OPTIMIZING SALES, SERVICE & OPERATIONS

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Local media spotlights HardMetrics

In the past month, HardMetrics has gotten some nice attention from the local media that we wanted to share. 

First, Brian James Kirk of Technically Philly wrote a profile of the company, talking about the growth of the enterprise software industry, and how HardMetrics is making its mark in that space.

Brian took particular interest in our recent tablet announcement, noting that more and more companies are moving to SaaS solutions that allow for easier mobile use.

And after that, the Philadelphia Business Journal featured me in their CEO File, where I shared lots of personal information, including little known facts about how I spent my youth on a dairy farm, and my number one tip for staying competitive.

If you’re looking for some light reading and are interested in getting to know HardMetrics a little better, check these articles out.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Guest post: Arise Virtual Solutions embraces BI on the tablet

We've been touting our capabilities on the iPad and other tablet devices for months now. But we thought it would be more interesting for you to read about how one of our customers is actually using HardMetrics Performance Manager on the tablet. We asked Matt Cormio, VP, Planning & Support Services for our client Arise Virtual Solutions to share his experience and plans for using HPM on the iPad. Here's what he had to say:

First of all, thanks to the guys at HardMetrics for asking me to contribute a guest post this week. We’ve been using HardMetrics Performance Manager (HPM) for over three years now, and it’s really made a big impact on the operations infrastructure at Arise. When we first started using HPM it was for management reporting and analysis, but we quickly realized it had even more value in the hands of our call center agents.

If you’re not familiar with Arise, we have a business model that is unique in the call center space. All of our call center reps are Arise Certified Professionals (ACPs) that we have B2B relationships with. The ACPs work from home and handle incoming calls on behalf of our customers, so there are no huge call centers with rows of desks and agents on their phones.

More than 3,000 of our ACPs currently use HPM daily to track their personal performance data and see how they did yesterday, last week, last month, etc. They know that their income depends on their volume and performance efficiencies, so they can log in at any time to see how they are performing vs. goal, and what they should expect to make at the end of their month, based on their stats.

Earlier this summer, I saw the news that HardMetrics is now available on the tablet. As an iPad user, I was intrigued, so I tested it out. And it worked perfectly. As any tablet owner knows, the real beauty of these devices is the ability to use them anytime, anywhere, anyplace. So now I have access to the exact same management data that we compile on HPM whether I’m sitting at my desk in the office, traveling on a business trip, or watching a ballgame on the weekend. An added bonus is that HPM doesn’t require any software or application downloads to run on the tablet. It’s easy to deploy and maintain, and doesn’t cost us any additional fees.

But what’s really exciting is the opportunity to roll this out to our ACPs. All of them are independent business owners who have set up their own IT infrastructure to contract with Arise. Many of them have an iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola XOOM or other tablet, and now have more freedom of choice in how, when and where they view their individual performance data. I even talked to one of my coworkers, who successfully used HardMetrics on his Barnes & Noble Nook – not exactly a device you’d think of for serious business applications.

We have big plans for HPM. By the end of the year, we expect another 5,000 of our ACPs to have access to the data, bringing us to a total of 8,000. Having HPM on the tablet gives this initiative even more energy, and I think it’s going to be a great asset for our fast-paced, work-from-home business model.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

HardMetrics to present at ATA Dallas Vendor Showcase

Fall is almost here, which means the start of trade show season once again. To kick things off, Joe Przbylowski, head of our implementation and sales support team, is heading down to Dallas to speak at the American Teleservices Association (ATA) Dallas Vendor Showcase.

Joe will be giving a presentation entitled “Harnessing the Power of Your Contact Center Data.”
He’ll be addressing best practices for combining your contact center and back office operations data into one dashboard, drilling down from enterprise to agent-level detail, ensuring access to data for all users, the power and impact potential of agent scorecards and more. Joe will be presenting alongside representatives from several companies, including our customer, NOVO 1.

If you’re going to be at the showcase, make sure to stop by and say hello to Joe. And if you can’t make it but have questions on any of these topics, leave a comment and we’ll be happy to answer them!

