TUANZ - Telecomunications Users Association Of New Zealand

TUANZ - Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand

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Posted Fri 26 February 2010 @ 12:31 p.m. by Ernie

Everything has its day. "Mouthpiece" is no exception.For several years its been a popular resource for contact centre professionals up and down new Zealand. But since the recession, things have changed dramatically in the contact centre arena. We've seen a decline in visitor numbers to this part of our site, while the viability of luncheons, awards and conferences specific to contact centres has evaporated. We can see no sign of it coming back.So reluctantly, our Board has decided to stick...

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Telecom's customer service technology

Posted Thu 19 November 2009 @ 2:15 p.m. by Megan

Telecom is getting ready to implement its new NGT (Next Generation Telecom) customer service technologies – it sounds like overdue good news. What does it all mean? For the contact centre staff, I believe it will speed up their resolution time with customers, as they will have a newer, faster, more customer-friendly system to work with. They will finally have some bells and whistles to work with as they don’t have much flexibility with the current Integrated Customer Management System (ICMS)....

Categories: Profile | Technology | Vendors

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Avaya to buy Nortel enterprise unit

Posted Thu 24 September 2009 @ 4:52 p.m. by Louis

by Megan LacyAvaya has won a bid to purchase Nortel's Enterprise Solutions Business.Avaya is expected to pay $900 million for the business unit once the deal gets approved in the US, according to an announcement made last week.For now it means business as usual for Nortel New Zealand. For customers this agreement promises to bring benefits with the complementary capabilities of the combined Avaya and Nortel products and services.This purchase is of interest, especially if you are looking to upgrading...

Categories: International | Technology | Vendors

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Live Ambassador for your website.

Posted Fri 26 June 2009 @ 10:09 a.m. by Megan

I love new to see the lastest and greatest technology and as a customer I like to see whether it will hold my attention. I must say 'Live Ambassador' technolgy did that. I couldn't stop staring, and thinking: "Wow, that's smart".Live Ambassador is a live interactive tool which includes a real person who walks and talks visitors through a company’s website, directs them around it and making it easier to do business.Developed by New Zealand IT company, Genesis Interactive, Live Ambassador...

Categories: Profile | Technology | Vendors

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Nortel Contact Centre luncheon

Posted Thu 11 June 2009 @ 1:55 p.m. by Megan

I attended the last two Nortel Contact Centre Luncheons in Hamilton and Auckland last week. Luckily I knew after the Hamilton session that I had the opportunity to listen to it again in Auckland as there was a lot of information given in speaker Darren Leffler's presentation and as much as I scribbled notes, I knew I could still take in more.Entitled Communications Enablement, this was a presentation I would have insisted my general manager to attend - if I was still working for one. This would...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Technology | Vendors

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Nortel Asia gives its take on unified comms

Posted Wed 3 June 2009 @ 12:48 p.m. by Ernie

Nortel Asia is running around New Zealand this week giving its take on unified communications. Speaker Darren Leffler, a veteran of the TUANZ circuit, hails from Sydney, and is accompanied by colleague Steve Harris from Melbourne. There are a lot of messages in Leffler’s presentation which I found rich in insight. To me it lifted the case for unified communications to a new level. Check here for more on UC. He talked a lot about the notion of “human latency” – the delays caused by people’s unavailability...

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A new way to audit your Centre?

Posted Thu 4 December 2008 @ 4:37 p.m. by Megan

Curiosity got the better of me this week, and I had to find out what this new contact centre audit tool was all about. New Zealand based business Customer Services Audit are promoting their new Snapshotz software that is specifically design for contact centres.How do you benchmark your Contact Centre and/or perform a full audit on all areas? From my perspective, I had barriers that were time, effort and price. Enter Snapshotz, what can it do? Does this software cover all areas of...

Categories: Benchmarking | Profile | Technology | Vendors

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Learnings from the ICMI Conference

Posted Mon 22 September 2008 @ 3:58 p.m. by Sarah

On her way back from Phoenix, TUANZ Key Relationships Manager Bernice Archer has found time to reflect on the ICMI Annual Call Center Exhibition and Knowledge Exchange Conference. Here are her findings: The ICMI Annual Call Center Exhibition and Knowledge Exchange Conference was held over a few days in Phoenix Arizona last week. I was fortunate enough to attend and witness some very informative sessions. The theme throughout the conference leaned towards work relationships, and...

