Blog

Artificial Intelligence: Streamlining Contact Center Technology

It is hard to believe it now, but artificial intelligence used to be nothing more than a futuristic dream. It was portrayed in old movies as the vehicle that would completely change the world and propel our culture to unimaginable heights. Now, artificial intelligence—the stuff of the future—is all around us, and we are still learning just how much it can benefit us. In addition to improving our daily lives by helping us find restaurants, driving us around in our vehicles, and even controlling the lights and appliances in our homes, AI is also improving the world of business in a variety of ways. Automated systems are especially helpful for call centers, and Gartner predicts that non-voice interactions in customer service settings will likely rise to 85 percent by the year 2020. Many contact centers are discovering how artificial intelligence can benefit them and help them turn a greater profit while serving customers’ needs more effectively. If your contact center does not currently make use of AI, you may be spending more than you need to and missing out on your full potential to appease the needs of your customers. Consumers are increasingly desiring self-service options, but they still want the ability to speak with a live customer service agent if needed. When you offer digital solutions that recognize and predict the needs of your customers, you create a seamless user experience. While artificial intelligence should never replace the human component of your contact center, it can be used to help busy call centers handle larger call volumes with greater efficiency. How Artificial Intelligence Drives Effortless Customer Experience With Human Touch   One of the most universal challenges experienced by businesses of all types is the constant struggle to improve the customer experience. In fact, 72 percent of businesses list customer experience improvement as their top priority, according to recent data published by Forrester. Call centers that experience a high volume of customer service calls may consistently struggle to deliver a quick and effective customer service experience. Since recent research from NewVoiceMedia reveals that companies in the United States lose approximately $62 billion each year as a direct result of poor customer service, it is imperative for companies to turn the statistics in their favor by taking actionable steps to improve the customer experience for their consumer base. One of the most effective ways to do this is by incorporating artificial intelligence into the call center customer service process. Using AI in the call center can improve customer service operations in the following ways: Improving business agility Achieving operational excellence Providing machine-centric intelligence with human-centric interaction Increasing versatility and flexibility Predicting customer behavior Maximizing available resources and reducing operating costs Delivering a consistent, reliable experience to each customer Meeting customer needs around-the-clock Creating relationship-based interactions instead of transaction-based interactions Speech recognition systems can be implemented to relieve the burden of high call volume from human agents. Such systems can also take care of after-hours phone calls when call center agents are not available. This benefit makes it possible for businesses to take care of customer needs around-the-clock, without paying call center agents for graveyard shifts or overtime. In a digital age, more customers expect businesses to be able to meet their demands 24/7, and implementing a speech recognition into your call center can help you live up to evolving consumer expectations. When integrated into the call center, advanced speech recognition systems, such as interactive voice response (IVR) systems, make it possible for customers to easily navigate through a menu of options by using their voice instead of the telephone keypad. Other call center speech recognition options include speech-to-text, voice search, call routing, and voice dialing. For many businesses, automating the telephone answering system is an efficient way to handle anywhere between 40-85 percent of incoming calls. More and more businesses are leveraging the efficiency and predictability of speech recognition systems to improve efficiency and anticipate customer needs. Achieving the ideal blend between an automated, self-service environment and live agent interaction in the call center is a challenge worth pursuing. Providing customers with the option to navigate self-service systems without taking away their ability to talk to a real person as needed comes with a variety of benefits, including cost savings, more efficient customer service and improved customer experience. How to Use Artificial Intelligence As an Effective Quality Monitoring Solution   If you were to ask 10 different companies for the definition of “excellent customer service”, you would probably get 10 different answers. There is no single, universal definition of superior customer service that can be applied to all businesses. For this reason, it can be hard to nail down the standards that you need your call center team to adhere to in order to deliver the highest level of customer satisfaction. The challenge of determining, analyzing, and enforcing behaviors and actions that meet excellent service standards for your business most likely falls on the shoulders of your quality monitoring group. Their task is a monumental one, but it is necessary for delivering a concise, uniform approach to customer service. By using updated Artificial Intelligence software, it is possible to increase the effectiveness of your quality monitoring team. The highly accurate data provided by the AI software can direct your quality monitoring team to changes that may need to be made by call center representatives. The end result is an improvement in your contact center’s processes and methods for interacting with customers. Automating your quality monitoring system can provide some of the following improvements to your business: Reduced agent effort Better sales results Compliance with regulatory requirements Improved customer experience Artificial intelligence, when used correctly in a call center, can effortlessly monitor and gather valuable data from your team’s phone calls, chats and emails. It can also assist management in identifying opportunities to improve customer satisfaction, sales conversions and processes. Speech recognition technology is capable of anticipating customer needs and quickly delivering predictions and solutions that are specific to each

Tips To Improve Quality Monitoring

Looking for improved contact center quality monitoring? Read on to know practical tips that can help deliver effortless customer experience.

8 Principles That Will Lead You to A Successful Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is or should be the bedrock of all organizations. It is based on the principle of growth through individual recognition and achievement. The idea is that through a particular set of practices leaders can pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and the workforce to better balance efficiency, culture and ultimately profitability and growth. While the philosophy of servant leadership has been around for centuries, it wasn’t until Robert K. Greenleaf put the principles into print in 1970 that the corporate world began to take notice. Before Greenleaf’s writing, the corporate world was organized into a top-down structure – the executives, managers, assistant managers, laborers. As the philosophy grew in popularity, more companies began incorporating a horizontal organizational structure based on collaboration and communication, broadening ideas and understanding while increasing the overall effectiveness of the workforce. Servant leadership is an integral part of modern organizations, and the transition to this type of leadership style rest in the understanding of eight essential principles. Communication When discussing leadership qualities, there is not one more important than communication. Open and honest dialogue ensures clarity and also helps to reduce tension and confusion. When leading through a servant mentality, there are three areas of communicating to focus on. Listening As a servant leader, you should demonstrate a deep commitment to listening. This doesn’t mean to stay silent or avoid conflict, but it does mean that you must fully comprehend and understand the opinions of others before dismissing or condemning their views and actions. The will of the group should always be identified before any organizational decisions. Empathy In the same spirit of listening, empathy is the ability to recognize and understand the reasoning behind someone’s actions. This recognition is not an approval of performance or behavior, only an acknowledgment of understanding. Healing Healing can also be described as conflict resolution. It is the ability of a leader to listen to both sides, understand the logic behind the decision-making and provide a compromise or resolution that suits the best interests of the employees and the organization. Persuasion In top-down organizations, leaders coerce compliance through disciplinary measures and demands. In servant leader structures persuasion is preferred to positional authority, meaning that communication is used as a means of uncovering appropriate actions and convincing the whole as to its rightness. A leader using the servant philosophy understands the importance of consensus in community development. Awareness Successful teachers of servant Leadership know how to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of others and within themselves. This ability to be self-aware leads to balance in the team and the corporate culture. Awareness can be uncomfortable, admitting your need for assistance or lack of skill is not easy, but it is one of the best ways to foster a team mentality. Foresight Beyond communication and team building a leader must be able to drive an organization forward through growth and ingenuity, both of which present risks. Therefore, a leader must develop foresight – the ability to systematically examine and diagnose successes and failures to predict and avoid future mistakes. Conceptualization In the practice of servant leadership, conceptualization refers to the act of thinking or dreaming of further growth opportunities often through the scope of foresight, meaning planning without losing focus on the present or the past. Essentially, conceptualization is tied to innovation and is necessary for modern organizational success. Stewardship Stewardship refers to the responsibility an organization has to not only its contributing workforce but the world as a whole. Many companies are stewards for healthy environmental practices. However, stewardship can also be about fair labor practices, proper resource management or even fiduciary responsibility. Commitment to the Growth of People One of the fundamental principles of servant leadership is the commitment to the growth of people. While the goal of any business is organizational growth, servant leaders understand that profits and people are uniquely intertwined. Without a happy and developing workforce, a company will struggle to maintain and surpass expectations. Community Building Community building is established through a combination of the above principles and practices. However, showing that you are not above the community can enrich and inspire the growth of the overall culture more than any individual element. People are used to top-down structure, and despite the increase in servant led organizations, many still expect the do as I say not as I do mentality, meaning that leaders who practice what they preach can ignite the rapid development of a cultural and corporate change. Servant leadership is a necessity of modern organizations. The core principle of personal growth corresponding to corporate growth is something we sincerely believe here at Etech. We understand the benefits of community and communication. Contact us today. Let’s open a dialogue and see how we can benefit each other. This blog was published on LinkedIn.