Keep your eye on the blog for announcements of other shows we’ll be attending and/or speaking at in the coming months.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Meet our newest customer: C3/CustomerContactChannels

Any day that I get to announce a new customer win is a good day. The latest company to come on board with HardMetrics is C3/Customer Contact Channels, an undisputed leader in the call center outsourcing space. If you’re not familiar with C3, they’re a relatively new company, but the executive team has a long track record of building successful businesses in this industry.

The implementation of the cloud-based model of HardMetrics Performance Manager (HPM) is already underway. C3 will be relying on HPM for insight into their operational activity and business trends, and will be available to everyone from corporate management down to the individual agent. We’re thrilled to be working with such a top notch company, as we continue to expand our customer base in the call center industry. And it seems that C3 is excited too. Here’s an excerpt of a quote from Ken Condren, C3’s Vice President of Technology:

“We want to give our clients a package of tools and experience they can’t get anywhere else. The analytic component of HardMetrics further enhances our analytic capabilities, differentiating us from anyone else in the industry.”

We look forward to living up to, and exceeding C3’s expectations.

To read the press release we put out on the partnership, keep reading below.


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Forbes recognizes the "No Software" revolution

Forbes magazine recently published their Innovators issue, in which the editors name the "50 Best Companies of Tomorrow." The top company this year isn't Apple (they came in at #5). And it's not Google (they're #7). The company that Forbes considers the most innovative, over some of the largest and well-known companies out there, is Salesforce.com.

This is a company that I've watched and admired for years -- and in some ways, aspired to emulate. Since its inception in 1999, Salesforce.com has completely changed the face of the CRM space with their disruptive technology, enabling companies to track, manage and monitor their sales efforts via agile, cloud-based solutions. Their online hosted (Saas) model was the first of its kind, and they are the undisputed leader in that space.

This is exactly what we're doing in the business intelligence space -- pioneering the availability of complete enterprise-scale performance management solutions for companies that can't afford NOT to step up their game, without requiring massive IT budgets, resources and time commitments.

I tip my hat to Salesforce, and look forward to replicating the success that they've had, in our own industry.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

HardMetrics boosts performance at Auto Club South

Since launching our blog earlier this year, we’ve shared a number of customer case studies with you. I hope that in doing so, you’re getting a feel for the value that business intelligence solutions can bring to the enterprise. When a company makes a commitment to business intelligence, the possibilities are endless in terms of what that higher level of visibility into the enterprise can bring.

So here’s one more. We started working with Auto Club South (ACS)—which services AAA members in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Puerto Rico—back in 2006. ACS was looking for performance metrics that would enable them to monitor their customer interaction process, including the number of calls coming into their various branches, along with hold and handle times and other agent metrics.

After five years of experience, today ACS is using HardMetrics on several fronts. They’re tracking the sales performance of individual agents, opening up opportunities for cross-selling. They’re identifying standards and best practices, and applying them across the board. They deployed an Executive Dashboard for company leadership to have easy access to the data most important to them. What started out as a project to get better insight into basic front-line metrics has turned into an enterprise-wide, sophisticated and completely automated performance management solution.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Business intelligence, tablet computers and cloud computing

Since we announced the optimization of HardMetrics Performance Manager for the iPad and other tablets, I’ve been amazed by the feedback we’ve received—it’s clear that we’ve hit a hot topic here. The popular blog CloudTweaks obviously agreed, as they included a quote from me in a post on the impact of tablets and cloud computing on business intelligence.

The article focuses on the tablet enabling employees to “access information from anywhere at anytime, and also input data using shared document formats in real time.” But as I said in the comment I left on the post, the advantages of BI on the tablet go well beyond employee access. For our customers, the bigger advantage is the empowerment of the entire corporate org chart, from executives and management on the go, to client-facing resources, and even a manager/supervisor’s ability to walk over to a call center agent in the middle of the day with their tablet in hand, and discuss their real-time performance. And I believe that as the use of tablets in the business world becomes more widespread, we’ll begin to see even more benefits to mobile BI solutions.

You can see my comment and the full article at CloudTweaks.com.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

First details on HardMetrics and Customer Relationship Metrics partnership

It might be summertime, but we're not about to sit back and relax here at HardMetrics. In fact we announced HardMetrics' new partnership with Customer Relationship Metrics (CRM) in a press release yesterday.

