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10/18/05 - Don't Pick on the Benchmark Firms
One reader wrote, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have long felt this way [about benchmarking] and as a consultant I feel a great deal of conflict when a customer insists benchmarking is what they want to have done to measure their performance!"
While some of the responsibility may fall at the feet of firms that help call centers make operational comparisons, it seems much of the blame should rest with call center managers and the people they report to. The demand for these benchmark comparisons are borne out of demand. Regardless, how misguided the demand might be, benchmarking firms are merely satisfying a perceived need.
We get what we ask for. Just because our kids ask for happy meals when they are hungry doesn't mean that we should take them to McDonalds for nourishment. We need to make sure that we are not just scratching an itch but rather treating the rash. In summary, be careful with those numbers!
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TODAY'S NEWS (more)
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Telephony@Work announced the interoperability of CallCenterAnywhere and the BroadWorks VoIP application platform, for the delivery of integrated multi-media, IP contact center and IP voice communications to service providers for hosting solutions.
M-Tech announced pre-registration for the Beta Program for M-Tech IdM Suite 4.1. With it, all of M-Tech's identity and access administration products will now be synchronized, having a single version number, release cycle, administration interface and user interface.
ServicePower announced that it has made its first sale in Finland to Elisa Corporation. This follows a recent partnership agreement with Rossum Oy who will provide local support to ServicePower in the Finnish market.
RightNow announced Nikon's deployment of RightNow Service has resulted in quantifiable improvements in both the quality and operational efficiency of its digital camera unit's technical support organization.
UniPress announced that it will showcase its FootPrints product line at booth #251 at the EDUCAUSE 2005 Annual Conference taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
IEX announced Prolog Connect has selected its TotalView Workforce Management system to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its Nottingham contact center. Prolog Connect offers inbound and outbound telephone marketing, customer support and mail order services.
HDI announced that two support organizations have attained HDI Support Center Certification (HDI SCC). The support centers of Ohio State University Medical Center and OEConnection have both successfully undergone audits and have achieved this designation from HDI.
SPSS announced that the U.S. Army's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Program for Cyber Threats (CIAP-CT) has selected SPSS software to identify and correlate cyber-related attack patterns that threaten critical infrastructures.
Firepond and salesforce.com announced the certification of Firepond OnDemand for Salesforce.com's Appforce. Firepond OnDemand adds the ability to configure products and services of any complexity, accurately price those products, apply discounts, charges, and fees to prepare a quotation, and then create a quality proposal in PDF, RTF or HTML format.
First National Investment Services Company (FNIS) has selected Scherrer's Web Ally CRM offering for its front office, enterprise customer relationship management (eCRM) platform for its users who are financial consultants, and their assistants.
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"CRM's Secret Sauce - Everything You Need to Know About CRM"
Gary Lemke, Founder and Publisher, CRMAdvocate
Ah CRM . . . So much investment, so little return. Even today, a great divide exists between the promise and the benefit of CRM. Why? The answer is a paradox of simplicity and complexity - that is, the straightforward desire for customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention against an unyielding realization that not all customers act the same. Nor are all customers valued equally. This webcast is the first in a series on a single strategic focus and metric that can catapult your organization to the next level of revenue growth and profitability. Listen now to learn more.
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 40.39 |  | -0.76% |
| Dow Jones | 10,285.26 | | -0.61% |
| Nasdaq | 2,056.00 | | -0.70% |
| S&P 500 | 1,178.14 | | -1.02% |
| Top Gainers |
| HP | 27.73 |  | 0.35 |
| Interact Intell | 6.07 | | 0.30 |
| Sento | 3.09 | | 0.18 |
| Top Losers |
| RightNow | 13.08 | | -0.79 |
| Verint | 36.63 | | -0.70 |
| SPSS | 22.49 | | -0.51 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 10/18/05 | |
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February 27 - March 01, 2006: Linking Customer Feedback to Business Results - Looking for new ways to get more actionability out of your customer data? Interested in innovative ideas for responding to your customers to drive business improvement and profitability? Welcome to IIR's 10th annual Linking Customer Feedback to Business Results.
|  | Nov 7-9, 2005: The Customer Contact Conference - Join the Customer Care & Services Forum (CCSF) and DCI at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort in Scottsdale, AZ, November 7-9, 2005, for the premiere of the Customer Contact Conference: Turning Strategy into Action.
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