We are in the midst of gratitude season. Canada celebrated Thanksgiving in October, and our holiday in the U.S. is this month.
I think it can be difficult to feel gratitude when we look around. Many things in our world, in our communities, our contact centers, and our individual lives can sometimes make it difficult to see the good things around us.
As I was recently reminded, the darkest skies have the brightest stars. Yes, we have long queues. We have tech implementation issues. We have hiring and retention struggles. BUT we also have well-served customers. We have technologies that have made processes easier. And we have some of our brightest stars because we struggled through our hiring processes. Keep looking around…at the good things!
Happy Gratitude Season.
Enjoy our November issue.
Linda
Table of Contents, November 2026
FEATURE ARTICLE
How to Keep the CX Flowing Smoothly
By Brendan Read; Q&A with Jenni Hawkins
Gas South’s human-centered, technology-enabled approach.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
Executive Interview with Nitesh Kumar
By Linda Harden
Sponsored by Flatworld Solutions.
COACH’S CORNER
Turning QA Data into Insights
By Mark Pereira
How they can help contact centers.
VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER
Enhancing the VOC Process – Part 2
By John Goodman, with Thomas Hollmann, Bill Price, and David Beinhacker
Second, turning VOC insights into action.
METRICS
Deflection is NOT Resolution
By Rob Dwyer
The most trusted metric hides expensive failures.
CONVERSATIONAL AI
How Conversational AI is Rewiring Contact Centers
By Andy O’Dower
They can become (finally!) revenue, not cost, centers.
CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Assuring Quality and Loyalty in the AI Age
By Brendan Read; Q&A with Laura Sikorski
To do that, apply the fundamentals, including enabling strong teams.
AI QUALITY SCORING
What “100% QA Coverage” Doesn’t Tell You
By Owen Zhang
How you can adjust your scorecarding accordingly.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Driving The Bouncy CX Journey
By Brendan Read; Q&A with Expert Panel
How contact centers can smooth out the ride.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Why QA Has To Change
By David Karandish
AI is forcing new automated processes.
A special thank you to our authors this month for sharing their insights and wisdom: Rob Dwyer, John Goodman, David Karandish, Nitesh Kumar, Andy O’Dower, Mark Pereira, Brendan Read, and Owen Zhan.
Sincere appreciation to our vendor community: CallMiner, Centrical, Cognigy, Flatworld Solutions, Human Numbers, Khoros, MediaShark, MediaSmith, Modulate, NP Digital, Regal, Strategic Contact, SQM Group, SuccessKPI, Walker Sands, Webex, and Xima Software.