CRM delivers two distinct value propositions through its business intelligence as a managed service offering:

1. Simplified and fast implementation of an industry-tested and proven, feature-rich, enterprise-scale BI application. This is the best of BI in the Cloud.

2. A team of domain experts, research analysts, and management consultants who will use the application to assist clients in deploying best practices and optimizing the performance of their business.

CRM has been a HardMetrics customer for three years. Our technology has been used internally in their voice of the customer research practice. And starting today, the HardMetrics Performance Manager is an essential component of their new end-to-end managed service offering. Keep reading for more details on how we'll be working together and what it means for your company's BI.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

HardMetrics brings business intelligence to the tablet

HardMetrics at the ACCE Expo demoing our solution on the iPad
Last week Brian told you he was attending the ICMI ACCE Conference and Expo this week to show attendees how easily HardMetrics Performance Manager runs on a tablet.

And since Brian's at the Expo today, we decided to make the official announcement live from New Orleans that our HardMetrics Performance Manager business intelligence solution is optimized for use on tablet devices.

The press release crossed the wire this morning. Keep reading to find out how we can easily and seamlessly deploy our software to the mobile Web on the iPadMotorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy, BlackBerry PlayBook, or any other tablet.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Business intelligence goes mobile at the 2011 ICMI ACCE Conference and Expo

Just try to keep me in the HardMetrics booth at the ICMI ACCE Conference and Expo show. I triple dog dare you. :)

That's because I'll be walking around with my iPad at the show in New Orleans from June 13 to 15 showing attendees how to use HardMetrics Performance Manager on their tablet.

Not all business intelligence solutions can easily and seamlessly deploy their software to the mobile Web. It requires them to build a separate application for each mobile operating system and devise a strategy to deploy the application and keep it updated and current. But since HardMetrics is and always has been a pure Web-based solution, you don't need an app to access it on your tablet.

All you have to do is open the Web browser on your tablet, whether it's an iPad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy, BlackBerry PlayBook, or any other tablet, and log in to the HardMetrics Performance Manager to have complete access.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

What's the difference between a tool and a solution?

The Urban Dictionary has a lot of (ahem) colorful definitions for the word "tool." The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition is more basic.

It defines it as "a handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task." And many of the claimants to the business intelligence mantle prove to be nothing more than that: tools (sometimes in both sense of the word).

During a recent conversation with a colleague, he said to me: "I find it shocking how many otherwise sophisticated companies are still using Excel to drive business decisions." It's sad but true.

While software has evolved and morphed into so much more than spreadsheets, business decision making for the most part remains mired in manually prepared spreadsheets that are susceptible to data errors.

And the "tools" that claim to be business intelligence solutions are focused on one single task: making Excel data look prettier.

Examples include tools such as SAP Crystal Presentation Design, iDashboards, and IBM's Cognos PowerPlay. They are point-and-click data visualization software that creates prettier data presentations from Excel spreadsheets.

These tools might work for organizations that don't need to dive deep into their data for analysis. They do the job they're designed to do, but they don't provide additional functional capabilities, drive operational improvements, or enhance knowledge of the business. And there is little to no domain expertise behind them. Want more capable tools from the big boys? It's going to cost you a ton of time and money.

By way of comparison, solutions like HardMetrics Performance Manager provide an overarching mission-critical service to an organization. With HardMetrics on the job, managers from front-line operations to the C-suite can quickly and cost effectively:

Monday, May 23, 2011

Drive employee motivation with data

How many of you remember a candy called Cracker Jack? You bought Cracker Jack because you wanted the caramel-coated popcorn. But you always got something extra -- the free prize inside.

That's kind of the experience one of our clients, SWBC, got. SWBC tracks insurance coverage against collateral such as houses and cars for financial institutions including banks, savings and loans, and credit unions. They have over 4 million policies to track.

They came to HardMetrics because they needed to improve client reporting and internal analysis and reporting. But after implementing HardMetrics Performance Manager, they got more than they bargained for.

They discovered that they could use it as a motivational tool too. SWBC uses the data from HardMertics Performance Manager to display the Company's forecast and goals to show if they're operating in green, red, or yellow territory. Now everyday, service center employees check to make sure they’re in the green. And if they’re not, then there's a little more pep in their step that day.

