcentrenovascotia.com or 

contact Executive Director Janet 

Hawley at 902.818.2745. 


Business Directory 

inbound/outbound call services 

VOXDATA named 

one of the top 

outsourcing call 

centers in 

North America 

Founded in 1995, VOXDATA provides inbound and outbound call services in English and 

French. A member of the Canadian Marketing Association, VOXDATA is ISO 9001-2000 

certified. VOXDATA ranks 321st out of Quebec’s top 500 companies according to Les 

Affaires magazine. In 2009, VOXDATA was also named best outsourced call center in 

ContactCenterWorld.com’s Members’ Choice Awards. 

education & training 

About VOXDATA 

Montreal Toll free: 1-800-861-9599 | Toronto 416-224-8482 

MONTREAL, April 14 /CNW Telbec/ - For a thirteenth consecutive year, VOXDATA has been 

recognized by the U.S. magazine Customer Interaction Solutions as one of North America’s 

top call center companies. VOXDATA, headquartered in Montreal, was ranked tenth among 

North American call centers. These ratings are used as the benchmark by organizations or 

corporations seeking teleservices support. 

VOXDATA captured the number ten spot in both the inbound and outbound categories. 

“We are proud of our company’s position in the call center industry,” said France Couture, 

VOXDATA president. “We have put a lot of effort into recruiting top professionals-most 

recently a vice president for client experience-so as to maximize the focus on the quality 

of service offered to our clients. We have also increased our production capacity, primarily 

through major investments that helped us expand our Montreal and Toronto offices. This 

recognition shows clearly that those efforts are paying off.” 

VOXDATA’s call center management expertise enables it to offer continuous call services 

adapted to a clientele composed predominantly of financial institutions, public service or 

telecommunication companies, and insurance firms. 

Founded in 1995, VOXDATA provides inbound and 

outbound call services in English and French. The 

firm is headquartered in Montreal and has an office 

in Toronto. A member of the Canadian Marketing 

Association, VOXDATA is ISO 9001-2000 certified. 

VOXDATA ranks 321st out of Quebec’s top 500 

companies according to Les Affaires magazine. In 

2009, VOXDATA was also named best outsourced 

call center in ContactCenterWorld.com’s Members’ 

Choice Awards. 

Montreal 

Toll free: 1-800-861-9599 

Toronto 

416-224-8482 

HAVE YOUR 

COMPANY 

FEATURED 

HERE STARTING 

AT ONLY 

$198/MONTH 

Contact Michael Braun at 1-800-668-1838, ext. 224 

Or mbraun@contactmanagement.ca 

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© 2010 BBM Analytics 1 


ContractXchange.com 

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© 2010 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved.

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