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LATEST NEWS |
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 Schoolies inundate contact centre
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Schoolies volunteer service the Red Frog Hotel Chaplaincy logged double the number of calls from the first night of the annual Schoolies Week.
The Red Frog contact centre fielded an average one call per minute from high school graduates seeking assistance with their accommodation. Red Frogs director Andy Gourley said this year's schoolies were 'tamer' and volunteers were reporting less alcohol in schoolies' hotel rooms. "That said, it is only early days yet," he said.
Schoolies Week is a celebration held for Year 12 students at the completion of their school. The Red Frog crew is made up of over 600 volunteers who aim to support Schoolies through their week long celebrations and provide a positive presence amongst their partying culture. They also assist Schoolies by walking young people home, cooking pancakes, room cleans, handing out Allen's Red Frogs and offering emotional support through what can often be a challenging week. |
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 Fisher and Paykel opens Dunedin centre
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Whitegoods manufacturer Fisher and Paykel has begun to implement a new contact centre in an effort to balance the closure of some factory operations and retain some staff.
The centre, which mainly takes service and general enquiry calls, opened at Dunedin in October and is based in the old F&P factory social club. It employs eight people manning the phones with a further seven planned to start before the end of the year.
Following the Dunedin plant closure, the company is looking to expand its contact centre operations in the city to 40 agents as three or four managers. However, F&P is expecting the contact centre to grow through employee attrition from its Brisbane and Auckland contact centres. Currently, F&P has some 75 lines in Auckland and another 50 to 55 in Brisbane. The company receives around 1.4 million calls a year through its call centres. |
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Wellness @ Work Competition |
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Competion Closes 30th November 2008
Enter the draw to win 1 x Wellness First 15 disc DVD Set, Valued at $4,997, click here to find out more
 Wellness @ Work offers a series of workshops to guide your staff through better health and wellbeing at both a physical, mental and emotional level.
Workshops cover a range of topics such as:
- Hydration
- Nutrition and healthy eating habits
- The importance of quality sleep and how to get it
- Exercise: how to integrate it into your daily life
- Dealing with stress: tips to release stress and increase your energy levels
- Creating a healthy mind: how to create a positive attitude in life.
Enter the draw to win 1 x Wellness First 15 disc DVD Set, Valued at $4,997, click here to find out more |
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New campaign targets telco customer service |
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The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has launched a campaign to address the high number of complaints about poor customer service and complaint handling practices in the industry.
Complaints to the TIO rose by almost 50,000 to 149,742 during the 2007/08 financial year, the largest increase in the past 10 years. Customer service is now the top complaint issue, overtaking billing issues.
The connect.resolve campaign will involve the TIO working with service providers and the industry to address the complaints. "We're going to be able to target the bad performing telcos and ISPs straight away and we're going to put pressure on them," Federal Communications Minister Stephen said at the campaign's launch. The campaign will run until June 2009 and encourage the industry to improve its customer service and complaint handling procedures. |
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Contact centre drives internet sign language service |
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A new multimedia communication service will use a contact centre to potentially bridge the communication gap between deaf and hearing people.
The Australian Communication Exchange (ACE) service uses internet-based video technology to relay conversations between hearing and deaf people through a sign language interpreter based at a Brisbane contact centre.
Text-based forms of conversations can be slow, emotionless and rely on people having a good grasp of English, says ACE's Tony Bennetts. "They don't allow sighing deaf people to use their first and most natural language, Auslan, to communicate," he said. | |
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| Research Events |
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Avaya Contact Centre Consumer Index Launch 2008
Australia Events:
Private sector - 7:30am to 9:15am
Bris, 27 November
Auck, NZ, 2 December
Syd, 4 December
Register here
Government - 12noon to 1:30pm
Bris, 27 November
Syd, 4 December
Register here |
| Podcast |
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Smart Call #41 -
Breaking out of IVR jail
This week, sponsored by:
This week's feature interview is with Avaya's James Haensley, who explains why unified communications is over-rated in the contact centre and outlines new ways to deliver customer service that don't sentence customers to "IVR Jail."
We also have a sponsor feature, with Verint explaining the "ripple effect" that sees back-office operations cause all sorts of issues for the contact centre.
On this week's show:
- Contact centre agents complain about software that they say makes it hard to do their jobs
- The hot new African call centre market
- James Haensley on breaking out of IVR jail
- Our sponsor, Verint, talks about the ripple effect
Listen to the programme here
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