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Hyperconnectivity, and Gen Y

Posted Mon 28 July 2008 @ 1:15 p.m. by Ernie

Hyperconnectivity! Its a wonderful word and sums up beautifully the presentation being given at the TUANZ Contact Centre lunches this week.In one of the most thought provoking and engaging presentations for some time, Darren Leffler of Nortel in Australia told the audience at our bulging Christchurch venue today about the impact of Web 2.0 on the contact centre. The new way Generation Y customer interact in Web 2.0 is a historic inflexion point, he said.Leffler - a Gen X who got an iPod for his 40th...

Categories: Events | International | Technology | Vendors

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TUANZ lifting the bar on contact centre activities for 2008/2009

Posted Wed 9 July 2008 @ 4:57 p.m. by Ernie

Bernice Archer, TUANZ Key Relationships Manager, reports as follows: “Following a decision in May by the TUANZ Board to allocate more resources to serving the needs of contact centres, A dynamic and buzzing TUANZ Contact Centre Committee convened a few days ago for a Strategic Planning Session for 2008 through to 2010. Committee Chair Megan Lacy (Livestock Improvement Corp), committee members Anne Withington (TelstraClear), Paul Eastwood (Coca Cola Amatil), Giles Potter (Great Outcomes),...

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We're all in sales now

Posted Mon 23 June 2008 @ 5:26 p.m. by Sarah

I’m on the plane returning from a jam-packed Contact Centre Lunch in Christchurch. Any three of the speakers chosen by host Nick Egerton from UCMS could have held the room for 40 minutes, but together under the title ‘The Importance of Customer Interaction’ they presented a comprehensive session on this broad topic.Chris Price from Permission (specialists in online marketing) talked about how to turn website leads into paying customers. That is, the casual user who is looking for a product or service...

Categories: Events | Recruitment and HR | Technology | Vendors

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Monitoring agents on the web – but where’s the trust?

Posted Tue 17 June 2008 @ 10:52 a.m. by Sarah

Staff abusing their web privileges and wasting time on sites like Trademe and Facebook is a problem that plagues many contact centres. There is plenty of software out there that will monitor individual workstations, and I often get press releases emailed to me from companies advertising their solutions. But the one I received today for a product called Spector 360, gave me pause. Here’s their advertising pitch: With Spector 360 you will find out: Which agents are off-task instead of doing their...

Categories: Leadership | Recruitment and HR | Technology | Vendors

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Boxes, buses and corporate tables

Posted Thu 17 April 2008 @ 10:08 p.m. by Sarah

We closed registrations for the Awards this morning because we had to get the numbers through to SkyCity. Because we offer menu options, we have to tell them a week out from the event – but the room was pretty much at capacity anyway. Still some people haven’t quite got the message about cut-off dates. I took this photo of Leah just as I was leaving the office tonight. She was on the phone frantically trying to see if she could get 14 more people a table for the Awards – never mind that a table...

Categories: Events | Vendors

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Hanging out with the Manawatu Contact Centre Cluster

Posted Wed 19 March 2008 @ 9:07 p.m. by Sarah

The Manawatu Contact Centre Cluster held their first meeting of the year today and I was lucky enough to be invited to make a presentation to the group. About 30 managers and team leaders were present from 9 centres around the Manawatu and lower North Island. It’s such a vibrant area for contact centres and I was left wondering how much of this is down to the fact that those who work in the region are committed to getting together on a semi-regular basis (about four times a year) and sharing...

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Conference programme at the printer

Posted Wed 13 February 2008 @ 9:30 p.m. by Sarah

Well the TUANZ Contact Centre Conference and Awards 2008 Programme is off to the printers and it's 8 pages long. No wonder I haven’t had any time to write Mouthpiece blogs! It feels like a novel (with plenty of interesting characters I assure you!). TUANZ members should receive the programme in the mail early next week. You all know about our keynote – Kare Anderson – and the theme is Leadership and we’ll be having site visits and well, I think that’s all I’m willing to divulge. Today at any rate....

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How much should you pay for 'On Hold' music?

Posted Fri 1 February 2008 @ 8:18 a.m. by Sarah

We've had an enquiry from a large contact centre wanting to know what fees they should pay for playing music on their PABX systems to customers when they are on hold. They had thought they were coverd by purchasing an annual license to APRA via the organisation On Hold Marketing. Now another organisation - Phonographic Performances NZ - has approached the contact centre and demanded they too are paid a fee or they'll take legal action. Is this a problem facing...

Categories: Technology | Vendors

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Ma'as Salaama 2007

Posted Fri 21 December 2007 @ 9:19 a.m. by Sarah

For those of you wondering, Ma’as Salaama means goodbye in the version of Arabic spoken in Egypt. Or at least according to the website I just Googled it does. I thought it would be an appropriate way to sign off on the Mouthpiece blog for 2007 because the post about Vodafone outsourcing the pre-pay section of its contact centre to Egypt was one of the top five blogs for 2007.The metric I’ve chosen to assess blog popularity is the number of comments the post received. Scanning through all 106 posts...

