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TUANZ Contact Centre Awards finalists announced

Posted Thu 31 May 2007 @ 6:38 p.m. by Sarah

The finalists for the 2007 TUANZ Contact Centre Awards have been confirmed. Thanks to all those who took the time to enter the awards and good luck to all those who made the final. See you all at SkyCity for the awards ceremony in June. Manager of the Year – less than 25 seats: Paul Eastwood, Coca Cola Amatil; Joyce Rudd, Manukau City Council; Noreen McArthur, Winstone Wallboards. Manager of the Year – 26-75 seats: Louise Wilson, APN NZ; Rowena Fulham, NZ Post; Bart Taylor, Sovereign. Manager...

Categories: Events

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Govt examines the work/life balance

Posted Thu 31 May 2007 @ 8:18 a.m. by Sarah

The Department of Labour is developing a strategy around the issue of the work/life balance which could include regulatory measures such as flexible working hours legislation. Yesterday I caught up with senior advisor for workplace practices Cath Edmondson. She told me the DoL is working with large organisations on the project. However Edmondson says none of the work –which has been in train for 2 years – currently involves contact centres. Yet legislation in this area is likely to have a direct...

Categories: Lifestyle | Recruitment and HR

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Competition winners announced

Posted Thu 24 May 2007 @ 1:20 p.m. by Sarah

It seems the fascination of the Indian call centre was enough for plenty of Mouthpiece readers to enter our draw for a copy of the novel, One Night at the Call Centre by Chetan Bhagat. The competition closed yesterday and the following two contact centre professionals have won a copy courtesy of publishers Random House. Diane Ferguson at Telnet and Christie Qadir at Telelink. Happy reading!! NOTE: To the entrant who first thought we were giving away a trip to a real contact centre in India -...

Categories: Lifestyle

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TUANZ member survey – benchmarking services

Posted Wed 23 May 2007 @ 1:55 p.m. by Sarah

Results from the membership survey TUANZ conducted this month on the usefulness of benchmarking services for contact centres has produced some interesting results. The areas where the services appear particularly strong is in providing information on performance measures and comparisons with other contact centres in the same industry. Areas that aren't being covered as well are technology, financial management and comparisons with contact centres in the global marketplace. The survey ran from May...

Categories: Benchmarking

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Benchmarking survey closing

Posted Tue 22 May 2007 @ 4:11 p.m. by Sarah

New Zealand contact managers are reminded that if they wish to participate in the callcentres.net 2007 Contact Centre Industry Benchmarking Report they should do so before the survey closes on May 31. All managers who complete the 40 minute survey will receive a free copy of the New Zealand report.Among the areas measured in the study are technology, human resources, KPIs, budget and seat costs, revenue generation and sales conversion rates, and customer satisfaction. President of callcentres.net...

Categories: Benchmarking | Events

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Slingshot forced to use Indian call centre

Posted Thu 17 May 2007 @ 12:58 p.m. by Sarah

After struggling for 18 months to find a local telemarketing service, New Zealand owned ISP Slingshot has contracted its outbound sales to a call centre in India.Marketing director Mark Callander says Slingshot have employed up to 25 agents based in Bangalore for the past five months to sell their products to New Zealand consumers. He’s concerned that publicity around using an Indian call centre could impact negatively on Slingshot - whose marketing strategy is built around being Kiwi owned - but...

Categories: International | Profile | Recruitment and HR

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WIN One Night at the Call Centre

Posted Wed 16 May 2007 @ 4:46 p.m. by Sarah

The Indian call centre has assumed an almost mythical status that transcends its actual place in global commerce. It represents all that is good – and bad – about the rise of contact centres in modern day business. So when popular Hong Kong-based writer Chetan Bhagat set his novel inside a New Delhi call centre it caught the attention of publishers from around the world. The story concerns the lives of six agents who take inbound calls for a US appliance company. They work when India is asleep...

Categories: International | Lifestyle

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Unifying communication

Posted Mon 14 May 2007 @ 12:36 p.m. by Sarah

A company sets up in business and needs to communicate with its customers, so it installs a PBX to provide phone services. But calls don’t always occur in business hours or when employees are free so a voice mail system is installed. Then fax capability is added and because the business is growing, an automatic call distributor. But now that the Internet is a primary tool for customers the business requires email routing and Web collaboration. And, as the business expands its services, an IVR becomes...

Categories: Technology

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Contact Centre Global Forum disappoints

Posted Thu 10 May 2007 @ 10:35 p.m. by Sarah

The inaugural Contact Centre Global Forum is over, and a delegation of New Zealand contact centre representatives led by Datacraft’s Paul Goode is home. The CCGF organisers have set the date for the next Forum in a year’s time but Goode says he won’t be returning for at least another five years. He explains why in this, his final post for Mouthpiece about his travels to the Forum in France. Well I’m home - it only took 48 hours on planes and in departure lounges. As for the Forum, where do I begin?...

Categories: International

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Do Not Call Register attracts thousands - don't panic

Posted Tue 8 May 2007 @ 12:46 p.m. by Sarah

When the Australian Government’s Do Not Call Register went live last week, the website crashed due to 50,000 people trying to register on the first day. TUANZ contact centre committee chair Gay Reed-Barrance was in Melbourne and she reports it caused a media frenzy with plenty of interest in both the public's response and in who wasn't on the register. “Politicians tried to defend why there are no restrictions to them calling members of the public and the register doesn’t apply to foreign...

Categories: International

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Net surfing agents missing calls

Posted Mon 7 May 2007 @ 12:57 p.m. by Sarah

Customer service agents who surf the net are missing calls according to one high profile contact centre, who blame the distraction of the web on missed KPIs. They contacted TUANZ to ask if we knew of any way to stop people looking at the internet when they should be answering calls. Agents are likely to surf the net during quiet times, but as they become absorbed in the website, the calls go unanswered. The centre doesn’t want to use a “big stick” to get their agents to stop surfing, but they are...

Categories: Recruitment and HR | Technology

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Australasia leading the way in CC technology

Posted Wed 2 May 2007 @ 12:20 p.m. by Sarah

Are contact centres in New Zealand and Australia global leaders in their use of new technology? That’s the view of a UK systems integration consultant ProtoCall One, who have opened a regional office in Sydney. From there the company plan to launch services into markets across the Asia Pacific region. “Australia is the hub of the Asia Pacific contact centre market,” says managing consultant Ian de Sousa. “Both Australia and New Zealand are considered to be ahead of the UK in terms...

Categories: Technology

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Where were you before the contact centre?

Posted Tue 1 May 2007 @ 1:30 p.m. by Sarah

Attitude and life skills, rather than professional training, are usually the prerequisites for getting your first job in a contact centre. The qualifications necessary for an entry level position are delightfully vague, if the job adverts on the Seek website are any indication.Which is why I was intrigued to discover that one of the keynote speakers at this year's TUANZ Contact Centre Conference is a former ice skating champ. Nancy Tichbon, Virgin Mobile’s head of customer experience in...

Categories: Lifestyle | Recruitment and HR

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