In The News
October 3, 2019
Inside View: Suzette Robinette, Hiway Federal Credit Union
By Susan Hash
| Contact Center Pipeline
The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) recently honored Robinette’s achievements by naming her an emerging industry innovator and leader on its 2019 ICMI Customer Experience Movers & Shakers list. According to ICMI, “This year’s honorees were chosen due to their hard work and dedication to inspire excellence, motivate peers and shape the future of customer service.”
August 19, 2019
10 First Steps to Improve Your Customer Experience
By Kaye Chapman
| Business 2 Community
When customers call your company, they expect a certain quality of service. To win them over, you need to deliver above average. Customers have a higher likelihood to pay more money if the customer service they receive is exemplary. A recent report from ICMI confirmed that 69% of customers will do that.
August 19, 2019
How to improve customer service with AI and chatbots
By Avi Benezra
| KnowTechie
Surprisingly, the proportion of businesses relying on live chats is still relatively low when compared with the statistics presented by ICMI – 73% customer satisfaction when compared to other customer service channels.
July 20, 2019
Blending front and back office: Central to improving the customer experience
By Richard Mill
| IT Pro Portal
The debate continues. The International Customer Management Institute report said that despite HMRC’s advice, while workforce optimisation techniques in the back office was on corporate agendas, there is a growing gap between the potential it has and the way it is being used.
July 15, 2019
The Top Customer Service Trends: Building Better Service Beyond Voice
By Sam Del Rowe
| CRM Magazine
Customer service consultant Brad Cleveland, a senior advisor, founding partner, and former president of the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), also thinks that AI will only increase the need for highly skilled agents.
June 15, 2019
Would you pay for customer service from a human?
By Susan Lahey
| Zendesk Relate
Fancy Mills, Director of Training and Content for HDI, and group training and content director for the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), says no. “This is the opposite of where the industry is going…” she said. “People really hate this.”
January 7, 2019
Inside View: Gopher Sport
By Susan Hash
| Contact Center Pipeline
Last May, the company’s contact center was recognized by the International Customer Management Institute as a best-in-class operation with its 2018 award for Best Small Contact Center (centers with fewer than 75 agents). More recently, ICMI honored many of Gopher Sport’s team members as emerging leaders and innovators in the customer experience and contact center space. Ten of Gopher Sports’ contact center professionals were recognized as Customer Experience Movers & Shakers, including six frontline professionals
February 1, 2018
AI chatbots augment humans working in contact centers
By Christine Parizo
| SearchCRM - TechTarget
Like other technologies, chatbots influence every aspect of delivering customer service, from the types of interactions to routing methodology, according to Brad Cleveland, senior adviser and former CEO of the International Customer Management Institute.
October 3, 2017
From Good To Great – A Recap Of ICMI’s Contact Center Demo 2017
By Angela Irizarry
| MetricNet
Last week I had the honor and pleasure of attending my first ICMI event. The incredible event staff coordinated seven local contact center tours, six brilliant learning tracks, four insightful keynotes, more than 50 knowledgeable thought leaders, and dozens of cutting-edge exhibitors – all aligned around the objective of advancing the Contact Center industry.
September 29, 2017
Thoughts From ICMI – Contact Center Demo
By Rosalee MacKinnon
| UJET
After kicking off this week at the ICMI – Contact Center Demo event in Las Vegas, we came back to San Francisco with a feeling of excitement and accomplishment.
September 28, 2017
Top Tips From ICMI Contact Center Demo
By Nate Brown
| Customer Contact Central
Las Vegas hosted another fantastic ICMI (International Customer Management Institute) production this week. While the time seemed to pass by in the space of a blink, I’m coming back to Nashville with several key learnings. Here are the biggest themes and take-aways from The City of Lights:
September 28, 2017
ICMI Contact Center Demo-Conference Focuses on Both Current Expectations and Future Directions
By Herb Greenebaum
| CRMXchange
The ICMI Contact Center Demo-Conference, held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel from September 25-27, 2017, addressed the needs of both today and tomorrow with a Demo hall that provided an opportunity to explore emerging trends and updated solutions in a relaxed atmosphere.