6 Tips to Spot Phishing Attack Emails

Phishing attacks could be compared to actual fishing. The scammer creates an email that includes an enticement, essentially baiting the hook. Their next step is to send the email out to thousands of individuals, casting the line. Finally, they wait for an unsuspecting person to take the bait and reel them in, attempting to collect some form of protected information or possibly even payment. This modus operandi or method has been around for a long time as it continues to prove highly successful for the malicious actor. Prior to computers, phishing scams were accomplished through phone calls, direct mail, or even face-to-face contact. However, over the last couple of decades, digital scams have allowed for the casting of a much wider net as well as improved anonymity, which means the criminals are harder to catch. Therefore, it falls on the end user to be vigilant regarding their online activity and email usage. Many internet users in both business and home settings overestimate the ability of their cybersecurity to circumvent the threat of malicious actors. While it is true that internet security can minimize the risk of phishing attacks, it cannot account for human error, which is precisely what scammers will try and exploit. To limit your exposure to these scams, you should follow six simple tips to spot and avoid attacks. Always Be Cautious of Embedded Links While there are many signs of potential email scams, message links may be one of the most prominent. Many fraudulent emails will have numerous links within the body of the message, attempting to entice readers to click at least one. This will usually redirect the system to malicious site/content or simply download malware to exploit the computer system and set it up for the potential attack. Mismatched URLs Phishing emails will often have mismatched URLs, meaning that the web address that is spelled out in the text does not match the URL that appears when you hover your cursor over it. If you notice that the target address is different from the stated address do not trust the message. Redirects There may be times where the URLs in the email match the stated links, but when you click on the link, you are redirected through other addresses and sites. If you are redirected to a strange website, then there is a good chance that the email was a scam, and you should scan your system for potential viruses immediately. Be Wary of “Suspicious Activity” Emails A common tactic of phishing is to claim that there has been a suspicious activity or unauthorized changes to one of your accounts. Clicking on the provided link may even direct you to a site that looks completely legitimate. This is a major tactic for the malicious actor to trick you into entering your credentials. They can then seize control of your account and gain access to whatever information and/or funds are available. They may use the same credentials to gain access to other accounts and systems you have access to. Don’t be tempted to click on links, read or open attachments from these emails, instead of flag questionable emails and let your cybersecurity team worry about the details. Never click on an embedded link to enter your credentials. Exit the email and go to the site through the proper URL. Be Leary of “Urgency to Act” Claims Also, while winning a million dollars or inheriting some foreign prince’s estate would be a dream come true for many people, the odds are not in your favor. You have a better chance of being hit by lighting each day for the next two weeks. Many scams try to entice recipients with promises of lavish prizes and trips. However, they often have a ridiculous time constraint to try and force you into irrational decisions. Don’t think this scam still work? Recently, there have been reports of individuals approaching people in the parking lot of a bank they are entering convincing them to take out large sums of cash promising exponential returns on the funds. Of course, the malicious actors disappear with the cash never to be seen or heard from by that person again. If someone falls for the scam under these circumstances, think about how easy it would be to cast a wide net over the internet to get a nibble. Don’t Fret Over “Severe Consequences” Similar to the suspicious activity phishing attack, many scammers will take an even blunter approach by demanding action through the threat of lawsuits or arrests. The IRS has recently warned of phishing attempts that threatened huge fines. These scams are coercive and despicable. Take solace in knowing that there is no truth to them. The IRS does not communicate this type of information through email or phone calls. If you are being audited or owe money, the IRS will send you a letter via the U.S. Blogal Service. These attacks seek to prey on an individual’s fear of jail time or huge fines. Do not give them the satisfaction of falling for these types of attacks. Watch for Grammatical Errors Another common factor of fraudulent emails is grammatical errors. These aren’t typical typos and are usually overwhelmingly apparent because they are syntax errors, meaning that words are arranged in strange ways. Many scammers are not native English speakers and may struggle with recognizing syntax mistakes. Most reputable companies will have proofreading teams capable of editing spelling and grammar errors. Therefore, emails plagued with bad grammar should likewise be avoided. Don’t Underestimate Minimalism Phishing does not have to consist of a complex, persuasive strategy. Some offenders try to scam unsuspecting individuals by posing as friends or colleagues, sending an innocuous email with a blank body and single attachment. These types of emails should be immediately discarded unless you are acutely aware of the sender and their intentions. Email addresses can be spoofed and appear to come from a friend or coworker when they are actually

How Integrating Artificial Intelligence With Human Intelligence Can Delight Your Customers

Incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into your call center quality monitoring can feel like an uncertain prospect. With over 80 percent of businesses already using or planning to acquire automated technology as a customer service strategy by 2020, it’s apparent that AI is quickly becoming a baseline requirement to compete in an increasingly globalized marketplace. However, many business owners still have concerns regarding the effects that AI will have on customer relations. While the efficiency and cost-cutting benefits of automated technology are well documented, there is a widespread myth that consumers will always prefer to resolve issues with a live customer service agent rather than a front-end AI-powered chatbot or interactive voice response system. The truth is that AI, when properly integrated with human intelligence, can vastly improve the effectiveness of your call center quality monitoring. Success depends on aptly assimilating technology into the existing corporate structure and promoting a workplace culture that embraces AI as a helpful resource. By keeping this philosophy in mind, you can use automation to develop an elevated front end experience that will dazzle your customers. Harness AI To Improve Overall Efficiency Surveys have shown that customers place a high level of importance in how quickly their issue with a company is resolved, while fiercely resenting the need to explain their problem to multiple people before reaching a solution. And nearly 70 percent of customers prefer the convenience of a messaging program over a live phone call to resolve an issue. Consequently, the speed and organization of your customer service matter just as much as the quality of engagement. This is where artificial intelligence in a call center can be a game changer. By streamlining some of your most repetitive, low level customer queries to a front-end AI-powered chatbot that consumers can communicate with at their own pace, you’re able to provide an immediate response to a simple question while freeing up time for your live call center service agents to address more complex issues or to speak with older customers who may not feel comfortable utilizing technology. Implementing AI to supply rote solutions to recurrent consumer complaints allows you to offer personalized, consistent service based on the level of engagement required. The result is a more effective system of call center quality monitoring. Use Automated Technology for Enhanced Training When humans are tasked with assessing customer service agent performance, limitations become evident. Most companies without a dedicated AI platform only have the resources to analyze a tiny fraction of recorded interactions. This means that they’re only getting a restricted sampling of vital call centers quality monitoring metrics such as voice analysis, predictive patterns of behavior, and productivity rates. By adopting an automated quality assurance program that can easily track every call, you’ll jump to a 100 percent monitoring rate that gives you the full picture of service center strengths and weaknesses. The analytic capabilities of a good AI quality assurance system also have the potential to transform your training strategies. Automated technology can easily identify hundreds of different variables to a human voice and develop predictive models for emotions that can be applied to specific customer queries and demographics. This data can then be used to formulate standard live agent responses to common consumer complaints, resulting in a higher level of satisfaction. By using AI to enhance the effectiveness of your live service team, you can channel the combined power of technology and human intelligence to provide a superior level of customer support. Ask for Live Agent Feedback on AI Systems While weaving artificial intelligence into call center structure can dramatically improve your customer satisfaction and retention rate, the truth is that no current AI software can operate completely independent of human supervision and interaction. Even the most sophisticated automated call center quality monitoring network will struggle with complex customer queries that require the empathy and emotional intelligence of a live agent. That’s why it’s imperative to develop appropriate escalation procedures with your customer support team in the event that a front-end AI-powered chatbot or interactive voice response system is unable to adequately resolve a consumer complaint. To prevent AI from mishandling customer service interactions, incorporate periodic reviews of call center transcripts to pinpoint areas of weakness in system analytics that may need to be supplemented by live agents. You should also assign a dedicated team to monitor all call center automated functions and make quality control adjustments as needed. Keep in mind that the purpose of AI is to delight your customers, so utilize insight from your live agents to continuously improve your automated systems and avoid frustration and confusion from consumers that may cause them to move on to a rival company. While upgrading your call center quality monitoring system to incorporate AI may seem like a big investment, the truth is that you can’t afford to forego automated quality assurance in today’s marketplace. With over 91 percent of top branded companies that boast superior levels of customer satisfaction utilizing AI, embracing technology is a fundamental strategy for converting and retaining a loyal consumer base. The key to providing the consistent, personalized service that customers now expect is to use AI in tandem with a talented pool of live agents who are trained to view automation as a useful tool, not a competitor. By implementing AI to improve efficiency and provide faster response times to customers, amplify training strategies, and integrate feedback from your call center team, you’ll be offering a premium level of service to consumers that will build long term brand loyalty. With over 20 years of experience in providing superior outsourcing solutions across a wide range of industries, Etech is a world leader in helping companies develop a seamless customer service experience. We offer a variety of artificial intelligence strategies including inbound and outbound call center service, live chat messaging, quality assurance monitoring, tech support, and software application. Systems are customized to meet your individualized needs while allowing you to compete in a diverse and globalized marketplace. Contact us

