Latest White Paper - The Supervisor Opportunity for CX

Aside from traveling to industry and vendor events, I work with many vendors to provide various forms of thought leadership and go to market support - that’s mainly how I make my living.

NICE is one of those vendors, and my latest work with them is a white paper, which was recently published. I don’t have the exact date, but was likely around late March. AI is transforming the contact center space in many ways, and there is no shortage of angles to explore.

For this white paper, the focus is on supervisors, a role that tends to be in the shadows when considering use cases for AI. Well, it turns out this is a really important use case, and to better learn why, I hope you give this a read. As with most white papers, registration is required on the vendor’s website - it just takes a moment, and follow-on comments are welcome, as always.

New Mini-Report - US Contact Center Market Review

I’m a market researcher by trade, but as an indie analyst, I don’t publish industry reports as a matter of course. However, I’m happy to produce those on a custom basis, but that’s a different conversation. On occasion, though, I will produce mini-reports, which are on a smaller scale, and often based on publicly-available secondary sources.

That’s the format used with Aizan for this review of the US contact center market. More specifically, the research was used to support the notion that the on-hold experience is a critical link in the customer experience value chain, and is poorly understood.

This is a focus area for Aizan, and regardless of what’s on offer, the main takeaway is about the opportunity for contact centers to better address this weak link. Registration is required from their website, but if this is something you’ve been thinking about, I think you’ll find it a good read.

Latest Insight Report - 2024 CX Trends for Upstream Works

Been doing my share of writing and speaking for what lies ahead for 2024, and here’s my latest example. This is an Insight Report I prepared for Upstream Works to help educate contact center leaders about key CX trends to be watching for in the new year. Lots to talk about in this space, and here’s the registration link to access the writeup. If you get it, I hope you like it, and welcome comments any time.

Next Stop - Verint, Scottsdale, AZ

I’ve got one more industry event during this travel run, and it will be the ninth in nine weeks, so it’s been a long stretch of airports and hotels.

This one is for Verint and their Analyst Days event in Scottsdale. It will be my first time attending Verint’s event, and am very much looking forward to being with them in-person, and hearing about their roadmap from their leaders. As always, I’ll share on LinkedIn along the way as time allows, and will do a wrapup post soon after.

New White Paper - Being Strategic When Deploying AI in the Contact Center

Still catching up on new thought leadership to share - been doing a lot of that lately, but with so much travel, it’s been hard sharing about them in a timely manner. Here’s one, though, that is timely. My latest white paper for NICE was just published yesterday, and it’s getting a lot of traction already.

So, ICYMI, it’s out now, and here’s the registration page to access a copy. Sorry, but long-form content like this is usually gated, but it just takes a minute to fill out the form, and you’ll have it to read in no time.

New Guest Post - Enhancing CX with Integrated Messaging Apps

My series of guest posts for Aizan continues, with the latest topic being the role for messaging apps to improve customer experience. Customer service has historically been voice-based, but the use of messaging has increased greatly, especially with mobility, and there are many scenarios where this is the best way to engage with customers. For more on this, I hope you check out my post, and more topics are coming soon.

London Called, Lima Calling - NICE Analyst Summit Next

This crazy - but really fun - Fall 2023 World Tour continues, and there are several more stops ahead yet.

Am just back from London and the UC Expo - blog post/pix about that is coming next. Home barely long enough to pack and prep for alpaca country - Peru! This could be the most complicated trip I’ve ever done, but it’s all an adventure, and I know it’s going to be memorable.

This is for the NICE Analyst Summit, and if you thought Marrakesh, Morocco last year was exotic - and it was - it’s not a stretch to say Machu Picchu is even more exotic. I think we’re really splitting hairs here, but more importantly, NICE has set the bar impossibly high for analyst events, and am more than happy to be in the mix.

Most people don’t believe me when I tell them about this run of travel I’m on, so if not just to bear witness, I’d damn well better share pix. I always do that, but this time around, there will be video coming too, and I’ll explain more about that next week.

For now, I need to figure out what to wear, and double check all the travel logistics. I fly from Toronto early Monday to Newark, connect there to Lima, stay the night, then fly out Tuesday morning to Cuzco, and from there I will get taken to the hotel, and then the adventure really begins!

I have a lot to learn about Inca culture, but I do know that Cuzco is central to the origin myth for sun god worship - Inti - and it’s probably best to stay on his good side. NICE sent this guy along, and he’s coming with me as my good luck talisman.

Next Webinar - Where to Invest for Long-Term Contact Center Success

Quiet month before summer ends, but September will be busy, and even more so for October. Got a new webinar here to pass along - I’ll be speaking with RingCentral, and it’s hosted by ICMI, so I’ll be in good company.

There’s so much to talk about in the contact center space, and I hope you’ll join us for our take. The webinar is on Sept. 27 at 2pm ET, and here’s the registration page.

New Guest Post - Raising the Bar for A2P Messaging

I’ve got a new guest post to share, and it’s for Toronto-based Aizan Technologies. They’re doing some interesting things in the communications space, both for telephony and messaging, as well as for both fixed and mobile networks.

One area of interest is A2P messaging - application to person - which is a much bigger deal in the consumer world, but as the contact center space keeps morphing, A2P becomes relevant here as well.

My guest post is about some fairly new requirements for A2P campaigns that marketers and brands need to be aware of. Without higher standards and safeguards to mitigate fraud, these campaigns will become even more of a nuisance for consumers, as well as a greater risk for brands.

Given how messaging is becoming more widely-used for customer service, there’s more at stake here than just pushing out marketing pitches en masse. If this piques your interest, I hope you give my writeup a read, and to do that, here’s the link.

New Podcast - Talking Generative AI with Cresta's CMO

I told you I had a lot of new content to share, and am slowly getting all of it out now.