September 28, 2017
My Favorite Books, Podcasts, and Blogs for Customer Service Leaders
By Jeff Toister
| Toister Solutions
For example, ICMI hosted it's Contact Center Demo and Conference in Las Vegas this week. Vee Rose used the conference hashtag to tweet a request for customer service leadership book and podcast recommendations.
September 26, 2017
Top 3 Trends in Contact Centers Today
By Jim Rembach
| Call Center Coach
I met up with Justin Robbins at the opening Demo Hall Bash at the CCDemo in Las Vegas to find out about the top trends in contact centers today.
September 22, 2017
ICMI Contact Center Demo Case Study Review
By Herb Greenebaum
| CRMXchange
The ICMI Contact Center Demo-Conference takes place September 25-27, 2017 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. In addition to the exhibits, it boasts a comprehensive education program which includes a number of high interest case studies.
September 6, 2017
Catch Fonolo at the ICMI Contact Center Demo & Conference
By Nicolina
| Fonolo
The Contact Center Demo & Conference is produced by ICMI – a trusted advisor in the contact center industry – and is an independent, forward-thinking program focused on future contact center trends.
July 6, 2017
Voice4Net Debuts SMS Module for Contact Centers
By Tara Seals
| Channel Vision
Studies show that many users are leaning away from chat and email in favor of text (SMS). For example, an ICMI survey found that 79 percent of companies believe customers want SMS/text support.
June 1, 2017
Contact Centers Stuck with Outdated Workforce Management Solutions
By Pratibha Nanduri
| HR Technologist
The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) has released the findings of a new report titled "The State of Workforce Management" which reveals that contact centers lack tools, automation and resources necessary to benefit from workforce management solutions.
May 30, 2017
ICMI 2017 Contact Center Expo and Conference Summary
By CRMXchange
| CRMXchange
The 2017 ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference, held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL from May 22-25, focused on the theme of “Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences in a Complex and Changing World.”
May 30, 2017
Clio Wins ICMI Global Contact Center Award for Best Culture
By Jeff Toister
| Toister Solutions
The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) held it's annual Global Contact Center Awards ceremony on May 23 at ICMI's Contact Center Expo and Conference in Orlando, Florida.
May 27, 2017
Hiring the Best Contact Center Agents through Candidate Experience
By Jim Rembach
| Call Center Coach
During the ICMI Contact Center Expo, Tim Kennedy was demonstrating Shaker’s VJT (Virtual Job Tryout) technology, which uses HireScience™ to help employers identify best-fit candidates more effectively.
May 26, 2017
Lassoing the Wild West Contact Center Technology
By Jim Rembach
| Call Center Coach
Lori Bocklund has seen both happen in the current Wild West of contact center technology that exists today.
May 26, 2017
This Week in Telecom: May 26th
By Ion Mae
| VOIP Review
The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) in partnership with NICE, a worldwide leading provider of software solutions for organizations, released early this week the findings of their 2017 report entitled The State of Workforce Management.
May 25, 2017
What’s Hot at ICMI Contact Center Expo
By Jim Rembach
| Call Center Coach
Justin Robbins and Jim Rembach share a preview and insight into ICMI’s Contact Center Expo Conference. What’s hot at the Contact Center Expo besides the Orlando air temperature?
May 25, 2017
DAT Wins Prestigious Customer Service Award
By Pat Pitz
| DAT
Winners were announced May 23 at the annual ICMI Contact Center Conference in Orlando. The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) is the leading provider of resources for customer management professionals and has organized the awards program for the past 13 years.
March 31, 2017
Inside Gallup’s New Employee Engagement Report
By Jeff Toister
| Customer Think
I’m facilitating a half-day workshop at ICMI’s Contact Center Expo & Conference on May 22 where I’ll share a step-by-step guide to engaging employees.