People – First Culture – The Chant for Developing A Successful Business

The People-First culture is a buzz word in the business world now. Many companies have embraced this culture after witnessing the positive impact it has on the growth and success of various businesses. But what does People first Culture is all about? There is a variation of definition to this powerful term, but for Etech it is treating our workforce the same way we treat our customers. This is clearly reflected in our vision statement. Etech’s Vision To make a remarkable difference for each other, our customers, and within our communities. For a business, the quality of customer experience is directly proportional to customer satisfaction. And customer satisfaction directly impacts the success and growth of a business. Who determines the quality of your Customer’s Experience? The most valuable resource of your company – THE EMPLOYEES! The People-First culture – Benefits Magnet For Talented Workforce   Who wouldn’t like to work in an environment where there is growth, creativity, where one’s voice is heard, and hard work is appreciated and rewarded? A People-First culture is a magnet that drives talent into your spectrum and gives them the motivation to stay. Increased Productivity   According to one of Forbes articles, happy employees are up to 20% more productive. A People-First culture gives the employees the opportunity to utilize their strengths and platform to put in use what they have learned; this brings a sense of content and happiness among employees. If you have a strong and loyal employee base, nothing can stop your business from achieving its goals. When you put your people first, you are telling your workforce that they are important and their presence is valued. This generates a sense of trust and camaraderie among the people which is very important when it comes to the overall growth of the business. The Three Main Pillars of People-First culture Listen   A good company listens to what its employees have to say. Approach your workforce with an open mind and listen to their needs and requirements. Understand what are the challenges they are facing? Make them realize that the company cares for them and their welfare. Communicate   Communication gap is a pathway to a disastrous outcome. One of the vital factors that build a successful team is effective communication. Communicate to your people the company’s goals and vision. Effectively communicate with them the win-win situation that it will create when the employees align with the company’s vision. Support   Show your employees that you are there for them. There are different ways of supporting your team members like surprising them with gift cards occasionally, setting up company marts system wherein people can buy needful things out of the points they earn, team lunches, fun activities for relaxation, etc. Developing a successful People-First culture takes time and effort. The leaders have to proactively invest and involve in the activities that will help build a strong culture. But, it is worth investing your time, money and effort for the positive results will serve you lifelong.

Five (5) Basic Data Security Protocols Every Call Center Should Have

In a study out of the Clark School at the University of Maryland, researchers found that there is a hacker attack approximately every 39 seconds. A cyber-attack on a private user can be devastating enough, but in a call center that handles sensitive customer information daily, a data breach can be disastrous. Corporate security should be a top priority in every call center. Here are five ways to protect your customers, your employees, and your company. Install Strong Perimeter Security and Protective Software Call center data security hinges on how well your systems are configured and your network’s protection capabilities. You must be able to control what information can get in and out of your infrastructure. You should also have measures in place to thwart malicious attempts to infiltrate your systems and steal or corrupt sensitive data. To accomplish this, you need both a firewall system and anti-virus/anti-malware software. This first Protocol hits from multiple points. Defending the perimeter and defense on the inside of the perimeter. When we discuss perimeter control for the organization, we are discussing the outer layer of the network infrastructure. Think of it in this way; you have a secure building with one entrance. That entrance has a security guard that controls who enters and who leaves as well as what each can bring into the building and what they are allowed to leave with. The building represents your network, and everything inside is what resides within your network (Files, users, computers, etc.) The security guard at the single entrance represents your firewall and how well he/or she performs their task represents how secure your network is guarded. A firewall is a virtual boundary between your network and the outside world. It is your network’s gatekeeper so to speak. It uses a defined set of rules to determine what information is allowed into the network and what information can leave the network. It can also be utilized to control external access for employees through the use of a configured whitelist. It is important to have a firewall to protect the security of the organization, but it may also be helpful to have additional protection for the call center itself, preventing private customer information from leaking even to other parts of the organization where it isn’t needed. No matter how strong your firewall is, there are still ways that a malicious actor can gain access to your systems. Someone introduces a malicious file to your file system (knowingly or unknowingly) is always a consideration. Phishing attempts to employee email causing someone to click on an attachment or link causing malware to be downloaded to your internal systems through their workstation. These scenarios make it possible for a hacker to gain access to your infrastructure still. Malware can infect your network, causing it to malfunction, leak private data, open back doors for malicious actors, etc. Every system (workstations, servers, mobile devices, etc.) accessing your network should have anti-virus software installed to protect against malware that gets past the firewall. Multi-layered security increases the protection of your network and the sensitive data it contains. Ensure employees use Complex Passwords and Understand How to Keep Them Safe A strong password is one of the easiest ways to safeguard corporate security. I have seen so many people use easy passwords that can be easily cracked and yet passwords are the core protection component of our identity security. An excellent password is devoid of information that is easy to obtain, such as your birthday, pet names, etc., and it should not include common words or digits that are together on the keyboard. Passwords can be easy for you to remember but should contain a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. By using a combination of these, it becomes increasingly difficult for the password to be cracked. A single set of credentials should not be used by multiple individuals to access an account and system. Employee credentials should be back traceable to only them, and their respective passwords should only be known to them. Having a unique password for each system limits access in the event of a breach. This practice can protect the main network if only one account is compromised. You can set up rules to ensure that employees choose passwords that are complex and difficult to crack. Several free password managers such as https://.www.LastPass.com/ and https://www.Dashlane.com/ are available for establishing and remembering complex passwords. Rotating passwords at a minimum of every ninety (90) days will greatly reduce the likelihood of your credentials being cracked and can also prevent repeated access to the same account. Encrypt Sensitive Information at Rest and in Transit Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard the quote “There are two types of companies, those that have been hacked, and those that don’t yet know they’ve been hacked.” If this is true, what happens once an organization is infiltrated? We must look at the primary purpose of someone maliciously gaining access. To access and exfiltrate protected information. What if we look at it from this point of view? Even if they access the information, they can’t do anything with it. They have gone through all that effort to gain access to something they can’t even use! If your call center is receiving, processing, storing, and/or transmitting sensitive data, encryption provides an extra layer of corporate security to discourage malicious actors. Encryption turns readable text into a set of numbers or symbols called ciphertext. There are three basic types of encryption: Symmetric – The same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the message. Asymmetric – A public key is used to encrypt the message, and a separate, private key is used to decrypt it. Hashing – An algorithm is used to create a unique hash for each data set to make comparing data sets and recognizing tampering easier. Encryption allows you to protect information classified as sensitive by providing an extra layer of security. Only those who

