You might be surprised to find out just where and how the number developed.
In today’s society we tend to take it for granted that there is always someone we can call for help in case of an emergency. In the event of a home invasion, car accident, or fire, police and emergency services are just a phone call away. Dial 9-1-1 and you are instantly connected to an emergency call center that can almost immediately send help on its way. It may be hard to imagine, but it wasn’t always like this. The first 9-1-1 system in the United States was actually put in place in 1968 in Haleyville, Alabama. Let’s take a look at the evolution of the 9-1-1 emergency dispatch as we know it today. Check it out.
As you can see, the 9-1-1 system that we know and trust today is a relatively recent development. Before there was a 9-1-1 dispatcher to direct your calls, response times were markedly longer, and the ability to contact emergency services was not guaranteed. At KOVA, we realize how lucky we are to have this amazing service at our fingertips, and we are constantly working on ways to improve the speed and quality of these calls. If you would like to learn more about our 9-1-1 call center solutions, and find out what makes us the best at what we do, give us a call today or leave us a comment below.
While it’s important to take care of yourself to avoid crisis, it’s also important to take care of those around you that can’t help themselves. While children have a general awareness of things that are going on, it might not occur to them not to take candy from a stranger; that’s why they have to be reminded. Public safety officials spend a lot of time working to prevent child safety emergencies from occurring. Here are some child safety tips for parents and others that will keep them safe and avoid a crisis.
Never leave a child alone in water
There’s a reason why the lifeguard only gets a break during adult swim. While a kid may be the best swimmer on his or her swim team, that still doesn’t mean they know when to stop or won’t get stuck in a scary situation. Splashing and having fun can take their attention away from noticing when they get tired. Soon they can’t doggy paddle anymore and they’re in the middle of the deep end with no one to help. Leaving kids alone will take away that added lifeline they might have if they do run out of steam.
Lock and put away all firearms
Johnny brought his new friend Todd home, and while mom and dad weren’t looking, he took Todd to show him his dad’s new toys. If they’re unlocked and loaded, who knows what will happen when they begin to play without realizing what the gun can do. The best way to ensure no accidents will happen is to keep it locked, unloaded and put away.
Install a fire alarm and carbon monoxide detector
This means with batteries. Not only is this important for your kids, but it’s also a home safety tip. Life can get busy, and that annoying beeping sound from the low batteries can make it worse. Don’t just take the batteries out and throw them away without replacing. These alarms may be what alert you and your children fast enough to be able to get out of the house unscathed.
Secure windows and lock doors
Just as no one knows what’s going to come out of a kid’s mouth, no one knows what a kid will decide to do. You may have an 8-year-old daughter who is playing dress up and decides she needs to “go on a princess adventure,” and out the front door she goes. Without you there to protect her, you don’t know what might happen. By keeping all windows and doors locked, you can take another step towards keeping the bad people out and the good ones in.
Keeping your kids safe can be a major part of parenting, but what happens if they’re not your children? By taking advantage of these safety tips, whether they’re your kids or not, you’re helping tomorrow’s generation. At the pool and you see a child’s mom run to the car? Keep an eye on that child while she’s gone. Leaving with your friend and her kids - but she seems to have left the door unlocked in the whirlwind of commotion caused by her twins? Ask for her set of keys and lock up for her. It’s the little lifestyle shifts that can change a parent’s, or a child’s, life forever.
With the rising use of the Internet, it’s becoming more commonplace to be asked for a credit card number or other personal information over the Web. With this growing familiarity with Internet transactions come those who ask for that same information, but are really using this data for themselves. Public safety officials deal with cybercrimes on a regular basis. While the Internet can be a valuable tool, it’s important to learn and exercise proper Internet safety so you’re keeping yourself safe while surfing. Here are some Internet safety tips to put into practice:
Always check for the padlock
Every computer is different, but learn the signs that appear on your Internet browser when you’re accessing a secure site. This sign tells the user about the website’s security. Don’t just learn the sign though. Learn the color, the sign, if it lights up and what part of the screen it appears on. Some internet wizards know people don’t know exactly what their “token” looks like, so they put similar padlocks on parts of the page so you think you’re accessing a secure site when you’re not. By memorizing the way it looks, you’re setting yourself up to defend your information against fraud.
Talk with your kids about Internet safety
Cyber bullying and catfishing are only two of the new words that have popped up after kids have logged on. Have a conversation with your kids about child Internet safety and what to do if they feel unsafe on the Internet. Take the time to monitor your kids’ activity too, and know when they’ve spent too much time surfing the net.
