INTERFACE ADVANTAGE
Your monthly window into the front office revolution!
Thursday, July 21, 2005
In this edition: - SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MARKETSPACE ADVISOR WEBLOG
- Help Yourself, CFO Magazine
- Parking Meters Get Smarter, The Wall Street Journal
- Check in the Mail? Postal Service Ready to Tell You Where, Baseline
- Can You Profit as Customers Get Smarter? CIO Insight
- TiVo To Let Viewers Contact Advertisers, The New York Times
- Coca-Cola Contact Center Stirs Up Profits, Inside 1to1
- The Top 400 Guide, Internet Retailer
- Reader's Digest: The Longest Goodbye, Baseline
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MARKETSPACE ADVISOR WEBLOG
News and commentary on improving the cross-channel experience
Marketspace Advisory has launched Marketspace Advisor, a new blog where members of the team, including Jeffrey Rayport, will post regularly. Please visit http://www.marketspaceadvisory.net/ and subscribe by e-mail or RSS... Comments and feedback welcome, and please post/link to it from your blog if you have one!
HELP YOURSELF
CFO Magazine, July 1, 2005
Customer self-service is finally catching on with consumers -- and saving businesses a bundle in the process. Over the years, companies have spent millions rolling out cutting-edge CRM systems, including automated phone programs and, later, Web-based systems. The dream: improve customer care while reducing the cost of providing it. The dream didn't pan out. Automated phone systems were confusing, forcing callers to navigate a maddening series of menu options. Web-based programs, which promised quick answers, often left customers waiting hours for a response to a simple question. There's no question that at some point self-service developed something of a bad reputation. That reputation appears to be changing. Indeed, customer self-service is quietly and steadily gaining acceptance with consumers. - Read the whole story...
PARKING METERS GET SMARTER
The Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2005
Technology is taking much of the fun out of finding a place to park the car. In Pacific Grove, Calif., parking meters know when a car pulls out of the spot and quickly reset to zero -- eliminating drivers' little joy of parking for free on someone else's quarters. In Montreal, when cars stay past their time limit, meters send real-time alerts to an enforcement officer's hand-held device, reducing the number of people needed to monitor parking spaces -- not to mention drivers' chances of getting away with violations. Meanwhile, in Aspen, Colo., wireless "in-car" meters may eliminate the need for curbside parking meters altogether: They dangle from the rear-view mirror inside the car, ticking off prepaid time. - Read the whole story... (requires subscription)
CHECK IN THE MAIL? POSTAL SERVICE READY TO TELL YOU WHERE.
Baseline, July 6, 2005
If the U.S. Postal Service has its way, "the check is in the mail" excuse will no longer be valid. The company that sent you the bill could verify whether you're bluffing through a bar code on the return envelope scanned by the Postal Service. - Read the whole story...
CAN YOU PROFIT AS CUSTOMERS GET SMARTER?
CIO Insight, July 5, 2005
Some truisms get truer with time, and "the customer is king" is one of them. Customers are more sophisticated and demanding than at any time in history, say 84 percent of nearly 300 respondents to this month's CIO Insight survey, and the Internet, by providing customers new sources of information and services, is one major reason why. - Read the whole story...
TIVO TO LET VIEWERS CONTACT ADVERTISERS
The New York Times, July 19, 2005
TiVo, the maker of digital video recorders, introduced a feature that lets television viewers send personal information directly to advertisers when they see certain commercials. TiVo, whose equipment allows TV commercials to be skipped, will now give advertisers direct access to viewers who are interested in their products. - Read the whole story... (requires subscription)
COCA-COLA CONTACT CENTER STIRS UP PROFITS
Inside 1to1, June 27, 2005
She calls herself a call center novice. But when Nita Pennardt, vice president of Coca-Cola Enterprises' Customer Development Center in Tampa, FL, developed, strategized, and organized a contact center that in two years has generated more than $188 million in revenue (with $2.2 million generated daily), serves more than 200,000 inside sales accounts, and handles 63,000 inbound service calls per week, Pennardt is no longer wet behind the ears. - Read the whole story...
THE TOP 400 GUIDE
Internet Retailer, June 2005
Online retailing continues to be a significant merchandising channel, with e-retailing operations growing in sales, average ticket, conversion rates and more. - Read the whole story...
READER'S DIGEST: THE LONGEST GOODBYE
Baseline, July 8, 2005
Decades before the idea took hold in the dot-com era, Reader's Digest kept a "360-degree view" of each of its customers -- tracking every contact it ever had with a subscriber to its magazine or a purchaser of any of its condensed books or other products. Yet, because it was ahead of its time, it took 17 years to unwind its novel data-based marketing system. - Read the whole story...
|