Ask and Listen to Your Team

Consider this. How well would your company perform if every person on your team was a clone of you? When you hire someone, do you go out looking for someone who has all the same skills as the people you already have on the team? If you answer honestly, you probably have to admit that without variety among your team members, you would lose a great deal of creativity, many fresh ideas, and the ability to see things from different perspectives. Why then would you run your company without seeking input from your team, as if your thoughts and ideas are enough? It seems ridiculous when you say it that way, but Forbes reported in October 2017 that fully 70 percent of workplace initiative falls short of the goal due to a lack of employee engagement. Listening to your team members is the key to effective operation and improved employee satisfaction. Listening in the Workplace: The Challenges Managers who learn to listen see increased employee engagement, satisfaction, and productivity. With all those benefits, why is it still so hard to do? In 2016, a report by Deloitte found that one of the most difficult shifts for management to make is going from a once a year “conversation” with employees about their thoughts and opinions to an “always on” approach that listens constantly. The same study found that two-thirds of companies still only evaluate staff engagement once a year. Adding difficulty to the situation, only 22 percent of millennials surveyed felt that management would do something meaningful with their feedback. A lack of listening skills that reduces staff engagement has a significant impact on a company, right down to the bottom line. According to one study by Aon Hewitt, organizations where 70 percent of the workforce are engaged show higher rates of growth than those with lesser engagement. By contrast, the lower the rate of employee satisfaction, the more likely a company is to post a financial loss. Engaged employees are 87 percent less likely to leave the company. The United States Department of Labor estimates that the average company spends one-third of a new employee’s salary to replace the person who left. The Hay Group found that engaged workers are up to 43 percent more productive and make fewer mistakes than others. Listening and the New Ideas Making It Easier For most companies, listening to your employees has historically taken the form of annual satisfaction surveys, group meetings or conferences, and discussions with the Chief Executive Officer. However, in the new world of business, these expensive and time-consuming tasks are simply not enough. New ideas regarding employee engagement are emerging to make it easier to listen to your workplace team constantly. Social media: While most people think of social media as a way to communicate with the rest of the world, businesses can use the concept to keep up with team members’ ideas, questions, and suggestions for improvement. An internal Facebook page has worked well for Nokia, for example. The company also set up something called BlogHub where employees at any level of the company can post a thought or respond to someone else’s. You don’t have to create your tool though. Yammer and Groupe.io are two examples of inter-company communications instruments available on the market that can improve staff engagement. Chief Listening Officer: More and more large companies are coming to understand the value of having a Chief Listening Officer either on staff or contract. Study.com describes this position as someone who “specializes in monitoring both external and internal communications” about the organization. Companies that have chosen this route have realized improved employee morale, improved customer service, and higher staff retention rates. While not every company is large enough to sustain a full-time Chief Listening Officer, even a small company can build the measurement of employee satisfaction into the Human Resources or Public Relations Officer job description. Incorporating Listening Skills Into Management Training: Companies are taking note of the importance of listening to team members and incorporating that knowledge into manager training programs. In distributed environments where in-person training is impractical, virtual classrooms and interactive web-based teaching are utilized. Such staff engagement training focuses on the difference between hearing and listening, asking open-ended questions, and responding appropriately, among other topics. Listening as a Servant Leader The concept of servant leadership as set forth by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s involves leading a team or an organization by being a servant first. Listening is one of the most crucial skills needed to be a true servant leader, signaling that the leader genuinely cares what the team has to say. True listening allows the leader to gain a clear understanding of the team’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Once the leader has that understanding, he or she can take action that makes use of that information. Finally, genuine listening shows the team members that the leader can be trusted and respected, which goes a long way toward improved employee satisfaction. Annette Franz and John P. Rees of the Ritz Carlton Leadership Center point out the importance of setting aside time to listen if you are a true servant leader. According to Franz, “If you’re too busy to listen, then you’re not a servant leader.” While some may see listening as an activity that takes away from more “productive” tasks, however, the teachings of servant leadership describe a process of giving and take that can lead to the identification of ways to increase productivity. For example, an open and honest discussion of processes may uncover areas of unnecessary redundancy. Reese advises managers to make a commitment of time to listening and stick to it, seeing it as important as anything else he or she can do to improve productivity and profitability. Since your team members know their jobs best, it’s very common for managers to learn ways to increase profitability from honest conversations with team members. Also, the link between reduced turnover and managers who listen well is clear in the research,

Want to improve Customer Experience? These are the 3 Technologies that you should be aware of!

Customer Experience successfully drives the business to the path of growth and profit. It is the critical competitive differentiation that sets a business apart from its competitors. Here are the three technologies that are imperative for delivering the best customer experience. Said so, it is essential to understand that the technology is just the enabler and a good CX is the outcome of the consolidation of people, processes, and technology. Most importantly the company’s people are the face of CX. “A brand is defined by the Customer’s experience. The experience is delivered by the employees.” – Shep Hyken Live Chat Today’s customers don’t like to wait. They want an immediate response and what can be a better way than Live Chat! Live Chat helps to cater customer needs efficiently. It gives an open-ended platform for offering instant support and timely assistance. Various studies have shown that implementing live chat services has significantly improved customer satisfaction. In one of Inc’s article, it was stated that 92% of customers feel satisfied when they use the live chat feature. WHY? Customers find live chat to be very convenient as they can connect with an agent instantly and get real-time and personalized support. Their issues get addressed swiftly. The other best thing they find about live chat is that they can multi-task while having a conversation with the live chat agent, which they consider to be an added advantage. Artificial Intelligence It’s no secret that Artificial intelligence is flourishing and expanding its horizons every single day. With AI companies will be more efficiently and effectively be able to meet customer’s requirement and needs. HOW? For instance, data insights play a pivotal role in CX enhancement. However, customer experience data comes in the form of messy, unorganized datasets that need to be reformed into rational patterns to derive positive outcome. The tedium of pulling the data sets together and transforming them into no-complex consistent patterns is overwhelming. But for AI this is the prime stomping ground. It does it seamlessly and in a minor time frame. It’s high time that people start looking at AI with a different paradigm; it is not here to replace humans but to assist them. Combining AI and Human Intelligence can lead to seamless customer experience! Big Data Analytics Big data analytics is a game changer of the CX world. The application of this technology is transforming the way the businesses are interacting with their customers. WHERE? Big Data Analytics comes handy while analyzing the data collected from customers, and providing tailor-made solutions as per the expectations and aspiration of the customer. As showcased in a Salesforce survey 57% of customers share their personal data with companies for receiving discounts and personalized offers. Big Data Analytics helps in analyzing this humongous amount of data obtained from customers into an actionable way. It thus, aid in providing personalized services and delivering a better customer experience. Integrating these technologies into your business will help you to meet today’s customers’ expectations and to stay at the top in the battlefield of customer experience. This blog was earlier published on LinkedIn.

Actions and Attitude – Its Time To Align

It is often perceived that leaders gain influence with their team members solely based on how a message is communicated. As leaders, we’re taught the importance of tone fluctuation, being energetic and making direct eye contact, but the truth is there’s more to effective communication than the delivery alone. From performance reviews and quarterly updates to casual conversations by the water fountain, we’re constantly trying to improve communication with our teams, but we neglect one critical factor…our attitude. Attitude is defined as: a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior. In other words, it’s what we truly think and feel, despite the things we say to others. Many leaders do not consider their attitude when evaluating their communication simply because it’s often nonverbal, but nonverbal communication will make or break the effectiveness of your message, with or without your knowledge. Naz Beheshti, a contributor for Forbes Women wrote an article on “The Power of Mindful Nonverbal Communication” where she stated, “If our nonverbal communication is not aligned with our spoken words, then our message will be mixed or muddled, and it will not resonate at all. Our message will be lost in translation.” Has your message been lost in translation? Do you have a solid grasp on how you’re perceived in the workplace or have you assumed based on your “effective communication checklist”? Here are some practical tips on how to adjust your attitude to ensure your message is being received by your team members: Check your intentions – If the perception from your team members is that you’re egotistical, could it be true? Is the underlying tone of your interactions with them, “superiority”? Whether or not you want to admit it, people feel that. This is an opportunity for you to hold yourself accountable for A.) Doing the right thing and B.) Making sure your attitude is aligned with your company’s culture. Have integrity when no one is looking – You may not like someone you manage. You may not like someone you work with and the truth is, you’ll always be presented with opportunities to NOT be your best self towards them. Always choose to be your best self. Always choose to have integrity. Be mindful of your nonverbal communication – Smile, be friendly, say “good morning”, be genuine. It doesn’t cost you a dime. From the facilities department to the CEO of the company, true leaders demonstrate respectful verbal and nonverbal communication across the board. John C. Maxwell says, “People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” As we continue to learn and grow as leaders, it’s important for us to understand that no matter how intelligent we are, we’re not smart enough to hide our true attitude and intentions from the people we must lead.