· Share an email account so you can monitor their activity.
· Invest in a filter that controls the sites your kids can access.
· Keep the computer in a main part of the house so you can see what they’re doing online just by walking by.
· Take the time to participate in the games or websites where your kids are. They will think you’re cool because you want to be involved in THEIR world and you will get the opportunity to see just what Club Penguin is.
· Keep track of the amount of time they’re spending on the computer. The great outdoors can still call kids’ names - it’s just drowned out by ringtones.
Take action when things get strange
Never be embarrassed to report something someone has messaged you on Facebook or posted as a comment on one of your tweets. It can be hard as an adult to report a threatening message - you feel like you’re an adult and Internet problems are of a different generation. The fact of the matter is, Internet problems and cyber bulling can affect anyone from any age, race or gender and should be reported. You don’t know what the person could do next.
All in all, when on the Internet it’s important to be smart. Internet safety is for parents and kids alike. Have you ever been on a dark road alone at night and you suddenly became very aware of your surroundings? The Internet can be the same way. Make sure you’re aware of others’ actions as well as your reputation online and cyber safety should be a walk in the park.
Customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to any business because every business, no matter how big or small, depends upon its customers to thrive and flourish. Researchers the world over stress the importance of this aspect of a business continually, more so because it acts as a metric through which organizations can understand, manage and even improve their revenue generation.
The satisfaction of a customer is directly in proportion with the revenue a company generates. Studies have shown that a satisfied customer will contribute 2.5 times more revenue to a company than an unsatisfied customer.
So how does one handle the influx of data when it is gigabytes in size and it becomes humanly impossible to sort it all out correctly and push it through the correct channels? KOVA Corp’s Verint Media Recorder Text Analytics is the answer to that question. It is a software which enables organizations to receive better feedback and consumer satisfaction via thorough collection of raw data and its precise analysis. You can receive feedback from various channels simultaneously and utilize it to generate positive changes within your organization.
Our Verint Media Recorder Text Analytics helps you comb through waves upon waves of data via a secure web-based dashboard, guaranteeing you complete privacy. The following points illustrate its advantages:
In today’s tech savvy and internet crazed world, whenever a customer is satisfied with any organization’s product of services, the first thing they’ll do is either share it on a social networking site, or post a positive review on review based websites. Keep in mind, though, that not every customer who feels positively about your brand might want to share glowing reviews online. However, an unsatisfied customer will go out of their way to warn people against your product or services, thus giving negative reviews a higher reach than positive ones.
It’s not possible to comb through every website or forum where such comments, reviews or opinions have been posted about your organization, which is why our Verint Media Recorder Text Analytics is an important asset for you. There are numerous text based channels across the internet from which our software collects its data:
If you’re interested in knowing more, simply contact KOVA today.
Audiolog is a powerful software solution that grants contact centers the ability to go beyond regular audio recording capabilities. Powered by Verint Systems, Inc., the software enables calls, texts, emails and web chats to be recorded off multiple sources. With advanced optional features, AudioLog helps businesses record, evaluate and grow faster than ever before.
Contact centers almost always require multiple programs to record, archive and analyze data such as calls and customer feedback. Designed to offer more in one complete solution, Audiolog provides greater value for money by handling the job of multiple programs in one, complete unified solution. Not only does this make it a cost-effective solution, it enables easier familiarity and usage.
For most businesses, creating training seminars requires the collection of massive amounts of data, its analysis, reporting and interpretation before it can be used in a training program. With multiple programs in use, this can take most businesses quite some time. With Audiolog, that time is dramatically reduced and you see improved results.
With the ability to effortlessly record data from multiple sources, including telephone calls, text messages, email, web chats and even PBX, you can gather data faster than ever. With built-in analysis and reporting tools, although some are optional, your trainers can create program easily and deliver precise training seminars that deal with current issues your center is facing.
Performance appraisals rely on the use of a library of data to monitor the quality of an individual, their growth and their potential in a company. We know that they can be difficult and delays can surface if data is not available in time. With a multitude of quality monitory tools, Audiolog helps you gather the data you require to analyze the performance of an employee, even creating scoring reports to gauge performance.
For any business gathering and storing data, they are required to ensure data protection and encryption both during recording and after. With encryption management features, Audiolog makes compliance an easy and relatively cost-effective task.
In fact, there are times when customers provide sensitive data and it cannot be recorded. Audiolog can be programmed to pause all recording when certain criterion are met - for example, when a client enters bank pins. This ensures the protection of data and ensures your business meets compliance.
