Nuance is buying online virtual sales and support assistant developer VirtuOz for an undisclosed price, our sources tell us. VirtuOz gives Nuance a stake in the enterprise virtual assistant market to match its presence in the enterprise mobile apps. Read more »
Many of Square bigger rivals are hoping live customer support can help them compete against the startup. Square doesn’t offer a customer service line and handles questions primarily through email, forums, videos and a Twitter feed. Read more »
When British retail veteran John Browett took over Apple’s store operation, plenty of critics lined up to question the decision. And now, with the company forced to apologize for cutting customer service staff, his appointment by Tim Cook looks even more baffling. Read more »
Nuance is offering up a new SDK that will allow big consumer-facing companies to embed virtual voice assistants directly into their mobile apps. Called Nina, the software is intended to cut through app clutter and allow customers to accomplish complex transactions through simple speech commands Read more »
I dropped my iPhone 4 from three stories up. Less than a day later, I walked out of the Apple Store in Philadelphia with a brand new iPhone 4. The journey to get there was very impressive and partially explains, anecdotally, how Apple keeps customers. Read more »
T-Mobile USA is consolidating its customer service call centers, shutting down seven facilities in six states by the end of June but hiring new staff in its remaining 17 call hubs. The reorganization will result in T-Mobile’s workforce shrinking by 1900 staff, or 5 percent. Read more »
Businesses are struggling with how to evaluate the effectiveness of their social media campaigns. Currently, most companies are using metrics that fail to provide a clear picture of which marketing programs are increasing their revenues. Here, Sudha Jamthe outlines five metrics that accurately measure success. Read more »
On the 10th anniversary of Apple Retail, it is amazing to consider the great success that the company has had with a program many thought was doomed to fail. A big part of the secret to that success can be attributed to Apple’s openness to change. Read more »
If you run a service-based business, you probably have some horror stories to tell about bad clients and projects that have gone wrong. There are some things you can do to better manage client expectations, which can help keep these problems to a minimum: Read more »
Recently, I stumbled across a new service called Alice that lets you buy all of your household essentials online. Alice is awesome, and as soon as I figured out just exactly how awesome Alice was, I couldn’t wait to tell everyone I knew about the service. Read more »
Enter Bearhug, a new “customer engagement platform” that provides businesses with something better than a basic support ticket customer feedback system; an app that enables them to hear what customers are experiencing and saying and actually do something about it. Read more »
When running a business, it can sometimes be hard to draw the line between being of service and being taken advantage of by customers, clients and other professionals. Here are a few ways to reinforce that line. Read more »
OK, so it’s over one month later, and I finally got a car. I’m actually pleasantly surprised by my final day of car shopping. The first go-round was quite frustrating and ended with me giving up, but I’m happy to report these latest lessons in customer […] Read more »
In my day job, helping people with computers, I see many failed hard drives. If the computer is under warranty, I’ll always try to get the system manufacturer to replace the drive rather than order a new one for the customer. Recently, two clients came in, […] Read more »
This week has been a bit of a challenge. I’ve been haggling with car dealerships over purchasing a new car. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how frustrating that process has been, but I will say that I’m surprised at the customer service lessons I’m […] Read more »
