Karl Reed

Technological advances are occurring that allow for full integration between communication systems and workflow tools. These advances will engender significant changes in the way companies do business – internally and with all business partners. But an organisation’s ability to take advantage of these developments rests, as always, on its ability to assess its status quo […]

A few years ago most consumers would refer to a call centre – a term which reflected the fact that the majority of brand interactions centred around voice calls. Today, thanks to the surge in digital communication across the world, most of us have instinctively switched to contact centre. From Facebook posts to Twitter, SMS, […]

Now that the Consumer Protection Act is in effect, companies must have a strong grip on their customer interactions, information flow and document management. When disputes arise with customers, it is up to the company to provide full records of the interaction, whether that be in the form of a contact centre call recordings, email […]

In 2012, it would be shocking indeed to see a communications plan that doesn’t feature social media. In the contact centre environment, most brands are rushing to expand their contact channel mix to include social media, such is the pace of adoption across the global economy.   The irony, however, is that for many brands there […]

Exceptional customer service is the holy grail of business. Communication and marketing teams around the world focus on this key element, but despite the focus it receives, exceptional service remains elusive at best, and often highly problematic for many organisations. One of the primary reasons for this is that the interplay between technological evolution and […]

The quality of the consumer’s contact centre experience defines a significant portion of overall brand value – far more so now than was the case a few years ago. For most brands, the defining contact centre challenge is to move away from a paradigm where customer service is a gritty and unpleasant coal face experience, […]

Is the mobile workforce a practical reality in corporate South Africa? Elingo’s Karl Reed discusses the technicalities of this much touted organisational dream. One of the most common misconceptions currently at play in the South African economy is that mobile workers must operate at management or executive level. This opinion, which is widely held, amounts […]

The most significant communication trend to emerge in 2011 was mobility, which is beginning to drive major changes in the way the global economy operates. There are other important developments emerging that demand attention, however my best bet is it that mobility will remain a dominant force in 2012. Mobile social media Social media has […]

While social media is grabbing the headlines there are equally dramatic changes currently occurring across the world in the way groups of people are collaborating and working together. These changes should be throwing up many interesting communication questions for corporate decision-makers. A massive number of collaboration tools exist at every level of economic activity. These […]

It is not only possible but very beneficial to run an organisation with various businesses or business units — situated in disparate geographic locations — using an ERP system for back-end functions and a single communications platform. This scenario is not an operational pipe dream — it is a reality that can be rolled out […]

Successful migration to a consolidated communications infrastructure begins and ends with successful communication. This sounds like a simple statement, but it carries with it many layers of complexity. Internal communications, the lifeblood of any organisation, is the first mission-critical factor. It should incorporate staff at every level, from security workers through to maintenance, marketing and […]

Communication technologies have the power to dramatically shape company performance, and if the bottom line is shaky there’s little doubt the contact centre can make a positive contribution to turning things around. But within this context, many decision makers get caught in the tactic trap — changing and re-changing various elements of the contact centre […]