Selecting the Right Quality Monitoring Solution Can Vastly Improve Customer Satisfaction Rates

If you’re in need of a solid strategy to boost your customer satisfaction rates, one of the best ways to do so is with a quality monitoring solution. Call center quality monitoring benefits customers, call center representatives and businesses, making it a winning situation for everyone involved. Before implementing such a solution in your business model, you should first have a solid grasp of the overall benefits of quality monitoring and why quality monitoring is so effective when it comes to improving overall customer satisfaction. How Business Intelligence Solutions Involve Quality Monitoring When it comes to improving customer satisfaction, you’ve got to act quickly and with automated call center technology solutions that offer immediate results. Without quick and effective solutions, you run the risk of losing customers forever. One of the absolute biggest benefits of quality monitoring solutions is they pave the way toward higher profits, mainly because satisfied customers are more willing to spend time and money on your company and the products and services you offer. Another advantage is your call center agents have a better idea of the steps necessary to take the best care of your customers, something that can go a long way in avoiding trial and error. Rather than wait for your customers to need assistance before they ask for assistance, quality monitoring solutions offer customers prompts when they first arrive at your website. The great thing about this is that customers know exactly where to go when they do have a question, which is undoubtedly preferable to scrambling around on your site in search of a phone number or live chat link. There’s also the fact that taking steps to boost your overall quality helps you to retain customers. Like you’re likely to continuously renew your lease on an apartment in which you enjoy living and feel like you’re well taken care of, the same applies to businesses that take great care of their customers and their needs. You have to remember that no matter the services or products you sell, your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Take great care of them, and it’s that much easier for you to grow your business and fulfill its true potential. Saving time is another great selling point for quality assurance. Even if you make it easy for site visitors to ask for help, there are still a few more steps to complete to take full advantage of your opportunity. For instance, the information gleaned from quality monitoring can allow your call center agents to fully answer any questions customers might have and take care of them faster, saving time for the customer and your agents. Do you have (or have you had) to reduce your number of contact agents for financial reasons? If so, investing in quality assurance could make the situation better for your agents as well as your bottom line. Quality solutions can go a long way in reducing caller and customer wait times, preventing customers from having to talk to more than one agent about the same problem and better managing your need to potentially outsource your call center to agents who might not be easily understood by your callers or who might not easily understand your callers. Additional Benefits of Quality Monitoring You’ll likely find it’s much easier for you to gauge the overall performance of your agents with quality monitoring solutions. While there might be standards you have, and while your agents might adhere to those standards, quality monitoring solutions provide you with more information that can be used to pinpoint further exact areas of agent performance that need improvement, something that better keeps your agents on their toes and can keep them from becoming complacent in their work performance. There’s also the fact that you want to make sure your agents are all offering customers the same experience across the board, meaning you don’t want to send (accidentally or on purpose) mixed messages. Even if a caller or site visitor interacts with a different agent each time she or he reaches out for help, it should still feel like dealing with one individual and one set of standards. With this approach, the quality assurance and monitoring feedback you receive is precise across the board, allowing you to make solid improvements to your call center. Just as quality assurance efforts let your call center agents know where they need to make improvements, they also let you know where you might have areas of improvement within your business structure. For instance, if customers and visitors constantly reach out to you with complaints about how difficult it is to navigate your site, it’s likely you need to give your online home an overhaul, or at least some mild remodeling. On a related note, don’t forget that your agents are another valuable font of knowledge about ways in which you can make your business better, so be sure to listen to them and give them a chance to voice their opinions. Having a constant influx of information on the overall quality of your service keeps you and your agents from settling into a false sense of security, which provides you with an undeniable edge in the modern-day business world as well as your industry. No matter your market or audience, change is inevitable. Not only that, but it’s also better to keep us with those changes rather than struggle to play catch-up, which can result in more than a few avoidable disasters. See what a difference practicing proactivity makes by keeping yourself and your agents on your toes. Going back to how you can save money with call center quality monitoring, it can lower the amount of money you spend on calls and other common operational costs, some of which you might not even be aware are impacted by the overall quality of your customer service. That’s money you can funnel back into your business, giving you the financial resources you need for successful growth and to keep your call

Unwrapping the Gift of Employee Appreciation

How many times do we hear grumblings like ‘my boss doesn’t appreciate what I do,’ or other complaints voicing the need for more recognition and appreciation? It happens all too often in organizations, large and small, and across all industries. It’s not limited to entry-level jobs, but those in mid-level and upper-level positions experience the need for appreciation as well as frustration when it’s not shown. Sometimes our attempts at showing appreciation are less than stellar, and our employees see it. But demonstrating appreciation for your employees can be a gift, not just for them but for you as well. “How is it a gift for me?” you may be wondering. Let’s think about the last time you thanked someone in your workplace. Can you say that on a daily basis you acknowledge your employees’ contributions in some way and show you value them…and would your employees back you up on that? The types of appreciation are many – individual vs. group, personal vs. organized, structured programs, planned vs. spontaneous, tangible vs. intangible, and one size doesn’t fit all – just like a gift. Perhaps it’s time to mix it up a little. If you think this doesn’t apply to you because your company doesn’t have anything “set up” for recognition, the good news is that the ball is in your court! You’re not limited by what your company provides. You can demonstrate appreciation no matter your level within the organization. You can also be an advocate for setting up a more formal program, but even if that’s not you or that takes time to get approved, why not start personally with individual small things? Having a regular corporate recognition program shouldn’t exempt you anyway from providing a heartfelt verbal thank you, surprising someone with a personalized thank you note, leaving a quick thank you sticky note on their desk maybe even with a snack bar or piece of candy or a mint, or even sending them a thank you email while copying their boss (if that’s not you). These may be quite traditional but can still be useful if actually done. Other ideas to be considered include praising them in front of coworkers, treating them to a cup of coffee or even a lunch now and then (or just inviting them to eat lunch together with you in the break room or your office even if you both bring lunch), or surprising them with a lottery ticket. Is there a way you can provide an opportunity to multiply the appreciation that you show? If you took a selfie with a sign that says ‘thank you’ or ‘we appreciate you’ or ‘great job’ (you get the idea) and sent the picture to your employee, chances are your employee may think about sharing that with a spouse, partner, or other family because they’re proud of it, which means even more recognition. Consider a shout out on social media for a great job or simply a group photo of a work event where they participated. The small, yet unexpected gestures can have a big impact. Depending on your business, maybe providing a more flexible work schedule one day or allowing extra time off could be valued options. Is it possible to provide a small company-branded item like a pen, notepad, stress ball, invite them to work on a special project or task force, or provide a designated parking spot for the week? Think about hanging on your office board a small picture of each of your employees or a group picture of the team. This action can show that you’re proud of them and interested in them – you care. Ask your employees individually what you can do for them and how you can help remove barriers. This is fundamental in a servant leader driven organization and is another way to show you appreciate what they do. When appreciation is happening regularly, and that becomes the culture for your team, the gift is returned to you. It’s not just something you gave to them, but a way that you invested in yourself, your team and the company. The resulting gift yields stronger relationships built, deeper connections made, increased loyalty, extra effort, improved attitude because of the positive environment, continued to drive to keep pushing through the challenges, one more reason not to start looking for employment elsewhere, and overall a more highly engaged employee. And why? Because you invested in a little appreciation. Taking the time to show appreciation demonstrates that the employee is a priority to you which often translates into the employee making you, the team, and the company a priority for them. The gift of appreciation that you gave has multiplied and been returned to you.

