CRM agency Merkle buys Sydney-founded mobile shop 5th Finger

Global outsourcer Aegis, which has a significant presence in Australia, has again received a Silver MVP Quality Award from US-based Technology Marketing Corporation's (TCM) CUSTOMER magazine.

CUSTOMER's MVP Quality Awards acknowledge organisations with "a true commitment to high ethical quality standards, methodology and business compliance". Aegis Global CEO Sandip Sen said the company has earned the MVP Quality Award for the fifth consecutive year.

"This progression clearly outlines our dedication and commitment to providing the best customer experience while continuously maintaining an innovative approach to quality, and offering cost-effective, high-quality solutions to many of the world's leading brands," he said. TMC CEO Rich Tehrani said Aegis has demonstrated a true commitment to high ethical standards, stringent policies and challenging goals.

Milpitas, CA (USA), and Melbourne, Australia - 14 June, 2013 – BolderView today announced that it has opened its doors in Australia and has become a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Virtual Assistants powered by noHold.

noHold is the developer of the most interactive and diagnostic Virtual Assistant technology and Knowledge Management solutions. With successful Virtual Assistant implementations across multiple industries and on a global scale, noHold has realized the importance of providing a physical office in Australia and New Zealand. Specifically in Australia, one of the largest investor services companies as well as a popular online retailer have used noHold Virtual Assistants to increase First Contact Resolution (FCR) while reducing support costs and increasing customer satisfaction. Virtual Assistants are the future of web and mobile customer interaction.

Global technology market research companies are calling Virtual Assistants (VA) the wave of the future and they are predicting that more than 50% of online transactions will be handled by VAs in the near future. To date, Australian companies have not kept pace with those predictions. None of the leading providers of Virtual Assistant technology have offices in Australia/New Zealand. With no local marketing and sales presence, many ANZ companies are simply not aware of the benefits that Virtual Assistants provide.

BolderView’s founder recognised the opportunity and launched Australia’s first and only company focused exclusively on deploying Virtual Assistant solutions. Opening BolderView’s office in Melbourne means Australian & New Zealand companies have a local source for the world’s leading technologies and reselling noHold Virtual Assistants is a key component of that strategy.

“An existing successful relationship with BolderView’s founder, multiple happy customers and a market propensity to use Virtual Assistants made it very easy for us to decide to expand in Australia. We are happy to work with BolderView and looking forward to our continued partnership,” said Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold.

Dave Brown, Founder and Managing Director of BolderView said, “Companies in North America and Europe have been adopting Virtual Agent technology at an amazing pace. Australian companies are behind the curve – primarily because there’s been no local presence by any of the leading providers. BolderView is changing that. We represent the world’s most advanced Virtual Agent technology and we are very proud for noHold be part of our solutions.”

Bank of Queensland’s contact centre has been recognised as one of the best in the Asia Pacific region, earning a Silver Medal for Best Contact Centre at the Contact Center World annual awards dinner held in Singapore on 7 June 2013.

The mid-sized category, for call centres with 51 - 249 agents, was one of the most hotly contested as the majority of institutions fit into this category, with operations from over 50 nations considered as part of the overall awards assessment process. BOQ's national call centre manager Rod Attrill said his team prided itself on providing excellence in personal service.

"Our ultimate goal is to make sure that every customer conversation is a positive one - as a smaller independent bank, our focus is on meeting our customers' needs not treating them as a just another number or following a process for the sake of it," Attrill said. "We are supported by a broader company culture which encourages employees to put the customer first and gives them the flexibility to solve any problems they might have." BOQ has around 100 call centre employees with the majority based in Perth, Western Australia.

Computershare regional director Australasia Scott Cameron says 50 of the 1,900 share registry services group’s staff in Melbourne will lose their jobs.

The company is moving some contact centre functions offshore to the Philippines and India. The outsourcing is in line with a trend also seen at ANZ Banking, and at the operations acquired by Computershare from Bank of New York Mellon.

Computershare last month completed an 18-month effort to move the Bank of New York Mellon’s shareowner services division to its IT infrastructure after acquiring the business in December 2011. The company transferred some 25 million Bank of New York Mellon records to its core share registry system, SCRIP.

Fifth Quadrant is delighted to be selected as a Finalist in the Telstra New South Wales Business Awards in the Medium Business Award category.

"Being selected as a NSW finalist is a great honour and has been the culmination of our team's unwavering commitment to working with Australian, Asian and North American based enterprise and government organisations to design and deliver amazing customer experience," said Dr Catriona Wallace, CEO, Fifth Quadrant. "We're honoured to be shortlisted amongst other fabulous businesses in our category."