March 14, 2017
Artificial Intelligence is Slowly Transforming Contact Centers
By Ibrahim Sajid Malick
| Ibrahim Malick
Shep, who will be a keynote speaker at the ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference in May, envisions a scenario where “the AI is listening to the call in realtime and communicating to the call center rep what he or she needs to tell the customer..."
July 29, 2016
How to Combat the Frustration of Customer Service Phone Calls
By Olivia Sterns
| NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt
Some companies make customer service difficult on purpose. Here's what you can do to finally end the runaround of bad service.
July 21, 2016
Is Tech Support getting worse on purpose?
By Tim Hattrick
| The Kim Kimando Show
ICMI's Justin Robbins
July 8, 2016
Trusource’s revenue target: $34M in year three
By Christopher Calnan
| Austin Business Journal
ICMI's Justin Robbins
July 6, 2016
Bad Tech Support May Be Part of a Plan
By Dale Forbis
| KTRH News Radio
Industry expert Justin Robbins with the International Customer Management Institute says the companies may be hoping you'll get frustrated and just buy a new one -- or maybe you'll pay extra for "super-special," expert help.
July 5, 2016
Daily Report: Don’t Feel Bad. Everyone Hates Calling for Tech Help.
By Jim Kerstetter
| New York Times Daily Report
As Kate Murphy wrote in the Times, a survey conducted by the industry group International Customer Management Institute, or ICMI, found that “92 percent of customer service managers said their agents could be more effective and 74 percent said their company procedures prevented agents from providing satisfactory experiences.”
July 5, 2016
Art Feuds, Tech 'Support' and Airport Security
By Barry Ritholtz
| Bloomberg
Why Tech Support Is (Purposely) Unbearable (New York Times)
July 3, 2016
Why Tech Support Is (Purposely) Unbearable
By Kate Murphy
| New York Times
You may consider yourself even-keeled, the kind of person who is unflappable when those around you are losing their cool. But all that goes out the window when you call tech support. Then you fume. Your face turns red. You shout things into the phone that would appall your mother.
July 1, 2016
MOO
By Susan Hash
| Contact Center Pipeline
More recently, it was recognized as a world-class
service provider by the International Customer
Management Institute (ICMI) with three 2016
Global Contact Center Awards in the Best
Small Contact Center, Best Chat Support and
Best Use of Technology categories.
June 15, 2016
Your Phone Agents’ Unexpected Self-Service Problem
By Jeff Toister
| Customer Think
“The typical customer journey is taking them across multiple channels, and all too frequently captures information in multiple disparate systems. When these customers finally make their way to a phone rep, it’s often a fragmented, complicated mess.”
June 1, 2016
16 Top Customer Experience Takeaways from CRM Evolution
By Tricia Morris
| Customer Think
12. “Don’t make assumptions about your customers’ preferences. Ask them; test and revise.” – Justin Robbins, ICMI
May 13, 2016
ICMI Research Finds Contact Centers Lack Language Skills
By Leonard Klie
| Smart Customer Service
Research released today by the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) and Lionbridge Technologies found that most contact centers are not prepared to handle the increase in customer contacts in languages other than English.
May 12, 2016
At Contact Center Expo, Speakers Stress Standing Out
By Leonard Klie
| Smart Customer Service
A recent Gallup poll found that when both their customers and employees are engaged, companies see a 240 percent increase in performance-related outcomes, which goes to show that customer service "really matters," said Brad Cleveland, cofounder and senior adviser of the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), during the opening keynote of the ICMI Contact Center Expo.
May 11, 2016
New Report: Few Contact Centers Adequately Address Omni-Lingual Support
By Paula Bernier
| CustomerZone360
Contact centers are ill prepared to meet the rising tide of non-primary language requirements, according to a new report by The International Customer Management Institute and Lionbridge Technologies (News - Alert) Inc.
March 15, 2016
3 Tips for Developing Effective Social Customer Support
By Maureen Szlemp
| Smart Customer Service
Developing social customer support strategies isn't just a good idea in today's digital world; it's critical. Research shows 40 percent of consumers use social media for customer support, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, according to 61 percent and 58 percent of survey respondents, respectively.