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Calm Professionalism at Massey Contact Centre

Posted Tue 18 September 2007 @ 7:45 a.m. by Ernie

Sometimes you walk into a work environment and get an instant sense that all is well and it's functioning like a well-oiled machine. That was my impression a few days ago when I visited the contact centre at Massey University on the outskirts of Palmerston North to catch up with Contact centre Manager Tina Hilliam, a well known identity in contact centre circles and a regular at TUANZ events.As the focal point for students from three campuses - Albany, Palmerston Nth and Wellington - to connect with...

Categories: Leadership | Profile | Recruitment and HR | Technology | Vendors

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Only 50% of technology used effectively

Posted Mon 30 July 2007 @ 1:48 p.m. by Sarah

When Datacraft representative Paul Goode moved to New Zealand he was initially impressed with the high level of technology adopted by contact centres. His first thoughts were that the local scene was equal to Scandinavian countries in being the most technically advanced in the world. Then he discovered that while New Zealand contact centres might have the gear, they aren’t using it effectively. He estimates that only 50% of technology in contact centres is actually utilised. Goode has 15...

Categories: Benchmarking | Technology | Vendors

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The Conference - Personal "Bests"

Posted Fri 29 June 2007 @ 12:09 p.m. by Ernie

It was a GREAT conference in my personal view. My job has me conferencing to excess so I know the excellent ones when I see one. The TUANZ 2007 Contact Centre Conference buzzed!There were parts I missed - the work of TUANZ has to go on alongside - but here are a few of my key insights:- Nancy Tichbon. She and the Virgin Mobile brand and culture are inseparable - she walks and talks the corporate values. - New Zealand contact centres are well up with the world technology-wise,...

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Prepare to be YouTubed

Posted Fri 20 April 2007 @ 9:35 a.m. by Sarah

A disgruntled caller could one day take revenge by posting their contact centre encounter on popular Web 2.0 sites such as YouTube. It’s a scenario that companies will need to prepare for with the advent of IPTV-based customer interaction. Alcatel-Lucent representative Matt Bostwick outlined the commercial benefits of IP-enabled video conferencing during the TUANZ After 5s presentation yesterday evening. Among the uses he discussed for IPTV was the opportunity for clients to initiate a video conference...

Categories: Technology | Vendors

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Cannes here we come

Posted Tue 13 March 2007 @ 5:58 p.m. by Sarah

The Contact Centre Global Forum in the south of France is scheduled to take place in April. Datacraft will be attending and is taking along a local strategic partner. Datacraft CIS business solutions consultant Paul Goode says the company is sponsoring the registration to the forum, and are using the Northern Hemisphere location as an opportunity to visit contact centres in UK, France and possibly India.He says the strategic partner is interested in learning from contact centres...

Categories: International | Vendors

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Vista in the contact centre

Posted Tue 13 March 2007 @ 1:53 p.m. by Sarah

There was a 560 per cent increase in sales of Microsoft’s new operating system Vista in February 2007, compared to sales of XP in February 2006. But exactly how many actual units were sold, Microsoft NZ client product marketing manager David Rayner wouldn’t disclose to Mouthpiece. Yet assuming demand is high for Vista in the New Zealand consumer space, how will it affect contact centres? With many corporate users reported to be taking a cautious approach to its implementation, will rapid growth...

Categories: Technology | Vendors

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IT and CC talking past each other

Posted Tue 27 February 2007 @ 11:56 a.m. by Sarah

Getting an intelligible reply out of the IT department can be a challenging experience for many Contact Centre managers. And it’s not because they don’t have the knowledge, but rather that they provide way too much information.TelstraClear applications consultant Paul de Haan offered the following anecdote, which is bound to raise a few wry smiles:“A company that develops CTI software initially created an application for telephony control that runs on a server. Then they added support for multiple...

Categories: Technology | Vendors

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Hoax Calls From Kids - Are They an Issue?

Posted Wed 14 February 2007 @ 8:38 a.m. by Ernie

Does your contact centre get hounded by hoax calls from little brats with too much time on their hands?For some it's a huge issue. In the case of one contact centre whose manager I spoke with today, as many as 10% of inbound calls are hoax calls from children.What do you do about them? What can you do, legally, to dampen the calls or retailliate? Are there steps you can take to deal with this problem within the law? Should there be (infanticide excepted)? Just how big a problem is it?Lets get...

Categories: Technology | Vendors

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