April 2017

Magazine Features

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders

Our 14th annual recognition of innovation and success in customer service

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Customer Case Management

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Contact Center Infrastructure

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Interactive Voice Response

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Web Support

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Workforce Optimization

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Contact Center Search

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Enterprise Feedback Management

The 2017 CRM Service Leaders: Contact Center Outsourcing

The 2017 CRM Service Rising Stars

The 2017 CRM Service Rising Stars: Cogito, Ergo CRM

Cogito's Dialog can detect emotions and guide agents based on what customers are feeling

The 2017 CRM Service Rising Stars: Freshdesk Puts a Fresh Spin on Collaboration

The vendor has been on an acquisition spree to help agents work together and across departments

The 2017 CRM Service Rising Stars: Jive Talking—and Listening

The social communications platform provider brings creativity to collaboration

The 2017 CRM Service Rising Stars: NICE—the Contact Center Consolidator

Big acquisitions propel the company to a coveted spot in the industry

The 2017 CRM Service Rising Stars: Verint Makes Strong Moves Across Channels and into the Cloud

The vendor's acquisition strategy takes it in completely new directions

The 2017 CRM Service Rising Stars: Zappix Eases IVR Frustrations

With Visual Dual-Session Customer Support, customers now have a new IVR support channel choice

The 2017 CRM Service Elite Customer Companies

The 2017 CRM Service Elite Customer Companies: NCR Silver

For the mobile POS systems provider, Salesforce LiveMessage exceeds multichannel support expectations

The 2017 CRM Service Elite Customer Companies: OwnerListens

Avaya-owned Zang's text messaging platform helps keep OwnerListens in the conversation

The 2017 CRM Service Elite Customer Companies: Salt River Project

The water and electricity supplier diverts a customer call overflow with Interactions' virtual contact center agents

Front Office

Cost Considerations Become a Top Concern

As products largely become commoditized and differentiation is harder to come by, cost clearly is setting some vendors apart in 2017.

Reality Check

Meet the New Ideal Customer Service Rep

Empathy in an agent is great, but so is a take-charge attitude.

The Tipping Point

Do You Know Your Customers’ Generation?

Different customer cohorts don't all speak the same language, or react to the same messages

Scouting Report

Real-Time Adaptive Scheduling—WFM’s Next Evolutionary Step

With ever-increasing demands for personalized service, contact centers need workforce management that can adjust to life's uncertainties

Pint of View

The Solution Is the Problem Is the Solution

Tools can cause troubles of their own.

Customer Experience

Give Your Customers the Experiences They Want

Customer experience management needs to be at the vanguard of your strategy.

Small Biz Buzz

AI (Artificial Intelligence) Needs to Drive AI (Automated Insights)

Getting customer insights served up by CRM lets reps focus on relationships

Insight

Customer Service Software Sees Rising Interest

Companies are extending cloud-based customer service tools across departments

Digital Marketing Investment Shifts Focus

Digital marketing will approach $120 billion by 2021, but marketers are shifting strategies to adjust to a post-digital world

Mobile Payment Technologies Set to Increase

Reports from Juniper and Forrester indicate that use of mobile payment solutions will increase for both businesses and consumers

Required Reading: Strategies for Hacking Growth

Rapid development calls for rigorous approaches to collaboration.

To Grow Revenue, Increase CX Scores

Study finds a distinct link between CX Index scores and revenue potential