Retention Strategies That Work

Have you heard the phrase, “People don’t leave their company they leave their manager”? This is not a new concept, and it is still worth our investment of time and energy. We as leaders are the driving force behind why someone will continue to work for our company and us. Leaders are the individuals that can drive retention within teams and can be the catalyst for other initiatives that inspire great employees to stick around. However, this does not mean that leaders are holistically responsible for all attrition, but it does mean you play on of the largest parts. The actions below can lead to better employer/employee relationships and higher output from your employees (These thought processes hold even more true for training and development teams in the classroom). Employee Engagement: A great leader takes the time to invest in their team. They will focus on both the metrics of the job and how someone is performing to goal equally as much as they focus on making personal connections. Leaders challenge individuals to achieve more than they thought was initially possible. Through this challenge, a great leader is able to inspire and fully engage their employees; and through their successes, their commitments will grow. Employee Support/Development: To allow team members to engage wholeheartedly, they must feel as if they are being supported. A great leader will take the time to give feedback (real feedback and not just what is easy to say) in a positive way that empowers their team members ability to adjust as needed. This should be regular and consistent. Over time a relationship will be built that won’t falter at the first hint of distractions. You as a leader must be genuine in how you interact with your team. Take their feedback and be willing to change for them as well. Continue to provide development at every turn. Teach them why you make the choices you do, challenge them to decide for you (talk through what was good/needs work), facilitate knowledge at every opportunity even if it does not apply to their job. Employee Relationships: I am referring to the professional relationship that allows you to talk on a personal level — a trust that can be built between leader and employee that demonstrates an acceptance of each other. This means building relationships with people beyond your inner circle. This is not easy and will require time. I know most people at this point will say, “Great, where do I find more time?” It is important that you do this regardless of the difficulty. Building relationships start on day 1 with first impressions and continue through the last days of employment (if we are lucky to even beyond that). We need to act with purpose and complete “getting to know you conversations” coupled with ongoing “rapport-building sessions” and finally “trust building relationship activities.” It is not hard! It takes commitment to your team, but the rewards of long-lasting relationships pay off more significantly than any spreadsheet. Promote other initiatives: Companies will often offer programs or initiatives to promote retention to offset the cost of replacing a team member. These investments come in many shapes and forms from incentives to development opportunities. A great leader will find what is available and, in some cases, work towards helping create these initiatives for their employees. Supporting your team will demonstrate that you as their leader genuinely care about their success as employees. Don’t enroll individuals that should not move beyond their skill level as this will set the wrong expectation, but don’t be afraid to push the envelope for your team members that could use it (or benefit from it). It is a fine line that requires a relationship with your team to know where you can be real with individuals about their skill sets and push them when necessary. It has been said that once a leader invests this kind of time and energy into someone, they won’t look for other opportunities, but we should understand that some still will. While not everyone will stay with you forever, these things could improve relationships, output and overall team morale which may lead to greater retention. These benefits alone make the investment well worth the risk.

How to Be Authentic if You Are to Lead a Team Honestly

“Do as I say, not as I do.” Know any leaders like this? Probably. You may even be one yourself without realizing it. For instance, if you routinely urge your team members to stay late to finish a project, but you head out of the office right at closing time to go bicycling, your team members could become resentful and lose trust in you. Similarly, if you scold your team members for taking breaks that are too long but then turn around and take three-hour lunches most days, it could be bad for morale. The best servant leaders tend to be those who lead teams by example. They practice what they preach, living the difference between “leader” and “servant leader.” So, how can you tap into your inner authenticity to lead a team honestly? Follow the Guidelines that You Implement By now, you should know yourself reasonably well. Take that self-knowledge to heart when you develop and implement guidelines or rules. For instance, you may require that your call center agents receive regular, ongoing training. Good, but what about you? Will you make an effort to receive regular trainings as well? If you want to be an authentic leader, you will. Ditto with any rule or guideline you set, whether it relates to attendance, personal calls, social media, punctuality, patience with customers or something else. A note of caution: Don’t become a “martyr.” Say that you routinely encourage employees to take the vacation days that are due them, but you rarely go on vacation yourself. It may be your personal preference to stay at work, and you really do want employees to have their vacations. However, you risk making your team members feel guilty or like they’re doing something wrong if they take time off. Look for Spots of Hypocrisy Many people are hypocritical in their own ways. Bosses, however, don’t have as much leeway to be hypocritical as employees do. Take a situation in which a boss criticizes employees for hanging up on callers mid-sentence but who does the same thing. The same principle applies to a boss who goes on tirades about employees interrupting others but who is just as guilty of that flaw. It’s hard for employees to take bosses seriously when they commit the very sins they lambaste employees for. Speak with Transparency The truth sometimes hurts, so bosses may try to sugarcoat things or hope that team members will read between the lines. If you do this, you’re not authentic. There is no need to be overly blunt or hurtful, but suppose that one of your call center agents has low first-call resolution numbers. If you say something to the team like, “We all need to be mindful of how to improve our first-call resolution numbers,” that is needlessly vague and could worry all of the members that their numbers are lacking. Instead, it’s more honest and authentic to discuss the issue with the underperforming member. Be clear about what numbers you expect, how, why and when. You can convey this information factually without judgment or being mean. You can even be positive and upbeat about it if that naturally fits your personality. Servant Leaders lead by example. They hold themselves to the same standards they set for their employees, servant leaders strive to avoid hypocrisy, and they communicate well with team members, who deserve to be told about issues clearly rather than being made to guess.

How does Contact Center Quality Assurance Improve With Speech Analytics?

At the point when customers achieve your contact focus, they need a situation that addresses their issues, settle their worries, and builds up the trust required for a proceeded with association you’re your organization. Successful leaders ought to set up conventions for evaluating that quality with the end goal to guarantee that customers reliably get the best services. Quality confirmation gives essential knowledge into current tasks and can be utilized to create systems for development. Gathering information about the client encounter is an integral part of accomplishing these objective results and of meeting other office objectives. Discourse examination can assume a necessary job in making existing information gathering more successful and quickening information accumulation with the end goal to audit objectives later on. Many upgraded results can be accomplished with the assistance of this continuous innovation. Troublesome Tasks Are Easier to Accomplish From numerous points of view, discourse examination has been viewed as an excellent distinct advantage in multiple components of business and in call focus tasks individually. Customarily, quality appraisal activities include directors looking into the whole record of considers made to recognize the remarkable precedents that require extra consideration. Calls significant for their positive or negative outcomes are chosen. Operators in charge of positive results can be perceived and praised for their endeavors. Any operators in the cost of adverse consequences can get instructing to enhance their administration. Despite the fact that just 10 – 20 percent of calls will be incorporated into this survey test, information must be submitted for everyone with the end goal to measure bring focus quality outcomes over some stretch of time. This tedious procedure can be extraordinarily supported via robotized observing. Computerized frameworks can achieve numerous errands that would conventionally require manual oversight: Screen the whole volume of approaching calls Classify all calls for a more successful examination Distinguish rising examples and developing patterns Target instructing themes for operators Departmental pioneers that coordinate robotized discourse investigation frameworks have been compensated with an abundance of essential data that can be arranged into practical classes with considerably less time. The work escalated observing and follow-up required for quality affirmation can be rearranged without giving up any viability. Truth be told, with the assistance of robotized training recommendations from the framework, telephone specialists get immediate and customized help with substantially less time. Given that absence of training and direction is an essential driver of disappointment among call focus specialists, this capacity can improve the strength of focus tasks from multiple points of view. Giving Necessary Support to Evolving Quality Assurance Concerns Quality affirmation appraisals have dependably been vital to comprehending the huge riddle of client experience and fulfillment. As business pioneers find better approaches to consider client encounter, new information focuses should be regarded as in the quality confirmation process. A robotized framework with the incorporated investigation for discourse will be on the ball with the adaptability required to develop with your organization’s needs. This is a perfect expansion to any contact or calls focuses wishing to stay at the cutting edge of client benefit conveyance.

