Top 5 Posts in August

Top-5-Contact-Center-Blog-Posts
Illustration by Eric Jackson

Agent training, development and engagement were top of mind for Pipeline blog readers this month. One of our most popular authors, Mike Aoki, contributed a compelling post on focusing coaching efforts on future improvements rather than past mistakes. It was a topic that struck a chord with readers and created a great many comments, shares and discussions on social media.

Other popular topics this month included our late-summer series on hot topics impacting contact centers also generated a lot of buzz with Ryan Hollenbeck’s comments on employee engagement and Chris Bauserman’s thoughts on millennials. Have a look!

Coaching? Don’t Make Your Agents Defend Stupidity
I knew I was in trouble! I was driving down the highway with my lovely wife, Jana, when we spotted a traffic jam up ahead. I suggested we stay on the highway, since it was the most direct route to our destination, and slowdowns like this usually clear up within a few miles. However, my wife suggested we take the off-ramp ahead and travel on the side roads, which would be a slow but steady drive.

Creating Career Paths for Agents
There is no doubt that technology has accelerated the pace of change in contact centers. Yet when it comes to the human element, some things have remained the same for decades. Agent turnover has been and remains a top challenge in centers. The repetitive nature of the job and limited potential for career advancement create a revolving employment door in many centers.

Hot Trends Impacting Contact Centers: Employee Engagement
You would expect to see a feature article about trends at the beginning of the year. We did that. But things shift quickly in this digital economy—and when it comes to customer expectations, the pace of change continues to accelerate and affect how businesses adapt and respond. In this series, we decided to take a mid-year look at five “hot” topics that have been generating a lot of buzz in the press and on social media in recent months.

Hot Trends Impacting Contact Centers: Millennials
The impact that millennials are having on work environments across sectors continues to be a leading topic for contact center leaders. In our five-part series on hot topics that are impacting contact centers, we have asked industry leaders for their thoughts on employee engagement, IoT-enabled service strategies and AI in the center. In this fourth post, we tapped inContact’s Chris Bauserman to share his insights on why millennials are generating so much attention, how their influence will impact your contact center, what you can do to prepare your center, staff and company, and what to expect in the next year or two.