Welcome ,

Reminder - Best Practices in Customer Support Webinar Series

Parature's Webinar Series "Best Practices in Customer Support" continues with new presentations delivered by some of the industry's leading minds. This month Michael Buckham-White of Premier Global Services will deliver an informational session on, "The New Era in Customer Support in a Web 2.0 World. How to Enable Customer Self-Service and Reduce Calls and Emails By Up to 80%".

Gain the insight you need to help reduce costs and enable customer self-service by attending these exciting and informative webinars.

Register Today!

Unum Launches Next-Generation Benefits Solution
Unum has unveiled an integrated product and service platform called Simply Unum that brings a high level of choice, pricing flexibility and administrative ease to the employee benefits market. More than two years in development, Simply Unum addresses the key issues facing today’s employers, including cost pressures, workforce diversity, recruitment and retention, and the challenge of benefits communication and administration. Designed specifically for the small to midsize business owner, Simply Unum provides a base of group disability or life insurance coupled with voluntary benefits.

TalentDrive's TalentMatch Resume Sourcing Service Fully Automated for Small Businesses
TalentDrive, a resume sourcing and screening company, announced that it has fully automated its TalentMatch service. By completely automating TalentMatch, small businesses can quickly and easily build a unique job description and run a comprehensive online search for resumes that meet specific job requirements, all with the click of a mouse. TalentMatch is designed to meet the recruiting challenges and level the playing field for start-ups and growing businesses. Using proprietary technology, TalentMatch helps small businesses expand their search for online resumes by searching every corner of the Internet, including paid and unpaid locations, to select the most promising candidates.

Hewitt Launches Tool to Quantify Cost Impact of Value-Based Health Care Designs
Hewitt Associates, a global human resources services company, has announced it has entered into a collaboration with A. Mark Fendrick, M.D., of the University of Michigan, and Michael E. Chernew, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School, to develop a clinically oriented actuarial model that helps employers quantify the cost impact of implementing a value-based health care design, starting with prescription drugs. Combining Dr. Fendrick's and Professor Chernew's academic orientation, research and experience with Hewitt's actuarial acumen and design expertise, Hewitt's Value-Based Design Model enables companies, in real time, to analyze the compliance effects and financial impact of reducing employee cost sharing for specific health care services and increasing employee cost sharing for others.

Jaisan Inc. Selects Workway for Staffing Services
Workway, a staffing firm specializing in serving the financial industry, announced Jaisan Inc., an organization providing owners and heirs of abandoned property with consulting services, has selected Workway to provide staffing services. Jaisan required a staffing firm to establish a more efficient way to hire its employees. Workway has helped fill multiple positions including administrative and account executive positions.

OSHA Offers New Health Care Compliance Assistance module
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released a new Health Care Industry Quick Start module for its Compliance Assistance Quick Start, the agency's web-based tool that introduces employers and employees, especially those at small businesses, to the free compliance assistance resources on OSHA's Web site. The new Health Care Industry Quick Start module is directed primarily at small employers in the health care field. The module is designed to help users find free resources on the OSHA Web site related to the health care industry.
More...

Are Business People Fooled by the Six Degrees of Separation Theory?
Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization, explains the flaws in the theory that any person is connected to any other person through no more than six intermediary connections.

The six degrees of separation theory is a myth that stems from several "small world experiments" conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s and '70s. "Though Milgram's work was revolutionary," explains Misner, "it has unfortunately been romanticized, and the mythical version of his findings doesn't serve anyone well. It gives people a false sense of security and an erroneous understanding of the networking process."

Dr. Misner stresses that there are two reasons why he feels it is important to let businesspeople everywhere know about the inaccuracy of this iconic concept upon which a lot of networking pros hang their hats. First, the myth creates complacency by giving some people a false sense of expectation that connections are bound to happen sooner or later, no matter what they do. Secondly, and most importantly, the studies' findings clearly indicate that some people are better connected than others.

This means networking is a skill that can be developed. With reading, training and coaching, people can improve their networking skills, increase their connections and become part of the roughly 29 percent of people that are, in fact, separated from the rest of the world by only six degrees.
More...

Major Changes in the HR Business Process Outsourcing Marketplace
Global independent research and advisory firm IDC, and EquaTerra, a global sourcing advisory firm, announced in a joint telebriefing that the marketplace is seeing major changes and shifts in human resource outsourcing (HRO) adoption, deal trends, and provider positioning.

As the first-generation of these contracts begin to reach their expiration periods, buyers are becoming increasingly savvy. As existing contracts are renegotiated and recompeted, the market for HRO has become more competitive. IDC projects healthy revenue growth in this market from $11 billion worldwide in 2006 to $19 billion in 2011.

Some key findings from the briefing include:

• As standalone HR outsourcing grows in the forecast period at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3%, comprehensive BPO, combining multiple HR functional towers, is growing at a CAGR of 14% for the same period.

• Buyers are increasingly combining HR functions with others, including finance and accounting, creating 'multi-tower' deals.

• After a steady decline, HRO pricing is on the rise and HRO provider profitability is increasing.

• Large, global HRO deals are on the decline. Only two to four are projected in 2007.

• Demand is outstripping supply. HRO providers are capacity-constrained.

• New providers are still entering the market.

As HRO moves beyond single-function deals, buyers are finding it more important to take a strategic view of their objectives and desired outcomes. There’s lots activity in the HRO market, but the buyer landscape has changed as more organizations understand the reality of HRO. It is a complex undertaking that requires careful planning, clear communication of strategy and purpose, and significant effort to design an outsourcing governance organization that can manage all of these moving parts, says IDC.
More...

