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White Paper: Using Web-based Support Tools to Improve Customer Service

Many service-centric organizations have already integrated their in-house service and support applications with Web interfaces, or deployed systems designed for the Web from the ground up. They’re better integrating channels through customer interaction platforms, greatly expanding self-service functionality, undertaking knowledge management initiatives, and extending their reach through remote support and maintenance tools.

This informative white paper from supportindustry.com and sponsored by LogMeInRescue and Parature, examines the latest trends and technologies in using Web-based support tools to improve customer service.

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Fired S&P Employee Files Bias Lawsuit
A former employee of Standard & Poor's has filed a $5 million discrimination lawsuit that accuses the financial information company of allowing other employees to harass and humiliate him because of his Hispanic ancestry and then fire him because he complained. Raphael Garcia, of the Bronx, says in papers filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that somebody spat on his computer keyboard while he was away from his desk and rummaged through his drawers and personal belongings. A senior quality assurance engineer who began working for S&P in December 2002, Garcia earned $97,000 a year, he says. His court papers say his job conditions were fine until September 2005, when Marjie Veselik became manager of the quality assurance team he worked on. Garcia says Veselik began "humiliating and hostile discriminatory harassment" against him, including calling him profane and racist names, denying him training and advancement opportunities and depriving him of previous job responsibilities. [Source: MSN]

BPO Management Services Announces Completion of HRMS Acquisition
BPO Management Services Inc., a full-service business process outsourcing company focused on serving middle-market enterprises, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Human Resource MicroSystems, Inc. (HRMS), a San Francisco-based provider of human resources software to the middle market. In addition to the traditional HRMS software sales model, BPOMS also plans to offer the HRMS software to its customers under a software-as-a-service ("SaaS") basis hosted from a BPOMS data center facility. BPOMS plans to relocate its existing HRO business to the HRMS headquarters located in San Francisco.

Workstream Launches On-Demand Solutions for Mid-Market Businesses
Workstream Inc., a provider of on-demand compensation, performance, and talent management solutions, has announced three new on-demand solutions -- Workstream Recruitment Professional, Workstream Performance Professional and Workstream Development Professional -- for mid-sized businesses. Traditionally, a large enterprise solution provider, Workstream is now broadening its product line to aggressively target companies with between 100 and 2,500 employees. The new Workstream solutions address a long-ignored need among mid-market companies for on-demand human capital management solutions that can be deployed quickly and work immediately out-of-the-box.

Employees Use Web 2.0 and Knowledge Management to Add Value to Their Organizations
LexisNexis, a provider of information and services solutions, has announced the results of a nationwide survey to provide insights into how Information Professionals (IPs, or someone who strategically uses information in his/her job to advance the mission of the organization through the development, deployment, and management of information resources and services) are adding value to their organizations through technology and knowledge management. The survey also explores where IPs see the future of technology.

Information professionals are savvy when it comes to leveraging technology to make information more valuable, relevant, and accessible, with 93% of IPs saying they currently use intranets for managing and distributing information, and seeing collaborative workspaces (57%), wireless (44%), and portals (51%) as very important for the future.

The survey revealed an interesting breakdown and frequency of information sources accessed. With Web 2.0 it’s no surprise that information professionals are very in-tune; nearly four in ten access Weblogs at least weekly (39%), and more than a third access wikis (34%).

For more traditional sources there was even greater usage. More than nine in ten surveyed access news Web sites (92%), and company Web sites (93%) at least weekly (or more often). Video or audio podcasts were rarely accessed. Less than two in ten access video podcasts (16%), or audio podcasts (15%).

When respondents were asked, “What is the most successful new initiative/service that you have launched in the past year?” the top five responses were:

• Document search, retrieval, delivery, and access enhancements, such as centralizing the document collection into a common ILS or Integrated Library System, OpenURL linking, RSS feed, taxonomy, and library portal integration, development and/or enhancement.

• Embed and/or migrate IP services within business units.

• Increase, provide, and/or offer new training.

• Enhance or standardize process and quality control procedures.

• Provide assistance and services proactively.

