SECOND-ANNUAL CRM EXCELLENCE AWARDS.In Search Of (CRM (Customer Relationship Management) An integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and postsales activities in an organization. ) Excellence We editors of Customer Inter@ction Solutions[TM] recently challenged companies that provide customer relationship management (CRM) products and services to show us how they are leading the pack in developing software and programs that measurably make customers' lives easier and their interactions with companies more pleasant. We asked submitting companies to provide us with an essay, in case study format, demonstrating directly qualifiable results that a client using the product or service experienced as a result of the implementation. In choosing the winners, we looked for results that clearly benefitted customers. In many cases, the results reported were extremely company-focused. Comments such as, "The client was able to reduce its call center staff by 20 percent" or "ROI (Return On Investment) The monetary benefits derived from having spent money on developing or revising a system. In the IT world, there are more ways to compute ROI than Carter has liver pills (and for those of you who never heard of that expression, it means a lot). improved 25 percent in six months" were plentiful, hinting that many companies still don't "get" CRM. The winners, listed below, told us about average hold times decreasing, accuracy increasing, the attitudes and training of contact center agents improving, Web-based communications channels Also called a "circuit" or "line," it is a pathway over which data are transferred between remote devices. It may refer to the entire physical medium, such as a telephone line, optical fiber, coaxial cable or twisted wire pair, or, it may refer to one of several carrier frequencies expanding, the reduction of call abandonment and pertinent historical customer data becoming available to agents, thus eliminating the need for customers to enter their account numbers a multitude of times or retell re·tell tr.v. re·told , re·tell·ing, re·tells 1. To relate or tell again or in a different form. 2. To count again. Verb 1. their stories and problems to three different departments. Following is a list of special companies. These are organizations that have a mission to help your company serve your customers better and faster. We invite you to spend an hour with them and imagine the possibilities they present to your own customers. Alorica, Inc. Ed Kisman 630-775-1900 ekisman@alorica.com www.alorica.com Product: Helix by Alorica (HbA) "Today, Alorica takes care of all its major client's customer interaction and support activities in 28 countries, including call center, service, repair, parts, merchandise returns and swapping, warehousing, distribution and logistics services." Apropos John Werneke 630-575-7807 john.werneke@apropos.com www.apropos.com Product: Interaction Vault (iVault) Client reports that, "Since the implementation of iVault, we were able to immediately view the entire history of all our customer interactions. In less than a week, iVault has made an impact on our support center by allowing agents to enhance productivity and offer improved quality assurance." Asklt Systems, Inc. Alison Russell 866-652-7548 alison@askit.com www.askit.com Product: Askit "The online self-help solution worked so well that within a month, e-mail volume dropped by 50 percent: 200 e-mails a day to 100, of which most were questions about specific orders." Avaya, Inc. Deborah Kline 908-953-6179 klined@avaya.com www.avaya.com Avaya CRM Solutions, Interaction Management Solution "Since implementing the Avaya solution, the client company's CSRs answer 98 percent of all incoming calls live, in spite of an overall increase in call volume of 18 percent." Jessica Hohn Broadbase Software 508-810-3356 jhohn@broadbase.com www.broadbase.com Product: Broadbase E-Service Suite Client reports, "Our reps' productivity is skyrocketing thanks to the Broadbase e-mail management, self-service and chat features we've implemented. CallCenter Technology, Inc. Diane Stuckey 678-494-7000 dianestuckey@callcti.com www.callcti.com Product: PRISM prism, in optics, a piece of translucent glass or crystal used to form a spectrum of light separated according to colors. Its cross section is usually triangular. Client quote: "We've freed our supervisors from the reporting function and tremendously increased the productivity of our reporting group. Instead of months of intensive in-house development, we had PRISM up and running in under two weeks." Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. Sales Dept. 800-553-6387 sales@cisco.com www.cisco.com Product: Cisco Customer Interaction Suite "Customer response to the new services has been phenomenal." ClientLogic Channing Rollo 615-301-7145 channrol@clientlogic.com www.clientlogic.com Service: Customer Care, Customer Experience Management "In the first quarter of 2001, ClientLogic's technical support services support services Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services achieved an impressive 94.3 percent customer satisfaction rating from client's customers." Composit Communications Peter Kenyon Peter Kenyon (born 1954) is the chief executive of Chelsea Football Club, of the FA Premier League in England, and probably the highest profile sports executive in the United Kingdom. He is the former production director and chief executive of sportswear firm Umbro. 