March 11, 2016
Your Customer Experience Is Under Attack
By Justin Robbins
| Smart Customer Service
Over the past two years, I've extensively researched the customer experience, contact center agent performance, and the various nuances of customer relationship management. During my search for the enablers and inhibiters of exceptional service, I consistently encountered one common denominator that is negatively affecting all of them with increasing frequency: agent-facing technology. In fact, 2015 research I conducted for ICMI found that 92 percent of contact center leaders believed their agent technology was unable to fully meet agents' needs.
October 23, 2015
ICMI Conference Highlight: ICMI Partners with Five9 on Guide to Contact Center Metrics
By Maria Minsker
| Smart Customer Service
Metrics are the lifeblood of every contact center's performance, yet many of them aren't measuring the right performance indicators, the ICMI determined in a recent study. The findings, announced at the ICMI Contact Center Conference earlier this week, revealed that as contact centers evolve to be increasingly multichannel hubs, companies are struggling to maintain consistency across channels and customer touch points.
October 21, 2015
In the Quest to Ensure Quality, Study Shows Contact Centers are Often Measuring the Wrong Metrics
By Paul Desmond
| UC Buyer
These are a couple of the upshots of a report from the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), “Understanding Modern Contact Center Metrics.” The survey is based on responses from more than 450 customer management professionals and was sponsored by Five9, which makes cloud-based contact center software.
October 15, 2015
ICMI Vendor Spotlight: Directly Makes a Splash with On-Demand Customer Service App
By Maria Minsker
| Smart Customer Service
At the upcoming ICMI Contact Center Demo and Conference in Las Vegas next week, companies are expected to demonstrate the latest technology in the customer service space. On-demand customer service provider Directly is making its first appearance at the ICMI conference, but the vendor is already drawing attendee attention with its expansion into the B2B arena. The budding company has a number of well-known B2C clients, including Pinterest, Airbnb, and Lyft, but will at the ICMI event introduce a solution for B2B customers as well.
September 28, 2015
Contact Center Leaders Struggle with Metrics, ICMI Survey Finds
By n/a
| Smart Customer Service
The research, presented in the Understanding Modern Contact Center Metrics report,highlights the contact center industry's suignificant changes in the past decade due to new channel offerings, shifting business priorities, and underlying technologies. As such, the need for new and effective metrics is critical for organizations to align their strategic goals with contact center KPIs to deliver improved efficiency and customer satisfaction, according to the organization's experts.
September 1, 2015
Provide Social Customer Care Agents with Situation Guidelines
By Susan Hash
| Contact Center Pipeline
Practical pointer: To give social customer care agents a good understanding of your company’s social media workflow, ICMI’s Training & Development Manager Elaine Carr recommends the following physical activity: Break trainees into small groups. Provide each group with construction paper and yarn, and ask them to construct an interaction flowchart on a classroom wall.
September 1, 2015
Social Customer Care Training Tip
By Susan Hash
| Contact Center Pipeline
The open nature of social media conversations means that contact center leaders will need to think through their social customer service strategy separately from their engagement strategies for other channels, says Elaine Carr, manager of Training & Development at ICMI (International Customer Management Institute).
September 1, 2015
Inside View: UPMC Health Plan
By Susan Hash
| Contact Center Pipeline
Guests of high-end hotels have come to expect over-the-top service from concierge staff. These well-trained individuals tap into their extensive knowledge of local services and providers to ensure that guests feel welcome and comfortable, and that their stay is memorable.
August 11, 2015
Tito Colon Talks About Aetna Insurance’s ICMI Award Winning Multilingual Service
By Loren Moss
| Customer Experience Report
Customer Experience Report’s Loren Moss recently spoke with Tito Colón, the senior director and head of multicultural marketing at Aetna to learn about what best practices are leading to their award winning service.
July 29, 2015
Study: Transforming The Contact Center From A Cost-Center Into A Profit-Center
By Loren Moss
| Customer Experience Report
Some unenlightened executives may still view the contact center as a “necessary evil,” but in reality, it is key asset of many enterprises—and can become a key revenue generator if used properly, says a new study jointly conducted by the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) and Zendesk.
