It seems nearly every technology vendor is selling some sort of service "in the cloud"-the ubiquitous suffix has been attached to everything from critical systems like <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/679429/Microsoft_s_Cloud_ERP_Plans_Get_Mixed_Reactions">ERP</a> to mundane processes like printing. The latest pitch is for the cloud-based call center.
The emergence of community platforms has been one of the most exciting technology marketplaces to watch over the past few years. These tools have revolutioniaed digital marketing by allowing companies to develop online communities that they can use to facilitate conversations about products, stimulate innovation initiatives, and generate new levels of customer intimacy. Given the significant competitive advantages that can result from such a highly visible technology, it's important that sourcing professionals play a role in their procurement.
However, as the market for community platforms grows, so do the challenges associated with managing a variety of suppliers and stakeholder objectives. Many sourcing teams find themselves struggling to consolidate several internal community platforms and indentify the vendor that most closely aligns with long-term organisational objectives.
In an effort to improve customer service, CIOs are expected to spend more on automation technology for call centres in the next year, according to a report from Callcentres.net.
The Australian- based company provides services and research for call centres in the Asia Pacific region.
One April, 11 and a half years ago, Hollywood actor Richard Dreyfuss presented a new type of software that was going to 'revolutionise business'. He had been paid to host the launch of Dragon's NaturallySpeaking application, which could faultlessly translate spoken words into text. If this worked, we could chuck away our keyboards. Productivity would multiply. Dragon would become the new Microsoft and a new era of IT would dawn.
And work it did too -- in the demonstration. But not everything about the event was quite so well stage-managed. New York was suffering its worst ever blizzard and few made it through the snow. One year later, founders Janet and Jim Baker hadn't found the mass market they may have anticipated. That year, a Belgian firm called Lernout & Hauspie introduced Voice-Express, another desktop speech software product that could potentially free us all from the tyranny of crouching over a keyboard, ruining our posture and giving ourselves RSI. In a demo, it even outperformed the world's fastest typist.
It's just on noon. At the local food hall, fast-food outlets are gearing
up for the lunchtime rush, the bank of registers waiting to open quickly