News
Feb 28, 2014
NZ Post announce Contact Centre Job loses in Wellington
On Wednesday 26 Feb, 70 finance employees in NZ Post's corporate head office were told they are among them, while 44 workers at the company's Petone call centre also got the news.
Read more: NZ Post announce Contact Centre Job loses in Wellington
AGM become part of the CCiNZ team 2014
CCiNZ is holding the Annual General Meeting on 11 June 2014. Do you want to be part of the CCiNZ team and make a difference to this industry? If you do click here. At the AGM the nominations for executive elections will be voted in.
Click here for more information about attending the Annual General meeting.
Facebook page dedicated to Keeping Call Centre Jobs in Australia
A facebook page dedicated to updates, and news on Australian call centres
Read more: Facebook page dedicated to Keeping Call Centre Jobs in Australia
Scammers claiming to be collecting money for charity
The Child Cancer Foundation warns that New Zealanders are being targeted by scammers claiming to be collecting money for the charity.
Read more: Scammers claiming to be collecting money for charity
UK-NZ call centre creates more jobs
A British call centre which sends employees to New Zealand to cover night shifts in the UK says it will create more than 100 jobs in 2014.
Union reps and security guards in brawl
They were there to talk to members made redundant following the Yellow Pages Group decision to outsource its call-centre work to Manila next year.
Accused of "fobbing off" customers
Wellington's lines company was accused of "fobbing off" customers and "denying all knowledge" of electricity faults on its network in the aftermath of the June storm, council documents reveal.
Be polite, stay calm and take notes, call centre customers advised
An even temper, good manners and careful record keeping can help defeat call centres that don't co-operate. Contact Centre Institute of NZ chairwoman Nadene Gavigan said people encountering a call centre needed to apply courtesy and an even temper.
"There are some very rude people who want to take their frustration out on the person who answered the phone. Just remember the person that you're ringing is not necessarily the person that got them frustrated in the first place."
Fair Go's Gordon Harcourt said polite insistence was essential. "They are human beings," he said. He said if it didn't work, asking to "escalate" the issue "seemed to push a button" by getting more senior staff on the phone. He said recording all calls - and asking for the company's recording - were also good tactics in keeping dealings straight.
The boss of a firm fined $250,000 for the unlawful antics of call centre staff says the put-upon phone workers should be recognised as critical to any business. "If you can't engage with your customers you'll never be successful," says Slingshot's chief executive Mark Callander. Mr Callander has front-footed the company's response to a $250,000 fine handed down last week over 50 charges under the Fair Trading Act.
The fine covered unauthorised access to rival Telecom's database which it used to switch across clients.
Mr Callander said Slingshot had addressed problems from 2009-2011 linked to the charges by streamlining its systems and restricting its growth.
He said the company also no longer contracted out any frontline contact with the public. That allowed its values to be directly passed to staff and gave more control over the way customer relations were managed. Phone and internet users' advocate Paul Brislen said complaints about Slingshot had fallen in recent years and it had joined the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service.
Firms were taking call centres back inside the business because of the importance of staff interactions with customers.
NZ Hearld, David Fisher, 17 December 2013
Aastra Solidus User Group Event
On Monday 9th December the Aastra Solidus User group held its second event hosted at Police National Headquarters. Inspector Mal Schwartfeger welcomed the group and light refreshments were provided. Attended by 25 users from 8 different customers.
Clinton Sommers of Police National Management Group Talked about how critical Solidus was in providing the Emergency Service responses in NZ. Solidus telephony supports and enables over 1.7 million voice calls a year. Other channels supported include SMS, and email. The NZ Police must have a stable platform, this is not negotiable and Solidus enables this.
Kim Radovanovich, Contact Centre manager of Department of Internal Affairs gave a presentation on the success of DIA (at CCiNZ/CRM awards) and how Solidus contributed.
Her main messages were;
- Have a purpose
- Celebrate
- Blow your own trumpet
Steve Miller from Absol (consultants) talked about Global multi- channel and local trends and challenges for Contact Centres in New Zealand. Solidus agnostic and well received. Web chat is the channel to watch which is growing in popularity. Click here to view the full article.
A very interactive demonstration from Gareth Evans (Aastra) on how to use SMS within Solidus. The demonstration included capturing a audience response to responding to a text requesting displaying data from a spreadsheet database. Great demonstration with some prizes for those of the audience that were first to respond to text survey.
After this great informative session a couple of beverages were enjoyed and more stories and learnings shared.
If you are interested in attending the next Aastra Solidus User group event contact Phil Morgan.
Check out some of the photo's from the event.
Asian consumers switch on to video service
Asia Pacific consumers are demanding multichannel communications for their customer service, with video emerging as one of the region's hottest channels.