More than just gathering data, businesses require a way to analyze data. In most cases, this is rather precise data. For example, it may include customers who left negative feedback 2 hours after peak hours. Audiolog can do all this and more almost always with a push of a single button. Audiolog even allows you to access recordings and management tools from a remote location.
For businesses who require a unique all-in-one powerful and cost-effective data recording solution, Audiolog presents itself as a clear choice. With a host of tools to use, Audiolog helps you record and analyze data and grow faster than ever.
Skills that will help your employees provide the best customer service possible
Working in a contact center can sometimes be a stressful job. Customers are generally calling because they have a problem, not because they would like to say hello. Dealing with these problems in a calm and effective manner is the heart of any good customer service in a contact center. There are a variety of different ways to tackle an upset or rude customer, but they all boil down to an employee’s ability to stay calm and focused on the problem at hand. There are several traits that employees may already have, or possibly need to instill in themselves if they are going to effectively deal with callers.
A Calm Disposition
This one is probably the most obvious out of the bunch. There’s no way an employee is going to deliver good customer service if they are getting caught up in an argument or baited by a stressed out customer. In fact, staying calm and avoiding that same stress is going to allow them to field the call in a professional and helpful manner. It can be tough to keep your composure when a customer starts a call with a poor attitude, but the calmer you are over the phone, the more the caller may realize they shouldn’t be directing their anger at you.
Patience
Sometimes the problem is going to be right in front of a customer’s face, and more often than not, it’s an easy solution that leaves them feeling bashful for calling. However, some customers might not be savvy enough to grasp the first explanation, and it sometimes it will take all the patience in the world to talk them through it. It might seem like a tedious task, but anything less is not providing the level of customer service that your company promises. “Patience is a virtue” may seem like a pretty clichéd saying, but there’s a reason so many people quote it.
Friendliness
This last one sometimes gets overlooked in the rush to make sure the information provided by a contact center is helpful and correct. A friendly tone of voice or touch of concern can do wonders to calm a stressed out customer who may be ready to have it out over the line. We all know it’s possible to hear a smile over the phone, and a friendly demeanor can go a long way with customers at a time when most people are expecting a faceless drone half the world away.
At KOVA, we know all about the many different aspects that go into building a successful customer call center, not the least of which is your employees. If your employees can come off as calm, patient, and friendly over the phone, your customers will take note. If you would like to learn more about our custom call center solutions, and what you can do to improve your contact center, reach out to us today!
When communication is a matter of life and death, and response time the best means of ensuring a happy outcome for crisis situations, the system that connects people needs to be fast, sharp, and accurate.
The evolving nature of modern telecommunications means that existing systems can expect a burden of upgrades as new technology emerges. Dispatch software needs to be both efficient and adaptable.
KOVA offers emergency response, local and regional governmental institutions, airports and author authorities and organizations solid responses to their communication needs. The result of years of experience and refinement, KOVA’s public safety solutions can streamline and enhance your communication system. Our systems allow you to meet current needs while keeping an eye on the future.
Public Safety Software You Can Trust
Audiolog is a multimedia recording system that is tailored to suit your communication needs. Audiolog can function as a stand-alone recorder/playback unit, or it can be used as a specialized server within a larger network. Audiolog is able to support full-time simultaneous recording of scheduled, on-demand, or event-driven scenarios.
Audiolog is easy to integrate into existing networks and hardware. Proprietary systems make integration difficult. Instead of requiring extensive refits to merge with in-place structures, the Audiolog system is composed of standard off-the-shelf PC components. This ease of use and adaptability offers Adiolog users many advantages over proprietary systems.
Public Safety Software That Is Economical
The ease of use and support means that Audiolog costs significantly less than other similar systems.
Audiolog incorporates both voice and screen recording, as well as offering flexible storage options (DVD, NAS, CAS, and SAN). Playback and monitoring, system administration, evaluation and reporting are brought together into one smoothly performing package
Public Safety Software That Resists Obsolescence
The user-friendly features of Audiolog extend to shelf life. Rather than planned obsolescence that forces upgrades or trade-ins, KOVA has no plans to discontinue Audiolog.
Your organization can expect a long functional life of the Audiolog system: because it is designed for upgrades, newer technology can be incorporated into existing systems. Audiolog avoids the problem of dispatch software that quickly requires modification or replacement.
