Sometimes you don’t need an entire 1,000 word article to get the point across. Every now and then you just need a reminder of what your actual goals are. Think of it as a concentrated dose of motivation, contained in just a few words. That’s what these quotes are—motivation. Motivation for you and your employees to keep up your level of excellent customer service.
1. Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
—Donald Porter
2. The way to a customer’s heart is much more than a loyalty program. Making customer evangelists is about creating experiences worth talking about.
—Valeria Maltoni
3. Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you.
—Chip Bell
4. You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.
—Jerry Fritz
5. A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
—Jeff Bezos
6. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not a single act, but a habit.
—Aristotle
7. In the world of Internet Customer Service, it’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away.
—Doug Warner
8. The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.
—John Russell
9. If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.
—Jeff Bezos
10. Customer service is a voluntary act that demonstrates a genuine desire to satisfy, if not delight, a customer.
—Steve Curtin
And if you’re still looking for some help managing your contact center, then call KOVA today. Our contact center software solutions are perfect for any business looking for ways to improve their customer service.
Bet you thought that The Fierce Urgency of Now was just the cool title of an acclaimed book by Princeton Professor Julian Zelser that hit the streets in 2015. Nope – not by a longshot. In fact, those words were spoken by none other than civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, in a speech on April 4, 1967 for a gathering of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, held in Riverside Church that evening in New York City.
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”
Today our nation finds itself in a similar position of frustration caused by too-frequent terror attacks on U.S. soil, and rescue operations held in foreign lands to save underprivileged and abused populations in desperate situations. Not that helping others is wrong – it’s what we do. It’s just that meanwhile Americans are suffering from poverty, job loss, and the inequality that comes from piling blame on those not really responsible for those undercurrents – African Americans and our officers in blue.
Whether the effects of social injustice are due to police carrying the burden of keeping the peace in low-income, high-crime communities – or an overall lack of respect for basic human rights – there is one common thread emerging from the recent volatile events between cops and black lives that matter in this oh-so-hot summer of 2016: patience has run its course and we need to acknowledge the problems and find some solutions, now.
President Obama’s been telling us over the past few weeks, “We’re better than this.” He returned early from peacekeeping talks overseas to offer a speech of consolation to the nation at the July 12th memorial for 5 policemen from Dallas – slain in an alarming ambush by a lone assailant with multiple weapons, a history of mental instability and too much hatred.
“While assigned to protect and keep orderly the peaceful protest and response to the killings of Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Philando Castile of Minnesota” – even amidst signs with angry words and shouted obscenities – these brave men “were upholding the constitutional rights of this country.”
The following night, CNN’s Don Lemmon was inspired to ‘start a conversation’ at a town meeting with attendees expressing an ingrained fear of police brutality and cops wondering why their jobs were part of the problem.
It was an interesting mix of black, white and blue. One Caucasian retired police chief insisted there wasn’t an issue, that police do what it takes to stay safe while enforcing the law. Another answered the question of, “How do I stay safe when stopped by police?” with “Keep your hands on the wheel.” That sparked indignation at why blacks had to ‘perform’ by a different set of rules, and a great divide opened up and swallowed the moment.
Just when it seemed there was no common ground to be had, one black police officer rose and gave a heartrending apology to a mother grieving that her 12-year old son would eventually fall victim to biased cultural backlash and not come home one day. He held her in a hug until her sobs subsided, and the room was still, and thoughtful. The town hall lasted one and a half hours, and it was just a drop in the bucket – but there was a conversation.
When police can feel secure in their safety as they go about performing their duties of protecting our citizenry; when they are provided with advanced situation awareness technology; and they are paid wages commensurate with their responsibilities – it will allow them to focus on being the best they can be, at one career.
Perhaps when parents of color can raise proud children with paths to the future, without worrying that they will be singled out or persecuted because they are feared by those who misunderstand their experience; when all Americans can learn from what makes them different and rejoice in what they have in common – our nation will benefit in ways we have always thought were unattainable.
KOVA Corporation has always been about communication, and expert application of systems and software. We specialize in public safety software, from mobile call recording to physical security management – giving actionable information to public, government and enterprise organizations which they may use for effective emergency response, investigations and analysis.
These days, the most dangerous threat to businesses and organizations won't be seen walking through your door. Instead, it will breach your organization’s walls through your network, coming in over your wifi - and you may not even find out about it until months or years later.