HardMetrics also played an analytical role in helping SWBC identify a transformational acquisition. They performed a multiple process analysis to compare their three OCR platforms using HardMetrics as the measurement platform and comparative litmus test. Its analysis helped SWBC acquire a new company.

We put together a case study drilling into each of the new functions SWBC uncovered in HardMetrics Performance Manager. You can keep reading to find out more, or download the jazzed up PDF.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Fortune 500 companies still challenged in customer care operations

At the SOCAP International 2011 Symposium I met with several Fortune 500 companies. Despite the fact that these are some of the best-resourced companies on the planet, they are still struggling with accurate and timely analysis and reporting for their customer service operations.

Based on what I heard during our conversations, they aren't able to drill down and gather historical data or measure performance by individuals, groups, or across the enterprise.

The home-grown tools or Excel spreadsheets they are using today are just not delivering the capabilities they need to capture data from disparate sources and platforms, and measure operational performance.

So they're at SOCAP pounding the pavement for solutions that have domain expertise in consumer affairs and call center-driven environments. I also got wind of the exhaustion companies are feeling from taking on massive development projects to build a business intelligence solution.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

SearchBusinessAnalytics.com covers benefits of real-time BI

Recently Alan R. Earls of SearchBusinessAnalytics.com was conducting research for his article, "Real-time BI capabilities offer benefits, add complexities for users." Based on their knowledge of what we do, the folks at our PR firm Gregory FCA suggested to Alan that he would benefit from talking with a couple of HardMetrics customers.

A few weeks ago Alan contacted TCIM Services Inc. and NOVO 1, two of our customers in the highly competitive Call Center Outsourcing market. The good news is that Alan and his editor found the information to be compelling and of value to the article. The one catch is when you read the article you won't see HardMetrics mentioned by name.

If you've ever had any dealings with the press, you know that sometimes they don't mention vendors and their technologies by name. But rest assured and just so you know, the solution and benefits being talked about in the article are being realized through the deployment and use of HardMetrics Performance Manager.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Improving operational analytics at SOCAP International 2011 Symposium: You can bet on it

I'm heading out to Las Vegas next week to the SOCAP International 2011 Symposium. From May 2 to 3, HardMetrics will be calling Table #13 in the Exhibit Hall home.

If you're planning to attend the Symposium, drop by. I'd love to hear how you're tracking and managing the performance of your customer service and call center operations. Or maybe I'll run into you at one of the sessions. SOCAP has put together a great list of speakers that I'm looking forward to hearing, including Terry Jones, Chairman of Kayak.com.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Adjuvant therapy for your Avaya platform

In the health care arena, there are drugs called adjuvants, which are just given to patients because they make other drugs more effective.

Adjuvants are used to boost the power of vaccines, make cancer treatment more effective, and to strengthen the immune system. There are even adjuvants that make pesticides and fertilizers more effective.

What does this have to do with business intelligence? Well, I know a lot of you use Avaya Call Center and CMS. Avaya has great products and they have captured leading market share throughout the industry.

But one of the common challenges we hear from customers on the Avaya platform is that there are limitations with it when it comes to operational analytics.

For example, have you tried to extract data from the Avaya platform to do a deeper dive into the factors that drive your business? Or for that matter tried to combine it with data from other operational platforms in the call center such as financial, HR, and forecast data? It's here where the Avaya platform -- as good as it is -- needs an adjuvant.

And this is one of the reasons our customers love HardMetrics. The fact sheet we put together describes how we make it easy for call center-centric companies to get the most from their Avaya investment. Take a look at it below, or read the fancy two-page PDF version.

With HardMetrics, you can quickly and easily gather data from Avaya, combine it with other data sources, and transform it into operational analytics that will identify best practices -- so those best practices can be adopted across your organization -- as well as issues that need to be triaged and managed for improvement.

Without further adieu, here's our pitch to those of you on the Avaya platform.



Avaya Call Center and Avaya CMS Come to Life with HardMetrics

Call centers worldwide depend on Avaya Call Center and Avaya CMS to keep things running smoothly. With these powerful tools, Avaya has earned a reputation as the leading platform in call handling and call management.