Maximum Connectivity And Next Generation Requirements
Audiolog provides maximum recording connectivity with a variety of platforms. Digital PBX/ACD stations; digital/analog trunks; service observe; single step conferencing; radio systems, and VoIP and H.323 systems are all connections that Audiolog supports.
Audiolog’s network design allows multiple recorders to be configured to act as one system. This network feature allows unlimited scalability.
Because public safety communications are constantly evolving, the need for flexibility in system structure to keep pace is an import aspect to consider. Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) in particular is becoming a high priority in planning as the national move to see uniform improvement in 9-1-1 continues to gather momentum. In a climate of change not all dispatch software is created the same. Audiolog is the ideal system to employ. It’s architecture can easily support technological evolution.
KOVA strives to offer the best products for the public safety and security sectors. Its Audiolog recording system is an ideal way to help ensure your communication needs are fulfilled. Combining ease of use, with a flexible operating system that makes upgrades and additions to existing structure swift and feasible, Audiolog can set the course for your communication well into the 21st century.
Call center staff are the make-or-break component to any call center.
Last time we looked at three ways to reexamine and reinvigorate call center workforce management. Here are three other ways to improve your call center’s performance.
1. Make Action A Priority. The relationship between staff and management is dynamic and reciprocal. If efforts are one sided, loss of trust will soon follow – and restoring trust is hard to achieve, making lapses both inefficient and costly.
To make mentoring a reality, there has to be action on management’s part. When agents bring concerns or complaints, it is important to realize this is a challenge to the fundamental relationship that is at the heart of every call center: staff and management.
No matter if the complaints aren’t actionable – validating the process is necessary to maintaining the relationship.
Whenever possible act on suggestions and complaints that come from your staff. Show them that their frontline experience is important to the call center’s function.
2. Fairness And Flexibility. Agents want a balance between work and life. Allowing for flexible scheduling arrangements can be a strong promoter of your call center team’s work satisfaction.
A great way to build moral is shift bidding and swapping. Unfilled shifts are offered to qualified agents. They can then bid for shifts, allowing them to volunteer for shift times otherwise outside their preferred work day. Managers can select among bidders, ensuring a willing agent that is the best fit for the shift in question. In a similar way, allowing some swapping of shifts on a volunteer basis can help boost moral
Providing a clear process for schedule changes is necessary to prevent chaos and preserve benefits.
3. No Man Is An Island. Finally, there is the critical role of the manager. The call center personifies workforce management more than in other industries. He completes the equation between satisfied customers and satisfied staff.
Because the burdens of call center management are heavy and diverse, workforce management software is indispensible to achieving goal realization. The time investment in mentoring and other reaffirmative personal contact with staff makes a manger’s time precious.
KOVA’s Enterprise Workforce Optimization solutions are based on the need for mangers to have a swift, efficient, and easy means of tracking the great variety of tasks they must perform every day.
Impact360, KOVA’s workforce management software, can automate staff training according to a wide variety of performance indicators or scorecards – it even lets staff schedule training sessions on their own initiatives. Scheduling too can be automated, allowing you to assign times for meeting or training with a minimum of disruption to service. Our software solutions can provide automatic compliance with any governmental, union, or time-banking regulations.
Customer satisfaction and feedback can be captured with Impact360. Our solutions allow you to achieve and analyze a wide selection of data. And most importantly, Impact360 can reduce costs, promoting truly cost-effective service, while delivering actionable insights to your business.
Call center staff is the single most expensive and most critical element of any call center. By enriching the relationship between management and staff, customer service can be brought to outstanding levels of satisfaction. KOVA’s workforce management software can streamline this process making for a better team. And a strong team makes your business stronger and more agile.
In most call centers, over two-thirds of operating costs are directed to personnel. As the largest single investment of your call center, staffing and scheduling efficiencies are paramount to securing a healthy bottom line.
Call center workforce management is a complex process. Optimizing frontline staff’s performance while reducing costs is an ongoing concern, one of the most important in any call center’s planning and management functions.
There are many indicators that can help you manage your call center’s workforce. And while a close monitoring of all key indicators is important to the health of your enterprise, the single most important element to success is customer satisfaction.
Workforce Management Is About Agent And Customer Satisfaction
In the rush of day-to-day operations, the critical role of agents’ job satisfaction can easily fall off the radar. But amid the needs to schedule and train staff efficiently, there needs to be room to promote staff morale.
There’s hard data supporting the need to have happy call center staff. The SQM Group found that for every 1% increase in job satisfaction for employees, there followed a 2% increase in customer satisfaction.
It’s clear that your call center’s staff moral is an investment that yields a solid return.
