Call Center Industry a Work in Progress NexxPhase CEO Craig Mento discusses the changing needs of call centers today For many businesses around the world, call centers are a key
part of providing customer service each and every day. Recently, Customer Care News went to Craig Mento, CEO of NexxPhase, to find out more about the ever changing call center industry and its
face huge upgrade fees or move to the cloud.
CCN: Of the changes you mentioned, what issues and trends
ket. Nexxlinx has been serving the call center industry for 15 years
manage their call center activities in the future?
and has grown in the past decade from $2 million to $40 million.
CCN: What is the NexxPhase core business and what separates you from others in the industry?
CM: Our core business is providing a multichannel, cloud-
based contact center platform that you pay for by the minute. You use a minute, you pay for a minute. It’s a truly disruptive
pricing model. But pricing is only effective if you provide a quality service.
This platform is optimized for production use, in our own
do you see making a significant difference in how companies
CM: Call centers will get more precise in the use of resources, optimizing every aspect of their operations, with a focus on quality and first call resolution (FCR).
Our Best-of-Breed platform uses VPI, Pipkins, Knowlagent, Taleo and Cornerstone.
This business is getting more complex with tighter margins. The forward-looking contact center operators will be using more tools to optimize their performance.
centers and for clients here and abroad. We have an advanced
CCN: Quality staffing is a key issue for all companies that
ized applications, bringing them to market in a fraction of the
and helped manage it? What systems have you put in place to
Business Process Modeling tool to develop and deploy customtime and money associated with conventional solutions.
manage call centers. How has NexxPhase improved the process ensure that quality staff members are put in place?
And, we’ve recently integrated VPI (quality), Pipkins (work-
CM: With personnel costs taking 65 cents of every dollar of
into a packaged Best-of-Breed offering that makes no compro-
We have hired an industrial psychologist to develop a tool that
force management) and Knowlagent (Intraday management) mises, unlike most all-in-one solutions.
CCN: There is a tremendous amount of change going on in the
call center industry. Can you give us your take on some of the
revenue, most call centers struggle with attrition percentages. is far more effective in the screening of applicants. In addition, Taleo and Cornerstone are an important part of our onboarding process.
most significant changes affecting the industry?
In addition, Pipkins (workforce management), VPI (quality)
CM: There are a couple of seismic shifts. First is the move to
ity and productivity.
cloud-based call centers and Software as a Service. The prom-
ise of no capital, no maintenance and no expensive staff is hard to resist…and users are going this direction in droves.
Fall 2012
Centers that are voice-only (up to 80 percent) have a choice —
quickly changing needs. NexxPhase was established in 2011 to take
Nexxlinx’s new multichannel workflow engine to the general mar-
The second is the move to multichannel. Smartphones are the primary device in 40 percent of homes, and consumers want
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to have access to support via voice, chat, email or social media.
and Knowlagent (Intraday management) all address staff qual-
CCN: Changes with in-house call center technology have had
a profound impact on staff learning and call management. How do you view the technology changes we have seen in the past couple of years and how can they help a company’s bottom line?
Customer Care News