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• 8 CX challenges facing organizations and how to address them

  There are many barriers to effective CX initiatives, but most revolve around communication at the consumer and enterprise level. Continue Reading

• CXM vs. CRM: Which platform is best for your business?

  CXM and CRM systems help organizations boost customer satisfaction, but CXM focuses on how customers perceive a brand, while CRM helps employees understand their customers. Continue Reading

• 9 disadvantages of self-service options

  Customer self-service platforms free up live agents for more complicated issues, but if organizations don't keep this software up to date, its disadvantages can frustrate users. Continue Reading

• 5 ways to use social media in supply chain management

  Amid a supply chain crisis, customers often turn to social media to voice frustration. Organizations need honesty, empathy and informative content to help disgruntled customers. Continue Reading

• Top 5 challenges in field service management

  Many organizations overlook field service management in their customer service strategies, yet this area -- and its challenges -- are critical to CX success. Continue Reading

• How to train agents on call center fraud detection

  Poorly trained call center agents are easy targets for bad actors. Organizations must prepare for call center fraud with proper agent training and anti-fraud technologies.Continue Reading

• 8 customer service challenges and how to resolve them

  The most important skill for a customer service agent to learn is empathy. That, plus a well-crafted customer service plan, can solve nearly any problem that arises.Continue Reading

• 8 ways to improve call center agent performance

  Side-by-side evaluations, reinforcement, training resources and coaching can help call center agents improve their performance and catch up to the pack.Continue Reading

• Diversity in customer experience hinges on root-cause analysis

  Sandra Mathis and Stephanie C. Harris discuss diversity and inclusion, and the necessity of addressing them at an internal level before customers see change.Continue Reading

• The role and responsibilities of a customer relationship manager

  The customer relationship manager has a challenging and ever-evolving role to play when it comes to optimizing the customer experience.Continue Reading

• 10 ways to improve the customer experience today

  Many organizations struggle with where and how to improve CX, as the focus shifts from CRM to customer experience. Here are 10 strategies to use for a successful journey.Continue Reading

• 6 tips for handling emergency calls in contact centers

  Many contact centers do not have a procedure for handling emergency calls, but they should. It is important for agents to know how to react to emergency situations.Continue Reading

• 3 ways CRM improves customer experience

  To be efficient, businesses need their information in one place. Using a CRM system, companies can improve CX by keeping track of their customers and automating business processes.Continue Reading

• Mystery shopping software key to customer experience management

  Businesses use mystery shopping platforms, comment cards, brand reputation management and more to identify customer pain points and improve customer experience.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Einstein Vision sinks teeth into shark recognition

  Using drones and a modified version of Salesforce's Einstein Vision, marine biologists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, can track and identify great white sharks.Continue Reading

• Consumer behavior analytics makes the unpredictable predictable

  With AI's arsenal of machine learning, deep learning and NLP, consumer analytics can take some of the unpredictability out of predicting buying patterns and up conversion rates.Continue Reading

• Best practices for creating chatbot scripts

  The rules of good chatbot scripting are similar to those of application coding. Here are some best practices to creating a chatbot that users will approve.Continue Reading

• Replacing contact center platforms poses big dilemma

  CX expert Scott Sachs discusses the various dilemmas posed by migrating legacy on-premises contact center platforms to the cloud.Continue Reading

• Liferay digital experience platform helps company improve CX

  Jack Maina, group chief operations officer of Britam, talks about how the financial services group rebuilt the way it interacts with customers and partners using Liferay.Continue Reading

• 5 common customer support problems that affect CX

  In customer support, common customer experience issues include lengthy hold times, scaling, failure to follow up, lack of human touch and a lack of personalization.Continue Reading

• How Lucky Brand improved its online customer experience

  As retailers try to keep up with customers' changing expectations, more and more brands are trying to mesh their online shopping experience with their in-store experience.Continue Reading

• LA Metro pursues integrated CRM system with Salesforce

  The Los Angeles Metro system integrates the Salesforce CRM with existing payment infrastructure, helping to bridge the gap between old and new technologies.Continue Reading

• 6 customer intent metrics to prevent lead dropouts

  Learn about the key metrics marketing teams can use to analyze customer intent, detect leads in danger of dropping out and focus energy on nurturing those leads.Continue Reading

• Is CRM with social media growing less trustworthy?