How to Reassure Modernization and Flexibility in Your Organization

Leadership skills are not innate in most people. Fortunately, practically anyone can learn how to develop the traits and techniques that make an exceptional leader. Some mistakenly think that a leader’s primary responsibility is to sit back and dictate what others should do. While this style of management may work to an extent, the most effective leaders model the behaviors they want to see in their employees. What am I saying? If you expect greater innovation within your organization, it’s essential to be innovative yourself. Here are a few things you can do on a daily basis to reassure modernization and flexibility in your organization. Don’t Make Processes the End-All Solution Every efficient business needs processes. From purchasing and planning methods to customer refund procedures, processes improve efficiency and minimize confusion. However, it’s important to encourage an environment where processes and practices are flexible and open to change as needed. Rather than sticking doggedly to procedures that are no longer appropriate for your business, you should periodically change your methods to meet the evolving needs of your customers and organization. Think of processes as guides that can and should be replaced as your business grows. Make Your Environment Light and Modern One of the best ways to encourage innovation in the workplace is to create an environment that inspires it. A light, modern workspace can stimulate creative thought and help your employees think outside the box. Always show appreciation for innovative thought so the entire organization can see that you place great value and emphasis on constant evolution. The ability to establish and present a clear vision for your organization is an essential quality that differentiates a leader from a manager. Replicate the Best Practices of Other Organizations In many ways, a great leader learns how to recognize, appreciate and replicate the best practices he or she sees in others. Don’t be afraid to analyze other organizations to determine what makes them successful. You can then incorporate some of their most relevant techniques and ideas into your own organization as you see fit, and never underestimate your own past experiences. Learn from them and as your organization evolves allow your skills to develop as well. Encourage Learning and Flexibility Sometimes the most carefully laid plans don’t turn out the way they should. Surprises and even failures can become valuable learning opportunities when approached the right direction. As a leader, you should encourage your employees to learn from every failure and approach unexpected surprises with a positive, can-do attitude. After all, some of the most significant events in history happened after plans failed and innovative thinkers stepped up. With the right approach and attitude, any surprise or failure can potentially lead to an exceptional outcome. Great leaders become that way with hard work and constant character development. As a leader in your organization, you must be willing to exemplify flexibility and innovation if you want to encourage these traits across your organization. Etech Global Services is a people-focused provider of performance development tools that can help you solidify positive relationships with customers and enable your organization to run more successfully. Learn how we can help you adapt your processes and systems to meet the ever-changing needs of your customers. Our business is evolving, so should you.

6 characteristics that every Successful Team Imbibe

When opportunity knocks on your door, always be willing to take a chance. Beginning something new, trying something different is never easy. However, the logic is simple, when you know it needs to be done, do it, for opportunities may not be around for eternity. Grab it when you have the chance. So, instead of waiting we should be focusing on the things we can change and constantly create something of exceptional value for our customers, our teams and our communities. Moreover, this objective can be achieved only through great teamwork. Teamwork divides the task and increases the success rate. A good team represents a strong base of a high-performing business. Achievement is not a coincidence. A determined team working in synergy relentlessly to achieve the target, working in the right proportion and delivering at the right time leads to success. A great team achieves its goal because each member of the team takes up the equal responsibility of the goal and stand up against all the odds supporting the team. They work with a purpose, and in the process of making the project successful, they grow along with it together. In my journey, I have had the privilege of working with some great and successful teams and at the same time. I have also been a part of a few unsuccessful ones. Here are the most common I have been a part of both successful and not-so-successful teams. So, here are some of the most common elements that every successful team holds as a prized possession. They have a purpose Great teams work with a clearly defined purpose, and there is no ambiguity. Everything is crystal clear, and they know what the next step should be and in which direction each member needs to move. Here, the leader plays a vital role. A good leader represents a great team. The leader ensures that each member understands his/her role in the big picture and the impact each individual will have on the final outcome. Each member is very well aware of his/her responsibility and action moves. They set S.M.A.R.T goals S.M.A.R.T. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The S.M.A.R.T. Method of goal setting provides a model for success and helps to ensure a team stays on task and focused. Fun is a part of their work A learning environment combined with fun activities creates the right platform for team members to flourish. It is very important that working life be garnished with fun. Happy employees are productive employees. Forbes has stated that happy employees make happy customers and promoting employee happiness benefits everyone. Various companies conduct Fun team activities to promote a happy working environment. To create a successful team, it is very important to ensure that each member of the team is happy. Team members work with a sense of ownership Each member of a successful team believes the project to be their own baby. A sense of ownership should be there inside each member of the team. This is very important as it determines the quality each individual will offer. For this transparency and cultivating professional trust are two crucial factors. With transparency comes to trust that ultimately helps the individuals in the team to commit themselves completely and truly to the project. They support each other In a well-formed team, team members, proactively support each other. They stand for each other and offer help if any member is stuck. No Yes Man Show A yes man show does not work if you want to have a great team that delivers great results. A team is made of diverse individuals, and hence there will be conflicts, and there will be a difference in opinions. However, it is much needed if you want creativity to blossom inside the team. Each individual should be given the freedom to put forth their opinions, suggestions, and ideas in front of the team. These new ideas can be generated by collective assemblement of all the ideas from the team members. These are just a few of the most important elements that help in developing a successful team that works to its highest potential. Teamwork does form a crucial place in the overall business success scenario, no matter to which industry your business belongs. Moreover, this is a fact that Teamwork will remain one of the strongest tools that hold the power to accelerate business success rate.

The Anatomy of Security Phishing

Although we continue to take measures to secure our systems and facilities, malicious actors will always attempt to identify a weak link to any organization. They no longer smell silicon. They smell blood. What this means is that attempts to exfiltrate a secure system or obtain secure and confidential files will start with the individual. A malicious actor will attempt to exploit someone to get this information. We have been discussing this at length as it has become a significant tool in the arsenal. It is called Phishing! We will cover this term to ensure we can all recognize a Phishing attempt when it occurs. Why? Because hackers are altering their methods and becoming more sophisticated as employees become more security conscious. With this brief, we will be discussing six of the most common phishing attacks. Deceptive Phishing The most common type of phishing scam, deceptive phishing refers to any attack by which fraudsters impersonate a legitimate company and attempt to steal people’s personal information or login credentials. Those emails frequently use threats and a sense of urgency to scare users into doing the attackers’ bidding. For example, Bank account scammers might send out an attack email that instructs them to click on a link in order to rectify a discrepancy with their account. In actuality, the link leads to a fake banking institution login page that collects a user’s login credentials and delivers them to the attackers. The success of a deceptive phish hinges on how closely the attack email resembles a legitimate company’s official correspondence. As a result, users should scrutinize all URLs to see if they redirect to an unknown website. They should also look out for generic salutations, grammar mistakes, and spelling errors scattered throughout the email. Spear Phishing Not all phishing scams lack personalization – some use it quite heavily. For instance, in spear phishing scams, fraudsters customize their attack emails with the target’s name, position, company, work phone number, and other information in an attempt to trick the recipient into believing that they have a connection with the sender. The goal is the same as deceptive phishing: lure the victim into clicking on a malicious URL or email attachment, so that they will hand over their personal data. Spear-phishing is especially commonplace on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook where attackers can use multiple sources of information to craft a targeted attack email. To protect against this type of scam, employees must remain aware of these types of attempts and be able to spot them. We should also discourage users from publishing sensitive personal or corporate information on social media. Executive FRAUD (Whaling Attack) Spear phishers can target anyone in an organization, even top executives. That’s the logic behind a “whaling” attack, where fraudsters attempt to harpoon an executive and steal their login credentials and/or use the information to attempt to convince another individual within the organization that a request is being carried out by the executive. You should always be on the lookout for these attempts as the fraudsters are becoming more creative by the day. Always check the “reply to” field. Does the email actually go back to the executive email or does another email pop up? Fraudsters can choose to conduct Executive fraud where attackers impersonate an executive and spoof that individual’s email to authorize fraudulent wire transfers or changes to account information to a financial institution of their choice. NEVER complete financial or confidential information requests using only email authorization. Always clarify with a phone call to the executive making the request. Pharming As users become savvier to traditional phishing scams, some fraudsters are abandoning the idea of “baiting” their victims entirely. Instead, they are resorting to pharming – a method of attack which stems from a domain name system (DNS) cache poisoning. The Internet’s naming system uses DNS servers to convert alphabetical website names, such as “www.microsoft.com,” to numerical IP addresses used for locating computer services and devices. Under a DNS cache poisoning attack, a pharmer targets a DNS server and changes the IP address associated with an alphabetical website name. That means an attacker can redirect users to a malicious website of their choice even if the victims entered in the correct website name. To protect against pharming attacks, organizations must encourages their employees to enter in login credentials only on approved HTTPS-protected sites. This also encourages implementing anti-virus and filtering software on all corporate devices and performing virus database updates, along with security upgrades on a regular basis. Dropbox Phishing While some phishers no longer bait their victims, others have specialized their attack emails according to an individual company or service. For example, millions of people use Dropbox every day to back up, access and share their files. It’s no wonder, therefore, that attackers would try to capitalize on the platform’s popularity by targeting users with phishing emails. One attack campaign, for example, tried to lure users into entering their login credentials on a fake Dropbox sign-in page hosted on Dropbox itself. To protect against Dropbox phishing attacks, users should consider implementing two-step verification (2SV) on their accounts. Google Docs Phishing Fraudsters could choose to target Google Drive similar to the way they might prey upon Dropbox users. Specifically, as Google Drive supports documents, spreadsheets, presentations, photos and even entire websites, phishers can abuse the service to create a web page that mimics the Google account log-in screen and harvests user credentials. A group of attackers did just that back in July of 2015. To add insult to injury, not only did Google unknowingly host that fake login page, but a Google SSL certificate also protected the page with a secure connection. Once again, users should consider implementing 2SV to protect themselves against this type of threat. CONCLUSION Using the guide above, you will be able to more quickly spot some of the most common types of phishing attacks. But that doesn’t mean you will be able to locate each and every phish. On the contrary, phishing is continually evolving to adopt new forms

