At the top of our most read blog posts in March is Leslie’s insightful article on how to incorporate checking applicants’ writing skills (a most necessary requirement, particularly in today’s landscape) in your hiring process. Then, Michael provides us with the 2024 State of the Contact Center, complete with a look back and a potential glimpse into the future.
Next, Mark shares with us the importance of disaster planning, specifically updating our current plans now that many of our agents are working remotely. In honor of our 15th anniversary, Michele recounts how WFH has changed over the past 15 years. Rounding us out for March, Kathleen pulls from her experience and expertise to offer her five wishes for contact center leaders.
How to Check Writing Skills Before Hiring
Your team is hiring customer service agents, and you want them to be good at responding in written channels: email, chat, social media, SMS, and ratings and reviews. But it’s not easy to figure out whether an applicant has excellent writing skills or even competent ones, and it’s painful to discover after you’ve made an offer that your new employee is a poor writer.
2024 State of the Contact Center
A State of State article typically provides a look back and provides a potential glimpse into the future based on trends and events. Today, we’ll take a look at the State of the Contact Center from someone who is in the trenches with you in an ever-changing customer service and contact center environment.
Do We Need Disaster Planning?
Disasters can and will strike at any time, anywhere. Call centers must be prepared, first and foremost, to protect the lives of employees and, secondarily, to ensure information and service to customers who would not be aware of the imminent danger to the centers or, worst case, the event that had hit them.
Surprises and Delights
So much has changed over the past 15 years. In 2009, I was working for Hilton Reservations Worldwide, and we had just moved 1,000+ people from in-office positions to work from home (WFH). We were in the midst of the 2008-2009 recession and desperately needed to reduce costs. So, we made the decision to release a good deal of the contact center real estate portfolio, and quickly figured out how to effectively support people who were home-based.
Happy Fifteenth Anniversary
Congratulations to Contact Center Pipeline on this 15th Anniversary! I have been a grateful contributor to CCP for these past 15 years. I founded PowerHouse 37 years ago in 1987, though my “relationship” with ACDs (Automatic Call Distribution) began in 1980. (My husband and I owned an interconnect company that sold and installed business telephone systems.) So, yes, I am a Contact Center veteran and have been part of the “Call Center” world since the dawn of the digital age.
