The April 2011 Issue of TAS Trader

Shooster Holdings

CAM-X 2011 Theme Is “Get Involved! Impliques Toi!”

By Linda Osip

For CAM-X, 2011 is going to be an amazing year. Working with our theme “Get Involved! Impliques Toi!” we have created an exciting calendar of events that is sure to pique the interest of the entire industry. This lineup began with the launch of the ever-popular CAM-X benchmarking programs, the Award of Excellence, and the Call Center Award of Distinction in February.

Next up is the supervisor leadership training seminars. This year, the first one will be in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 15-16. The second one will be held in the fall in Montreal, Quebec, on September 22-23.

The 47th Annual Convention & Trade Show at the Hyatt Regency in Montreal, QC, will be held September 20-23. We are diligently working on a stimulating program that will allow plenty of audience interaction, discussion, and, of course, tons of fun:

The opening keynote speaker will be Kathy Patterson, M.Sc. professor, Marketing Communications, St. Lawrence College Kingston; it will be a social media interactive session. Other sessions include:

•    Niche Marketing, with Benoit Brunel giving his personal story and success in the real estate industry and Gary Darychuk of Directors’ Choice sharing his amazing success with the funeral industry
•    Search Engine Optimization Marketing: Part 1 organic and Part 2 paid.
•    Panel Discussion: Understanding Your Employees (led by Doug Swift)
•    Closing Keynote: Team Member Succession Planning with John Ratliff
•    Pre-Conference Event
•    Wine Tasting with the vendors
•    Gala Banquet and Silent Auction
•    The much-anticipated Awards Luncheon to close the conference

Also, concurrent with Annual Conference will be the second Supervisor Leadership Training Seminar. That agenda is still being finalized.

As an ongoing service to enhance operations for all our membership, we will continue to conduct Webinars throughout the year.

These events are available for members and nonmembers alike; learn more at www.camx.ca.

TAS Trader Readers Speak Out

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

Last month, we surveyed TAS Trader subscribers. We were pleased and encouraged by the high response rate, as well as the positive and insightful feedback. The bottom line is that TAS Trader is well-received, well-read, and enjoys much support.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, author, blogger, publisher, editor

Here are some of the details of what we learned:
•    90 percent read every issue or a majority of the issues
•    90 percent read it on their computer; 10 percent print it out and then read it. Plus, 13 percent save an electronic copy for future reference; 8 percent save a printed copy
•    95 percent read the articles; 76 percent read the news; 48 percent read the classified ads
•    100 percent preferred or had no opinion about it being formatted in landscape mode; no one disliked it in landscape mode.
•    66 percent visit tastrader.com; 50 percent go there to read articles
•    60 percent felt that the current length was ideal; 17 percent would like to see more content

This is some phenomenal support and wonderful affirmation!

When asked about different ways of providing TAS Trader (such as in portrait mode, using a magazine reader, an email text message, or on a mobile device), none of the options suggested received more than 15 percent interest.

Lastly, when asked what type of content readers would like to see added to TAS Trader, the top five responses were:
1)    Guest columnists
2)    Articles from the greater call center industry
3)    News, such as acquisitions, moves, promotions, and new employees
4)    Profiles of answering services
5)    TAS association news and information

This is where you come in:
•    If you would like to submit a guest column or share your company news, please contact us.
•    If you would like to have your answering service profiled in TAS Trader, please let me know. (If you require someone to write your profile, we can recommend a freelance writer who can interview you and write one for a nominal cost.)

TAS Trader is “by the TAS Industry…for the TAS Industry.” Your ideas and submissions make TAS Trader possible. Thank you for your loyal support and for making us a success.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TAS Trader. Check out his latest book, Sticky Customer Service.

PIN Presents First Annual Allen Kalik Award to Ray Shaw

At the recent conference in South Beach, Florida, Professional Teledata’s PIN user group announced the creation of an annual award memorializing the company’s founder Allen Kalik. “We wanted a way of honoring the commitment to Allen’s vision and his extraordinary contributions to the group,” said Susan Liggett, the group’s president. “It seemed to be an obvious and appropriate way of memorializing Allen’s leadership, generosity, and spirit, in addition to recognizing the best and brightest in our group.”