How Workforce Management Can Promote A Happy Call Center Team
Any manager of a call center knows that when it comes to frontline staff, every individual has a tremendous impact on reaching service goals. Maximized efficiency means that there is no shaky wheel on the cart. 100% motivated team members actively invested in meeting performance goals is simply the most efficient way to have the highest levels of customer satisfaction.
Here are a few of the foundational components necessary to promoting a committed call center team.
1. Keep your ears open. Always. Listen to your staff, and take what the say seriously. The thrust of their concerns or their victories may not always be actionable from a managerial standpoint, but you provide powerful impetus to motivation if you are ready to listen to your team. It’s about dignity: showing concern for your staff is the beginning of a process of trust and mutual respect. Once it’s there, listening reaffirms it.
2. Mentor Your Team. As a manager, it’s all too easy to forget that you are much, much more than ‘just a boss.’ You’re a call center’s mentor, your team’s coach, their teacher. Being there to offer suggestions and encouragement, or to give the praise due to a job well done is the difference between red tape and making a difference to staff performance.
Training is an important part of mentoring. When staff struggle, you need to be there to support them with training options to get them through a rough spot. Your role as a leader can make what seems like drudgery into a potential to greater job satisfaction for your team. Whether teaching new skills or polishing old ones, excellent call center workforce management has mentoring as its core.
3. Make Agents The Heart Of Every Process. Practical perspective is priceless to crafting any new policy. Including staff in planning policies or changes that will affect them is important. By allowing them to give advice you work towards promoting respect and trust.
A policy that is the result of collaboration is more likely to implement and function well. Be sure to share feedback with staff so they can see what works, and what doesn’t. You’re validating the process when assessment is shared with your team – even when a new initiative fails.
A successful relationship between management and staff turns every negative into a positive.
Call Center Management Is A Whole With Parts
Call center management is a blend of key elements that must all be in place and operational if your contact center is to be successful. Skillful team members require support by effective resources that are available when needed, employed in response to an accurately forecasted work load. Service needs to be at quality levels that are clear, consistent, and fully communicated.
In other words, a successful call center in today’s fast paced world needs information. And the most critical use of data gathered is in feeding back into agent training.
Workforce Management Supports Your Team
Perhaps there is so more crucial piece to your call center than its training program. Training is the critical level of support that empowers your call center team to give great customer service. More than imparting a skill set, training helps define an agent’s role in the team’s effort to meet quality goals. But to be most effective, training should be tailored to the concrete needs of your team.
Call Center Metrics Can Bring Your Team Together
It’s about establishing trust with your agents. Looking at data, panicking, and throwing training at your team will only erode confidence in your support structure. Successful training is about allowing your contact center’s team members to see how they can control and work to meet performance objectives by taking appropriate action at the appropriate time.
Verint Media Recorder: Workforce Management Software That Makes Training easier
Verint Media Recorder eLearning provides training on agents’ desktop. Your call center’s metrics or direct observation can direct what courses and lessons are made available to individual team members or to entire groups.
Results of quality performance monitoring evaluations can be used to provide automated prompts to tailor training opportunities to a specific agent’s scorecard results. Verint Media Recorder’s eLearning even allows agents to schedule training on their own initiative if they perceive a need.
eLearning: Management Software That’s Adaptable To Your Needs
Managers can see at a glance the coursework that has been assigned, the deadline for completion, and what has been completed. Created with your needs in mind, tutorial material can be generated with Verint Media Recorder’s Content Producer or you can create your own training material for eLearning to assign.
eLearning’s Automated Training Assignments Support Your Team
Verint Media Recorder’s eLearning system meets all your workforce management needs. Advanced Scorecards can be adjusted to include performance thresholds. If performance falls below these thresholds, the appropriate remedial training is automatically assigned to the agent.
Because training can impact work schedules, eLearning can be used in conjunction with KOVA’s Workforce Management system. When training has been assigned to your team, eLearning can send this information to Workforce Management, which can schedule times for training sessions when service won’t be interrupted.
Making Customer Satisfaction Actionable
Customer feedback is key to maintaining optimum service levels. Customer satisfaction surveys can be used to assign training: eLearning allows customer scoring of an agent’s performance to prompt training opportunities.
When it comes to outstanding customer service, it’s the agent that delivers. Persistent and effective training are the means to success. The challenges to that success include changes in products, services, staffing, and processes. KOVA’s workforce management software can allow you to offer timely and relevant training without the inconveniences and expense of classroom instruction.
