December, 2016 | next|ix

Call Center Efficiency is Improved with a Multi-Skilling, Multi-Channel Routing Solution

by nextixsystems on December 29, 2016 Comments Off

In order to improve agent efficiency and productivity, call centers can use multi-skill and multi-channel routing solutions to increase the number of contacts and agents, which leads to a greater chance of an agent completing communication with a contact just as another comes in.

“This is a desirable position as it creates economies of scale and leads to increases in occupancy, which is the amount of time individual agents are working. The greater productivity lowers the overall number of agents required,” Pommie Lutchmann, CEO at specialist contact center solutions and services provider Ocular Technologies, told ITWeb.

Although cross-training the complement of agents is unrealistic, multi-skill configuration enables contact centers to experience the benefits of cross-training some agents without having to train everyone.

There are specific differences between an ACD dialer/media server and workforce planning tools, according to Lutchmann. The goal of the ACD is to route contacts to agents that day, while workforce management tools analyze current routing and how contacts are routed to agents in the future to model current and future environments.

However, the way to model the optimal multi-skill staff plan is an area of debate. Lutchman said that the ideal workforce management tool must give companies the ability to carry out long-term planning, implement plans and make daily staffing adjustments. In order to do so, the workforce management tool must pinpoint current daily staffing needs and identify the amount and types of agents required to meet goals.

High agent turnover is common and aligned to improving agent proficiency in existing work types and developing additional skills. The key, however, is not to model individual agents, but rather types of agents and contacts, said Lutchmann.

“In time, levels of experience and aptitude in a particular type of agent will remain consistent even as agents are added or removed from the group. Modeling the type of agents rather than the individuals enables a workforce management tool to identify the types of agent required to meet future workloads,” he explained.

Modeling the workforce as it changes is vital to incorporate an abstraction between actual and types of agents since its useful for making daily staffing decisions and enabling planning ahead for the skills required to meet next month’s service objectives.

The multi-skilled staffing problem can be solved by dividing types of contacts into forecast groups and types of agents into staff groups, Lutchmann commented. The multi-skill routing logic relating forecast groups to staff groups should be captured within a third layer called a routing set. With staff groups, analysts can track the contribution of agents with skills sets so that the economies of scale achievable through cross-training and utilization of skills-based routing can be calculated.

“Less analytical approaches merely simulate the routing of contacts to individual agents without applying group abstraction,” Lutchmann concluded. “The service level anticipated for the contacts is sufficient, but the staffing information falls way short of helping analysts determine what needs to be done in terms of planning.”

Source: 2012, http://www.callcentersolutionsreport.com/articles/301144-call-center-efficiency-improved-with-multi-skilling-multi.htm

6 Disruptive Trends In Technology For 2017- Forbes

by nextixsystems on December 13, 2016 Comments Off

The tech revolution, as commonplace as it may seem nowadays, continues to barrel forward, and 2017 will see some of the most innovative and evolutionary disruptions we have seen thus far. There will be more connection, more automation, and more significant impact in business and investment than ever before, and the revolution has just begun.

The innovations coming to fruit in 2017 are poised to redefine business and connection as we know it. From banking to devices, 2017 holds many a change in store — the technology of this next phase is dynamic, gigantic, and will feel like a futuristic sci-fi fantasy novel.

Finance will be automated.

Many financial experts are predicting that automated banks are the next big disruptor for the banking sector. According to a recent study by Citigroup, automated banking could replace 30% of bank jobs over the next decade. Financial advisors and analysts are due to be quickly replaced by robo-advisors that render them moot — with big data in the wings, robo-advisors have the data needed to make split-second, uber-informed decisions. The payments and mobile banking industries are riding high, as well: fintech startups raised over $22.3 billion in funding in 2015, up 75% from 2014. This trend will speed up in 2017.

Big data will get even bigger.

