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Strategies for Service Excellence
Las Vegas, NV, November 5-7, 2007

Join us in Las Vegas for the Services Industry Summit - "Strategies for Service Excellence", at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, November 5-7, 2007. Network with industry leaders, who will share their strategies for delivering world-class service and support. Presentation topics include Service Excellence by Design, Mergers and Acquisitions - Strategies for Successful Integration, Strategies for Managing Staff Performance, Service Excellence and the Trusted Advisor, and more.

Don't miss this event! Click here for details.

Convergys to Provide Starbucks with HR Services
Convergys Corporation, a provider of customer care, human resources, and billing services, announced a multi-year contract with Starbucks Coffee Company to provide global human resources business process services, beginning with Starbucks North American operations. Under terms of the contract, Convergys will provide human resource (HR) administration and payroll services for Starbucks partners in the United States and Canada, along with benefits services for Starbucks partners in Canada. The goal is to help Starbucks build a single global platform for HR services to support Starbucks' rapid global expansion.

Social Networking Enters HR World with Mentor Scout 2.0
Mentor Scout, a division of Nobscot Corporation, has released a new edition of its talent management software that adds broad social networking capabilities designed to help nurture and retain the 75 million Generation Y/Millennial workers currently entering the workforce. The program is the first to use social networking tools --- a vital part of everyday life for younger people today --- to promote employee interaction, collaboration, recognition and self-expression. Mentor Scout’s new Talent Networking Edition enables employees to create MySpace-style profiles about their professional and personal lives as a means of engaging them with the organization. The social networking functions are arranged in tabs such as “Projects” (for posting information about current work projects, challenges or ideas); “Applause” (for praise or thank-yous from colleagues); “Favorites” (for listing preferences on issues such as websites, books, blogs, classes, lunch spots and productivity tools); and “Get Togethers” (for arranging social meetings).

IBM Rules Govern Workers in Virtual Worlds
Anything pretty much goes in online virtual worlds. Increasingly though, these online zones like "Second Life" are also becoming places where commerce is happening. Big companies such as IBM Corp. and Intel Corp. use these graphics-rich sites to conduct meetings among far-flung employees and to show customers graphical representations of ideas and products. Now, in hopes of capturing the power of this new platform while avoiding potentially embarrassing incidents, IBM is taking the unusual step of establishing official guidelines for its more than 5,000 employees who inhabit "Second Life" and other online universes.

One in Five HR Directors Measure Training ROI
About 60% of human resources development departments within global companies believe it is possible to measure the return on investment of their employee development initiatives.

However, only 18% measure whether their employee training and development delivers an effective ROI, according to U.K.-based Lane4.

The global consulting company says this is a sign of HR's continued lack of clout at many businesses.

ROI is something that businesses want and expect from their training programs, says Lane4. Measurement of ROI has invaluable benefits beyond the bottom line, including [modified] people development for the organization, goal-focused interventions, and the ability to predict effective investment.

The global performance measurement study, which spanned seven geographical regions and 15 business sectors, suggests the biggest problem is a sense that there are too many barriers to actually achieve this.

Data shows that 68% said it was difficult to calculate true financial ROI. Another 67% cited insufficient resources to fully evaluate these training programs.

The study points out that HR needs to be able to demonstrate a clearer ROI that is widely understood rather than spurious measures that sound good but mean very little.

Suggestions include aligning employee development programs with business strategy by involving relevant stakeholders, identifying the desired ROI (i.e., saving on recruitment cost by increased retention), and using goal-setting techniques.
More...

Enterprise Communications Fall Short of Strategic Corporate Goal of More Productivity
Can U.S. firms cut costs while boosting knowledge worker productivity and competitiveness? Not today, according to a recent in-depth survey of 100 U.S. companies with more than 5,000 employees commissioned by Siemens Communications Inc. and conducted by IDC, a provider of global IT research and advice. Nearly 80 percent conceded they lack the communications capabilities needed in working environments that they recognize are increasingly distributed, mobile and virtual.

In fact, 62 percent of respondents -- CIOs and IT directors -- believe the number of mobile employees in their companies will increase. Forty percent believe that the number of virtual teams in their companies will grow. What’s more, significant percentages of enterprises also expect a rise in their number of teleworkers, global WAN sites, and ways to reach customers.

With all the mobile capabilities and dynamic collaboration required by virtual teams, the threat of fragmented communications derailing corporate goals of more productivity and competitiveness while lowering costs has never been greater, says IDC. What’s needed is an open communications environment that combines unified communications with IT platforms and business process integration along with other streamlining capabilities.