Fifth Quadrant has experienced 30% revenue growth over the last five years and has developed at least 20 new products to assist leading organisations design and operationalise customer experience strategy, products and services.

"Our mantra has been that we are 'Better than the Big Houses' and our accelerated growth has come from working with Boards, CEOs and Executive teams to develop customer experience strategy that drives the four traditional strategies of Finance, HR, Technology and Sales & Marketing" said Wallace.

Will Irving, Telstra Business Group Managing Director and Ambassador for the Telstra Australian Business Awards, said the range and experience of New South Wales businesses vying for this year's awards was a positive sign for the growth of the local economy. "The calibre of New South Wales finalists in this year's awards is outstanding and goes to show why small and medium businesses are the backbone of Australia. "It is so important that we recognise the businesses that support our local communities and celebrate the significant contribution they make by creating jobs, driving innovation and bringing their expertise and innovations to customers - locally and all over the world," said Mr Irving.

Following the award submission in April, the stringent judging process included a site visit, management interview and presentation to members of the judging panel. Winners of the 2013 Telstra New South Wales Business Awards will be announced in Sydney at Hilton Sydney on Tuesday 9 July.

Global outsourcer Aegis, which has a significant presence in Australia, has again received a Silver MVP Quality Award from US-based Technology Marketing Corporation's (TCM) CUSTOMER magazine.

CUSTOMER's MVP Quality Awards acknowledge organisations with "a true commitment to high ethical quality standards, methodology and business compliance". Aegis Global CEO Sandip Sen said the company has earned the MVP Quality Award for the fifth consecutive year.

"This progression clearly outlines our dedication and commitment to providing the best customer experience while continuously maintaining an innovative approach to quality, and offering cost-effective, high-quality solutions to many of the world's leading brands," he said. TMC CEO Rich Tehrani said Aegis has demonstrated a true commitment to high ethical standards, stringent policies and challenging goals.

Bank of Queensland’s contact centre has been recognised as one of the best in the Asia Pacific region, earning a Silver Medal for Best Contact Centre at the Contact Center World annual awards dinner held in Singapore on 7 June 2013.

The mid-sized category, for call centres with 51 - 249 agents, was one of the most hotly contested as the majority of institutions fit into this category, with operations from over 50 nations considered as part of the overall awards assessment process. BOQ's national call centre manager Rod Attrill said his team prided itself on providing excellence in personal service.

"Our ultimate goal is to make sure that every customer conversation is a positive one - as a smaller independent bank, our focus is on meeting our customers' needs not treating them as a just another number or following a process for the sake of it," Attrill said. "We are supported by a broader company culture which encourages employees to put the customer first and gives them the flexibility to solve any problems they might have." BOQ has around 100 call centre employees with the majority based in Perth, Western Australia.

Computershare regional director Australasia Scott Cameron says 50 of the 1,900 share registry services group’s staff in Melbourne will lose their jobs.

The company is moving some contact centre functions offshore to the Philippines and India. The outsourcing is in line with a trend also seen at ANZ Banking, and at the operations acquired by Computershare from Bank of New York Mellon.

Computershare last month completed an 18-month effort to move the Bank of New York Mellon’s shareowner services division to its IT infrastructure after acquiring the business in December 2011. The company transferred some 25 million Bank of New York Mellon records to its core share registry system, SCRIP.

Fifth Quadrant is delighted to be selected as a Finalist in the Telstra New South Wales Business Awards in the Medium Business Award category.

"Being selected as a NSW finalist is a great honour and has been the culmination of our team's unwavering commitment to working with Australian, Asian and North American based enterprise and government organisations to design and deliver amazing customer experience," said Dr Catriona Wallace, CEO, Fifth Quadrant. "We're honoured to be shortlisted amongst other fabulous businesses in our category."

Fifth Quadrant has experienced 30% revenue growth over the last five years and has developed at least 20 new products to assist leading organisations design and operationalise customer experience strategy, products and services.

"Our mantra has been that we are 'Better than the Big Houses' and our accelerated growth has come from working with Boards, CEOs and Executive teams to develop customer experience strategy that drives the four traditional strategies of Finance, HR, Technology and Sales & Marketing" said Wallace.

Will Irving, Telstra Business Group Managing Director and Ambassador for the Telstra Australian Business Awards, said the range and experience of New South Wales businesses vying for this year's awards was a positive sign for the growth of the local economy. "The calibre of New South Wales finalists in this year's awards is outstanding and goes to show why small and medium businesses are the backbone of Australia. "It is so important that we recognise the businesses that support our local communities and celebrate the significant contribution they make by creating jobs, driving innovation and bringing their expertise and innovations to customers - locally and all over the world," said Mr Irving.

