CUSTOMER — January/February 2015

Taking the Lead: This Isn't Your Father's Lead Generation

While the old school methods of lead generation can certainly still be effective, today companies also frequently look for leads based on what people do and say online - including what products they browse and buy, what websites they visit, their connections and group affiliations on social networks, and other data that is attainable through public records or other sources....Read More >>>

AireContact by AireSpring is Powerful, But Does Have a Learning Curve
AireContact by AireSpring is designed to be a cloud-based contact center solution that allows multichannel, blended, cloud-based interactions for agents located anywhere. It is a very powerful product, and it's user interface helps simplify and make more accessible its enormous potential. - 01/12/2015

TeamSupport Leader Offers His Perspective on the Customer Experience
The November issue of CUSTOMER magazine explained how TeamSupport is about getting the focus back to the customer, and not just closing tickets. In this issue, we'll get to know Robert C. Johnson, TeamSupport's CEO, and learn more about what makes him - and his company - tick. - 01/12/2015

Americans Want Control, Relevancy in Mobile Advertising
Americans prefer that the ads they see on their mobile devices be relevant to their interests, but they want tools that provide transparency and control over how that relevancy is delivered. - 01/12/2015

TeleTech's Humanify Enables Clients to Deliver Expert Customer Service
Social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook have demonstrated that people are quite comfortable building online profiles and sharing them with the world, so Humanify is borrowing from that model to enable its business clients to deliver better customer service. And it's using that as a way to identify and differentiate service for the most high value customers. - 01/12/2015

The Omni-Channel Contact Center: What It Is and How to Get There
Going back to the analog world, most households had a TV, a record player, and a radio. Each was used independently for home entertainment - they were separate, standalone experiences that nobody would ever think about mashing together. - 01/12/2015

Marketing Automation
The benefits of automating marketing to more effectively reach a broader audience with more relevant messages are becoming better understood. And a growing number of companies are now leveraging these tools and processes to drive new revenues. - 01/12/2015

The Time is Now For Cloud - But Maybe Not for You
Is anyone else weary of the word cloud? It seems like the buzzword keeps gathering strength, in both business and consumer circles. Your great aunt and uncle are probably storing photos from their smartphones in the cloud. And it's hard to glance at a business publication these days without seeing more and more mission critical systems moving to the cloud. In January 2014, Forbes magazine reported businesses in the U.S. will spend more than $13 billion on cloud computing and managed hosting services during the calendar year. - 01/12/2015

TMC Announces CUSTOMER Product of the Year Award Winners
The top editors at CUSTOMER magazine and its parent company, TMC, have made their selections for the CUSTOMER Product of the Year Awards. Here's a list of the winners, and what each offering brings to the customer experience. - 01/12/2015