Other notable mentions included digitizing important and/or historical print sources, providing collaborative workspaces, and creating wiki-type databases.
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Road Warriors at Best-In-Class Organizations are 35% More Productive
In the newly released report Benchmarking the Enterprise Road Warrior, Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, found that best-in-class organizations are twice as likely to be “very satisfied” with the productivity of their road warriors as compared to all the others.

The report analyzed organizations’ use of mobile technologies, including smart phones, wireless data cards, and hotspot services to better understand how best-in-class organizations leveraged the technologies to improve their road warriors’ connectivity and productivity. As part of that performance increase, best-in-class organizations are also three times more likely than all other organizations to rate the quality of their tech support for road warriors as “very high.” Over 400 organizations worldwide contributed their experiences to the study in order to be heard. The best-in-class organizations represent the top 20% of the responding organizations and are defined on the basis of process, organization, knowledge and technology.

The report shows a strong correlation between the deployment of mobile tools and workforce productivity. As best-in-class organizations have taken a more systematic approach to deliver mobility solutions to their road warriors, they are able to translate those implementations into improved productivity for their road warriors.
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IT Staff Could Benefit From Enhanced Technical Skills
As technology changes, so do the job requirements for a company’s IT staff. In a new survey, 25 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) ranked technical skills as the area in which their IT staff could most use improvement. Project management abilities were a close second with 23 percent of the response.

The national poll includes responses from more than 1,400 CIOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis.

CIOs were asked, “In which of the following areas do you think your IT staff could most use improvement?” Their answers: Technical abilities (25%); project management skills (23%); verbal and written communication abilities (15%); organizational skills (14%); and interpersonal skills (12%).
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CEOs' Major Hiring Concerns: New-Employee-Success Rate, Hiring Systems
Imagine how your company would run if nearly half of its employees performed below average or turned out to be a hiring mistake. Unfortunately, this very real, stressful and costly scenario is playing out for many top CEOs, according to the 2007 Management Action Programs (MAP) Quarterly CEO Survey conducted by Vantage Research. Survey results indicate an “at risk” employee-success rate, given that 32 percent of the CEOs report that up to 50 percent of their new employees haven’t been meeting expectations over the past two years.

Just finding the ‘complete package’ in a potential employee, that is, with appropriate skills and training combined with the right attitude and work ethic, is very challenging for these CEOs.

Additional second-quarter statistics point toward a breakdown in hiring systems as the culprit behind this “at risk” employee-success rate. Again, more than a third (36 percent) of CEOs lack confidence in their company’s hiring systems, rating them below average. And when these employers discover a strong candidate for a position, they often cannot afford to bring them on board.

The at-risk hiring process is very serious. The cost of losing a new hire can run two to three times his or her annual salary -- both in hard and soft dollars -- and the expense is sometimes much higher than that.

The survey also uncovers that CEOs worry about how today’s current events could impact their company’s potential. However, it’s “internal issues” that keep these business leaders awake at night.

Finally, the survey indicates that CEOs rely mainly on referrals to source new employees. Other methods, listed in order of popularity, include: print advertising, online advertising (e.g., Monster.com), external search firms and their company website ads.
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Corporate Use of Executive Coaching May Have Peaked
Coaching of corporate employees may have passed its peak in popularity, according to a survey of 2,000 human resource executives by Novations Group, a global consulting and training firm based in Boston. One-third of the organizations that provide executive coaching report they rely less on it than in the past.

Companies that offer coaching were asked what statement best describes their organization’s use of coaching?

• We increasingly rely on coaching: 19%.
• We rely on coaching at about the same rate as in the past: 48%.
• We rely less on coaching: 33%.

Executive or employee coaching increased dramatically over the past decade or more, so it’s understandable that such enormous growth would slow somewhat, but now it appears there may even be a slight downturn. No doubt this is due to senior management pressure for greater accountability and cost containment, says Novations.

But there will be a cost if less coaching is available at the middle and senior levels. Most of those leaders who in recent years were able to make a successful transition to the next level benefited from coaching.
More....

Free White Paper: Fast Track to Service Management Success by AMI Partners

As dependence on IT grows, service desk demands grow. This white paper by AMI-Partners outlines today's roadblocks to service management success, how to create a service management roadmap, how to rapidly implement a successful service management program, and how to select a service management solution.