Following the award submission in April, the stringent judging process included a site visit, management interview and presentation to members of the judging panel. Winners of the 2013 Telstra New South Wales Business Awards will be announced in Sydney at Hilton Sydney on Tuesday 9 July.

Tourism Noosa has launched a new training program to raise the level of customer service throughout the coastal city.

General manager Damien Massingham said service it is a key challenge facing the tourism industry. He said the Welcome to Noosa program aims to educate local tourism operators and restaurants about the importance of giving high levels of customer service.

"Tourism Australia and Tourism Queensland have identified that throughout Australia actually one of the key challenges is customer service," he said. "Tourism Noosa spoke to our members and they again identified that it remains a problem. So the Tourism Noosa team have put together Welcome to Noosa which really will be a whole new benchmark in raising the levels of customer service."

US computer giant Dell has opened a new operations site in Chengdu during a forum staged to highlight the Chinese city's potential as an IT hub.

The new Dell facility will combine customer service, sales and manufacturing. "Dell's Chengdu operations site is a milestone in Dell's 'Go West' strategy and underscores our deep commitment to the China market," Dell Global Emerging Markets chairman Admit Midha said. The establishment of Dell's Chengdu facility is also expected to help attract worldwide suppliers to the city and to spur related manufacturing industries in the area.

German software company SAP's Alex Atzberger said China is a very important market for his company. "Chengdu can be a hub of mobile and cloud (technologies) in China. Therefore it is important for SAP to have a development plan in this market," he said. SAP has sent engineers to Chengdu to develop cloud services and other technologies, and it is also working with many partners based in Chengdu and other parts of western China.

Iconic motorcycle company Harley Davidson has introduced a 24x7 Roadside Assistance Program for its Indian customers.

"As a brand built around the customer, Harley Davidson is committed to providing our riders with a superior ownership experiences," said Harley Davidson India MD Anoop Prakash. Harley Davidson has launched the roadside assistance initiative in a joint collaboration with India Assistance, a completely owned subsidiary of Mapfre Assistance.
"With the team at India Assistance, we are now offering a menu of important services, 24×7 support, and trucks that can safely and efficiently tow our entire model line-up," Prakash said.

The roadside assistance program provides a sense of safety and comfort to our customers who can now cruise Indian roads with greater peace of mind. Our investment is in line with our long term commitment to lead the development of leisure motorcycling in India."

The Philippines Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has designated customer service officers in every region of the country to handle queries surrounding new Kasambahay affecting domestic workers.

DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Kasambahay desk officers will be assigned to regional offices of the labor department. "Questions on the implementation of the Batas Kasambahay are unavoidable, especially during the first few weeks of its implementation. That is why having a DOLE personnel specifically assigned to handle queries and concerns in relation to the rules and regulations of the Batas Kasambahay is a good means to ensure that understanding can be fostered," Baldoz said.

The Kasambahay Law, or the Domestic Workers Act, entitles household workers to minimum wage coverage and benefits such as the Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and leave. Aside from the designation of Kasambahay desk officers, DOLE has also set up a contact center and hotline.

US union the Communications Workers of America (CWA) is renewing its public push for a new law that would punish companies that offshore contact center jobs to destinations like Asia.

The bill is sponsored by Democrat Linda Rosenthal in the Assembly and Republican George Maziarz in the Senate. In a statement, the CWA said was focusing on contact center jobs in New York state as the start of its push with the Save New York Call Center Jobs Act (S. 4434/A.7144)."There are 748,500 unemployed New Yorkers," CWA's Bob Master said. "And 300,000 more jobs are at risk. New York should implement this common-sense legislation and protect high-quality call center jobs from going overseas."

The Save New York Call Center Jobs would require companies to disclose their plans to relocate contact center jobs from New York to foreign countries and hold a public hearing. Companies that failed to notify the state in the required time period would be subject to a maximum civil penalty of $10,000 per day of being in such violation. It would also prohibit such companies from receiving state benefits and contracts.

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty says the entry of new banks will help improve customer service in the country's banking industry.

"Why we are suffering is that we have not allowed new banks to come in. If new banks come in, then many of our problems on the customer service front will be solved," Chakrabarty said. Only 35% of the adult Indians have accounts with banks and financial institutions.

