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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

Manawatu Contact Centre Cluster do it again...

Posted Thu 27 November 2008 @ 7:34 p.m. by Megan

In their 3rd year of holding their own regional Contact Centre Awards, the Manawatu Contact Centre Cluster celebrated on Friday 15th November with their Awards evening in Palmerston North. With 310 people in attendance, the night was hosted by TV3’s Hamish McKay and the guests danced the night away to The Mermaids.People, who attended from outside the region, talk about the fantastic buzz that was created during the awards ceremony, and how all the finalists were passionate about ...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

Who is Garry Jones?

Posted Thu 13 November 2008 @ 3:22 p.m. by Megan

Ernie had the pleasure of introducing Garry Jones as our new TUANZ Contact Centre Committee Chairperson back in September 2008. For such an important role, TUANZ has asked Garry to introduce himself and give the members an understanding of where he has come from and what his objectives are as the new Chairperson.Garry has been a contact centre professional for the last decade and is currently the Contact Centre Manager for iinet. Garry has had a taste of all the key roles within...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile

Egypt, Award Winners of the UK Outsourcing Destination 2008

Posted Thu 6 November 2008 @ 2:03 p.m. by Megan

Egypt was awarded the Outsourcing Destination of the Year 2008 at the UK National Outsourcing Association Award night held in London. The Award night was at the end of October and attended by over 350 executives and outsourcing professionals. It's interesting news and it takes me back to our TUANZ Contact Centre Conference where we had Andrea Midgen from Vodafone NZ talk us through the benefits and reasons behind Vodafone's decision to go offshore for their outsourcing provider. ...

Categories: International | Profile

Are you looking for a Supplier or Vendor?

Posted Thu 30 October 2008 @ 6:45 p.m. by Megan

And you don’t know where to start? As a new Contact Centre Manager many years ago, I felt lost at times when I was looking for products and services and finding out what company did what!. Networking luncheons and the TUANZ Contact Centre Conferences were a great place to start. However I wanted a ‘place’ to go to get information when I wanted. TUANZ has identidied this gap and have decided to ensure that TUANZ members can gain access to this information easily and to make contact...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

An interview with Sovereign, Contact Centre Award Winners 2008

Posted Thu 30 October 2008 @ 4:13 p.m. by Megan

We have another great interview from our Contact Centre Award Winners 2008. This week we are profiling Sovereign the winners of TUANZ Contact Centre of the Year 26-75 seats. Sharron Botica, Head of Customer Services at Soveriegn, has shared her thoughts on the win and how it has reinforced to the staff that they are valued and what they do, make's a difference. The Sovereign Contact Centre is a 50 seats operation and is located in Takapuna, Auckland. Their hours of operations are...

Categories: Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

'Smile'...when you talk to me

Posted Wed 22 October 2008 @ 7:43 p.m. by Megan

We have heard it a hundred times, by trainers everywhere, in their training courses and seminars. Tone is everything over the phone, and you really can tell the difference over the phone when someone is unhappy. Unfortunately, I have been on the end of some very unhappy representatives recently, but I still believe these people are a small minority in our centres. It just makes me very sad and angry at the same time. Every time they get on the phones they are damaging the businesses reputation...

Categories: Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile | Recruitment and HR

TUANZ Contact Centre Awards Winners 2008, how are they doing now?

Posted Wed 15 October 2008 @ 5:06 p.m. by Megan

It's been over 6 months since the Award Winners were announced at our TUANZ Contact Centre Awards Dinner at Sky City.So we felt it’s time that we checked-in with our winners and see how they are doing and bring you an update from each winner over the coming weeks. We wanted to ensure that we continued to acknowledge the winners and that they are not forgotten as they have been judged as our 'Best of the best' for 2008.In celebration we have created a new 'Award Winners 2008' page in our...

Categories: Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

Customer Service, don't stop now.

Posted Wed 8 October 2008 @ 5:01 p.m. by Megan

I think I’m verging on being a nervous and/or difficult customer for the next few months. And I don’t think I’m alone, let me explain why. I have been doing some work with a business, which are going out and hiring outbound calling staff for the next few months. The sole purpose is to: proactively build and/or maintain the customer relationship. In these perceived hard times, this company is saying: our customers are still very important and therefore we need to ensure they ‘feel loved’....