Unlike physical security threats, which don't change much over time, cyber threats evolve and change quickly - so quickly, in fact, that it can be a real challenge to keep up. Last year, the Business Continuity Institute named cyber crime the biggest threat to businesses in 2016, and that prediction seems to be holding true. With organizations from major film studios to presidential campaigns suffering from cyber attacks, there’s no excuse for not focusing on data security. Here are 4 tips for making your organization safer from cyber crime.
Always update and patch your operating systems
There's a reason your system provider releases updates. Sometimes it's to improve functionality, but there's also, almost always, a security issue that's being addressed.
Failing to update your software on time can mean that you’re vulnerable to the latest methods that hackers are using to attack your systems. Since these become more sophisticated as time goes on, it’s vital to ensure that your network maintains the latest cyber defenses at all times.
The same is true of patches, which are pieces of software that fix a specific problem within a larger operating system. Sometimes they’re to fix a bug, but more often, they’re to address a security vulnerability.
Utilize encryption throughout your system, especially in the cloud
Encryption, which means that your data is scrambled so as to be unreadable by intruders, is one of the most basic steps in ensuring your organization’s cyber security. Data “at rest” - in other words, data that is not currently being used or viewed by someone - should always be encrypted.
This is achievable with simple encryption software, although many software solutions like the Verint Media Recorder automatically encrypt all data.
If you have files that are especially sensitive, you may want to consider using file encryption in addition to your system-wide encryption. And if you’re storing information in the cloud, ensure the service you’re using employs industry-standard or better encryption.
In the past, storing data in the cloud was often seen as less secure than storing it in on-site servers, but according to the publication Information Age, this isn’t the case. The real issue is not where your data is located, but how accessible it is, reports TechTarget.
Control data accessibility at every level of your organization
On that note, it’s important to realize that hackers can’t break into your systems unless there’s a vulnerability. And while there’s bound to be a vulnerability, however tiny, in nearly every system, you can do a great deal to prevent additional ones from appearing.
The most effective way to do this is to control who has access to your data at every level of the organization. This means not using the same password for multiple databases, or keeping one password for more than a year.
Instead, use a password manager. These programs save your passwords securely, allowing you to create random or highly secure passwords without having to worry about remembering them. Some programs even offer additional levels of security by requiring that a physical fob be placed into the device in order to unlock the passwords.
Build a workplace culture that prioritizes data security
Believe it or not, insider attacks have been rated the number one cyber security risk to organizations by CIO magazine.
If your workplace culture isn’t one that prioritizes data security, employees may be much more likely to share login information, discuss classified information, or use their own password to help a colleague log in to a database he or she isn’t supposed to have access to.
While there may be no malicious intent behind any of these actions, this can lead to situations that make your data much more vulnerable to attack. And if there is a disgruntled employee or ex-employee who intends to do harm to your organization, he or she will be able to carry it out much more easily if the culture around data security is too relaxed.
Cyber security should be a major concern for not only IT leaders, but all organizational leaders. To read more about protecting your company from these attacks, read our post “The Importance of Proactive Cyber Security for Contact Centers.”
Rolling out new software like a workforce management suite or a workforce optimization suite is an exciting, yet challenging experience. As a leader in your organization, it’s up to you to make sure your workforce actually reaps the many benefits that this software offers - better productivity, easier communication, and increased efficiency among others.
But as any IT professional will tell you, rolling out new software is a complex process that often includes a few twists and turns. Follow these guidelines to help make your rollout progress smoothly.
1. Establish and document clear business objectives from the outset.
In any rollout, communication is key. You probably know exactly what benefits the new software will bring to your organization from the time you spent building your business case for it. However, you need to remember that your team hasn’t spent nearly as much time thinking about the software as you have.
Even if you’ve already discussed why you’re implementing new software, you need to establish a clear set of business objectives if you’re going to get your whole team fully on board. Share this strategic vision with your team early, before the rollout process begins.
2. Plan when to roll out the new software carefully.
Planning when to roll out your new software is just as important as planning how to do it. Choose a time when your team members don’t have lots of other projects, deadlines, or additional pressures to deal with.
Likewise, it’s probably best to avoid the week around a holiday, when team members may be taking time off or not as focused on their work.
3. Review your current business processes and workflows to identify where changes will need to occur.
Once you’ve established your business objectives, it’s time to start reviewing the way your business currently operates. Using your business objectives as a guide, look at the various processes, workflows, and operations that will be affected by the new software. How are they working currently? Are there specific points at which bottlenecks or confusion tend to occur?
