SpiceCSM has been chosen… to be a speaker that is, at the upcoming ATA NY Metro Technology Forum.  It will be my pleasure to give a short talk on “Utilizing Mutli-tenancy and a Shared Agent Environment to Reduce Operating Expenses.” The event is taking place at the DialAmerica building in  Mahwah, NJ on April 2nd.

If you are an ATA member and are planning to attend the show, I look forward to seeing you there. If you are not a memeber, you can still come down and enjoy the day. Either way, please visit the registration page to get started.

Hope to see you there.

Cheers,
Justin

In case you have not had the chance to check out the blog at OpenCSM, I wanted to give you an update of the recent activity, and let me tell you, there has been a lot.  If you now go to www.opencsm.org/download, you will find the latest code for download.  Each project has been updated, so if you are following any of the projects and were looking for a bug fix or feature upgrade make sure to check it out.

Last Friday, Mark Cornett, our COO, made a blogpost titled, New Releases Announced, which outlines all the work and changes that have occurred.  The news includes everything from license changes to new features, so be sure to check it out.  Also, I’m glad I was finally able to convince our great developers to open up a little and make announcements about each of their projects.  Each of their posts are available at the OpenCSM Blog, so be sure to check those out as well.

We have been working real hard lately to bring the latest in CSM technology to both the SaaS and open source communities. Thanks to everyone that has given us their input and we look forward to more. Be sure to continually check beack here for the latest in technology, industry news, and best practices, and if your interested in our open source efforts make sure to check out www.opencsm.org

Not interested in managing an open source version, Spice Help Desk is currently available on-demand for your convience. If you have any questions about our products be sure to give us a call at (866) 3311-CSM or shoot us an e-mail at sales@spicecsm.com.

I was reading Donna Fluss’s post, Seven Trends Driving Contact Center Innovation, and couldn’t agree more with her assessment.  I especially agree with her second trend…

2.Customer churn plagues most industries in good times, running between 5 percent and 30 percent, and is a greater issue during recessionary times It is more challenging to find and more costly to acquire new customers when fewer people are spending money. The contact center plays a crucial role in retaining customers throughout the customer lifecycle, particularly at the pivotal point when a customer is reconsidering the value proposition of the company’s products and services. If agents are well trained, empowered to act, and have the necessary systems and data to determine the right actions, they are able to retain at-risk customers by meeting or exceeding their expectations.

Even if times are not tough, it is always important to retain the customers you have, because its cheaper to sell/retain a current customer than it is to bring on a new one.  And using the right tools can make all the difference. Gone are the days of replacing poor customer service with a low price.  Newsflash, everyone has lowered their price, so it comes down to value for retaining customers, and the best way of doing that is by satisfying your customer.

If you gain a reputation for exceptional service and support, it will translate into good PR and buzz which will actually help to increase the number of new customers. Each new customer becomes an advocate for your service, driving home more and more value to your bottom line. Managing the customer service experience may be considered a cost center, but if you do your homework and establish a system like the one in Donna’s post, it quickly becomes a revenue center. Now what manager can argue with that.

The team and I will be venturing west to Las Vegas, NV in early April for the 2009 HDI Annual Conference & Expo. We are very excited to announce that we will also be exhibiting at this great conference, which is being held at the beautiful Mandalay Bay Resort.  HDI 2009 Conference and Expo is the largest annual event for technical support professionals, attracting over 2,000 attendees. The four day event provides help desk, customer service, and IT support professionals with education, insight, and thought leadership. Seminars, case studies, in-depth round table discussions and workshops are led by industry experts, representatives from top solution providers, and seasoned practitioners.

We will be occupying booth #752 so please feel free to stop by, meet the team, and if you have the time check out a demo of Spice Help Desk.  As part of our involvement in the conference we will be giving away a prize (something cool like an ipod or wii) so make sure to stop by the booth for a chance to win.

There is currently a special discussion on the LinkedIn group page dedicated to meeting up at the conference, so if your interested feel free to make a post.   We are looking forward to the show and hope to see everyone there.

What the heck is this CSM thing all about anyways?

Well, it’s our way of differentiating the process of managing the customer service and support from the rest of the CRM and business functions.  CSM stands for Customer Service Management, and entails everything from supporting customer complaints to solving problems.  In today’s economy, this business function is gaining more and more attention and deserves to be seriously looked at. Not just as a side project.

Each organization has its own policies and procedures when it comes to customer service, and it’s our mission to make it possible for all organizations, small and large, to care about the customer service that they deliver.  We have a long history in customer service and support and want to make that knowledge and wisdom available to our community.  This is where the Spice application suite comes in.

Whether it’s through the use of our innovative process engine and business rules or in the ticket and case management, Spice Help Desk is designed to revolutionize the way businesses offer support.  If you have any further questions we would be glad to answer them. You can email us at info@spicecsm.com or sales@spicecsm.com or give us a call at 1(866) 3311-CSM.

Follow us on Twitter: @SpiceCSM

As we get underway here at SpiceCSM, please utilize this blog as your main source for company news, industry updates, and anything Customer Service Mangement related.  We are very excited to finally debut our first product Spice Help Desk which is available on-demand or open source.

We greatly appreciate you stopping by the site and encourage you to get involved in any way possible.  Shortly there will be the ability for a 30-day free trial, but in the mean time feel free to check out our open demo.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact us via email at info@spicecsm.com or by phone at 1(866) CSM-3311.