Categories: Leadership | Profile

SPAM...what you need to know

Posted Wed 1 October 2008 @ 2:05 p.m. by Megan

We all have it, spam that clogs up our email and it consumes time whether we like it or not. Not all SPAM is bad, however it's the bad SPAM that is getting all the publicity. That's where the Unsolicited Electronic Messaging Act 2007 comes in. The Department of Internal Affairs created the act as part of the strategy on Antispam. We have added it to our Resource Library under Legislations. The Department of Internal Affairs website also has an excellent Antispam video for business...

Categories: Leadership | Profile

Garry Jones is new Contact Centre Committee chairman; more committee members sought

Posted Thu 18 September 2008 @ 2:01 p.m. by Ernie

TUANZ Board Chairman Chris O'Connell has confirmed Garry Jones as the new Chair of the TUANZ Contact Centre Committee, effective immediately. The position became vacant following the resignation of Megan Lacy, who moved on from her job at LIC and is now a part time contributor to this Blog.Garry has been on the Committee for three years and is a practicing Contact Centre Manager, with responsibility for iinet's 90-seat facility. He was previously contact centre manager for Ihug, then a subsidiary...

Categories: Events | International | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile

Introducing Megan

Posted Tue 19 August 2008 @ 12:10 p.m. by Sarah

Great news! Megan Lacy has just signed on as the TUANZ Contact Centre Section Editor. In addition to editing the section, she will be finding and writing new content and contributing to Mouthpiece. Many of you will know Megan as she is a stalwart of the profession in New Zealand. Her last role was as the Contact Centre Manager for LIC, and she served as Chair of the TUANZ Contact Centre Committee. One of the really exciting features that Megan will be adding to the section is Talk Time with TUANZ....

Categories: Leadership | Profile

Vodafone adopts First Call Resolution as its primary metric

Posted Mon 11 August 2008 @ 3:32 p.m. by Sarah

Had an interesting conversation with Vodafone’s external relations manager Paul Brislen the other day about the metrics the company uses in its contact centre. Apparently they’ve just changed from Average Handling Time to First Call Resolution, which in typical Vodafone fashion has been rebranded as Right First Time. I immediately spotted a topic for a Mouthpiece blog post and emailed Paul straight away with my questions (in italics below). He spoke to Sarah Howells, Vodafone’s new GM of Service,...

Categories: Benchmarking | Profile | Recruitment and HR

Outsourcing and TV3

Posted Fri 25 July 2008 @ 5:33 a.m. by Sarah

Did anyone happen to catch the Campbell Live piece about outsourcing on TV3? It was prompted by a review of the KiwiShare in which the government suggests that certain core services such as the 123 service remain in New Zealand based contact centres. Outsourcing is a contentious topic, and when it focused on the local scene, the article drew some interesting responses. EPMU secretary Andrew Little discussed the impact of losing contact centre jobs in Hamilton and Palmerston North and TUANZ Chief...

Categories: International | Profile

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),...

Categories: Benchmarking | Events | International | Leadership | Lifestyle | Profile | Recruitment and HR | Technology | Vendors

Telemarketers the least trusted profession in NZ – Readers Digest

Posted Wed 25 June 2008 @ 4:45 p.m. by Sarah

The Readers Digest has released its annual most trusted list and it’s not great news for you folk in outbound sales. Out of 40 professions, telemarketers came out rock bottom at 40th – below sex workers, politicians and real estate agents.The reason? “‘They don’t appear to have the best interests of people at heart,’ says Hall (a business consultant and author of The Truth About Trust), who cites their pushiness and need to reach targets as the key impediment to trust. We suggest they change their...

Categories: Benchmarking | Profile

Contact Centre – industry or profession?