The findings support a concept IDC calls “Enterprise 2.0.” This combines Web 2.0 technologies and unified communications as well as their integration with existing horizontal and vertical business applications to enable new ways of working. There’s a growing demand by companies to create highly effective Enterprise 2.0 working environments.
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Study Exposes California Industries with Lowest Worker Health Coverage
Job-based health coverage -- the bedrock of the US health insurance system -- is fractured and uneven throughout California and particularly scarce in some of the state’s largest and lowest-paying industries, a new study reveals.

The study by the Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI) found wide disparities in employer-provided health coverage among the state’s 17 major industries. Overall, less than half of working adults in California get health insurance through their jobs. In the hotel and restaurant industry, it’s only 20%.

The erosion of employment-based health coverage leaves almost 5 million California workers dependent on publicly funded health programs or completely uninsured, according to the study results.

CPI, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization located in San Diego, analyzed data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2005, a UCLA survey of 45,000 households, and from the California Employment Development Department. The research is funded by private foundation grants.

The CPI study exposes stress points in the state economy where workers are least likely to have health insurance and the cost of their medical care is shifted to the public through taxes and higher hospital and premium charges. The major findings include:

• Most uninsured adults in California are workers.

• The proportion of workers with employer-provided health coverage ranges from 20% to 74% across California industries. Only three major industries cover more than 60% of their workers: Education, Information and Public Administration.

• Some of the state’s largest industries, such as Retail Trade, have the lowest rates of employer-provided coverage.

• Low-wage workers, who are least able to afford medical expenses on their own, are least likely to have employer-provided health coverage.

• More than one in four (28%) of working adults in the state receive their medical care through means funded directly by taxpayers or indirectly by all healthcare purchasers.

The report concludes public policies must be implemented to ensure job growth improves access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance. Effective policies may include economic development strategies, the use of government purchasing power as leverage to require healthcare standards of contractors, and state legislation setting an equitable employer contribution to fund healthcare coverage.
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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.

Get your copy today!

Key Elements of Effective Compensation
Compensation is an emotional subject for a host of reasons. Because it is emotional and factual, “getting it right” in the eyes of employees can be challenging in the best of situations. Handled poorly, compensation can prompt lowered morale, increased turnover, increased costs and decreased productivity. Not exactly a recipe for success. Is “getting it right” simply a matter of paying an individual what he or she says he or she desires? The answer is “No.” There are at least five key elements involved in effective compensation within an organization.
Full Article...

Halo Effect: The Myth of Employee Satisfaction
Too often, observers and executives make assumptions about business performance that are not based in fact. For example, if a company is doing well financially, the assumption is that its leader is a brilliant and gifted individual, the corporate culture is amazing, and the people are the best. That, according to author Phil Rosenzweig, is the halo effect.
Full Article...

Looking for Staff in Not Enough Places
Feeling the squeeze of a tech talent shortage, CIOs are getting more creative about where they look for workers. Yet forays into Facebook notwithstanding, many CIOs suffer from a kind of tunnel vision when it comes to recruitment. Rather than using common tactics such as trying to poach talent from other IT shops or working with a recruiter — both of which lead to salary inflation and have other shortcomings that are detailed in the interview — experts urge CIOs to focus recruitment efforts on current IT professionals, college students and tech-savvy business people. The latter category seems especially promising, given CIOs’ desire for IT staff with business skills.
Full Article...

Warning: Social Networking Can Be Hazardous to Your Job Search
That cute, affable guy who brags of his drunken exploits on FaceBook.com may be meeting a lot of other partiers online, but he's probably not getting added to the "friends" lists of many corporate recruiters. As the amount of personal information available online grows, first impressions are being formed long before the interview process begins, warns David Opton, ExecuNet CEO and founder. "Given the implications and the shelf-life of Internet content, managing your online image is something everyone should address -- regardless of whether or not you're in a job search," he says. Because the risks don't stop once you're hired.
Full Article...

Is Your Workforce Strange Enough to Guarantee Competitive Advantage?
According to Daniel M. Cable, what characterizes successful companies these days is "a strikingly different, obsessively focused" workforce, one that -- compared to competitors' workforces -- is "downright strange." In order to get the best results, says Cable, a management professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, to get the best companies have to build a workforce "that is extraordinary in a way that customers care about."
Full Article...

Some people have the ability to start a conversation and immediately draw people in, while others -- perhaps even those with more valuable things to say -- get pushed to the side, seemingly ignored. Unfortunately for those who don’t have "It," this undeniable "It" factor is more than just an attractive quality, it’s also a hallmark of success.

A practical and entertaining guide that will help anyone supercharge their communication skills and consistently make a positive impression on others, The "It" Factor gives readers the tools -- and confidence -- they need to take charge of any conversation, meeting, or networking encounter.

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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