Big data will be a necessary asset for companies in all sectors, From trucking to data entry, big data algorithms will change the landscape in a big way, metaphorically and literally — geographical information systems will get a major upgrade in speed and efficiency. For example, MIT and Ford Motors recently partnered to read the cellphone location data of Bostonians, producing instantaneous traffic and transportation patterns that typically take years to build. Innovation will continue with developments in big data storage, providing much needed revolutionary agility in IT. Steve Wozniak has joined big data storage company Primary Data as their Chief Scientist, so we can be sure to see some huge changes there.

The Internet of Everything truly begins.

The Internet of Everything in both the consumer and B2B market will continue to rise, especially in North America, connecting data, things, processes and people. Intelligent systems will grow rapidly in 2017, especially after the release of the Home app from Apple this fall. Over 100 products are already on the market that will work seamlessly with apples HomeKit, so a smart-linked home will be an affordable possibility for anyone. Security, lights, electronics, and climate can all be controlled for the first time in one app. Wearable devices will continue to climb and mesh with healthcare and big data.

Mobility will continue to dominate.

Customers are almost completely mobile — as of now, four out of five people use their phones to shop. The global workforce is becoming increasingly mobile, working from home, and tech software and communications will begin to reflect that predominantly. From mobile storage for work-from-home employees to advanced security, mobility has only begun to gain traction. Verizon is one company to watch, as they are in the process of acquiring Irish fleet and mobile workforce management company Fleetmatics, positioning the mobile company to be the largest mobile workforce management company in the world.

Space exploration will become increasingly affordable.

Expect in 2017 to see huge changes in the space exploration sector. Costs will go down drastically, with what would previously cost billions of dollars costing only millions. The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority recently approved private company Moon Express to launch an unmanned exploratory moon mission in 2017, and the company plans to forge ahead with commercial missions to the moon to exploit its mineral resources.

We will also see huge strides in satellite use – Planet Labs Inc. has launched a fleet of tiny shoebox-sized satellites that can transfer daily high-res earth images, providing affordable and useful information to companies interested in economically sensitive areas like farmland, oil storage tanks and parking lot usage.

Marijuana tech will thrive.

Revenues from Colorado are booming, and investors are seeing huge returns on legal medical marijuana investments from other states, so 2017 will definitely see more of that. Marijuana in 2017 will be technologically pumped up, with fully automated grow operations that are both energy efficient and green (so to speak). Perfectly calibrated lighting and high tech grow software and control systems will make growing an even more lucrative business than it already is. Though legalization has been slow to come to all of the U.S., when it does the cleanliness and energy efficiency of high tech grows will make meeting regulations for high quality, safe, clean medicinal marijuana very easy.

This is certainly not a comprehensive list of all the innovations due to arrive in 2017, but a sneak peek into what may be most prominent on the radar next year. Ubiquitous mobile advancements, quantum computing, VR, AR, and virtual intelligence have been changing the landscape and will continue to do so next year as we move into what seems like a science fiction novel at times: a mysterious, exciting adventure.

Author: Murray Newlands

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mnewlands/2016/08/31/6-disruptive-trends-in-technology-for-2017/#1af3a7b04ba3

How To Start A Successful BPO in PH

by nextixsystems on December 6, 2016 Comments Off

With all the legal documents, equipment and manpower required in starting a business in the Philippines, both aspiring and veteran entrepreneurs may grow to find how daunting it really is to set up a call center business in the country.