Ms. Liggett added, “The first recipient of the Allen Kalik Award embodies the qualities that we all valued so highly in Allen. He has been active in this industry for almost thirty-five years and owns a thriving business. Never content to sit on the sidelines, he has been active in organizations that have helped set the standard for telecommunications. His contributions include PIN president, PIN wish list, disaster recovery and technical committees, ATSI president, ATSI treasurer, and speaker at innumerable ATSI, PIN and regional meetings.”

Ray Shaw, president of Business and Professional Exchange in Beverly, Massachusetts, upon receiving the award said, “I knew Allen as my friend, my competitor, a mentor, and my vendor. It is indeed a personal honor for me to have received this award, and I was caught totally by surprise. The award will be proudly displayed in my office as a constant reminder of what Allen meant to me personally and what his wisdom and guidance did for my business.”

The group also presented a corresponding plaque to Professional Teledata, which will be proudly displayed in the company’s office in Manchester, New Hampshire.

News

April Kasza to Serve as TeamSNUG President; Tom Reandeau, VP
Startel National Users’ Group (TeamSNUG) announced that April Kasza has been elected as president of the board of directors for 2011. TeamSNUG selected Kasza because of her exceptional dedication and involvement in the business. Kasza is VP of Pueblo, Colorado-based Allgood Communications. Also, Tom Reandeau of Focus Telephone Answering Service, Inc., has been elected as vice president and president-elect for the board of directors for 2011 and will serve as president for 2012. Tom has served on the SNUG board in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2011 and was the education committee chair.

OEO Holds Annual Meeting in Vegas
Members of the OnviSource Equipment Owners (OEO) association held their annual meeting in Las Vegas on February 7-9. Members benefited from a day of OnviCenter product training by OnviSource personnel; OnviSource also shared 2010 corporate updates and their strategic road map for 2011. OnviSource announced their cloud-based OnviServ solutions, which include universal answering services, scripted CRM and agent transaction applications, call recording, quality and liability management, speech analytics, and data mining. This was followed by joint presentations by OEO members and OnviSource personnel, highlighting operational and business best practices. Outside speakers addressed related telephone answering service topics, such as selling, profitability analysis, Website optimization, and how to win clients.

200 Plus Meet for NAEO Conference
The National Amtelco Equipment Owners (NAEO) 2011 Conference was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 13-16. NAEO and Amtelco provided educational presentations during the conference, and Amtelco announced major software and hardware innovations. Kevin Beale, Amtelco’s director of R&D software, introduced Amtelco cloud-based applications miOnCall and miSecureMessaging, which are designed to add new services and increase profits for call centers while minimizing the purchasing and deployment of physical infrastructure. NAEO is a user group set up to facilitate interaction between innovative owners and to discover hidden opportunities while networking with owners and managers. For more information, contact Amtelco at 800-356-9148 or info@amtelco.com; NAEO’s Web site is naeo.org.

Szeto Announces LinxScheduler Scheduling Software
Szeto introduced LinxScheduler, a Web-based tool that allows employers to schedule staff according to need, availability, and capability. Employers can forecast staffing needs based on historic data. Details of an agent’s number of work hours, work history, access level, availability, and salary can be easily accessed. This information is used to determine a schedule where work hours are fairly divided among staff while minimizing labor costs. Szeto designed the program to be simple and efficient yet powerful. LinxScheduler also allows users to customize their own definitions and levels to suit their business needs. Although LinxScheduler was designed for Szeto’s Call Linx application, it can interface with any platform.

Amtelco Introduces miSecureMessages Encrypted Messaging
Amtelco’s miSecureMessages, a subscription-based cloud application pushes encrypted messages to mobile devices using security protection. It is vital to maintaining protected health information (PHI), ensuring that HIPAA and HITECH regulations are met. Encrypted messages can be sent by miSecureMessages to BlackBerry®, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, with support for Android™ mobile devices coming soon. The application provides encrypted message delivery receipts (indicating that the mobile device has received the message), encrypted message read receipts (indicating that the recipient has opened the message), and also allows the recipient to reply to a received message with an encrypted message. Learn more at 800-356-9148, https://www.misecuremessages.com/, or info@amtelco.com.

—-

[Posted by Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD for TAS Trader.]