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5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support

Mobile devices are no longer used solely by top executives – road warriors, field service professionals and “corridor warriors” also consider smartphones business necessities.

Companies with widely dispersed mobile employees realize that there’s no good time for downtime, so being able to provide remote technical support across PCs, Macs and smartphones is no longer a luxury.

Click Here to get our white paper  "5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support" and find out how you can start providing smart remote support for smartphones today

ASP Announces "Best Web Support Sites of 2009"
The Association of Support Professionals (ASP) has just published a new 166-page book that offers a unique, behind-the-scenes look at how ten leading technology companies have developed world-class Web support sites. Based on the ASP's annual "Ten Best Web Support Sites" awards competition, the book looks at the ten companies that the ASP's judges selected as market leaders in online support. Each profile includes a discussion of how the site developers overcame a major challenge in site design, customer interaction, internal politics, resource management, technology implementation, or other issues. In addition, each profile provides an illustrated walk-through of three key features of the site. Copies of "The Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2009" are available directly from the ASP for $95 (member price $60). site: http://www.asponline.com/awards.html

Call Compliance Inc. Signs Letter of Intent with Execuserve Corp. to distribute Hire-Intelligence Employee Evaluation Software Worldwide
Call Compliance Inc. announced  that it has signed a Letter of Intent to enter into an exclusive licensing agreement to distribute the Execuserve Corp. Hire-Intelligence software program. The program conducts dynamic assessments of prospective job seekers with embedded features, including artificial intelligence, calculates and assesses customizable job skills and behavioral characteristics required of prospective job seekers, in addition to applicant tracking features and customized interview guides. The assessments are then used to create job-specific profiles which serve as benchmarks for future hiring. Together, the companies intend to create a contact center specific agent evaluation tool.

Managing 'Survivor Syndrome'
As the downturn is forcing more firms to reduce personnel, global companies need to have plans in place to "manage survivor syndrome" in order to prepare for the eventual upturn, according to a report issued by The Conference Board, the global business membership and research association.

"Survivor syndrome" refers to a marked decrease in motivation, engagement and productivity of employees that remain at the company as a result of downsizing and workforce reductions. It entails a series of complex psychological processes and subsequent behavioral responses. Those who actually carry out the downsizing are also "survivors."

"Survivor syndrome" evolves over three critical phases: strategic decision-making, survivor perception and survivor reaction.

Three variables related to the actions of the management team -- communication, transparency and trust -- may influence whether a layoff survivor will perceive the downsizing as strategic (fair) or impulsive (unfair) and whether survivor syndrome will be perpetuated. Rumors and gossip often arise when communication, transparency and trust are inadequate.

Unfortunately, downsizing often expands layoff survivors' responsibilities and workloads and gives them the impression that they are expected to do more with less. So getting back to work becomes a much more difficult task because perceptions of employer loyalty are shaken. For these reasons, job involvement tends to actually decrease over time following a downsizing, which supports the notion that waiting for time to ease the pain is simply not effective.

To survive corporate downsizing, companies can leverage existing people strategies, including internal communications such as blogs, staff meetings, brown bag lunches, etc. They can also provide learning opportunities such as additional training and staff development initiatives to facilitate job changes and career path transitions resulting from the downsizing. Companies can involve downsizing agents in the decision-making process whenever possible, ensuring that they have the information needed to counsel survivors. They can also provide opportunities and resources for downsizing agents to debrief with other downsizing agents, and they can encourage them to participate in organization-wide stress management initiatives.
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Pay Raises Expected to Rebound in 2010
Pay raises for U.S. workers are expected to rebound in 2010, following a year in which many companies slashed raises in the wake of the recession, according to a new survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.

Companies are projecting median merit increases of 3.0 percent for 2010, according to the Watson Wyatt 2009/2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards survey report. The survey includes responses from 235 large U.S. employers gathered in May 2009.

Last year, before the onset of the recession, companies projected 3.5 percent merit increases for 2009. Now, companies say median merit pay increases will be 2 percent in 2009.

Additionally, fewer companies plan to eliminate pay raises in 2010. According to a separate survey of nearly 900 companies conducted by Watson Wyatt Data Services, a subsidiary of Watson Wyatt, only 10 percent of companies are planning no pay raises for workers in 2010 compared to 25 percent this year.