12 Etech Character Commitments – An In-Depth Look 6-12

No matter what technological advances may bring, a company’s employees remain the essential component of its success. At Etech, the following character commitments promote an employee-focused servant leadership approach. Adaptability When faced with new situations, company leaders often make two major types of mistakes. While some steadfastly refuse to accommodate any changes, others get carried away and completely throw out older approaches. Neither of these actions is likely to lead to success. Adaptability, which is the art of integrating innovation with established processes, helps companies stay current even as circumstances fluctuate. As today’s technology continues to grow by leaps and bounds, you need an adaptable team that can rise to the challenge and integrates tech solutions with creativity and adaptability. Humility Humility does not mean underestimating yourself. Rather, this characteristic showcases a sense of proportion and the understanding that one can always be better and learn more. Whether you are an entry-level employee or the CEO, practicing humility is essential to achieving the full range of your potential. It encourages openness to new approaches and a willingness to listen to others, which in turn build loyalty within the company. It also means seeking out good resources when necessary, rather than trying to do everything on one’s own. Creativity Thinking outside the box remains a vital ingredient of successful customer service. Encouraging creativity in solving problems within the scope of a particular function empowers employees to think of themselves as part of the big picture. This approach also promotes real solutions that increase customer satisfaction, as opposed to rote responses that only serve to check off a box. Teachability Learning and adapting is the key to future improvement. Employees at all levels benefit from teachability, as they learn new skills to improve their performance. AI data gathering and pattern analysis can identify areas where particular changes may need to be made; based on this information, managers can change instructions for customer interactions and upgrade employee training. Positive Influence This aspect of servant leadership is often neglected, as it can be hard to define. However, making a concerted effort to promote positive influence as a character commitment can go a long way towards creating a productive, motivated environment. Leading by example and developing individual relationships with employees can help establish an environment of encouragement and positivity. Courage Courage as a character commitment can take a variety of forms. It can mean taking an extra step to implement a creative solution. It can mean being open to new technology and its integration with your existing workplace. It can mean choosing to take the long, hard way rather than the shortcut. In terms of servant leadership, it can take courage to do the right thing rather than the easy thing. This characteristic is often necessary to put into action all the other Etech commitments such as humility, creativity, and adaptability. Developing a clear, thoughtful approach to implementing servant leadership in the workplace can help you build a strong, motivated workforce. AI resources can be of immense help in providing the data analysis you need to develop specific ways to integrate these Etech character commitments in a particular setting. However, no AI can make these character commitments; investing in your employees’ development is the only way to achieve that.

Using AI To Enhance the Customer Experience in Call Centers

In the past Companies controlled the buying process and the customer journey, with the IoT that shift has moved to the consumer. If you really want to lead in the marketplace you must focus on customer experience. As customer service evolved, the consumers now do business based on customer experience. In this blog we will discuss how the greatest advantages technology can give us is access to this information. One example is purchase tracking, which companies can use to supply suggestions based on past buys. You can apply this same concept to your customers’ experience with service representatives if you have the right tools. Problems With Traditional QA Processes Quality assurance (QA) exists to ensure that consumers are receiving the best experience when they communicate with your company. However, many businesses make a mistake right out the gate by establishing QA standards based on what they think their customers want, rather than what customers are actually asking for. This isn’t necessarily a business’s fault. The crux of the issue is a lack of concrete data, which may be caused by limited resources to collect said data. When employees are responsible for all call monitoring, only a tiny portion of calls—sometimes as low as 1 percent—can actually be listened to. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to be a representative sample for analysis purposes. A lack of real data can lead companies to guess at what creates a great customer experience, which may do more harm than good. To better offer what your clients want, you need a reliable, efficient way to monitor calls and collect data—which brings us to AI. AI and Data Collection Artificial intelligence (AI) is a vital component of automation and can be a powerful tool when used correctly. Since according to an article by eMarketer, about three-fourths of customers feel that the best service is provided by a real person, the key isn’t necessarily more automation but strategic automation. In the case of call centers, AI can be utilized to evaluate calls, thereby increasing both efficiency (since software can listen to more calls) and data collection. When it comes to this second point, it’s essential that the AI used is dynamic, meaning that it can learn. An AI programmed to listen to agent and customer interactions, for example, can learn to identify a number of factors that may influence a QA score, such as: Tone Business policy Contextual conversations Keywords that indicate an escalation In fact, you may be able to customize your AI to recognize different factors based on your market. For example, if your company is a virtual bank, you may want the AI to track how many calls are related to website navigation, so you can determine if your site is easy to use. The Customer Experience Of course, AI alone can’t create the prime experience your customers expect. You need knowledgeable people to analyze the accumulated data and identify any trends that result in churn. You then need people to take this information and translate it into practices. Finally, you need people to implement those practices in the day-to-day and deliver that human touch. Think of AI not as a replacement for human employees but a valuable tool your business can use to elevate your call center to its greatest potential. Here at Etech, we pride ourselves on supplying innovative solutions to help our clients offer the best customer experiences to their own consumers. To learn more about our call-center technology, call us at 936-371-2640 or visit us online. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Solutions

Company

Resources

Career

Blog

Events

Contact Us

Connect With Us

Copyright © Etech Global Services. All Rights Reserved

Scroll to Top

Contact Us

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready to Download.

*Please check your Download folder for the downloaded file

Download E-Book

Download E-Book

Download E-Book

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Case Study

Download Case Study

Download Case Study

Read our Privacy Policy for details on how your information may be used.

Download Case Study

Download Case Study

Free Download Presentation

Download Brochure

Thank you for sharing your details. Click below link to watch.

https://www.youtu.be/xtPb9lU-Wsg

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Ebook is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Ebook is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Ebook is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready to Download.

*Please check your Download folder for the downloaded file

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Downloads.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your brochure is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready for Download.

Download Now!

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready to Download.

*Please check your Download folder for the downloaded file

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready to Download.

Download Now!