More than a state, Texas represents a state of mind. It's hardly a coincidence, in a place known for its magnitude, that at Call Center Demo and Conference in Dallas this past May, we came across some of the most far-reaching call center products we've ever seen.
Whether you aim to identify top-performing candidates for positions as agents, establish a more efficient approach to directing customers to agents, or ensure that customers understand what agents say to them, we're confident that these tools will contribute to a positive working environment in your center.
Aastra Intecom's Centergy Virtual Contact Center
Now more than ever, the virtual call center is not only a viable alternative to the traditional call center, but also an optimal one, so we were pleased to see Aastra Intecom demonstrate Centergy Virtual Contact Center (CVCC) in Dallas. As its name suggests, CVCC easily enables agents to work from whichever locations they choose, simply by logging on to a Web page to accept calls.
Among the key components of CVCC are an interactive voice response (IVR) system, skills-based routing, digital call recording and real-time and historical reporting. According to Aastra, CVCC accommodates call centers that range from several agents to thousands of agents. Training on CVCC for both agents and supervisors typically takes hours, not days. Nor does CVCC require you to deal with complex maintenance contracts, given that Aastra Intecom includes technical support and upgrades with this system.
CVCC earns a Best of Show award because it is a great option for companies that employ remote agents, and because it's ideal for enabling customer care organizations to remain accessible to customers -- including, as is often the case during disasters -- when customers need them the most.
Carnegie Speech's Carnegie Speech Assessment
Many customers take it for granted that the agents they speak with could be located anywhere in the world. Many also concur that agents and customers ought to be able to understand one another.
Enter Carnegie Speech Assessment from Carnegie Speech, which enables you to assess how well prospective agents speak English, and what training in pronunciation they might need if you hire them.
What we appreciate about Carnegie Speech Assessment is that it lets you evaluate agents' pronunciation without having to become an expert, for instance, in dentals, plosives and fricatives. The software also gives you a basis for gauging an agent's pronunciation of English in the context of other languages the agent speaks. What's more, because Carnegie Speech Assessment accounts for regional variations in how people converse in English, the software help you identify the kind of training in pronunciation agents may require, whether or not they are native speakers of the language.
The upshot: Carnegie Speech Assessment earns a Best of Show award for offering call centers that employ a widespread workforce an objective method to determine which prospective agents can communicate most clearly with customers.
LIMRA International's Performance Skills Index
Two capabilities of LIMRA International's latest update to its Performance Skills Index captured our attention when we saw a demonstration of this pre-hire assessment test in Dallas.
First, LIMRA has expanded its analysis of job candidates so that in addition to identifying skill gaps, the assessments allow you to distinguish learning styles among candidates. The assessments include suggestions for how you can train candidates, based on their learning styles.
Second, LIMRA's Performance Skills Index now offers an option for call centers that require licensing. Besides enabling you to predict whether candidates are likely to pass insurance and NASD exams, the assessments also help you decide whether to provide training that agents would need to prepare for these exams.
Because it factors in requirements for specific industries agents serve, as well as approaches to training that give agents the greatest chance of performing at their peak, our assessment is that LIMRA International's Performance Skills Index is worthy of a Best of Show award.
Syntellect's Apropos Multichannel Interaction Management Suite
We're impressed that Apropos Multichannel Interaction Management Suite from Syntellect streamlines the process of multimedia routing by letting you define the value of a given interaction with a customer. Your definitions of value, in turn, are the basis for the routing rules that you set up to route calls, plus online communication -- including email, Web chat and Web callback -- to agents. What's more, the suite lets you display screen pops on agents' computers, using the information callers enter, for example, through Syntellect's IVR system.
As you would expect from software that routes customers' email messages to agents, the suite allows you to present agents with suggested answers. In addition, the software enables agents to assist customers with completing online forms. Among the options the suite offers are speech recognition, call monitoring and automated email response systems.
In recognition of the flexibility this suite affords call centers in how they manage agents' communication with customers, Syntellect's Apropos Multichannel Interaction Management Suite garners a Best of Show award.