The latest findings of the Avaya Asia Pacific Customer Experience Index, conducted by Fifth Quadrant, found that mobile (text messages, instant messaging platforms) as well as online (including website chat, video chat, social media) also continue to grow and deliver great customer satisfaction scores. Despite being a relatively new channel, with an average of 14% of users saying they have engaged in a service interaction through video in the last three months, the adoption of video chat is on the rise, especially in the finance, banking and insurance sector.
Indonesia (41%) and Thailand (29%) lead in the adoption of video as a customer service channel. The rate of adoption of video is expected to grow across the board in 2014 by around 14% according to the index. The main reasons for choosing video chat were virtual face to face interaction with the customer service representative (33%), ease of use (21%) and cost effectiveness (20%).
27-Nov-2013, Fifth Quadrant
Telnet secures another call centre service contract from Australia
New Zealand telecommunications company Telnet continues to expand, having secured its fourth call centre service contract in Australia. The deal is with beauty products giant L'Oreal. Telnet managing director John Chetwynd says companies are beginning to realise keeping call centres in English-speaking countries with similar cultural backgrounds makes for better customer service.
3 News, 29 Oct 2013
Conference Presentation by Leisa Weir
Leisa Weir from The Skills Organistation presented on Development & Retention - attracting, developing and retaining our most valuable resource – People.
Establishing a successful career pathway and providing a supportive environment for personal and professional development ultimately creates a competitive brand. By valuing this approach organisations will be well positioned to attract the best people – so how do we get there?
To view Leisa's presentation click here
Conference Presentation by Leah Fisher
Leah Fisher is founder of ON-Brand partners and TakeON! - a programme for business improvement that gets people working together on what matters most. Leah divides her time between NZ and helping to build a global network of partners around the TakeON!
Leah took us through an interactive session looking at some of the strategic challenges of change to challenge our thinking on how we can indeed learn to love change!
To view Leah's presentation click here
Conference Presentation Transforming the Customer Experience via Digital Enablement
Matt Surridge from Genesys takes a holistic approach to digital custoemr service and integrating it into the customer service stragety, allowing you to take advantage of these new channels to transform the company / customer relationship in ways that profit both.
To view the presentation click here
Conference Presentation by Shona Macdonald
Shona Macdonald is the Customer Care Centre Manager for CourierPost and for the past three years CourierPost has utilised the service of Home Based Agents to provide options around Property Management, Business Continuity and most importantly for the flexibility and access to a wide pool of skilled people.
Initially 30% of the Team were Home Based and this has recently moved to 50% of the team.
Shona talked about the technical aspects of set-up following the business restructure and the on-going development of Home Based Agents for both Voice and Online channels.
To view Shona's presentation click here
Conference Presentation by Antoine Casgrain
Antoine Casgrain is the General Manager of Customer Contact Centres (CCC) for the NSW Westpac Group in Australia. He leads the delivery of their award winning customer experience to the bank’s 2m + customers with a team of over 900 staff.
Antoine shared his wealth of knowledge, experience and insights as to how we can deploy key strategies within our own businesses to both engage and motivate our workforce to achieve great outcomes for our customers.
To view his presentation click here
Conference Outsourcing Presentation
Ann Mayer from Telephos shared at our Conference a case study of how they were able to assist a Waikato Contact Centre at their time of need.
To view the presentation click here
Conference Presentation from Recruitment Workshop
Rebecca Clarke - Drake New Zealand presented at this years CCiNZ Conference about "Want to Make Better Hiring Decisions".
Read more: Conference Presentation from Recruitment Workshop
Drake New Zealand Announces Gold Sponosorship of CCiNZ
Drake New Zealand puts its weight behind the Contact Centre industry to bolster workforce capability as Gold Sponsors of the Contact Centre Institute of New Zealand (CCiNZ).
Read more: Drake New Zealand Announces Gold Sponosorship of CCiNZ
HRV Contact Centre Growth Will Create 30-40 New Jobs
HRV New Zealand is expanding its West Auckland based contact centre resulting in the creation of 30-40 new jobs.
Read more: HRV Contact Centre Growth Will Create 30-40 New Jobs
Plans to cut 100 jobs at Auckland Contact Centre
Staff at an Auckland call centre staff have been told of plans to cut about 100 jobs after Virgin Australia decided to relocate its contact centre overseas, a union says.
Check out details on this years Workshops at Conference
We have been very busy putting together a fantastic agenda for this years CCiNZ Conference to be held on 20th September at SKYCITY Convention Centre. Check out our Conference page for full details on the workshops. Make sure you book your spot today so you do not miss out on this great event.
Conference Workshop update
Make sure you check out our Conference page. Updated today information on one of our Workshop speaker Leah Fisher
DebitSuccess Contact Centre growing
The company's 80-seat contact centre is being expanded to house 153.
