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Five Reasons Why Contact Centers Need to Prepare for Growth in Smartphone Use
Busting the Myths of Cloud Computing
The 10 Dumbest Tech Products So Far
What IT Needs to Give Up
The 10 Worst Things to Say in Tech Support
Six Lessons CIOs must Learn from Coke's Dazzling Innovation
Is There a Virtual Worker Personality?
The Contact Center's Black Hole
Turning the Tables: A 'Users for Dummies' Guide for IT
No IT budget? Invest in Best Practices
Transforming 'Lip Service' into Customer Service
Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Teams
Seven Steps to Winning Budget Approval
Making the Business Case for ITIL
Enterprise Mashups Gain Traction at Last

Forrester Updates Outlook For Global And US IT Purchases In 2009
Global purchases of IT goods and services by businesses and governments in 2009 are projected to decline by 10.6 percent when measured in US dollars, compared with the 3 percent decrease previously projected at the beginning of the year by Forrester Research, Inc. The latest quarterly update of Forrester's IT spending outlook also projects a 5.1 percent decline in the US annual IT market, compared with the 3.1 percent decrease previously forecast. New data about large declines in business technology investment during the first quarter prompted Forrester to update its forecasts for technology spending. On a positive note, Forrester still expects growth in US IT investment to resume in Q4 2009, and 2010 is expected to bring a revival of IT buying in other markets as well.

Looking at the 2009 global IT spending outlook by sector, Forrester anticipates lower investment than previously expected across all categories. Forrester projects purchases of computer equipment to be down by 13.5 percent, communications equipment buying to drop by 12.4 percent, software spending to decline by 8.2 percent, and purchases of IT consulting and outsourcing services to be 8.6 percent lower.

IT Salaries Fall - Demand Down for IT Professionals
Janco released its 2009 Mid Year IT Salary Survey which shows that overall pay has declined for IT Professionals in the past 18 months. Janco also found that demand is down for IT Professionals. The most striking observations are:

Many companies have instituted hiring and spending freezes in addition to laying-off of staff. This has been augmented by extensive outsourcing, bonus reductions, and elimination of IT contractors -- which has decreased the demand for IT professionals and in some cases lowered wages, with higher priced positions being eliminated.

Layoffs have focused on middle management and IT support staff.

Many mid-sized enterprises have stopped hiring all together.

Companies are continuing to reduce the benefits provided to IT professionals. Though benefits such as health care are available, IT professionals are now paying a greater portion of that cost.

With outsourcing, lower bonuses, and the recent layoffs there has been a slight decrease in the mean compensation paid to IT professionals. In addition, with the fall in the Janco Benchmark it is shows that hiring "new staff" has significantly declined.

2009 Service and Support Metrics Survey Results

This year's survey results highlight support organizations' continued adoption of better-integrated and responsive technologies, efforts to improve processes, and growing recognition of the strategic role of service delivery in corporate growth. Key metrics to benchmark your support operation are also captured.

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First Contact Resolution - The Metric That Matters!
Thursday, July 30 at 10 AM PDT/ 1 PM EDT
In this live webinar, narrated with industry insight and analysis, Peter McGarahan, President of McGarahan and Associates, and Jeff Moloughney, Senior Product Marketing Manager, GoldMine Division, will share proven techniques and specific examples of how you can improve First Contact Resolution in your organization. Attendees will be able to benchmark their own organization against best practice levels and see how others in the industry are performing.

How to Tell Anyone Anything: Coaching Your Service Team to Success
Wednesday, August 26 at 11:00am /2:00 pm
If you manage people, the single biggest factor in your morale, turnover, and customer satisfaction levels is your ability to give feedback that really changes performance, without getting people defensive. Based on recent principles from strength-based psychology, this webinar will teach you a new, step-by-step process for truly effective coaching and feedback, based on the speaker's new nationally-published book How to Tell Anyone Anything: Breakthrough Techniques for Handling Difficult Conversations at Work.

NEI Chooses PowerHelp from Vertical Solutions
Jun-28-2009
eGain Adds Intelligent Voice Self-Service Solution to its Multichannel Customer Interaction Hub Suite
Jun-28-2009
Could U.S. IT Pros be Losing a Seat at the Strategic Table?
Jun-28-2009
Many Large Enterprises Underestimate Risk from Terminated Employees
Jun-28-2009
Five Reasons Why Contact Centers Need to Prepare for Growth in Smartphone Use
Jun-28-2009
Busting the Myths of Cloud Computing
Jun-28-2009