THE REAL-TIME CONTACT CENTER

"To get a competitive edge in a world of commoditized service, companies have to convert their reactive, cost-oriented contact centers into predictive, engaged, revenue-generating, real-time profit centers. A real-time contact center provides an outstanding customer experience, enhances loyalty, increases sales, reduces expenses, and streamlines information flow between the center and the company at large -- all of which adds up to substantial bottom-line improvement. The Real-Time Contact Center is a practical guide to building a service infrastructure that will simultaneously exceed your customers’ expectations, and build revenues. This timely book will help you: Establish the business case for transforming your contact center into a real-time profit center. * Sort through the technologies and systems that enable real-time contact centers, and learn the best ways to use them. * Build profitable relationships with sales and marketing. * Strengthen your self-service applications to improve their efficiency and to reduce dependence on service representatives, enabling significant cost reductions. * Hire, train, and motivate staff to keep your contact center at the top of its game. * Make smart, ethical decisions regarding offshore outsourcing. The book is packed with step-by-step implementation plans for migrating from your current model to the real-time contact center, and offers a complete package of winning strategies, practical guidelines, and best practices. Each chapter includes self-assessment checklists for use by all the crucial players in your contact environment. The Real-Time Contact Center analyzes the business trends that are driving change in the contact center market, and provides vendor names and a market overview of key call center technology, systems, and applications. The book also discusses how to optimize management and processes to ensure your people are well positioned to deliver extraordinary service with every interaction. Most importantly, The Real-Time Contact Center will show you how to make this crucial transformation without disrupting your current service initiatives. With the powerful tools and practical recommendations in this book, you will transfer quickly and seamlessly to a world-class contact center that’s designed to generate substantial revenue, delight your customers, reduce expenses, and make your organization the envy of its industry."

Donna Fluss is Principal of DMG Consulting LLC, delivering customer-focused business strategy, operations, and technology for Global 2 and emerging companies such as Nortel Networks, RealNetworks, J. Jill Group, Stride Rite, MCI, NICE, HBCS, and Roadway Express. She is a recognized leader and visionary in contact centers and real-time analytics, and a highly sought-after writer and speaker. Ms. Fluss is the author of the industry-leading annual Quality Management/Liability Recording Product and Market Report and the Guide to Successful Contact Center Offshore Outsourcing. She is widely quoted in leading business publications, and writes regularly for Call Center Magazine, ICCM Weekly, Line56.com, Europecontactcenter.com, CRMXchange, Speech Technology, CRM Guru, 1to1 Magazine, and GreaterChinaCRM. She previously was a Vice President and Research Director in Gartner’s CRM practice, where she doubled the revenue of the customer-service strategy area, and consulted to more than 3, clients. Ms. Fluss was also a senior manager and leading business transformation and merger expert at Chase Manhattan Bank. For more information, visit the DMG Consulting website, www.dmgconsult.com, or contact Ms. Fluss at donna.fluss@dmgconsult.com.