When you’ve identified these points, document them clearly and add this list to your business objectives. Together, these documents will show your team the reasons for adopting the new software.
4. Define any new workflows, processes, and changes in responsibility.
New software will almost undoubtedly mean that certain workflows and processes will change. While many of these changes may be welcome ones, depending on how broken or tedious your current processes are, there will be others that may be met with resistance.
Laying out exactly what will change, and how it will change, will help your team members feel more comfortable and prepared for the new software rollout when it occurs. For each new workflow, define the benefits that the new technology will offer, the steps that must be in place for a successful adoption, and any changes in responsibility that team members may have.
5. Invest in training.
Finding the proper training should be part of your plan from the beginning. Training is key to the success of new software, because if people don’t know how to use it - and especially, if they don’t know how to use it in a way that makes their jobs easier - they won’t bother using it. If that happens, all you’ve gained after all that work is a very expensive program taking up space on your server.
It’s important to schedule the training sessions in a way that will make them the most efficient and effective. While everyone should most likely attend an initial session to introduce them to the new software, after that it may work best to offer smaller, more focused trainings on specific functions or workflows.
This way, team members don’t have to spend inordinate amounts of time learning about features they may never need to use.
Rolling out new software is a complex process, but the benefits these systems can have for your employees are huge. To learn more about how enterprise software solutions can help your contact center, read our post “Revealing the Benefits of Unified Call Center Solutions.”
In today’s world, it’s no longer good enough to only provide reactive customer service. You can’t just wait for a problem to arise and then react to it when a customer complains. Many people look at this as the contact center’s main job—dealing with problems as they arise. But that’s not a good strategy for retaining customers and bringing in new revenue. What it takes now is proactive customer service.
When a customer orders a product now, most companies send them an email with its tracking number as soon as it ships. That’s proactive. The customer has the number and can track the package without needing to call your contact center when it’s a day or two late. Instead, they see that it took a little longer in Ohio, and it should be there on Friday.
Have you noticed that when you fly anywhere now, the airline offers to text or email you updates? That’s proactive. Even if they’re texting you to tell you the plane will be delayed, it’s still tipping off the customer ahead of time.
At KOVA, we’re always looking for ways to help contact centers improve their efficiency and customer service. Our Impact 360 Customer Feedback can help you gather valuable feedback from customers at the end of their calls through IVR or email surveys. Contact us today to find out more about what software solutions from KOVA can do for your contact center.
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In any working environment, earning your employees’ trust can mean the difference between good and great results.
But in a workplace like a contact center, which can suffer from high turnover and low employee morale, building that trust can be a challenge.
This is exacerbated by the fact that there are often hundreds of employees, many of whom are part-time. How can you even achieve the face time that’s required in order to build a trusting relationship?
No matter the situation, building trust takes time - but there are lots of things you can do to improve your relationship with your employees, and earn their trust one step at a time.
Model the behavior you want to see in your employees.
The first place to start when working on building trust is with yourself. If you want to be trusted, be a trustworthy person - that’s as true in the workplace as it is in your personal life.
If an employee confides something in you, don’t betray that confidence (unless, of course, there’s a compelling reason why you must, like criminal activity or fear for the employee’s safety).
If you make a mistake, own up to it right away. If you make a wrong judgment, apologize. Your employees notice a lot more than you may think, and they’ll be unlikely to respect you or your authority if they notice you transferring blame or dodging responsibilities.
Be honest, straightforward, and transparent.
While it can be difficult to offer feedback that’s anything but positive or neutral, know that employees will trust you a lot more if they know you’re telling the truth - even if it’s something they don’t want to hear.
Let’s say an employee isn’t meeting his KPIs, for example. That’s an issue that merits discussion, and that employee will probably expect to hear about it at some point.
But if you just make note of it to yourself, without speaking to him about it, that employee may either think you’re not paying attention, or that you’re storing that shortcoming away to address later. Either way, they won’t be inclined to trust you.
Being straightforward and transparent about employee reviews, KPIs, and measures of success is vital to becoming a trusted leader. And this doesn’t just apply to employee performance, either. Try to share as much information as you can about company developments, so that employees don’t start filling in the gaps themselves with rumors and hearsay.
Show that you care by forging personal connections.