"So, one demand should come from everybody that more banks should come in. If you allow more banks, then consumer service will be better," Chakrabarty said. The RBI in February released the much-awaited final guidelines on new banking licenses in line with the government's Union Budget 2010-11 proposal to allow more players in the sector, with an aim to promote financial inclusion in the country.

Milpitas, CA (USA), and Melbourne, Australia - 14 June, 2013 – BolderView today announced that it has opened its doors in Australia and has become a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Virtual Assistants powered by noHold.

noHold is the developer of the most interactive and diagnostic Virtual Assistant technology and Knowledge Management solutions. With successful Virtual Assistant implementations across multiple industries and on a global scale, noHold has realized the importance of providing a physical office in Australia and New Zealand. Specifically in Australia, one of the largest investor services companies as well as a popular online retailer have used noHold Virtual Assistants to increase First Contact Resolution (FCR) while reducing support costs and increasing customer satisfaction. Virtual Assistants are the future of web and mobile customer interaction.

Global technology market research companies are calling Virtual Assistants (VA) the wave of the future and they are predicting that more than 50% of online transactions will be handled by VAs in the near future. To date, Australian companies have not kept pace with those predictions. None of the leading providers of Virtual Assistant technology have offices in Australia/New Zealand. With no local marketing and sales presence, many ANZ companies are simply not aware of the benefits that Virtual Assistants provide.

BolderView’s founder recognised the opportunity and launched Australia’s first and only company focused exclusively on deploying Virtual Assistant solutions. Opening BolderView’s office in Melbourne means Australian & New Zealand companies have a local source for the world’s leading technologies and reselling noHold Virtual Assistants is a key component of that strategy.

“An existing successful relationship with BolderView’s founder, multiple happy customers and a market propensity to use Virtual Assistants made it very easy for us to decide to expand in Australia. We are happy to work with BolderView and looking forward to our continued partnership,” said Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold.

Dave Brown, Founder and Managing Director of BolderView said, “Companies in North America and Europe have been adopting Virtual Agent technology at an amazing pace. Australian companies are behind the curve – primarily because there’s been no local presence by any of the leading providers. BolderView is changing that. We represent the world’s most advanced Virtual Agent technology and we are very proud for noHold be part of our solutions.”

Fifth Quadrant is delighted to be selected as a Finalist in the Telstra New South Wales Business Awards in the Medium Business Award category.

"Being selected as a NSW finalist is a great honour and has been the culmination of our team’s unwavering commitment to working with Australian, Asian and North American based enterprise and government organisations to design and deliver amazing customer experience,” said Dr Catriona Wallace, CEO, Fifth Quadrant. “We’re honoured to be shortlisted amongst other fabulous businesses in our category.”

Fifth Quadrant has experienced 30% revenue growth over the last five years and has developed at least 20 new products to assist leading organisations design and operationalise customer experience strategy, products and services.

"Our mantra has been that we are ‘Better than the Big Houses’ and our accelerated growth has come from working with Boards, CEOs and Executive teams to develop customer experience strategy that drives the four traditional strategies of Finance, HR, Technology and Sales & Marketing” said Wallace.

Will Irving, Telstra Business Group Managing Director and Ambassador for the Telstra Australian Business Awards, said the range and experience of New South Wales businesses vying for this year’s awards was a positive sign for the growth of the local economy. “The calibre of New South Wales finalists in this year’s awards is outstanding and goes to show why small and medium businesses are the backbone of Australia. “It is so important that we recognise the businesses that support our local communities and celebrate the significant contribution they make by creating jobs, driving innovation and bringing their expertise and innovations to customers - locally and all over the world,” said Mr Irving.

Following the award submission in April, the stringent judging process included a site visit, management interview and presentation to members of the judging panel. Winners of the 2013 Telstra New South Wales Business Awards will be announced in Sydney at Hilton Sydney on Tuesday 9 July.

Polaris is delighted to announce that two of its products, the Soundshield 4G Acoustic Safety device and the recently released Soundshield Wireless Headset, have been honoured with individual iF product design awards for 2013.

For 60 years, the iF design awards have been an internationally recognised label for award-winning design in the three disciplines of product, communication and packaging design. The iF brand is a seal of quality and has become a symbol for outstanding design achievement.

When Polaris decided to develop the new Soundshield, it strived to develop a product that was world-class and market leading in its category; a product that not only delivered the best acoustic protection possible, but that also provided headset users with a user interface which enabled them to work more effectively. Hundreds of contact centre agents were surveyed and their needs were documented. The result was the Soundshield 4G, a stylish plug and play acoustic safety device that features HD wideband sound and a large, intuitive touchscreen that provides users with all of the essential call controls at their fingertips.