  Comments made on social media can sometimes give businesses a skewed perception of consumer sentiment. Learn how to correct the data to inform business decisions.Continue Reading

• Microsoft adds CRM for nonprofits to Dynamics 365 lineup

  CRM for nonprofits, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Nonprofit Accelerator, helps nonprofit organizations take advantage of business tools and shared data.Continue Reading

• 3 call center improvement strategies that boost efficiency

  Call center agents must multitask like never before in this era of omnichannel service. How to increase efficiency with tech while relieving some of the load on the people.Continue Reading

• Omnichannel customer service improves customer experience

  Customers have come to expect brands to provide omnichannel customer service, but many companies are still overwhelmed by the idea of introducing new channels and training agents.Continue Reading

• Tips to build a successful digital customer service strategy

  CRM pros from Wendy's, Chamberlain Group and DoorDash offer tips for integrating Salesforce AI and social media channels to create a successful digital CX strategy.Continue Reading

• Salesforce marketing automation tools close the data divide

  Marketing automation CEO offers tips on bringing together siloed data, spotting sales trends, analyzing sales funnels and allocating marketing campaign spending.Continue Reading

• Designing chatbots with personality-plus and gift of gab

  Planning, patience, trial and error and a business-minded team approach are the keystones to developing chatbots with human-like qualities that seamlessly assist customers.Continue Reading

• AI for the enterprise transmitted directly from Mars

  For marketing intelligence to explore new frontiers and achieve its ultimate goal, chief marketing officers may find their CRM applications were once developed by NASA and tested in space.Continue Reading

• Sales Cloud implementation transforms sales tracking, analysis

  Salesforce Sales Cloud has made Thompson Pump's once manual, paper-backed tracking, analyzing and crediting processes fast and tidy, reducing order-processing time by about 20%.Continue Reading

• How Salesforce teams will feel the impact of GDPR

  With less than a month until GDPR has to be implemented, both B2B and B2C sales teams must be prepared to properly protect or even dispense of customer data, according to experts.Continue Reading

• MindTickle, Salesforce speed sales learning in merger

  Last year's Blue Coat-Symantec merger posed a dilemma: getting salespeople up to speed on the reshaped product line. MindTickle with Salesforce paid dividends in sales learning.Continue Reading

• Survey marketing leads to sales insights for outdoor association

  After decades of catering to the needs of known customers, outdoor retailers now see the light and are targeting old and new customers with data-driven marketing and sales initiatives.Continue Reading

• Taking on a virtual agent helps mint new wine connoisseurs

  Having trouble selecting the wine that goes best with a special meal? And what if your preferred shop doesn't have it? Vivino helps you choose -- and, if needed, find -- the right wine.Continue Reading

• How to calculate abandoned call rate for a contact center

  Experts offer an abandoned call formula and advice on what to include when calculating call abandonment rates.Continue Reading

• Customer data governance policies: Stop stalking, start selling

  Customer data governance policies differ from traditional data governance in several ways. Finding that line between building trust among customers and stalking them is a start.Continue Reading

• How do IoT analytics enhance customer experience with quality data?

  IoT analytics helps companies create a better customer experience by providing quality data that allows for the reduction of costs and a more efficient work day.Continue Reading

• How will Microsoft Dynamics 365 benefit the enterprise marketplace?

  Is Microsoft Dynamics 365's role in the enterprise marketplace actually beneficial for users? Expert Brent Leary discusses Microsoft's upcoming product.Continue Reading

• Can Salesforce Wave answer data integration challenges?