According to the Harvard Business Review, as a person’s power increases, their perceived trustworthiness decreases. To combat this effect, it’s important to let employees know that you care about them and what they do for your company.
One very obvious way to do this is simply to show interest in your employees’ lives. What do they like to do outside of work? Do they have significant others or children? Do they play a sport or have a hobby?
But asking these questions alone won’t earn your employees’ trust, especially if the information goes in one ear and out the other. You have to become truly vested in your employees as individuals and care about their success - both at work and in their personal lives.
One-on-one coaching can be a great way to become more involved in helping your employees succeed. Making the time for coaching can be challenging, but it can certainly be done. Many organizations implement workforce optimization or workforce management software, which can free up time that was previously spent on administrative tasks like scheduling.
Another highly effective way to earn trust is to join your employees in their daily tasks now and then. Taking a few calls here and there will show the people who work for you that you want to know what their workday is like, and what problems they face on a regular basis.
However, there’s an added benefit to doing this as well: Acting as a call-taker can give you greater insight into areas that may need attention, improving your own performance and ability to manage your team.
Earning your employees’ trust is a vital part of being an effective manager. To learn more about keeping your employees happy in the workplace, read our post “24 Unique Ways to Reward Your Employees for a Job Well Done.”
With the many mass shootings, terrorist attacks, and attacks on police that we’ve seen in the past few years, it’s clear that policing is becoming an ever more difficult and complex job.
In the past, police officers fought crime with a police radio, their weapon, and problem-solving skills. Today, that’s no longer enough. As criminals have gathered on the internet, coordinating like never before, we’ve seen the need for advanced technology grow.
There are plenty of companies working hard on creating new, better policing technologies every day - and some of what is available sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie. Here are 4 police technologies that are changing the state of policing for the better.
Drones
Drones have been in the news for their military and recreational use, but they’re also being used more and more by police organizations.
These unmanned aircraft are equipped with cameras that can be connected to a live feed, so that officers on the ground can see everything the camera sees. This has uses in all kinds of situations, from active shooter to missing persons. The video from a drone can also be aggregated with information from multiple other sources, like license plate readers and facial recognition technology, to provide a more complete picture of a crime.
Throwable robotic cameras
These futuristic-looking little robots are tough enough to be thrown into spots where police officers can’t go. Operated by the police officer using a remote control, robotic cameras can explore dangerous or inaccessible crime scenes and relay what they see back to a monitor. Many are equipped with infrared sensors, so they can record even in total darkness.
These cameras have all kinds of applications. They can find suspects at a greater distance, map a building’s layout, identify hostages, or locate contraband.
Situational awareness tech
Situational awareness technology involves aggregating information from security systems, video feeds, license plate readers, and other technology to enable police to respond to incidents in a more prepared manner. The data from the various systems is then pulled together and made accessible in one single interface.
For example, take a look at the Verint Situation Management system, Verint SMC. This software solution integrates a huge array of sources, including:
Using situational awareness technology like the SMC can affect entire cities. When this system is used in conjunction with devices like smart streetlights, ShotSpotter technology, and mass notification, it can help city managers, police officers, and others run cities more safely and efficiently.
Synchronized body cameras
Body cameras have been in use for several years, but new technology is making them more effective than ever.
A new product called WatchGuard Video syncs an in-car camera and police officers’ body cameras, allowing officers to record video from multiple vantage points. What’s more, the cameras are all aware of each other - when one starts recording, the others start recording, too.
This way, if one officer forgets to press record or doesn’t know he or she needs to be recording, an officer’s partner can initiate the recording process from either the car or a body camera.
Once video is recorded, the files from each of the synced cameras is uploaded to a database and linked together, making it easy to find all video from a single incident.
This could have major impact on cases in which there’s a question of whether an officer acted correctly, or whether someone was armed. This kind of video recording could help answer those questions more definitively.
Policing is a difficult job, but technology is helping make our police officers and citizen safer. For more on how technology is changing public life, read our post The Importance of Public Safety Technology for Public Spaces.
If you’re a contact center executive considering taking your contact center operations to a global level, you’ve doubtless spent a lot of time thinking about logistics, necessary technology, hiring qualified agents, and the other considerations that global operations require.
Scaling up from single-country operations to multi-country can be an overwhelming proposition. If you go in unprepared in even a single area, it can negatively impact your contact center back home, and the company as a whole.
