24th January 2008 | Contact the Editor | Register here to receive your own FREE copy of contact news

LATEST NEWS				Press Releases Touchbase Completes Cisco Managed Service Audit Sybase 365 Extends End-To-End Mobile Banking and Payment Solution for Banks Global Speech Networks announces partnership with Gen-i Smart Call - Podcast Smart Call #2 -- Headset acoustic modelling and more callcentres.net's Dr. Catriona Wallace and ITRadio's own Patrick Gray discuss the last week’s call centre news Ben van Parreren, chief operations officer at Service Central, tells us why he brought his call centre in house Jabra's Jason Jurin talks acoustic modelling Click here to listen The Contact Centre Industry's innovative new podcast programme by callcentres.net and itradio.com.au. RESEARCH REPORTS Australia & New Zealand Contact Centre Industry Benchmarking Reports 2007 The 2007 report will provide detailed information to enable you to better manage your contact centre. The report includes key information about the following: Contact Centre Operations: customer contact channels, call volume, regions serviced, opening hours and outsourcing practices. Technology: current usage and purchasing intentions. Human Resources: staff profile, turnover, tenure, absenteeism, retention, recruitment, training and remuneration. Key Performance Indicators: goals and actual performance levels. Budgets and seat costs. Revenue Generation and Sales Conversion Rates. Quality Assurance and Customer Satisfaction. Significant Challenges facing contact centre operations over the coming year. Analysis and drivers of contact centre performance. Sponsored by COPC, Autonomy etalk, Cisco Systems and Zintel Order the reports here  BOOKSTORE Click on titles for more information  Don't Get Hung Up! How To sell Products And Services By Phone - A$24.95 (plus P&H) Road to People Excellence - A$18.00 (incl P&H) The Road to IVR Excellence - A$22.00 (incl P&H) The Right Staff - A$29.00 (incl P&H) The Sales Bound Team Leader - A$24.95 (incl P&H) Road to Call Centre Excellence - A$22.00 (incl P&H)
Telstra partners iTa for speech IVR solutions
Telstra has signed an agreement to co-develop and deliver speech IVR and CTI solutions with voice system integration company Information Technologies Australia Pty Limited (iTa). Through the agreement, Telstra customers with have access to iTa's Australian designed-for-speech application development framework. They will also be able to access as speech and self-service solutions that cover multi-vendor customer premise equipment voice platforms and a range of services from system integration to soft phones on agents desk, including self service applications and CTI. "This arrangement with iTa further enhances Telstra's ability to develop, customise and deploy our portfolio of hosted, co-hosted and Customer Premise Equipment self-service and automated speech solutions to our Telstra Enterprise and Government and Telstra Business customers," Telstra's Agnes Sheehan said. "iTa has already been involved in the delivery of complex speech enabled self-service solutions to a number of Telstra contact centre customers," she added.
NAB outsources helpdesk to IBM
IBM has won a new outsourcing contract to handle National Australia Bank's helpdesk support and IT services. The three-year outsourcing agreement will see IBM to take over management of NAB's desktop and service desk IT infrastructure, help desk and desktop support for 28,000 users at the majority of NAB sites within Australia. The NAB deal is one of several contracts signed in the fourth quarter of 2007. "These significant deals reflect both the strength of the local economy, and the need for Australian organisations to find creative ways to address skills shortages, given the lowest unemployment rate in more than 30 years," IBM Australia and New Zealand MD Glen Boreham said. "Globalisation is providing opportunities for Australian organisations to tap into additional resources to grow and transform their organisations."