The Soundshield Wireless Headset followed naturally and is the first wireless headset to be uniquely designed for contact centres. Modelled on the Soundshield 4G and including all of its features, Polaris turned its attention to user comfort. Keeping in mind that contact centre users wear a headset virtually all day long, it designed a lightweight headset piece that achieves maximum comfort. Polaris also added features such as a long talk time (the longest of any wireless headset), easy one touch pairing and side-by-side remote supervisor coaching and training, making the Soundshield Wireless the most comprehensive and acoustically safe headset in the world.

The iF awards is recognition of the effort and commitment Polaris has put into developing these world-leading contact centre products. Over the past three and a half years more than 50,000 man hours have been dedicated to achieving excellence in every facet of their design. Proudly developed and designed in Australia, the Soundshield 4G and Soundshield Wireless Headset stand beside other iF product design winners from companies such as Samsung, Sony and Apple.

For more information on either the Soundshield 4G or Soundshield Wireless Headset visit www.soundshieldwireless.com.au.

Melbourne, Australia (3 May, 2013): Aegis Australia, one of the country's largest outsourcing and contact centre companies, has appointed a new CEO with 20-year customer contact executive Andrew Hume taking over the reins.

Aegis Australia turns over nearly $200 million annually and is a leading provider of a wide range of customer contact solutions. It has more than 2,500 contact centre seats in three locations in Australia providing the customer facing solutions for many major ASX listed companies. Aegis also has successful field marketing and registered training businesses which Hume wants to grow.

Hume, who spent more than 12 years at Aegis competitor Salmat as CEO of Customer Contact Solutions, has a clear vision where he sees the company heading. “I’m determined that Aegis will be a breath of fresh air in the Australian marketplace,” says Hume. “We’re in this for the long-haul and we’re committed to being an innovative partner to the many clients who trust us to deal with and manage their customers. Increasingly, businesses are looking for the benefits of shifting some service delivery to lower cost environments - and that's a solution that Aegis is uniquely qualified to provide."

Hume, one of the architects of the culture that won a contact centre Australia’s Best Employer Award three consecutive years, said one of his first tasks was to bolster his management team.

"I am focused on building an engaged and motivated team of highly talented, energised and creative people to fuel our next growth phase.

"Our team thrives on the challenge of working with clients and partners to craft intelligent solutions that make the complex simple."

Aegis Australia is part of the global Aegis group which boasts more than 55,000 employees in 56 locations across 13 countries with more than 300 clients.

Manila, Philippines, April 29th, 2013 - Altitude Software, a leader in unified customer interaction solutions, and PLDT ALPHA Enterprise, the ICT company of the leading Philippine telecommunications provider, today announced a partnership to bring innovative contact center solutions to top companies in the Philippines.

Altitude Software and PLDT ALPHA Enterprise bring to market high value-added managed services and hosted contact center solutions that reduce costs and optimize resources. Free from complex IT and communications management tasks, companies can focus on business development and customer service and become more productive and competitive.

New competitive advantages for companies seeking to develop business and customer relationships

“Our partnership with Altitude Software highlights PLDT ALPHA commitment to put Relationships First” stated Mr. Victor Tria; Vice President and Head of Corporate Business Solutions, PLDT. “We are in the market with top communications and customer interaction solutions that together with great service and contact center expertise, give companies new competitive advantages in developing their business and customer relationships”.

The PLDT ALPHA Contact Center Solutions service provides a managed contact center platform, managed telecom facilities and other services. It is a converged voice and data solution that has feature-rich functionalities, a high-availability and high-capacity platform, and a dedicated, secured and fully-redundant infrastructure.

Companies win more flexibility to respond to changing business needs

"PLDT ALPHA is the ICT partner of choice of top-tier companies in the Philippines” says Gastão Taveira, CEO at Altitude Software. “Our partnership is already helping key companies provide excellent customer service and grow their business. And they can do this while retaining the flexibility to respond to changing business needs and manage variations on demand on their customer interaction channels”.

Altitude uCI is a flexible and fully integrated contact center software suite optimized for hosted service delivery models, with a great track record on the global contact center market. It provides companies with a new generation of powerful, feature-rich solutions directed at sales, telemarketing, customer service, debt recovery and other business needs. From IVR to intelligent routing, from dialers to agent desktops, from workflow to knowledge base integration, Altitude Software has modular solutions to deploy selectively and address specific business needs, while enforcing security and providing reliability.