CIMplicity simplifies customer care

Contact centres looking to succeed in today's competitive environment are under constant pressure to deliver better customer service for callers, while also improving operational issues and controlling costs, says TMC Net.

To help solve challenges like reducing turnover and improving agent effectiveness in the call centre, customer interaction management (CIM) technology brings together complex customer care processes using advanced solutions.

Aria offers CIM services called 'CIMplicity' based on Genesys CIM software and is described by the company as a, “systematic approach to 'orchestrate' a client's many complex customer care processes for maximum business performance.”

Aero Energy, distributor of commercial and residential fuel supplies, is using IT solutions provider, NEC Corporation of America's Univerge Sphericall contact centre solution, states Newsblaze.

Implemented by authorised NEC dealer Atris, the solution orchestrates Aero Energy's contact centre operations and allows it to improve customer service throughout its nine locations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.

"The NEC solution assists our agents by queuing and reporting call volume in order to increase our call centre's efficiency," says Brian Salsgiver, IT director for Aero Energy. "During peak calling season, we receive approximately 1 400 calls a day. With NEC's Sphericall contact centre solution, supervisors receive real-time data, including the number of calls in queue, so they can staff properly and provide the best customer service possible."

Thirty bosses from UK call centres have met in Brighton to discuss plans to improve customer service as part of an industry-wide strategy to weather tough times, reports ContactCentres.com.

Managers from major firms such as Amex, Hastings Direct, Domestic and General (D&G), EDF and HSBC met to discuss the need for more imaginative email and web applications to fit consumer habits and better people management.

Held at D&G's Brighton office, the South East Contact Centre Forum took place amid difficult industry pressures, including global competition, changing consumer habits and a fragile economy. Despite high profile regional closures like Telegen and Lloyds, contact centre managers discussed innovative strategies that have helped them through the storm.