Now, with HardMetrics, call center-driven companies can get even more value from their Avaya investment. HardMetrics makes it possible to dig deeper into CMS data, letting decision makers view easy-to-understand dashboard and scorecard-based reports and analyze all facets of the CMS deployment. HardMetrics enables you to view and navigate CMS data from the perspectives that are most valuable to you.

We deliver greater insights into the information that CMS is producing, and easily integrate CMS data with other ACD data as well as operational platform data. The result? Deeper insight into your call center operations, increased operational efficiencies, and an improved bottom line.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Top call center trends from the American Teleservices Association Convention and Expo

I'm back from the American Teleservices Association (ATA) Convention and Expo, and I want to tell you about the top two trends I saw taking shape after talking with so many people at the hub of our industry.

The first trend I saw was call center agents being recognized as the face of a business. A customer's interaction with your call center can make or break their perception of your company.

And in the era of Twitter, it only takes 140 characters and a few seconds for that customer to tell the world how well they were treated or how badly.

Therefore, companies should not only provide superior training to their agents, but measure their performance. Performance measurement can collect critical data that can increase customer satisfaction, and in some cases, discover data that can be profitable for the company.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

At the American Teleservices Association Convention and Expo, solving contact center challenges one enterprise at a time

I traded in the chilly weather up North for the warm sun of Phoenix this week to be at the American Teleservices Association (ATA) Convention and Expo. HardMetrics just joined the ATA, and we're excited to be exhibiting for the first time at their Convention.

In fact, we even got a brand new backdrop for our booth. Take a look at the picture I snapped on my BlackBerry at the end of this post. The Convention wraps up tomorrow, so if you're here, stop by booth #305 to say hello.

I'd love to meet you and talk about the challenges your contact center is facing, what you see as the big trends in the industry this year, and how you're optimizing operations to stay ahead.

Being surrounded by the people of our industry and discussing the common challenges we all face is always eye opening. No matter how long you've been in the business, there's always something new to learn when you get together with hundreds of your colleagues.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Delivering on the promise of business intelligence and operational analytics

There is a revolution taking place in the world of business intelligence and operational analytics. Status quo is no longer acceptable. Companies need greater visibility into what is actually going on in the business.

They need depth. They need flexibility. They need it quicker. And they need it to be financially possible (cost effective).

To remain competitive in today's real-time, on-demand business environment, enterprises simply must tap into the data they generate to gain more visibility into business metrics -- such as revenues, expenses, and operational efficiency -- while comparing business segments in real time to identify best practices and/or areas for improvement.

But to date, business intelligence solutions that promised this much-needed visibility just haven't delivered. Projects are measured in months and years, and require vast amounts of specialized resources and budget.

Applications that do make it to end users don't often meet their needs. Reliance on Excel is rampant. Low-level tool vendors are promising that they can deliver on the complexity and scale requirements of enterprise-scale analytics, but they can't. The result? Frustration. Lack of capability. Lost opportunity.

Data remains locked in siloed enterprise systems, and hard-charging decision makers still pine for a future when ground-level changes in the business are visible in real time so that positive trends can be leveraged, or negative trends that impact the health of the business can be quickly triaged, diagnosed, and reversed.

With all of the strides that have been made in the technology and IT arena, it is perplexing that advanced reporting, operational analytics, and business intelligence haven't reached the point where mass deployment, intuitive interfaces and features, and dynamic data access are practical and possible.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

How streamlining 21 million data elements improves business performance

How do you go from manual data preparation and reporting to complete automation and sophisticated performance and operational analytics?

How do you go from the risk and cost of mountains of spreadsheets, manual processes, and inconsistent data to clear business insights at the push of a button? That's a good question to ask TCIM Services, Inc.

The leading provider of outsourced call center services was struggling to keep pace with globally produced data from over 20 unique data sources that contained over 21 million raw data elements. After working with us, all of that information is now seamlessly processed and neatly packed inside and managed by HardMetrics Performance Manager.

Now they have on-demand access to financial, operational, and payroll data that's able to be sliced and diced any way to ensure that they are internally operating at peak efficiency and delivering top-notch service to their Fortune 100 client base.