Posted Fri 13 June 2008 @ 7:56 a.m. by Sarah

“New Zealand contact centres are dynamic, productive and exciting, and very well regarded in the global customer service and sales community.” That statement is on the back of the cover of the DVD 'NZ Contact Centre Industry Profile', and you will find no argument to that claim in this blog. But, I do have a query about the title of the DVD – in particular the use of the word ‘industry’. Can we really describe contact centres in this way? Isn’t an industry about a product or service – for example,...

Categories: International | Profile

“This time it’s different”: Contact Centre Manager of the Year Winner

Posted Tue 29 April 2008 @ 4:00 p.m. by Sarah

It was another night to remember for the Contact Centre profession at the 2008 TUANZ Awards on Thursday. Around 630 filled the banqueting room to hear MC Dominic Bowden announce this year’s top professionals. All the winners were enthusiastic in their acceptance speeches, all the crowd gracious in their support. Dominic mingled with some show biz pals in the room – Comedian’s Irene Pink (winner of Contact Centre Manager of the Year under 25 seats) and Mike King. The small army of SkyCity staff...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile | Recruitment and HR

TUANZ Contact Centre Awards - finalists announced

Posted Thu 20 March 2008 @ 3:25 p.m. by Sarah

The finalists for the 2008 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. You can check out the list of finalists here.See you all at SkyCity in Auckland for the black-tie awards ceremony at the TUANZ Contact Centre Conference next month.

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile | Recruitment and HR

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...

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

Why you need to enter the TUANZ Contact Centre Awards – and fast

Posted Thu 28 February 2008 @ 10:10 a.m. by Sarah

There are just days left before entries to the TUANZ Contact Centre Awards close at 5pm on Monday March 3. These prestigious awards are the only ones in the country in which each entrant is carefully evaluated on a written submission and - if they make it to the second round - a two-hour visit to their contact centre.Which is quite an exercise. Not only do we ask our judges (experienced contact centre professionals) to read, discuss and argue over every written submission. We then fly them...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile | Recruitment and HR

Megan Lacy appointed as new Contact Centre Committee Chair

Posted Thu 31 January 2008 @ 11:38 a.m. by Sarah

We're really pleased to announce that Megan Lacy, Contact Centre Manager for LIC, is our new TUANZ Contact Centre Commitee Chair. She has kindly agreed to introduce herself to Mouthpiece readers and to share her thoughts about the direction of both the committee and the contact centre profession:"For those of you who have not yet met me, my name is Megan Lacy and I am very much looking forward to meeting you in April at the Conference. I would like to congratulate Gay Reed-Barrance on her...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile

Farewell to a fabulous Contact Centre Committee chair

Posted Fri 25 January 2008 @ 11:17 a.m. by Sarah

For the past two years Gay Reed-Barrance has led the TUANZ Contact Centre Committee, however due to a promotion at Amway she is moving to Australia next week. Her extensive knowledge and her passionate enthusiasm for both the Contact Centre profession and TUANZ will mean she will be sadly missed. On Wednesday TUANZ chief executive Ernie Newman and I met with Gay and asked her to reflect on her 16 years in New Zealand’s contact centre industry and her reasons for immigrating to Australia....

Categories: Profile

Site visits return to Conference programme

Posted Thu 24 January 2008 @ 8:14 a.m. by Sarah

A popular feature of the TUANZ Contact Centre Conference in the past has been the organised visits to Auckland-based contact centres. We didn't run the tours last year, but there have been calls to bring them back for 2008.As always, we're open to the views of Mouthpiece readers. So if you there's a contact centre you'd like to visit, or if you manage an Auckland-based contact centre and would like to host a tour please email our Events Manager Leah Neels - leah@tuanz.org.nz. Alternatively you can...

Categories: Benchmarking | Events | Profile

New Year’s Request – Strategies for Small Contact Centres

Posted Thu 17 January 2008 @ 8:11 a.m. by Sarah

Happy New Year. I’ve been back at the office for a couple of days and can report that planning for the Contact Centre Conference and Awards in April is well underway. Hopefully everyone got the postcard about the date change (April 23 and 24 at SKYCity in Auckland) which we sent out late last year. We’ve announced the keynote already, and over the next three months I'll blog about exciting new additions to the programme and let you know more about entering the awards. This...

Categories: Events | Leadership | Profile

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