Executive Insights: 2008
As a thought leader in the home-based customer service industry, Alpine Access CEO Chris Carrington writes a monthly column on industry trends and ideas for TMCnet.
December, 2008
The Rise of Home-Based Contact Centers
As the year draws to a close and Alpine Access celebrates its 10 year anniversary, I find myself reflecting on the changes the call center industry, and the home-based segment in particular, has experienced over the past few years. Read full article.
October, 2008
Life is Good: How a Focus on Satisfaction Can Improve Business Results
We’ve all heard the old adage: a happy worker is a productive worker. It seems to make sense that the more satisfied an employee is, the better job he or she will do. However, starting back as far as 1945, researchers have tried to prove a link between the two. Yet every major research study has been unable to find a substantial correlation between job satisfaction and job performance. Read full article.
September, 2008
Securing Customers With Every Call
Most executives understand the intrinsic value of taking a customer-centric approach to business. We all recognize that customers provide the revenue needed to sustain an organization. Yet, only truly great companies realize that providing quality service at every touch point leads to sustainable, positive relationships and creates a solid customer base that will sustain a company through a turbulent economy. Read full article.
August, 2008
Making the Collect Call
In previous articles, I have discussed multiple reasons why the home-based customer care model is ideal for handling customer service, sales and support. Using a geographically dispersed virtual workforce, companies reap the economic benefits and process efficiencies that can only be achieved through a team of experienced customer care professionals. Yet, have you considered that this same team could be leveraged to handle other types of customer interactions? Read full article.
May, 2008
Competition Redefined: Come Out Ahead by Focusing on Customers, Not Price
For companies in mature industries, or what Geoffrey Moore would call the “late majority” phase of their lifecycles, growth comes mostly from taking customers away from competitors. In order for one company to grow, another one must have declining market share. Read full article.
April, 2008
A Click Instead of a Hello?
Back in the good old days, customer service was delivered with a handshake and a smile. Business owners knew their patrons on a first-name basis and took time to “shoot the breeze” with everyone that came in the door. As the pace of life sped up, customer contact changed into a cost per minute activity. No longer did people have time for small talk. Instead, answering questions and processing transactions as quickly as possible became the measurement of success. Read full article.
March, 2008
Social Networking: The Water Cooler Reinvented
Remember the days when people had time to get to know their co-workers? Now it seems we’re too busy to learn about the person sitting next to us. The days of standing around the water cooler sharing stories about the weekend are long gone...until now. Read full article.
February, 2008
PCI Compliance: What it Means to the Call Center Industry
It seems we read about it on a daily basis. Large scale security breaches have happened to some of the most well-known companies in the world, and they can happen to you. Hackers are finding new ways to collect massive amounts of consumer data and companies that inadvertently let this happen are paying for it— literally. Read full article.
January, 2008
The Largest Talent Pool
Flexibility. It’s what makes virtual call centers stand out from traditional brick and mortar operations. It’s what creates economic efficiencies and keeps employee attrition low. It’s also why the home-based agent model can adjust staffing levels at a moment’s notice. Yet, to offer true flexibility you need agents. Lots and lots of pre-qualified, skilled agents. Read full article.
