March 2018

Magazine Features

Running a Contact Center from the Inside Out

A Q&A with Vince Barsolo, senior vice president of operations at Televerde, which operates contact centers in several women's prisons, giving inmates marketable skills that connect them to a future beyond bars.

Disappearing Content Is Marketing Magic

Platforms like Instagram Stories and Snapchat allow marketers to reach new audiences

Front Office

Contact Center Staffing Can Be Found in Surprising Places

Some innovative companies are going outside the normal job markets to find talent to staff their contact centers

Reality Check

3 Things to Keep in Mind as AI Comes to Sales

Technical innovations are one thing, but companies need to consider AI's effect on their people

The Tipping Point

‘Chatbot Hell’ Can’t Become a Thing

Let's not re-create the bad customer experience known as ‘IVR hell' with chatbots. Please.

Connect

A Customer-Engaged Culture Must Be Believable and Respectful

When customers view companies as trustworthy, true engagement happens

Customer Experience

How Artificial Intelligence Can Help Transform Customer Engagement and Sales

By analyzing sentiment and contextualizing data, AI can help marketing, sales, and customer support

Voice of the Customer

CX Leaders Need to Become Customer Storytellers

Storytelling is a reliable, effective tool for representing the customer viewpoint

Insight

Customers Prefer Agents to Automation

The most satisfied callers get help from friendly, articulate, knowledgeable human beings

Google Starts Blocking Intrusive Ads

Mobile and web ads that violate the Coalition for Better Ads standards are subject to removal from Chrome

Hyper Relevance: Personalization’s Next Stage

Companies need to seek much greater relevance with customers, Accenture asserts

Marketing Budget Growth Stalls

After three years of increases, marketing leaders are now under pressure to show results

Required Reading: Get to Aha! About Your Company’s Identity

Knowing who you are as a company is the foundation of success

Retailers Must Become More Customer-Centric

Boston Retail Partners challenges companies to meet the expectations of the omnichannel world

REAL ROI

SpotHero Settles in with UJET

UJET has helped the parking platform provider cut telephony costs in half

With Sprout Social’s Bambu, West Monroe Watches Web Traffic Grow

Using the Bambu platform, the business and technology consultancy turned to its employees to increase website traffic via social media