Page 5 - Telecom Reseller JulAug 2016

July/August 2016
Telecom Reseller 5

FOX
continued from page 1

ese are but a few of the many insightful (BI), improve productivity, enable scalability, cloud call center respondents cited no concerns insights.
ndings from the annual 2016 North American reduce costs and deliver customer insight.
with their solution, versus just 46 percent of With strong momentum toward deploying
Call Center Survey conducted annually by Cloud-based solutions hold the ability
on-premises users. Among the top issues that cloud-based communications, where analytics
Evolve IP. According to the survey, the biggest to resolve many of the top challenges, and were reported:
and business intelligence are easier to
call center concern is insu cient reporting
nearly eight out of 10 organizations plan to A lack of integration capabilities was cited implement, contact center leaders will have
and analytics with just over 6 in 10 rating it evaluate moving to a new cloud-based call as a challenge by 31 percent of on-premises great opportunities to not only advance their
from “challenging” to “extremely challenging”. center from a legacy on-premises system. 28 users compared to just 8.5 percent of cloud call practices, but also directly in uence the long-
e second biggest struggle is improving
percent of respondents are evaluating a move
centers.
term strategic success of their businesses.
agent productivity; over half rated it from in the next year and an additional 50.5 percent Uptime concerns were double for on-
“challenging” to “extremely challenging”. Cost will do so a er 12 months. Among the many premises systems at 15 percent compared to 7.5 ADDITIONAL SURVEY
reduction ran close behind, with 16.5 percent reasons to upgrade to the cloud, the list was percent of cloud call centers.
HIGHLIGHTS
noting that nding ways to reduce costs was topped with improved business continuity/ Security issues were similarly cited with 15 Business Intelligence Investments: e top two
“very to extremely challenging” and with three disaster recovery (60 percent), lower TCO (49.5 percent of on-premises users noting the issue investment priorities are Customer Relationship
in 10 noting it as “challenging.”
percent), scalability (43 percent), automatic new versus just 8.5% of cloud respondents.
Management solutions and Customer
Results demonstrate the industry’s desire for feature upgrades (37.5 percent) and integration Contact centers are rich with data, yet it’s Satisfaction Surveys – both tools that can
meaningful analytics and for deeper integration capabilities (35.5 percent).
o en where many stop adding business value. deliver meaningful business intelligence when
between solutions. e overwhelming majority When asked to rate actual use-case e survey shows a strong desire for contact integrated with other systems. Paradoxically,
of respondents are eyeing investments in cloud challenges. Cloud call centers outperformed center leaders to integrate with other systems
technologies to increase business intelligence
in nearly all categories. In fact 65.5 percent of
and to start delivering meaningful business
FOX continues on page 8 ››

MICHELLI
When you have to be right
continued from page 3

even a consumer. We want to feel like we matter.
We’ll always choose companies that give us that
feeling.
I worked with Mercedes-Benz USA to radically
transform its customer experience, a process I
document in my new book Driven To Delight. In
the past I’ve also written books on service giants
like Zappos and Starbucks. What I learned from
my research and my work with these organizations
is this: it’s absolutely crucial to know your
customers and show them how much you care.
While it may seem counterintuitive to ask a
2016 dot.com to bring back mom & pop, Main
Street values, I’ve found it’s really not a con ict.
You can provide customized, on-the-spot
technology driven service excellence and still
make people feel they just had an authentic, deeply
personal experience.
How you create this experience will vary
depending on who you are, what you’re selling,
and what your current roadblocks may be. But it
always ows from the conviction that even though
times have changed and technology has leapt into
the foreground, basic human needs have stayed
the same.
We may want the cutting-edge app but we also
want the friendly smile and the genuine concern
for our wellbeing.
What I’ve discovered, in other words, is that
customers want the organizations that service Tax & Accounting
them to be part Silicon Valley, part Main
Street. ere’s this tension between our age of
incredible technology and the retro, connected, CCH® SureTax®
heartwarming, Norman Rockwell-y type of
customer service people really want and I think
too many companies have gone too far in the
space age direction.
Communications
ere’s NEVER going to be a time when people
say I don’t really care if you hurt me. I don’t really
care if you appreciate me. I don’t really care if I
belong. You know, as far as I’m concerned, I just T
want to buy your stu . And I think because of that,
we have to anchor our self to the timeless truth
of humanity, even as we customize the delivery
Are your telecom sales creating a growing tax liability?
in line with the cultural trends and outstanding
technology breakthroughs.
When you resell telecom, you are responsible for the
e successful organizations are the ones who tax liability from the products that you sell. Avoid
really get that. ey gure out how to integrate
unfunded tax liabilities, interest and penalties by
the best technologies but still truly connect to the
customer face-to-face or on the phone. ey instill addressing your tax compliance needs from the start.
it in their training.
CCH SureTax Communications provides robust, real-
Team members learn to make sure customers time, accurate tax calculations for telecom resellers
know that they matter—that they are always heard with the reporting you need to stay in compliance.
and appreciated.
Next month I will dig more deeply into
the subject of old school service and why our SalesTax.com/CCHSureTaxCommunications
customers crave it. In the meantime, I urge you 5/16 2016-0135-1
to think about some ways you and your team can
start bringing back that Main Street vibe. Good
luck, and happy serving. ■