It's the kind of transformative process we thrive on. For the deep dive on how we got them from there to here, read the case study below or download the dressed-up PDF.



Overview:
TCIM Services, Inc. needed enhanced visibility into the key performance metrics that drive the success of its business so that it could continue to provide top-notch service to its Fortune 100 client base.

The TCIM challenge:
  • Eliminate manual and error-prone processes.
  • Improve timeliness and accuracy of data.
  • Define consistent metrics across nine call centers.
  • Provide ability to analyze data comparing and contrasting various metrics across the global organization.

Monday, March 7, 2011

What to expect from HardMetrics in 2011

Wow! It's been a whirlwind few weeks since I joined HardMetrics, but as I've gotten to know my HardMetrics teammates and many of our clients, my instincts have been 100 percent confirmed: This is a great opportunity for me.

When I entered "free agency," I had a number of potential career moves put in front of me, but I was looking for a company that had a great solution, a great product, and a great team.

I know how to build a successful sales and marketing organization. That's my core skill set and area of expertise, but the best sales organization in the world can't sell a product that doesn't hit the mark with its target market.

Last January I started talking to the HardMetrics team, and I was immediately impressed. HardMetrics Performance Manager flat-out works for call center-driven organizations. Our customers are willing to step up and tell the world about the positive changes that are enabled by real-time visibility into call center operations and the subsequent impact on overall business operations.

They rave about our launch process, our domain knowledge, the quality of our staff, our ongoing customer support, and our flexibility in accommodating changes as they learn, grow, and expand the scope of their implementations. We have proven case studies with signature clients that can be publicized and expanded upon. In short, the only thing that was missing was additional market presence and visibility. And that's where I come in.

I'm excited to be on board. I've enjoyed my interactions with customers I've met, and there are a number of customers I'm planning to meet with in the near future. They have all given me great feedback on our company and our solution, and expressed a willingness to participate in the HardMetrics customer community.

To capitalize on that, I'm planning to establish a user group advisory board. If you're interested, please let me know. In addition, we've already started the process of increasing visibility through a concerted marketing initiative.

We plan to have a significant presence at trade shows such as the ATA 2011 Convention and Expo, SOCAP International 2011 Symposium, and the ICMI ACCE Conference and Expo. I'll post more details on where we'll be and what we'll be doing at each show as they get closer. I look forward to meeting all of you in the coming weeks and months!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

New home for HardMetrics

We're moving out and into a new, larger corporate headquarters in Wayne, Pa.! We announced the exciting news in a press release, which you can read below.

Our three-and-a-half year lease with Brandywine Realty Trust, the property’s owner, provides us with a strong foundation for today, and plenty of room to grow tomorrow.

Ideally located in the Philadelphia suburbs along the Route 202 Technology Corridor, this new facility will provide access to the many technological, educational, and transportation resources in the Philadelphia area, as well as a deep pool of professional talent.

Many of the Philadelphia region’s most successful corporations are our new neighbors, such as SunGard, Amerisource Bergen Corporation, Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., SEI, and many others.

Despite the challenges of today's economy, HardMetrics has continued to enjoy strong growth. This is an indication of the increasing market recognition of the value of performance management technology and solutions.

We have gained significant penetration within the financial services, insurance and membership services, and cable and MSO verticals. We are a leader in providing solutions to the outsourced call center sector. We also are happy to have several very happy Fortune 500 clients.

These customer-focused corporations operate in highly competitive markets. They need to operate at peak efficiency. They understand the value in being able to simultaneously collect, measure, manage, and monitor both call center and business operations metrics. The demand is increasing dramatically, and we are investing in the infrastructure needed to meet that demand.

Our move to a new, larger facility is a tangible demonstration that HardMetrics is on the move (figuratively and literally). This new headquarters will further advance our aggressive expansion plans for 2011 and beyond. Come and visit us in our new digs soon!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Software pro joins HardMetrics as President

Early in my career as an entrepreneur, I learned that one of the most important elements to building a successful business (besides always having enough money in the bank) is to have the strongest team possible.

As CEO I lead the charge to hire and retain the best and brightest talent available. At HardMetrics we have accomplished some pretty impressive feats, and this is directly related to the fact that we have a highly pedigreed and hand-selected staff.

