The 2nd Annual CCNG Regional Seminar was held at the DFW North Marriott in Texas on October 2, 2007.  We had over 70 people in attendance for this event!  Our special thanks goes to Interactive Intelligence, FurstPerson, RightNow Technologies, and Autonomy etalk for sponsoring this event.  Here are some highlights from the conference:

Brian Cassano of Interactive Intelligence began the conference with a presentation entitled "Contact Center of the Future."  Brian talked to us about the shift in the call center industry:  sevice agents - self service; agent efficiency - effectiveness; and the decline of the physical call center.  We also discussed the intelligence call center:

Today	Future
IVR	Analytics
Speech Recognition	Speech Analytics
Video Chat	Video Queuing
Passive Agent Training	Auto elearning

The second presentation was given by Jeff Furst of FurstPerson.  Jeff's presentation was entitled "Predictive Hiring."

1. Who do you want to hire and why?
2. Finding candidates
3. Hiring candidates
4. Keeping new hires

We learned that hiring is organized into 4 quadrants:  (1) Work habits; (2) Work Ability - Thinking; (3) Work Ability - Interpersonal; and Work Attitudes and Motivations.  We also discussed the 6 Steps to Reducing 90-Day Attrition.  As part of this discussion we learned that "your retention strategy is only as good as the front line leadership."

Rick Goad of RightNow Technologies gave a presentation entitled "Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences Through Excellence in the Contact Center."  As part of Rick's presentation we learned that today's contact center challenges include:

• Communicating on the customer's terms
• Managing distributed service models
• Lack of real-time actionable intelligence
• And more ....

There are 8 Steps to Great Customer Experiences.  Those 8 steps are:

1. Establish a knowledge foundation
2. Empower customers
3. Empower frontline employees
4. Offer multi-channel choice
5. Listen to customers
6. Design seamless experiences
7. Engage proactively
8. Measure and improve continuously

The final presentation was given by Kathy Kuehne of Autonomy etalk.  Kathy's presentation was entitled "Coaching and Analytics:  Before, During & After the Interaction."

Before - New Hire Training

During - Where do I go from here?

• Internet
• Documents and manuals
• Knoweldge base
• Training content
• Emails
• Shared folders

After - Sharpening skills and refining talents

• Coach
• Evaluate
• Self-Evaluate
• Train
• Repeat

Our meeting concluded with everyone boarding a bus and taking a trip to The Beryl Companies for an extensive site tour.  Special thanks goes to The Beryl Companies as they did an outstanding job of showcasing their center and operations.  We learned how The Beryl Companies came into existence through a presentation given by Beryl's CEO Paul Spiegelman.  Paul has recently written a book entitled "Why is Everyone Smiling?"  We learned about their training programs, rewards and recognition, their operations, and the many benefits afforded to their employees.

We hope to see everyone at the next CCNG event which is tentatively scheduled for late February / early March at Brinks Home Security.  Watch our web site for details.

Meeting Attendees

Name	Company Name
Alvarez, Delia	Allstate Insurance Company
Anderson, Greg	Xerox
Bradford, Victoria	ATX Group
Brinkley, Holly	RealPage, Inc.
Brock, Lisa	Allstate Insurance Company
Bufkin, Neil	Volt Workforce Solutions
Cantu, Nancy	Allstate Insurance Company
Cassano, Brian	Interactive Intelligence
Corral, Bernardo	Allstate Insurance Company
Crnkovich, Lynne	Home Interiors
Dearion, Glenda
Del Hierro, Mabel	Allstate Insurance Company
Del Hierro, Raul	Allstate Insurance Company
DellaStua, Al	RightNow Technologies
Dermott, Donna
Dicker, Susanne	People, Inc.
Dickey, Linda	BillMatrix Corporation
Douglas, Annette	Greyhound Lines
Drake, Chris	Sprint PCS
Ellis, Margaret	Spherion
Erschik, Tim	Home Depot
Floden, David	Atmos Energy
Foley, Sue	Home Depot
Furst, Jeff	FurstPerson, Inc.
Garza, Diana	TNB Card Services
Goad, Rick	RightNow Technologies
Graber, Ginger	CCNG International, Inc.
Hendrickson, Lon	CCNG International, Inc.
Holland, Glenn	Merced Systems
Howard, Rosie	TNB Card Services
Hutin, Sandy	Xerox
Ibanez, Kerri	Herman Miller
Jones, Shirley	Greyhound Lines
Jordan, Pamela	Allstate Insurance Company
King, Thom	TNB Card Services
Knapp, John	Pro Staff
Kuehne, Kathy	Autonomy etalk
Laffery, Darrell	Greyhound Lines
Limon, Lynda	Safeguard
Lory-Gaffney, Melissa	ATX Group
Magie, Ann	ATX Group
Martin, Jennifer	Volt
McCord, Brenda	Freeman
McGregor, Kristin	Volt Workforce Solutions
McKenna, Dave	RealPage, Inc.
Meador, Ronald	Tenet
Melcher, James	Atmos Energy
Mitchell, Deanna	Pro Staff
Mooney, Emily	Herman Miller, Inc.
Moore, Jay	MetroPCS
Morales, Hernan	Allstate Insurance Company
Norris, Hope	MetroPCS
Perez, Arturo	Allstate Insurance Company
Pettus, Anthony	Spherion
Pollock, Linda	Mary Kay, Inc.
Porterfield, Michelle	CCNG International, Inc.
Powell, Bo	Merced Systems
Prachyl, Susan	CSC
Richardson, Nicole	Pro Staff
Schneider, Paul	Fidelity Investments
Schulz, Patty
Smith, Bridget	Safeguard
Smith, Joshua	Pro Staff
Sosa, Cesar	Allstate Insurance Company
Stephens, Jessica	Xerox
Templin, Tommy	Bay Bridge Decision Technologies
Thompson, Allen	RightNow Technologies
Walter, Jason	TNB Card Services
Watts, Marja	Greyhound Lines
Webster, Linda	Allstate Insurance Company
Wells, Darren	Radiology Associates
West, Jeanetta	Xerox
Wheeler, Erin	Home Depot