Here are 4 things to consider when you’re taking your contact center global.
1. Make sure that your phone technology can handle international calls without lag time.
One issue that customers experience often with international contact centers is a lag on the phone line. This is due to the fact that many vendors serve their international clients from a single data center located in one part of the world - meaning that when a call is happening, the sound has to go from the caller’s phone to a data center in, say, Nebraska, and then from there to the country where the contact center is located. The same is true when the contact center agent speaks.
This can create a noticeable lag, which negatively impacts the quality of the call. Not only can it disrupt the agent’s ability to assist the caller, it can also make an organization sound unprofessional and unpolished. To get around this issue, make sure your cloud provider uses regional data centers, instead of just one.
2. Make sure your agents understand multiple languages and cultures.
You can’t underestimate the importance of culture when it comes to customer service - even in calls as simple as a caller needing a copy of their account number.
When you’re taking a contact center global, you’ll need agents who have a grasp of anywhere from two to a dozen or more different cultural norms and languages so they can serve customers from those countries correctly.
This requires quality training that gives agents substantive information about how to interact with customers from different parts of the world. While this kind of training can take time, neglecting it can mean lower customer satisfaction, and even unintentionally offending someone.
In addition to training, agents should have access to a knowledge base with information on key cultural or language issues. This way, they can refer this information in real time, as needed.
3. Ensure agents in every country speak your brand language.
When contact center agents are located in another part of the world, it can be more challenging to ensure that they speak your brand language.
Just like cultural norms, brand language is something that agents need to be well-trained in. Ideally, someone from your company’s headquarters should perform the training in person, traveling to the new location for a few weeks or months to oversee the center’s setup.
If this isn’t possible, there are plenty of videoconferencing options that can allow you to connect with your new managers and agents virtually. Make sure to stay in touch after the initial training, too - keeping your global contact center managers in the loop regarding product changes, changes in brand language, and more will ensure customers have a consistent brand experience no matter who they’re put in touch with.
4. Ensure your global contact center managers and agents have the technology they need to be successful.
As with domestic contact centers, the right technology is key to ensuring that your customers’ needs are being met. Software solutions like Workforce Management, Customer Experience Surveys, and Enterprise Feedback Management allow managers to ensure that agents’ skills are being used efficiently and that customer satisfaction remains high.
With a global workforce, the technological scaling can be a challenge - but with the right solution partners in place, contact centers that are going global can achieve major success.
Running a contact center isn’t an easy job, and sometimes you’ll run into problems that you need a little help with. Don’t hesitate or feel embarrassed that you don’t know the answer. Just hop online and check out one of these fantastic blogs on contact center operations. Everything from hiring to software is covered in these blogs, so you’ll always have somewhere to go when you need a hand. Here are the best of the best.
1. International Customer Management Institute
The great part about this site is that it isn’t just a blog. It has white papers, newsletters, webinars, and downloadable WFM that supply you with a wide range of content. You aren’t just getting some advice when you go there, you’re getting an entire learning experience. Check it out and see what ICMI.com has to offer you.
2. Call Centre Helper
As you may have guessed by the spelling, this is the UK’s premier contact center magazine. Call Centre Helper is the perfect place to research topics, find new tips and tech, or even look for job postings. It’s not just a blog, so take some time to check out their full website and discover everything they have to offer.
3. Fronolo Customer Service Blog
Up and running since 2010, the Fronolo Customer Service Blog covers all the latest trends and practices for contact centers, customer service, and the customer experience. They’ve got webinars, articles, videos, and demos all targeted at customer service professionals looking for some new tips.
4. Destination CRM
Destination CRM focuses on a broad range of customer relationship topics including tech, finance, communications, advertising, and healthcare. Customer relationship management should be an important piece of any contact center’s strategy, and this is the ideal site for companies looking to enhance customer value.
5. Service Untitled
Founded in 2006, Service Untitled posts multiple times a week about topics related to customer service and customer service experience. They post practical and relatable content, saying that, “Service Untitled focuses on pragmatic and simple solutions to real customer service problems. Service Untitled’s goal is to focus on the practical and not write about problems from an “academic” point of view.” Sometime you need content that’s based on years of personal experience, and not just what someone thinks will work out for you.
These blogs all offer fantastic information for solving some of your contact center problems. But if you can’t quite find what you’re looking for, then contact KOVA today. We offer contact center software solutions that can help out any contact center in need.