Business Building Workshops
callcentres.net and Grist Consulting bring you: Business Building for Contact Centres Turn Cost Centres into Revenue Centres Generate revenue for your clients from traditional service and support inbound calls as well as outbound calls Melbourne 12th February 2008 Sydney 20th February 2008 Cost: $1,195.00 plus GST per person. callcentres.net's 2007 Australian Contact Centre Industry Benchmarking Report shows that: The average Australian contact centre handles 25,376 transactions per week. One third of these transactions involve revenue generation. In contact centres that have inbound sales opportunities, an average of 54% of the inbound calls present an opportunity to up sell or cross sell to the customer, with a conversion rate of approximately 33%. In contact centres that have sales opportunities from their outbound calls, an average of 57% of the outbound calls present an opportunity to up sell or cross sell to the customer, with a conversion rate of approximately 23%. Factors currently limiting revenue generation ability include: lack of sales skills in agents lack of a sales culture in the contact centre, and contact centre technology not being supportive of sales Due to this increasing trend and the industry's strong demand for information, callcentres.net and Grist Consulting Group are running the new Business Building Workshops, which will demonstrate how to transform your centre from a traditional service centre to a service and revenue generating operation. You will be provided with information and tools for you to transform your contact centre – immediately! “We see companies increasingly viewing their contact centres as revenue generators rather than pure cost centres. Nearly 60% of the industry said their contact centres were used to generate some revenue from calls. However, contact centre managers also stated that a lack of leadership and training in sales was limiting the realisation of revenue opportunities.” Dr Catriona Wallace, Director, callcentres.net. Full day workshops - Seats are limited to 50 per event - first in first registered. Click here to find out more
South African CRM company sets up Down Under
South African CRM developer i5 has opened an office in New Zealand and plans to establish a presence in Australia in 2008. The company, which specialises in providing business intelligence and customer relationship solutions based on the Microsoft platform, will also resell its in-house developed application Rezonance in these territories. "In exploratory visits to these countries, it emerged that they are home to mature markets with specific requirements for enterprise-ready solutions based on Microsoft technology, which are not being met satisfactorily," i5 CEO Glen Ansell said. With the opening of its New Zealand branch, Ansell says, a specific focus on Microsoft's PerformancePoint performance management solution and the SharePoint Portal technologies will drive initial business growth, as well as solutions based on Microsoft CRM 3.0. Notably, Ansell says demand from government agencies in both Australia and New Zealand is substantial. "We believe there is probably 10 times the potential market we have in South Africa. i5 will pursue these opportunities aggressively."
Unisys lands Vodafone outsourcing deal
Unisys has signed a major contract to provide ICT services to Vodafone's Australia and New Zealand operations. The five-year deal covers contact centre support from its Kapiti command centre for all Vodafone employees in Australia and New Zealand, with additional desk-side and server support staff located physically on-site at Vodafone in Hobart, Sydney and Auckland. Additional back-office services such as PABX, LAN, printer and video conferencing support to Vodafone New Zealand are also included. Unisys will also undertake desktop management, service desk and Wintel server support for Vodafone. Neither company has disclosed the value of the contract.
Chinese Contact Center Consumer Study Released
On January 11 at the Avaya SIP Contact Center Event in Beijing, China, the results of the Avaya China Contact Center Consumer Index, conducted by research company callcentres.net, were released to an audience of over 300 contact center managers. The results were presented in an innovative format with callcentres.net's Managing Director, Dr Catriona Wallace, Avaya's James Haensly, President - Strategy & Unified Communications, and Mr James Zhao, the Chairman of the Chinese Contact Centre & CRM Association on stage together discussing the findings. Key results for the Chinese industry include: 36% of the 316 Chinese consumers interviewed stated that they would prefer to use internet and email channels then call a contact center; 56% stated they "liked interacting with contact centers" and 22% stated that they thought that interacting with contact centers is always problematic. Overall, these attitudes to contact centers are more positive than any other country in the region, excluding Indian consumers who also rated positive attitudes to their country's contact centers. The greatest gaps in Chinese expectations and service received from a call center are wait time on hold, the company having my best interests at heart, being provided with the correct information, easy and accurate identification of my details and having my query resolved on the first call. For a copy of the report please contact Emma at emmamccormack@avaya.com

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