This white paper includes a detailed discussion on implementing traditional service management software vs. implementing an on-demand SaaS solution, as well as key criteria for evaluating vendors.

Request your free copy today!

Workplace Anger Can Escalate
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 2 million assaults and threats of violence against Americans at work occur annually. This includes 325,000 aggravated assaults, 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults, 70,100 robberies and 900 homicides. A substantial number of employees also report being bullied or harassed on the job. Workplace violence costs employers billions of dollars in lost work time and wages, reduced productivity, medical costs, workers' compensation payments and legal and security expenses. Providing training to recognize and address workplace violence should be a regular part of an employer's annual training regimen.
Full Article...

High-Tech Learning for Low-Tech Employees
Yogi Berra said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” Although that creative statement of the obvious causes both a chuckle and reflection for many who hear it, it is the profound reality in the case of high-tech learning for traditionally low-tech positions. This is a new and exciting period in which digital learning technologies have finally evolved from futuristic science fiction to current practical reality. For more than 10 years, learning professionals have been talking about integrating “high-tech” into their businesses “in the future”-- and now the future is here.
Full Article...

The Work Force of One
For years, companies used standardized human-resources plans for recruiting and managing workers. One set of rules dictated everything from the kinds of benefits and rewards the company offered to how employees were trained and evaluated. That approach made things easier for the human-resources department and ensured a degree of efficiency, equality and fairness. Now some executives are finding that this model isn't adequate for getting the most out of existing talent or attracting and keeping new people. To be competitive in the marketplace and in the race for talent, companies must understand and address the diverse needs of their work force. In fact, they must treat each employee as a "workforce of one."
Full Article...

Your Wasted Resources (WR) Dept
Employee turnover costs U.S. companies $340 billion. Duh. If your company is typical, its 30% turnover rate and average cost of $8,300 to hire new employees means your company's Department of Wasted Resources is creating a catastrophe. While it's crying about talent shortages, talent is rotting on the shelf for lack of care and feeding. Rarely do good workers go sour if a company tends them properly. And here's the rub: Companies must actively keep their workers fresh, if they want to avoid the costs of replacement.
Full Article...

Ten Mistakes to Avoid When Negotiating a Raise
Every day, at work and at home, you are involved in dozens of negotiations, big and small. Many people find negotiation difficult because of their desire to please, to come to an agreement, to compromise. We have been taught that win-win is the best possible result, that we need to “get to yes” so that all sides are happy. That’s the biggest mistake you can make in negotiations.
Full Article...

More than 85% of managers believe employees leave because they have been pulled away by "more pay" or "better opportunity." Yet, more than 80 percent of employees say it was "push" factors related to poor management practices or toxic cultures that drove them out. This gaping disparity between belief and reality keeps organizations from addressing the costly problems of employee disengagement and regrettable turnover with on-target solutions. The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave gives readers a deeper understanding of why conventional exit interviewing doesn't work, and what organizations can do to identify, prevent, and correct the root causes of these problems.

For more information, or to order your copy...

More books can be found in the RecognizeServiceExcellence.com Required Reading section: http://www.recognizeserviceexcellence.com/

Multichannel Service & Support Survey of Executives: Report of Findings
Supportindustry.com and eGain Communications Corp. recently conducted a survey of contact center, helpdesk and customer service managers and executives, focusing on multichannel customer service and support -- its importance, the current state of their multichannel capabilities and challenges in implementing and managing it.

To get a complimentary copy of the report, click here: http://www.supportindustry.com/research.htm


White Paper: The Role of Web-Based Self-Service in the Support Organization
Today, as enterprise knowledge and content management takes on greater importance, self-service technologies are allowing users to search disparate, dynamic data sources using such sophisticated search mechanisms as natural language processing, precision optimization and adaptive learning. Not only are users exploiting Web-based channels to find answers to questions, diagnose problems and download fixes, but to perform such transactional duties as product registration, email opt-ins, user profile enhancements, service agreement updates and more. (please note – you will need your member log-in to view this white paper)

Read the full white paper:
http://www.supportindustry.com/members/selfservice_wp_2005.htm

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