June 1, 2015
Staffing an Omnichannel Operation
By Susan Hash
| Contact Center Pipeline
We recently conducted a survey with ICMI on agent performance and how it impacts the customer experience (“Agent Apathy: The Root Cause of Poor Customer Service”). We found that the average agent has to access five different applications in order to handle one interaction. As you can imagine, it can take quite a bit of time for most agents just to track down the information that they need to be able to solve an issue.
May 22, 2015
Cloud telephony, omnichannel service main trends at ICMI Expo
By Tim Ehrens
| TechTarget
At the ICMI Contact Center Expo, users were interested in how to make their centers more efficient while serving customers in whatever channel they choose.
May 21, 2015
Five9’s Freedom Release Opens a New Chapter in Contact Center Solutions
By Michele Masterson
| Smart Customer Service
Whoever wrote the book about contact center software emphasized placing customer needs front and center. Vendors haven’t deviated from the story line even with the addition of the bells and whistles du jour. But Five9 has yelled "plot twist" with the rollout of Freedom, the company's virtual contact center (VCC) product. This time, contact center agents get their due in what Liz Osborn, vice president of product and solution marketing at Five9, calls a huge release.
May 19, 2015
ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference Summary (Part 4) - See more at: http://blog.crmxchange.com/blog/call-center-and-crm-best-practices#sthash.1z9TA5pJ.dpuf
By Sheri Greenhaus
| CRMXchange
With expectations constantly rising, companies are seeking service options that allow companies to learn more about their customers to help them resolve issues and complete transactions quickly and efficiently. Innovative solutions abounded at ICMI Contact Center Expo with updated multichannel customer experience measurement tools, versatile contact center management solutions and advanced support applications. In this final report, we review some products presented on the exhibit floor.
May 15, 2015
ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference Summary (Part 3) - See more at: http://blog.crmxchange.com/blog/call-center-and-crm-best-practices#sthash.mtRNwIDp.dpuf
By Sheri Greenhaus
| CRMXchange
Beyond the opportunity to get product information from approximately 70 suppliers, professionals at the ICMI Contact Center Expo in Orlando, FL (May 4-7) were able to take advantage of a number of educational and social events in and out of the exhibit hall. The show floor included book signings, Solution Spotlight sessions focusing on the benefits of specific products, an opening night reception, an Awards Party, as well as external site tours of the Disney World Reservations Center, Jet Blue University and more. In this third installment of our coverage of the event, we spoke with educational innovator Lesson.ly, customer engagement specialist BoldChat and language translation service provider Voiance.
May 14, 2015
Is the outsourced contact center dying?
By Tim Ehrens
| TechTarget
Outsourcing operations to overseas contact centers, once a popular practice, is receiving pushback from customers and companies alike.
May 14, 2015
Contact center analytics still an afterthought for many
By Tim Ehrens
| TechTarget
Analytics tools have been incorporated into various enterprise departments. So why are contact center analytics still considered novel rather than vital?
May 14, 2015
For contact centers, cutting costs comes with risks, rewards
By Tim Ehrens
| TechTarget
Contact centers are always trying to cut operational costs. But they can't let those tantalizing benefits make them blind to various perils.
May 13, 2015
ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference Summary (Part 2)
By Sheri Greenhaus
| CRMXchange
There was a buzz on the show floor during exhibit hall hours at the ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference. The organizers kept the hall open during times when there weren’t any formal conference sessions scheduled. This concentrated timeframe gave exhibitors greater access to the contact center professionals in attendance, keeping them constantly busy discussing their solutions. In this second part of our coverage, we examined the perspectives of PSS Help, Salesforce Service Cloud and TCN.
May 12, 2015
ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference Summary (Part 1)
By Sheri Greenhaus
| CRMXchange
The 2015 ICMI Contact Center Expo and Conference brought executives, managers and supervisors together at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Orlando, FL from May 4-7. The event provided diverse educational and networking opportunities, a comprehensive exhibit hall displaying the latest products and services, case studies, and site tours.