As we all know, startup business owners need to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort making sure that a business’ bare necessities are in place for it to run smoothly. The Philippines, despite its reputation for being a leading contact center destination in the world, is leaps and bounds behind its neighbor Singapore in terms of ease of doing business. In a World Bank report, when it comes to complying with government regulations, local entrepreneurs need to spend 34 days to open an average business and 42 days just to power a facility with electricity. Don’t worry, though. The time it takes to secure the necessary resources can be drastically reduced if you know the right people, and you take heed of these tips:

Be Aware of the Risks Involved

Businesses—from small, home-based startups to multi-national corporations—are keenly aware that in any business engagement, there will always be risks involved. What makes outsourcing so popular is that there is a myriad of benefits companies can enjoy from delegating non-core tasks to a different location that only requires a fraction of the usual cost. Even with confidentiality agreements, businesses are still vulnerable to various risks. Here are a few drawbacks that you need to be aware of:

Possible problems with management and control of operations due to time-zone difference
Breaches of confidentiality agreements.
Communication challenges when conversing with people whose English is not a native language
Failure in delivery

Prepare Enough Capital

Aside from manpower, businesses will also need electricity, a phone line, Internet connection, and other items to operate smoothly. All in all, even a small call center with the minimum ten employees can set investors back a few million pesos a month. Clearly, Philippine call centers are a capital-intensive venture that can require a lot. With the average office space in Manila at around Php816 per square meter a month, and a typical call center agent needing a 2-square-meter workspace furnished with telephony, computer and swivel chair, businesses will need to invest thousands of pesos per agent.

Be Aware of Philippine Labor Laws and Regulatory Restrictions

As we mentioned in a past article entitled “Philippine Labor Laws and the Call Center Industry”, foreign investors need to be fully aware of the intricacies of the Philippine labor laws (mainly to avoid legal disputes in the future). Even just registering your business can take several tedious steps and several government agencies such as the Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection (BTRCP), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Through the efforts of the non-government agency and BPO enabler IT and Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) the Philippine government has soon issued out tax exemptions and policy directives that include affirmative labor policies and benefits to attract more investors. These labor policies are frequently updated, and so it is a must for investors to be updated on a regular basis.

The Bottom Line

Like all investments, businesses need a significant amount of research before finally joining the Philippine outsourcing bandwagon. Good news is that as more and more business opportunities become available this year, TeleDevelopment will continue to provide the BPO support solutions businesses need at every stage of their lifecycle. Contact us should you need help setting up a BPO or call center company in Manila, Cebu, Davao or any part of the Philippines!

Author: Ethel Merioles

Source: http://teledevelopment.com.ph/how-to-start-successful-bpo-philippines/

Technology of the Year 2016

by nextixsystems on December 6, 2016 Comments Off

InfoWorld’s 2016 Technology of the Year Award winners recognize the best tools and technologies for developers, IT pros, and businesses

InfoWorld’s Technology of the Year Awards have celebrated the most important technology trends and the best IT products for 15 years now. Our awards have marked the rise of everything from 64-bit hardware to hardware virtualization, from Java servers to JavaScript servers, from XML Web services to REST APIs, and from Microsoft Word for Windows to Microsoft Word for iOS. We’ve seen a lot of changes.

And the changes keep coming. Among this year’s winners, handpicked by InfoWorld editors and product reviewers, you’ll find a number of “traditional” names: Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat. But you’ll also find the names of more open source projects than we’ve ever seen in the Technology of the Year winner’s circle, thanks to the huge role open source has come to play in software development, data center (and cloud) infrastructure, and big data analytics.

Docker, Kubernetes, Mesos, Spark — these are only a few of this year’s winners from the open source camp. In one way or another, each brings something new to the enterprise. Docker’s clever take on Linux containers was so popular with developers, it became a standard even Microsoft sought fit to adopt. Kubernetes brings Google’s cloud-tested technology for container management to the rest of us, while Mesos — the U.C. Berkeley AMPLab project that gave birth to Spark — offers an elegant solution to cluster resource management.

Meanwhile, Spark, the fast-rising framework for doing distributed data processing in memory, has begun to usurp the role of Hadoop even among Hadoop vendors. That’s one of the superpowers of open source — it makes it easy for everyone to rally around something new and better.