In keeping with that philosophy, today we announced that HardMetrics has scored another major coup: We added Brian Turley to the team in the position of President.

Brian has ascended the corporate ladder to become one of the leading software executives in the industry. As an example of his relentless pursuit of corporate success, he started in a sales role with Strohl Systems shortly after graduating from college, and eventually became CEO.

He ultimately orchestrated and led the sale of Strohl to SunGard, and remained there as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Software Solutions for SunGard Availability Services before joining HardMetrics. That effort requires a unique set of skills and is a clear indication of what a driven and motivated leader Brian Turley is. Our hiring of Brian affirms our commitment to recruiting the best and brightest to drive HardMetrics forward.

Brian's primary responsibilities at HardMetrics are growth, revenue, customer satisfaction, and building upon our successes to date so that we realize our massive growth potential. We've made a name for ourselves with signature clients such as Motorola, Time Warner Cable, TCIM Services, Telerx, and AAA Auto Club South, who are optimizing sales, customer service, and operations with HardMetrics Performance Manager.

The call center is ground zero for customer interaction -- the place where customers and prospects find themselves when they decide to buy, or conversely when they have a customer care issue that needs to be addressed and/or fixed.

Our clients have learned firsthand how important it is to leverage trends that are immediately visible in this mission-critical operating environment. Now, under Brian's leadership of our sales and marketing initiatives we can bring our know-how and proven case studies to the huge universe of companies that depend on call centers to provide the first line of defense with their valuable customer base.

Brian will be a major contributor in the enhancement of our marketing efforts, will own the build-out of our sales team, and will work with clients to drive even greater efficiency, productivity, and profitability from their sales, customer care, and business operations processes with HardMetrics Performance Manager. Read what else he'll be doing in the press release we issued over the wire.

In his spare time (if we allow him to have any!), he will also contribute here on the blog, so you can expect to hear more from him soon. Join me in extending a warm welcome to Brian!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Happy data, happy customers

Telerx is in the business of making customers happier. But you can't make customers happier if you can't measure whether they're happy or not. How do you measure it?

By analyzing massive amounts of customer contact and call handling information, survey and satisfaction, CRM, and other sources of customer interaction data. Even social media.

Easier said than done. In addition to centralized corporate data, Telerx had operations data scattered across the U.S. in six contact centers.

But with our help, Telerx was able to consolidate that information into HardMetrics Performance Manager, correlate relationships and events across the disparate sites, customers, programs, campaigns, and more.

Now Telerx management can instantly access the latest data any time, from anywhere. Even better, they can simply drag and drop different data elements into a single report to compare and contrast data from different sources. Find out more in the full PDF or read the case study below.



Overview:
As the leader in outsourced customer care contact center services for the pharmaceutical and consumer package goods industries, Telerx is expected to deliver exceptional customer care from its six contact centers in North America. Telerx needed the ability to better analyze customer contact and call handling information across disparate management systems to improve customer satisfaction.

The Telerx challenge:
  • Integrate data and consolidate reporting from six North American contact centers.
  • Eliminate manual processes and human errors.
  • Centralize and standardize data. Promote availability, accuracy, and trust.
  • Simplify and expedite report generation while introducing advanced analytics.
  • Enhance decision making.

Monday, February 21, 2011

A triple threat of webinars

One of the things we hope to do here on our new blog is to feature some of our most successful webinars.

Make sure you subscribe to the blog either through e-mail or RSS so that you're always aware of our upcoming information series.

We'll let you know in advance when they're going to air, encourage you to sign up, and feature the archived versions. To give you an idea of the type of information you can learn in our webinars, take a peek at the three we recently produced that I think you'll find really valuable.


  • Business Units and Business Intelligence shows you why the business intelligence landscape is changing for the better for business users. We dive into how AAA Auto Club South is taking advantage of these changes and was able to gain access to 750 metrics in an organized, easy-to-use, Web-based application.


Feel free to view them at your leisure. Then tell us what more you'd like to learn about. Leave us your thoughts in a comment on this post. Make sure you stay up to speed with all of our webinars by bookmarking the "webinars" tag.
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