The most urgent challenge of 2012 in the retail space was consumers’ rapidly growing mobility and digital empowerment. Retailers responded by devising new ways to attract, engage and retain these droves of customers and meet their fleet-footed demand for products and services—on the customers’ devices and terms. In short, customers have embraced online shopping with [...]
Not too long ago, customer care—the proverbial contact center—was regarded as a necessity. It was corporate overhead; operational in nature, something that fulfilled a customer-facing function, much like express lane checkers at a grocery store or tellers at a bank. Move ‘em in, move ‘em out, keep ‘em happy. An important job, with potential to [...]
For governments, it is imperative to bring down the costs of administering a growing number of public services. Since the 1800s, governments have funded law enforcement, water, electricity, town planning, health services, public transport and education. Today, governments must also provide their citizens with waste management services, telecommunications, environmental protection, public housing etc. Taxpayer money, [...]
Social media has rapidly expanded beyond the college dorm room to the corporate boardroom, enabling companies to interact with and attract customers in whole new way. So, what’s not to ‘like,’ right? While a skillfully executed social media program can bring big gains to corporate marketing, these channels have to be handled with care. One [...]
Remember the time when the whole world got its silk from China, spices from India and cotton from Egypt? The world of IT is veering towards the same concept, sourcing development of specialized software where it’s made best. In the truly flat world with data traveling in real-time across continents and time zones, there’s really [...]
Over the past 10 years, there’s been a dramatic shift in the world of marketing. Digital media is now mainstream, taking multiple forms and co-mingling with the traditional offline fare. Well utilized social media can create a vital connection with a company’s target audience whether that audience is comprised of consumers or corporate decision-makers. The [...]
Talk to most outsourcing buyers at the outset of their engagements and innovation is always on their wish list. Talk to them two or three years later, and the one thing they wish they had gotten is innovation. The lack of innovation in outsourcing seems to be one the few things they are unhappy about. [...]
Five years ago the big industry buzz was about analytics. The excitement it generated at the time matched the arrival of another hot new technology: the first iPhone (June 27, 2007 in case you forgot!) Did the reality match the hype? (Analytics not iPhone.) Today an analytics component has become table stakes in most outsourcing pursuits, [...]
It’s no secret that customers have high expectations of their BPO service providers, so the Outsourcing Center thought it would be interesting to turn the tables: we asked some of the leading providers for the one thing they need from customers in order to deliver exemplary service. The universal response was: “HELP ME HELP YOU!” [...]
The premise of the best-selling book “Who Moved My Cheese” was that people and companies needed to be flexible and willing to change when their environment did. When the Outsourcing Center asked four of the outsourcing experts in the insurance space to enumerate the biggest challenges the insurance industry faces in 2013, the unifying answer [...]
What’s new in the data center? Last year, the buzz was around “fabric data centers” as organizations began to worry about costs. Did it make sense to have dedicated and expensive network, computing and storage resources around applications even if the IT infrastructure was outsourced? Could IT infrastructure costs be brought down? CIOs were under [...]
Mobile networking. Online games. Social computing. As personal and professional worlds collide, social media is generating huge amounts of unstructured data that’s brimming with business insights — from consumer preferences to competitor activities. That’s why many companies are using social media monitoring tools to “listen” to these conversations. These automated tools — from firms such [...]
Outsourcing is not a new or alien phenomenon. Almost every organization outsources some aspect of its business. A paint company may outsource the manufacture of its paint cans; a mobile network may outsource its billing activity; a hospitality chain may outsource medical waste disposal; an auto manufacturer may outsource servicing; and an IT company may [...]
WIPRO VOICE: There was a time when brand recognition was a consumer product’s best friend. A pretty package and eye-level shelf placement, coupled with some targeted print campaigns or clever TV ads, and you had it made. Whether you sold fashion or food, golf clubs or barbeque grills, the right combination of product, price, promotion [...]
Two things are of key importance in the retail industry today: margins and customer loyalty. While better sourcing, operational efficiencies and market penetration can check margins, the answers to improving loyalty or even maintaining them are complex. Retailers are increasingly being forced towards tactical solutions, rewarding customers with “money-off” deals. Much of the concept of [...]
Rance Clouser was at lunch and needed to get in touch STAT (that’s a hospital term meaning right away!) with a colleague (one of 35,000) he didn’t know that well. The vice president of IT for Advocate Health Care, the largest healthcare provider in Illinois, didn’t have the associate’s phone number in his cell phone. [...]
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