NZ's lower wages attract Australian call centres
Cheaper wages and more flexible labour laws in New Zealand are luring Australian companies to outsource their call centres to this side of the Tasman.
AGM Meeting minutes 2013
If you were not able to attend the AGM meeting held in Auckland recently you can view the meeting minutes and Finacial accounts on our website.
More Aust Contact Centre Jobs head to NZ
ANZ Bank customers in Australia may need a grasp of Kiwi vowels and lingo if they want to ring a call centre. The bank is transferring 70 jobs from Australia to a call centre in Wellington
2012 CCiNZ Award Winners Journey
Are you thinking of entering this year's CCiNZ awards!! Hear about last year's winners (Ben Lowe, Samir Castello, and Fleur Evans.) journey and new opportunities that opened up to them as a result of winning.
British Contact Centre workers fly to NZ to work night shift during office hours
Employees of Welsh phone-answering company refuse to work nights, so firm moves workers to Auckland so they can work in the daytime, bosses say staff are more productive as they work around the clock.
Read more: British Contact Centre workers fly to NZ to work night shift during office hours
Orcon looking to relocate its Contact Centre from Manila back to NZ
Internet service provider Orcon is looking at relocating its Philippines call centre to Southland, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt says. Yesterday, Mr Shadbolt said Orcon had decided to move its call centre from Manila back to New Zealand, and he had been involved in initial discussions about establishing it in Invercargill.
Read more: Orcon looking to relocate its Contact Centre from Manila back to NZ
First CapTel Contact Centre outside of USA opens in Auckland
Sprint, a provider in wireless accessibility, announces another milestone in the company's effort to enable telecommunications for all. Sprint opened the first CapTel call center outside of the United States in Auckland, New Zealand. CapTel service provides captioned conversations for people with hearing loss.
Read more: First CapTel Contact Centre outside of USA opens in Auckland
Salmat set to roll-out Kana's customer management solution across its entire ANZ operation
Global software vendor, Kana Software, is ramping up its efforts to further expand its already well-established business in the Australian and New Zealand market on the back of a newly forged partnership with contact centre operator, Salmat, which is set to roll-out Kana’s customer management solution across its entire ANZ operation.
Announcing the new strategic alliance with Salmat, and a new customer agreement with the contact centre operator, Kana’s Brian Donn, Senior Vice President and General Manager APAC, told iTWire the partnership with Salmat was a key plank in the company’s strategy to build business in Australia, particularly with the latest cloud-based Enterprise Agent Desktop solution to be implemented by Salmat in all of its Australian and New Zealand contact centres.
TAB Contact Centre cutting jobs
The TAB is cutting 54 jobs at a call centre in Auckland. The New Zealand Racing Board, which runs the call centre, is selling the building in Ellerslie and moving the work to Wellington and Christchurch.
Market Testing of Regional Contact Centre Begins
Work is to begin on testing market conditions and developing a business case which will determine the feasibility of establishing call and contact centres in Hawke’s Bay and Nelson. The concept was announced by the owner of the internet-based accounting software company Xero, Rod Drury last month and is being strongly supported by Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule and Nelson Mayor Aldo Miccio.
Studylink Call Centre under fire
The call centre that deals with student loans and allowances dropped 300,000 calls in five months.
Aussie Contact Centre Firm To Open NZ Base
An Australian-owned call centre company hopes to create 200 new jobs in Wellington after choosing to base its New Zealand operation in the capital.
Tourism Contact Centre boosts incomes in Vanuatu
Tourism operators on Malekula Island in Vanuatu are now more than 4 million Vatu (NZ$54,000) better off, thanks to a call centre set up with the help of VSA volunteer Howard Iseli using funding provided by the New Zealand Aid Programme.
Nelson seeks Aust Contact Centre jobs
Nelson and Hastings mayors Aldo Miccio and Lawrence Yule want to bring more jobs to provincial New Zealand cities - by taking call centre jobs off higher-paid Australians.
Auckland City to spend $5.5m on Call Centre Solution
Auckland Council has revealed the value of a contract with Vodafone/TelstraClear to consolidate its call centres. The five-year contract is worth $5,551,906.00. The value was disclosed by the council in response to an official information request.
Read more: Auckland City to spend $5.5m on Call Centre Solution
Fairfax call centre moving to NZ
FAIRFAX Media, which last week revealed it was shifting more editorial jobs from Australia to New Zealand, is also in the process of outsourcing much of its internal call-centre work across the Tasman. Once it is completed, the bulk of the company's newspaper and magazine subscriptions and classified ad bookings will be handled by US company Teletech's call centres in Auckland and The Philippines.
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