This post is the first of a two-part podcast series with Cresta, a company that has been doing a lot in the contact center space with Generative AI. The series is being hosted by UK-based EM360, where I’m a regular contributor. For Part 2, I’ll be in conversation with their CEO, Ping Wu, and that should be out in the next couple of weeks. Until then, I hope you check out Part 1 with CMO Scott Kolman - it just went live yesterday.

My Latest White Paper - Re-Thinking the On-Hold Experience

We all know what being put on-hold feels like, and it’s never good. While it may be a necessary evil for customer “service”, there’s also an opportunity for contact centers and brands to use that time in a more constructive, engaging fashion. Annoying music can certainly make the experience even worse, but imagine providing content that customers would actually want to hear while on-hold.

When it comes to personalizing customer experience, this is just one more form of interaction that is fully in the control of the contact center. If you’re amenable to thinking more broadly about what on-hold can look and sound like, I think you’ll find my latest white paper of interest.

The paper was sponsored by Aizan Inc., an innovative company solving some pretty daunting problems in the communications space, especially around telephony and messaging. Usually, my white papers are gated, where registration is required, but this one is public, so it’s available for all. Here’s the link, and I’d love to hear your thoughts - as would the folks at Aizan.

How to Manage Telecom Fraud - Guest Article for Contact Center Pipeline

That’s the title of my latest article for Contact Center Pipeline, where I’m an occasional contributor. Telecom fraud takes many forms, and while we all know what those calls sound like, it’s likely far more insidious than you might think. I’ve been delving into this space recently, and my new article here is one facet of what I’m coming across.

If that’s of interest, you should check out the rest of the May 2023 issue, as cybersecurity is the editorial theme, so there’s lots of other good analysis here relating to the contact center. Here’s the link, and if you like the writeup, comments are welcome, and feel free to share. Visual below, btw, is from the article, from the folks at Contact Center Pipeline.

New Series from NICE: ChatGPT Created This Webinar

Just a heads-up about a new series that I’m part of with NICE. In case you can’t get enough about Generative AI and what-it’s-all-about, they’ve put together a four-part webinar series.

The first episode is out now, and I was a guest for the second one, where I was in conversation with John Willcutts. That episode was released this week, and there are two more coming over the next few weeks.

I hope you check them all out, and to do that, you need to register here. As always, feedback and sharing welcome.

New Podcast with NICE - AI in the Contact Center

I’ve got a new podcast to share, this time with NICE. Am back for another episode of CX Pulse, hosted by Amelia Earhart, and this time we’re talking about the bigger picture for how AI is - and can be - deployed in the contact center.

There’s no direct link to specific episodes, so you have to scroll through their web page, but since mine is recent, it’s near the top - “AI in the Contact Center”. Also, there is a direct link for Apple Podcast subscribers, or here on Spotify, so those are other ways to access it.

New White Paper for NICE - Business Value of AI Beyond the Contact Center

Got a new white paper to share - this one is for NICE, and is a bit of a sequel to an earlier white paper I did for them. I touched on it briefly during a webinar last week, and to get the full story, here’s the registration link for downloading.

Next Webinar - with NICE - Tapping AI Beyond Chatbots

Got another webinar to share here. This one is with NICE, and it draws on a recent white paper I did for them. As the title in the visual below shows, we’ll be exploring the bigger picture for AI in the contact center, and why it’s much more than chatbots.

I’ll be joined by Lauren Maschio from their Product Marketing Team, and the early response has been really great, so it should be well-attended. It’s happening next Thursday, January 26 at 11 ET, and here’s the link to register.

December Writing Roundup

With 2022 coming to a close, I just have one public writing piece for December, and it starts an exploration of a new topic for me - more to come in future writeups.

Telemarketing Fraud Presents an Unacceptable Risk to Businesses, No Jitter, Dec. 20

My Latest Insight Report - for Upstream Works Software

Longer-form writing takes, well, longer to do, longer to be reviewed, and longer to be published. I do a lot of writing for all lengths, and here’s a current example of what I call an Insight Report. This would be longer than an article, shorter than a white paper, but substantive enough to be gated content.

I’ve been working with Upstream Works Software for a few years now, and when the stars line up, we do a couple of these annually. The latest one has been posted to their website, and here’s the registration page to get it.

The title is pretty self-explanatory, and speaks to a key trend driving just about everything in the contact center space these days: The AI Opportunity - Enhance the Agent and Customer Experience with AI Application Integrations. I hope you like it, and if any questions, just drop me a line.

Next Webinar - with Five9, Canadian Contact Center Market Trends

On Thursday, Dec. 1, Five9 is running the 2022 edition of their CX Summit Canada, and I’ve been brought back again to provide an overview of the contact center market. I’m part of a larger program running through the day - all of it virtual - and later, I’ll be joining an in-person reception in downtown Toronto. The Five9 folks will determine who can attend, and to find out more, here’s the registration link.

Vendor Roundup for AI Usage in the Contact Center - My Latest on No Jitter

I’m part of the UC Expert Team with BCStrategies, and we take turns contributing our perspectives to No Jitter. It’s my turn this week, and with all the industry events I’ve been attending lately, there’s plenty to talk about. There are many stories to tell for how AI is being used in the contact center - some is transformative, and some is more incremental, but overall, it’s a dominant trend now.

I can only cover so much ground in one article, and over the course my recent work with vendors, I’ve provided a brief update on what four vendors are doing - Cisco, NICE, Twilio and Dialpad. Each really warrants its own article, and the same can be said for other vendors I’m following just as closely. My writeup is running now on No Jitter, and as always, comments and sharing are both welcome. If this piques your interest in a longer analysis, I’m not hard to find!