Starting Salary Offers to Class of 2007 Continue to Rise
Employers continue to offer higher starting salaries to new college graduates across many disciplines, according to the Summer 2007 issue of Salary Survey, a quarterly report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

The increased hiring of new college graduates as reported in the NACE Job Outlook 2007 Spring Update survey is translating into even higher average starting salary offers. In that survey, nearly nine out of 10 employers reported that they’re seeing more competition for new college graduates than in past years, and they believe that competition will continue to increase in the coming years.

Competition for new college grads fuels higher starting salary offers in many curriculum areas. Nearly all the business disciplines saw increases to their average salary offers. Accounting grads’ average offer rose 2.3 percent, bringing their average offer to $46,718, and business administration/management graduates saw their average rise 3.9 percent to $43,701.

The average offer to economics (business/managerial) grads was $48,483 and the average offer to finance grads was $47,239.

Management information systems/business data processing grads also fared well, posting a 4.2 percent increase to their average starting salary offer, raising it to $47,648.

Marketing graduates saw increases in both the Winter and Spring issues of Salary Survey, and this trend continues. Their average offer is up 6.1 percent to $40,161. The computer science disciplines posted increases across the board.

Computer science grads saw an increase of 4.1 percent, brining their average offer to $53,396. Information sciences and systems graduates’ average offer rose to $50,852, a 4.6 percent increase.

Engineering majors also posted increases across the board. Chemical and civil engineering grads saw a 5.4 percent increase, bringing their average offers to $59,361 and $48,509, respectively. Computer engineering grads posted a 4.8 percent increase, boosting their average offer to $56,201. The average offer to mechanical engineering graduates rose 4.6 percent to $54,128, and electrical engineering grads’ offer increased by 3.2 percent, bringing their average offer to $55,292.

The news for liberal arts graduates is also good. Most of the liberal arts majors posted increases to their average salary offers. Political science/government majors saw the largest increase over last year, with an increase of 5.9 percent, raising their average offer to $34,590. English majors also fared well; their 5.3 percent increase brought their average offer to $32,553. Psychology majors posted a 4.7 percent increase and now average $31,631; sociology majors gained 3.5 percent, bumping their average offer to $32,033; and history majors saw a 3.3 percent increase to bring their average starting salary offer to $33,768.

These results suggest that the increased hiring for new college graduates is in fact translating into higher average starting salary offers. NACE will take one final look at starting salaries for 2006-07 graduates in the Fall 2007 Salary Survey report, which will be published in early September.
More...

"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.

Why you Should Enforce Staff Breaks
Small business owners are being urged to ensure that staff take regular breaks to maintain efficiency, prevent mistakes and stay on the right side of the law. A survey by workplace consultancy Croner, in fact, reveals that almost one in five (19%) employees take no lunch break. But while this may appear to be an advantage for bosses, it is also fraught with danger. Under the EU’s Working Time Regulations 1998, employers are obliged to ensure that anyone who works more than six hours a day is entitled to an uninterrupted break of not less than 20 minutes. This should be away from their workstation.
Full Article...

Communicating with a Corporate Superstar: Lessons from Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant is the quintessential corporate superstar: He is the face of the $447 million Lakers franchise, has the top-selling NBA jersey in the United States and China, and has won numerous scoring titles, All Star bids, and All Star MVP titles; within the industry, his peers and colleagues fear his scoring and envy his all-around talent. But, what happens when a company’s superstar wants out? Managing a high maintenance superstar is tricky, but when crisis situations arise, like when a superstar mutters about leaving, proper communications can make or break your entire organization.
Full Article...

‘Unlearning’ Makes Headlines at Reuters
Rather than store every conceivable piece of information in their heads, employees at the London-based financial software, technology and news company participate in learning through methods including creating user content, taking on stretch assignments or rotating to work on different project teams. They’re encouraged to find the knowledge they need so they can put it into action. But there isn’t a necessity for them to remember it.
Full Article...

Ten Tips to Make Training and Development Work
How much money did your organization invest last year in training and development that failed to provide the results you sought? You are not alone if employee training classes rarely resulted in the transfer of immediately useful information to your workplace. Real employee behavioral change, based on the training content, is even harder to demonstrate in most organizations. Discouraging? You bet. So what's an organization to do to ensure employee training transfer to the workplace?
Full Article...

How HR Can Become a True Strategic Partner of Sales
In a recent Mercer survey exploring the relationship between the HR and Sales functions, some very interesting findings emerged. The research reveals that although establishing a strategic partnership between HR and Sales may seem a distant goal, it is possible — and very important. By employing the best practices of successful partnerships and using fundamental customer-centric strategies, HR can become an effective business partner with sales and a strategic asset in the revenue-generating function of a company.
Full Article...

The Truth About Being a Leader explores basic truths about leadership that will be useful for any leader — those just starting on that journey and for those who’ve been at it for years.. Drawing on hundreds of leadership feedback reports, Otazo reveals what actually works, and doesn't work, when it comes to being a great leader. The book provides techniques for smoothly assuming new leadership roles, preparing mentally for leadership, honing style, maximizing impact, handling and tough coaching and feedback sessions.,

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

Manage Your e.Newsletter Subscription
Log-on to the member's only page and you can to change newsletter formats, remove yourself from the list, or update your member profile.

Editorial suggestions, feedback & comments:
Carolyn Healey, Editor - chealey@recognizeserviceexcellence.com

Advertising Information:
adinfo@recognizeserviceexcellence.com

Thank you for reading RecognizeServiceExcellence.com's weekly newsletter!

Copyright © 2007, RecognizeServiceExcellence.com