Our winning products from Cisco and IBM may not have emerged from the open source “engine of innovation,” but they’re no less groundbreaking for that. IBM’s Watson Analytics — a cloud-based machine learning service and everyone’s favorite “Jeopardy” contestant — may set the bar for all predictive analytics tools. Cisco’s ACI, which takes an entirely new “policy model” approach to software-defined networking, can be driven entirely through an open API, using a Python SDK you can find on GitHub.

It’s not unusual for Microsoft to lead the field in wins, and it happened again this year. You won’t find Windows 10 on our list (reasons here and here), but Microsoft Office is there, along with Visual Studio and Azure App Services. It really is a new Microsoft: Office is now available in solid, capable versions of Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android, while Visual Studio and Azure App Services support all manner of cross-platform development. It’s not only a Windows and .Net world anymore.

As the 31 winners of the 2016 Technology of the Year Awards illustrate, it’s the world exploding with technology options for everyone: developers, IT pros, and the businesses and users they serve. For a close look at the best platforms, tools, apps, and cloud services on the business computing landscape, dive into our slideshow.

Credit:

Author: Doug Dineley

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3024228/cloud-computing/technology-of-the-year-2016-the-best-hardware-software-and-cloud-services.html

Major PH Telecom Companies to Cut Charges for Inter-network Calls

by nextixsystems on December 5, 2016 Comments Off

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Phone calls to different telecom networks will soon become cheaper, as rivals Globe Telecom, Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. agreed on Monday to cut their interconnection charges.

The interconnection charges will be cut to ₱2.50 per minute starting January 1, 2017. Previously, they charged ₱4.00 per minute for mobile-to-mobile and ₱3.00 per minute for mobile-to-landline voice calls.

Globe and Smart officials signed a memorandum of understanding, witnessed by regulators from the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission.

Globe Chief Technology and Information Officer Gil Genio said the lower interconnection rates would translate to lower charges for voice calls, giving customers a more affordable and accessible way to communicate.

Ray Espinosa, the regulatory head of Smart’s parent firm, PLDT, Inc., added: “We are supporting government’s efforts to bring down the cost of telecom services in the country.”

The telecom giants have come under intense pressure to improve the quality of their services and bring down costs for consumers, with no less than President Rodrigo Duterte as one of their fiercest critics.

The President last week repeated his threats during the presidential campaign to bring in foreign competition, in a bid to force Globe and Smart to shape up.

Read: Duterte warns telcos: Shape up or face foreign competition

Duopoly allegations have flared in recent months after Globe and Smart bought out San Miguel Corp.’s telelcoms business. San Miguel was hoping to enter as a third player in the industry, partnering up with Australia-based Telstra Corp., Ltd.

Globe and Smart contend they are ready to compete with new players, both local or foreign. They also point to the intense price competition between them as a sign they have not been colluding to cheat consumers.

However, the two players’ move to bring down charges comes at a time when voice call usage has already dropped drastically.

Voice revenues dropped 15 percent for Smart and nine percent for Globe as of the third quarter this year compared to a year ago.

Consumers have been shifting to calls via mobile data, using Voice over Internet Protocol apps instead.

Still, Genio said, this was still an important concession as only half of subscribers in the country have smartphones and access to apps.

PLDT Executive Vice President Ernesto Alberto agreed, saying, “Most of our subscribers who still use conventional voice calls tend to be in the lower strata, so cost is an important consideration for them.”

Globe and Smart officials said the lower interconnection charges would allow them to be “more aggressive” in pricing their calls, texts and data bundles, which mainly offer unlimited promos just for intra-network calls.

Meanwhile, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Rodolfo Salalima was hopeful the agreement would be the first step to bring down costs for otherservices, especially mobile and broadband internet.

He said the complaints of subscribers have been “loud and clear.”

PLDT’s Alberto assured the companies are already working together to improve internet services, sharing infrastructure, and and moving towards internet peering.

Author: Claire Jiao, CNN Philippines

Source: http://cnnphilippines.com/business/2016/11/28/globe-smart-telecom-cut-charges-internetwork-calls.html