Watson Wyatt's Strategic Rewards survey also found that companies are giving smaller raises to employees who do not meet performance expectations. In 2009, workers who "partially met expectations" will receive median merit increases of only 0.2 percent, down from 1.5 percent in 2008. Workers who "exceed expectations" this year will receive a median 3.1 percent increase, while workers who "far exceed expectations" will receive a 4 percent increase.

The recession has significantly reduced annual bonus pools as well. Funding for annual incentive awards dropped notably from 99 percent in 2007 to 82 percent in 2008. In 2009, annual incentive awards are expected to be funded at 75 percent.
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New Whitepaper:  Better customer care at a lower cost

Offering the highest level of support to your most valuable and at-risk customers can be a company's greatest differentiator -- especially in today's economy.

Discover how to provide your customers the kind of care that keeps them loyal by:

• Identifying customer-care scenarios that typically result in calls and emails, but can be easily handled using live chat
• Using intelligent business rules to send chat invitations to those who encounter such scenarios before they select a more costly contact option or leave your site
• Matching supply and demand to maximize the number of engagements per hour, giving customers faster response

Download the white paper now...

Feeling the Heat: The Effects of Performance Pressure on Teams' Knowledge Use and Performance
Why do some teams fail to use their members' knowledge effectively, even after they have correctly identified each other's expertise? This article identifies performance pressure as a critical barrier to effective knowledge utilization. Performance pressure creates threat rigidity effects in teams, meaning that they default to using the expertise of high-status members while becoming less effective at using team members with deep client knowledge.
Full Article...

Call Center Site Selection Strategies
You're relocating your call center or starting up a new center. After narrowing your choices to one or two areas based on labor availability and total costs (and choosing designs and standards for your center's decor, furniture and lighting), the real challenge emerges: finding the right space at the right price at the right time. Tight time frames (under 90 days) mean a slimmer selection; while six to nine months should increase your selection pool. You can still meet a tight time frame, but you'll still want to consider all the strategies here--and be prepared to devote heavy resources to the project so that corners don't get cut in the rapid decision-making process.
Full Article...

Facebook Used at Work: What's Next, Personal Phone Calls
A recent report revealing that nearly half of office workers visit Facebook during the day shouldn't be cause for concern amidst the corporate ranks. In fact, many of these people remain ahead of their employers in understanding how people will communicate with one another in the future. Any new technology in the workplace brings an initial dip in productivity. When offices added telephones and later e-mail, people contacted friends and family, interacting with them during business hours. In fact, they still do so today.
Full Article...

Are You Too Nice A Boss?
At a time when many people are spending more time in the office than at home with family or friends, it's tempting to look toward colleagues (both juniors and superiors) for camaraderie and companionship. Add to that a 2004 Gallup poll which found that workers who are friendly with their bosses are 2.5 times more likely to be satisfied with their job, and it's clear that there are real benefits to befriending employees. But the downside to letting work relationships get too familiar is that it has a greater tendency to harm--impacting your employee's career, your reputation as a boss and the company's bottom line.
Full Article...

10 IT Job Functions Ripe for Outsourcing
As economic forecasts predict an ever-lengthening recession, CIOs will continue to be called upon to trim costs and create better operational efficiencies. Baseline Magazine spoke with Frank Casale, CEO and chairman of the Outsourcing Institute, and Allen Weinberg, principal and North American leader of McKinsey & Company's Outsourcing and Offshoring Practice, about IT functions with the biggest potential for outsourcing or offshoring.
Full Article...

StrengthsFinder 2.0
by Tom Rath

DO YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO WHAT YOU DO BEST EVERY DAY?

Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.

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

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

White Paper: Best Practices for Coaching Your Support Team to Handle Anything

This white paper provides a step-by-step game plan for solving your support agents' worst nightmares, based on the author's experience in successfully "turning around" support performance, as well as current research in the psychology of how we communicate with people. In the process, you will learn how specific, procedural skills -- both for how your agents respond to customers, and how you coach your team -- can change everything about how your interact with customers, in a way that will impact both your support metrics and your bottom line.

Get the full white paper here!

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