  Like other products, Salesforce Wave promises to make it easy to stitch together data silos. Is data integration as easy as it sounds? An expert offers some insight.Continue Reading

• Communication essential to sales and marketing alignment

  A lack of communication between sales and marketing teams can derail internal processes. Here's how to ensure collaboration between the two factions.Continue Reading

• Sales management software helps teams get a jump on leads

  As customers become more knowledgeable about products, sales reps can't just rely on the gift of gab. Today they need sales management software that help target people who are ready to bite.Continue Reading

• The secret to selling more? Sales intelligence

  Sales teams have a basic but ever-challenging task: Sell stuff and make money for the company. But they can't do that without proper insight into the business.Continue Reading

• CRM platforms alone won't give total customer picture

  Some CRM vendors have started to demonstrate the power of unified CRM platforms, enabling companies to manage customer data, analytics, financials and more from a single application and get a unified view. But many companies still struggle with ...Continue Reading

• The double-edged sword of location-based technologies

  Location-based technologies like personalization are yielding valuable consumer data, but companies need to be careful stewards of the information.Continue Reading

• Customer data integration needs strategy to derive meaning

  Your approach to customer data integration needs to be guided by another strategy to determine which information is relevant.Continue Reading

• Which call center billing model should I use?

  What’s the best call center billing model measurement – charging for calls per month or per call? Expert Donna Fluss explains the methods behind both and how to best apply them in the contact center.Continue Reading

• How can I measure call center agents' unavailable and "not ready" time?

  Find out how to measure call center agents' unavailable and not ready time in this expert tip and get a formula for calculating unavailable time in your call center.Continue Reading

• Three management tips for overseeing call center agents on night shift

  There are psychological and medical challenges for call center agents working the night shift. Hear management tips from Donna Fluss for managing night shift call center agents.Continue Reading

• Does hot seating in the call center affect agent morale?

  Learn about hot seating in the call center and find out how it can have a positive and negative impact on agent morale and productivity in this expert tip.Continue Reading

• Pros and cons of auto-response software in the call center

  Auto-response software often gets mixed reviews from both call center professionals and customers. Learn the pros and cons of using auto-answer and auto-response software in the call center from expert Donna Fluss.Continue Reading

• Call center rules and regulations: Why are they so strict?

  Learn the purpose of call center rules and regulations in this tip from Donna Fluss, including how and why call center managers control the number of scheduled agents according to the forecasted call volume, using workforce management (WFM) ...Continue Reading

• Call monitoring best practices: Is there any industry standard?

  Learn the best approach to monitoring call center agent's calls with expert Lori Bocklund.Continue Reading

• What's the difference between speech recognition software and voice tags?

  Wondering about how voice recognition or speech recognition and voice tags differ? Read definitions from Donna Fluss in this tip.Continue Reading

• Call center scheduling: How to manage Auxiliary or unavailable time

  Expert Lori Bocklund advises a reader on managing a call center agent's Auxiliary or unavailable time.Continue Reading

• Conducting a CRM system and process audit

  Expert Paul Greenberg offers advice on conducting an audit of CRM systems and processes.Continue Reading

• How to evaluate call center quality analyst performance

  Expert Donna Fluss provides some guidelines for evaluating the performance of a call center's quality coach, and offers suggestions on training a quality coach.Continue Reading

• Calculating the call center agent seat utilization ratio

  Lori Bocklund explains how to calculate the seat utilization ratio for a call center with a formula using call center agents and number of call center seats.Continue Reading

• How can understanding customer value lead to successful marketing?

  According to Lior Arussy, understanding customer value can lead to successful marketing if you target those customers with the highest potential value, not just those with the highest actual value.Continue Reading

• New call center agents -- top 10 pitfalls

  Common areas of call center agent weakness are largely due to inexperience in handling live (and sometimes frustrated and nasty) customers, and a lack of in-depth knowledge of systems, products, policies and procedures. Most of these areas can be ...Continue Reading

• Using subject matter experts (SME) to develop call center managers

  Learn the benefits of promoting star agents to subject matter expert positions (SME) where they work under the call center supervisor.Continue Reading

• How do you define flow out calls?

  Call center expert Lori Bocklund answers a reader who's using Avaya reports and is wondering about flow out calls, and whether they are the sum of abandoned and blocked calls.Continue Reading