800-789-2999 peter.kenyon@composit.net www.composit.net Product: CIMphone v 2.0 "Today (post-implementation), approximately 90 percent of inbound in·bound 1 adj. Bound inward; incoming: inbound commuter traffic. Adj. 1. inbound calls are routed directly to the appropriate CSR (1) (Customer Service Representative) A person who handles a customer's request regarding a bill, account changes or service or merchandise ordered. Agents in call centers are known as CSRs. See call center. , who accesses client-specific information via automatic screen pop." ConverTec Inc. Doug Moffat 905-469-0413 dmoffat@convertecinc.com www.convertecinc.com Product: CALL Link for Norstar "Client's average transaction time dropped 30 percent to 13 seconds per call after installation. They experienced a 95% reduction in the abandoned calls that were in queue, and a 30 percent increase in calls processed...all with no additional staff." eshare communications, Inc. 866-4eshare completecare@eshare.com www.eshare.com Product: eshare NetAgent "We were looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. software that could scale as needed as needed prn. See prn order. . We found that eshare does that exceptionally well." ExpertCity Shannon Kelly 805-690-6448 shannon@expertcity.com www.desktopstreaming.com Product: DesktopStreaming The client company found that, "Handling time has been reduced by 60 percent as a result of DesktopStreaming. We can see exactly what the customer is doing and the result of that action. ExpertCity's product takes all the guesswork out of it." IEX IEX Ion Exchange (chromatography) IEX Inter-Exchange Carrier Lisa Ashton 972-301-4864 lashton@iex.com www.iex.com Product: TotalNet Call Routing "The system's scheduling, reporting and real-time features allowed the client to achieve its goal of having customer service representatives on the phone for 7.5 hours of an eight-hour shift." Interactive Intelligence Christine Holley 317-715-8220 christine.holley@inin.com www.inin.com Product: Customer Interaction Center (CIC CIC circulating immune complexes. CIC Circulating immune complexes. See Immune complexes. ) The client, a full-service teleservices and fulfillment agency, said, "With CIC, we no longer have to depend on our local carrier. CIC gives us an exceptionally reliable system that lets us create customized interaction services in-house." Kana (Japanese) kana - The two Japanese syllabaries, hiragana and katakana. Communications Daphne daphne, in botany daphne, common name for, and genus name of, certain low deciduous or evergreen shrubs native to Eurasia. In the United States several naturalized species are cultivated for their handsome foliage and fragrant flowers, e.g., D. Alden 415-778-2111 daphne@kana.com www.kana.com Product: Kana Response "With the help of Kana Response, the client now maintains an impressive 12-hour service level at least 90 percent of the time." Knowlagent Elaine Daly 678-356-3416 edaly@knowlagent.com www.knowlagent.com Product: KnowDev 5.0 A user of KnowDev, Knowlagent's agent training software, reports, "Annual turnover among contact center agents has decreased from 65 percent per year to almost 31 percent after implementing KnowDev." Neteos, Inc. Thom VanHorn 781-466-0112 tvanhorn@neteos.com www.neteos.com Product: eRMNow! "The client's customer support representatives can now instantly receive and log service cases, monitor service level agreements and delegate problem-solution activities to any part of the organization, from corporate headquarters to the U.K. office." NSDI NSDI - National Spatial Data Infrastructure TelePerformance Lee Allum 866-TP-America/404-256-4673, ext. 538 lallum@tpamerica.com www.tpamerica.com Service: Care-Trac The client, a large insurance company, indicated that, post-implementation, "Eight-five percent of our members found their calls to be helpful. We're happy." Oncontact Software Margaret Gerstenkorn 262-375-6555, ext. 2250 margaret@oncontact.com www.oncontact.com Product: Client Management Software (CMS (1) See content management system and color management system. (2) (Conversational Monitor System) Software that provides interactive communications for IBM's VM operating system. ) "Thanks to CMS, the client is able to generate 2,600 qualified sales leads A sales lead is the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product or service, and represents the first stage of a sales process. The lead may have a corporation or business associated with the person(s). annually, nearly tripling previous results and producing a whopping $100 million of opportunity." PAR3 Sales Dept. 866-410-PAR3 sales@par3.com www.par3.com Product: Intelligent Response Platform PAR3's product, which allows users to send relevant alerts to customers via telephone, e-mail, pager, fax or wireless device, has helped a loan and mortgage company improve two-way communication Two-way communication is a form of transmission in which both parties involved transmit information. Common forms of two-way communication are:
PeopleSoft, Inc. Leslie Johnson Leslie George Johnson (22 March, 1912 – 8 June, 1959) was a British racing driver who competed in rallies, sports car races and Grand Prix races. Overview Leslie Johnson was born and raised in Walthamstow, at that time one of London’s poorer districts. 925-694-5684 leslie_johnson@peoplesoft.com www.peoplesoft.com Product: PeopleSoft CRM Sales; PeopleSoft CRM Service "Since the implementation of PeopleSoft CRM, the client has grown in revenue by more than 300 percent. It has added over 300 people, including over a dozen IT professionals." Remedy Corporation Steve Balentine 650-919-5717 sbalenti@remedy.com www.remedy.com Product: Remedy Customer Support "The client reduced call center operating costs operating costs npl → gastos mpl operacionales by 15 percent during the first six months after the implementation and was able to re-energize its call center staff and improve their morale." RightNow Technologies RightNow Technologies NASDAQ: RNOW is a U.S. software company that develops customer relationship management (CRM) software for small and mid-market businesses. It is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. Monica Remely 406-522-4262 mremely@rightnow.com www.rightnow.com Product: RightNow Web "According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the client's Webmaster, in the week after implementing the product, phone calls were slashed by at least 50 percent." Rockwell Electronic Commerce Sales Dept. 800-416-8199 www.ec.rockwell.com Product: Spectrum "The client, a large airline, has boosted productivity and cost-savings by one percent, which translates into big bucks for a call center of its size." SAS Institute SAS Institute Inc., headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig. Walter J. Maczka 919-531-5350 wally.maczka@sas (1) (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, www.sas.com) A software company that specializes in data warehousing and decision support software based on the SAS System. Founded in 1976, SAS is one of the world's largest privately held software companies. See SAS System. .com www.sas.com The client reports, "SAS gives us the ability to collect customer behavior information, learn about our customers and then do something strategic about it." Synchrony synchrony /syn·chro·ny/ (-krah-ne) the occurrence of two events simultaneously or with a fixed time interval between them. atrioventricular (AV) synchrony Communications, Inc. Kathleen Riehle 513-608-0395 driehle@synchrony.net www.synchrony.net Product Synchrony 4.0 "Upon implementation of Synchrony, the client's call abandonment rate dropped from 15 percent to 4 percent, a 73 percent reduction." Unipress Software, Inc. Debbie Ingram 732-287-2100, ext. 938 dingram@unipress.com www.unipress.com Product: FootPrints "On the whole, response times are much faster; more than 650 tickets have been closed in just four months, and productivity in the MIS department is at an all-time high." Vividence Sales Dept. 877-485-0630 sales@vividence.com www.vividence.com Product: Vividence XMS (1) See cross memory services. (2) (eXtended Memory Specification) A programming interface that allowed DOS programs to use memory above 1MB in 286s and up. The client, a Web-based real estate company, reports that, "The number of leads distributed to real estate agents in the months following the Web site redesign increased over 150 percent." WebEx Communications Sales Dept. 877-932-3911 www.webex.com Product: WebEx OnCall "Implementing WebEx immediately improved the client's ability to address customer needs and increased the support staff's productivity by an estimated 20 to 30 percent." White Pajama Ellen Pensky ellenp@whitepajama.com 510-259-2535 www.whitepajama.com Product: Contact Center Solution "Having e-mail and chat channels in addition to telephony allows agents to communicate with customers in multimedia during the sales process A sales process is a systematic approach for performing product or service sales. The reasons for having a sales process include seller and buyer risk management, achieving standardized customer interaction in sales and scalable revenue generation. , dramatically reducing the length of the sales cycle." Witness Systems George Johnston George Johnston may refer to:
770-754-8651 gjohnston@witness.com www.witness.com Product: eQuality Balance/eQuality Evaluation "The client has seen an increase in its agents' technical abilities. Coaching sessions with agents and supervisors have eliminated 15 to 20 seconds from average call times, which has resulted in significant cost savings." |
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