May 8, 2015
Re-cap: 2015 Contact Center Expo & Conference
By Jeff Toister
| Customer Think
The 2015 Contact Center Expo and Conference took place in Orlando this week. More than 1,500 contact center professionals from around the world attended for educational growth, networking, and to share best practices.
May 8, 2015
Re-cap: 2015 Contact Center Expo & Conference
By Jeff Toister
| Customer Think
The 2015 Contact Center Expo and Conference took place in Orlando this week. More than 1,500 contact center professionals from around the world attended for educational growth, networking, and to share best practices.
May 7, 2015
WFO Can Be More than the Sum of its Parts: Don’t Forget the Human Side
By Sheri Greenhaus
| CRMXchange
As a frequent keynote speaker on workforce optimization at tradeshows and conferences, Roger Lee (AKA Dr. WFO) is always a little surprised when some of the contact center professionals in the audience don’t know what the acronym “WFO” means.
May 7, 2015
New Report: Contact Center Leaders Don’t Get Engagement
By Jeff Toister
| Customer Think
A new report from ICMI reveals a severe disconnect between this belief and what contact center leaders are actually doing.
May 6, 2015
Is Customer Experience Hindered by Stressed Out Contact Center Agents?
By Jim Tierney
| Loyalty360
According to a new report, “Agent Apathy: The Root Cause of Poor Customer Service,” 87% of contact center leaders acknowledged that agents experience a moderate to high level of stress during the workday.
May 6, 2015
Contact Center Agents are Brand Ambassadors: ICMI participants
By Ibrahim Malick
| Examiner
Justin Robbins, senior analyst for ICMI in an interview today said: "It is unacceptable that most contact center agents do not have the adequate technology. They perform in a complex work environment, navigate through multiple systems and applications and are over-stressed."
May 6, 2015
Experts Say Mobile is the Next Big Thing for Contact Centers
By Ibrahim Malick
| Examiner
There seems to be a consensus at the International Customer Management Institute, ICMI expo and conference in Orlando this week that out of all the changes in the market, explosive growth of mobile offers the greatest opportunity.
April 30, 2015
Report: Companies May be Holding Back Front Line Customer Service
By Casey Houser
| TMCNet
In its joint report, “Own the Moments! Understanding the Customer Journey,” the International Customer Management Institute and cloud contact center software provider LiveOps (News - Alert) surveyed more than 400 contact center professionals in various positions across multiple organizations. Researchers found that 74 percent of organizations actually admit to holding back their front line with poor training and a lack of access to customer information such as communications histories. Companies are not always giving their agents the attention and information they need to properly address customers.
April 30, 2015
Don’t Blame Apathetic Agents for Poor Customer Service
By Michele Masterson
| Smart Customer Service
The findings come from a new report, “Agent Apathy: The Root Cause of Poor Customer Service,” from the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) in partnership with Five9. An overwhelming number of organizations (85 percent) said that agent loyalty is an important priority.
April 29, 2015
J.D. Power, ICMI Collaborate on Contact Center Consulting Services
By n/a
| Smart Customer Service
J.D. Power, the global marketing information services firm, and The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), a provider of resources for customer management professionals, have entered into a strategic alliance to provide contact center professionals with performance improvement services.
April 8, 2015
Customer Service: Change Is Good, but Only If You're Prepared (Q&A)
By Michele Masterson
| Smart Customer Service
Armed with extensive contact center experience on both the front lines and behind the scenes, Justin Robbins, senior analyst at the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), doesn't sugarcoat his thoughts. Robbins talked to Smart Customer Service about the state of the industry today, issues organization need to be cognizant of, and how to stand out from the pack.
November 18, 2014
Insights from the ICMI Contact Center Demo
By Pam Bednarczyk
| Corvisa.com Blog
Mike Cain - along with several other Corvisites - recently talked to more than his fair share of industry insiders at the recent ICMI (International Customer Management Institute) Contact Center Demo & Conference held Nov. 3-5, 2014 in Chicago.