The face of the Call Center business is changing

 

Conservative consumers, shifting economic conditions and increasingly competitive business conditions are making it easier than ever to get new customers. These factors are also making it harder than ever to keep your customers. Customer loyalty isn't something easily given, it is something that is earned.

The fight for customer loyalty is nothing new to contact center professionals, but the changing face of the contact center industry is. DialResults predictive dialer system has been designed for the next generation of contact centers, and the new breed of contact center professional. DialResults emerging technologies and evolving team management strategies will lead the industry into the next phase of contact center growth.

The driving force behind these changes is FTC Legislation also an expansion/revision in basic call center objectives. Measures of success in call center operations have changed dramatically in the last decade. While once only call completions or number of orders were the primary measure, depending on the call center function, customer centric measures are now the focus

Predictive dialing is changing almost as fast as traditional dialers bring screen pops to an agent's desktop. The US market, which is the leader in terms of installed systems, is in a period of transition. Predictive Dialing started off as a way to attract new customers and to sell new ideas, but that model does not fit well in today's marketplace. Instead, companies are implementing DialResults predictive dialers in innovative ways, calling airline consumers if their flights are late, alerting utility customers to power shortages, reminding drivers to get their annual checkup, and even notifying retail customers when a package will be shipped late. Does that mean that consumers can say goodbye to someone asking for "the man or woman of the house," or having someone stumble with a long last name? Probably not, but there will be a drastic change over the next five years in which dialers will migrate from being used for primarily outbound sales activity to being used for proactive outbound customer service.

Companies without call centers, though, will be at a distinct disadvantage if their competitors have them. DialResults Advanced technology is made for dealing with a customers base on a large scale or even a SMALL SCALE USING call center TECHNOLOGY from DialResults. The future of the call center is rather like its past-it will continue to be the focal point for corporate efforts to handle customer contact. It will also incrementally add technology to handle different kinds of contacts, like emails and web interactions. DialResults has already seen and recognized and implemented these transitions in our call center technology in the marketplace.

I have over 15 years in the call center industry. I have both worked for the 8th largest call center in the world and have also worked in the Predictive Dialer arena

eProcurement and TranslationGavin Wheeldon

eProcurement and Translation
Gavin Wheeldon of Applied Language Solutions

Background of eProcurement

The world of purchasing took a significant change with the introduction of eProcurement systems. Unbelievable ROI was promised and the whole purchasing world was about to revolutionise, all for a mere few million investment.

This would be done by rationalising the supply base to an absolute minimum and then ensuring no off contract buying was done by enforcing purchases through the system. There were additional savings in the reduction of administration from purchase orders through to invoice payment.
A small problem

Then along came the rather significant problem of supplier adoption onto these systems. Without a critical mass of spend there would be no real ROI. The problem came in that there were so many different proprietary systems including Oracles iProcurement, Ariba, Commerce One, SAP and a multitude of others that the cost of supporting multiple catalogue formats was prohibitive for suppliers. Even worse was when services or configurable products were attempted to be catalogued.
Punch Out

Then along came Punch out or Round Trip depending on which you prefer (This article will use punch out), however the principle is the same. This allows end users to browse a suppliers website and bring back into the system the details of the purchase, therefore allowing all the same business rules and processes to be applied. This solved problems for configurable products, volatile pricing and some other key supply chain issues.
Translation

The level of translation spend in a company is often underestimated and in most large organisations runs into many millions. It is estimated that through the correct use of technology and the consolidation of this spend savings of up to 60% can be achieved. Therefore the benefits of adding this spend to eProcurement can far outweigh even the larger spend categories.

There is however, still a problem when trying to add your translation supplier to eProcurement systems. This comes down to two reasons:

Translation purchases still need to go through a quotation stage in most instances. This is due to the fact there are so many variables that can change the price including such things as graphics with files.
Most agencies will use translation memory tools, which mean that the same document can be differently priced dependent upon when you get the quote. This works by storing translated units in a database and when this same unit is encountered again it is priced lower.

These problems make it almost impossible to purchase translation in a single punch out session.

How to eProcure Translation

Translation can be procured through the system with a slight adaptation of the normal punch out process. This is done by providing a standard link to the agencies secure server where a quotation can be requested and documents submitted. The quote is then emailed to the requisitioner with a link to return to the secure site via the eProcurement system. This will then start a punch out session and the quote can be added to a shopping basket in the normal way.

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Applied Language Solutions provide translation solutions for business of all size and have a range of solutions to meet all needs.

ALS
TranslationHaving worked in the technology industry including eProcurement and CMS systems, Gavin has in the past three t=years been working in the translation industry to bring technology and language together.