April 28th, 2010 by Robin Green

As your company matures and expands, you’ll find your employees are handling more calls and emails from customers. And if this situation has begun to spiral out of control–too many calls and emails to track–you know it’s time to step up to the plate and implement a new strategy to deal with the influx of communicative traffic. This is a critical moment in the evolution of your company, and may be the perfect time for you to consider implementing a call center. Call centers and contact centers are efficient and help you organize, maintain, track, and improve your customer relationships. They also help cut costs–especially when training and other processes are taken care of online.

Once upon a time, before learning management systems (LMS) and other online training systems were used, training employees across distances was a chaotic, decentralized, and often inefficient process. Most of the time, a company was unable to confirm how much money it was spending on employee training across the enterprise. The training process in each group of the company could vary significantly.

Today, companies utilizing business process outsourcing (BPO) for call centers can cut costs if they are able to centralize, unify, and repeat the process of employee training. This is where LMSs are useful, since an LMS allows its users to develop and distribute their own training solutions. Companies can create and customize training, integrating their logo and applying the company colors. And the ability to pay-per-use makes it easy for companies to load and reload learning content as required for relevant and up-to-date training. This pay-per-use model provides companies with a way to train employees in a call center in an efficient and timely manner.

Coggno is now offering a limited time free trial on its pay-per-use LMS. Click here to try it out.

Outsourced call centers require online training, easily delivered via LMS. But why create and/or outsource your call center to begin with? There are numerous benefits to implementing a call center, or a customer relationship management team. First of all, a call center creates greater efficiency in your company. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a big operation, involving a separate office, although it often does. However, if need be, a call center may involve minimal employees, in any location in the world. In fact, you might not even need to hire extra personnel.

Second, call centers allow you to track business processes and progress. Using customer relationship management software, your office can track the number of calls and emails received and responded to each day by making them into simple and trackable cases. An ordinary helpdesk isn’t able to track these. A call center generates these statistics and allows you to use them for future reference and to take measures to improve your business processes and ultimately, your business.

This point leads to the next benefit: launching a call center strategy will help you get organized and up to date on the most robust technology–including LMS software and communication handling systems–available. For example, using the Software as a service technology delivery model, virtual call centers are the most recent phenomenon emerging to manage customer relationships. Oftentimes call centers operate using cloud-based services like Salesforce.com, for a monthly or annual fee, to integrate with their call center functionality. Software like Salesforce also includes ways to help call center reps stay connected, use feeds to keep up with the latest salesforce activities and record updates, and more social networking-style tools that are actually useful in the communication-handling world.

Salesforce’s up-and-coming collaboration platform, Chatter, includes a variety of cutting edge and useful tools for a call center. Status updates provide a way to quickly let others know what you’re working on, without having to post to a staff blog or send an email. And in addition to following other staff members (like Twitter, only the ones you choose) you can also follow individual records in Salesforce such as contacts, accounts, cases, or opportunities. For example, say you’re a customer service rep and you’ve got a case (an email or phone call from a customer) you want come help on. Now you can share a question, comment, link, or file about the case in your status update, and have the answer from your followers right in Salesforce.

Likewise, as more companies utilize LMS for training, such software has developed in sophistication. In some instances, educational software begins to look more game-like in its interactivity, and fun-to-use tools and interactive and practical features. Social networking features are an up-and-coming addition to online courseware and LMSs, with potentiality to transform learning and create more robust training modules.

Coggno is now offering a limited time free trial on its pay-per-use LMS. Click here to try it out.

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Coggno.com provides premier e-learning education.

April 20th, 2010 by Robin Green

Despite the media telling us that the economy is stabilizing, we all know many people are still jobless or working in a position that isn’t up to their standards, simply for fear that finding something better will be impossible. What do many people do at a time like this? They go back to school and cultivate some skills, so that when jobs begin pouring into the economy again, they’re are ready to snag a great one.

Consider picking up a vocational or other online course to increase your skills and become more valuable in the marketplace. Become more tech-savvy. LMS (Learning Management System) online programs are available in a wide range of career fields, and their self-paced format is designed fit to your life. If you are working as a service provider in an outsourced position, you may consider expanding your resume and offering a wider variety of services, or an altogether new service. Or, you may learn how to further develop the skills you already have.

These days, educational systems are increasingly preparing students for a tech-infused workplace. And as more institutions use LMS courses, such software has developed in sophistication. In some instances, educational software begins to look more game-like in its interactivity, and fun-to-use tools and interfaces.

Educational software with game-like characteristics (such as virtual worlds) has begun to creep into higher education and the professional world. For example, some universities have either begun to implement, or are making plans to integrate, a virtual world into their education systems. And research firm eMarketer reports that 24% of the 34.3 million internet users under age 19 use virtual worlds at least once a month, a figure that they predict will jump to 53% by 2011.

As more students gain experience with e-learning, and as online education becomes more sophisticated, their experience becomes more easily translated into a professional setting. And given the benefits that studying online and collaboratively with an LMS provides students, more schools are seeking out and integrating advanced technology. As a result, more and more young people graduate high school prepared not only for more education, but for an increasingly competitive job market which values ICT skills more and more each day.

However, most students are still graduating high school with little idea of what they want to do with their lives. Furthermore, many students graduate from university with the same problem. It often takes years of working in different jobs to decide what you like best, and this is when many people decide to gain more education.

Unless you are in your twenties or younger, you may not have had a great deal of experience with online education. High school didn’t prepare my generation for the business world as directly as it does today, and for this reason, now might be a good time to increase your value in the workplace by taking online vocational training.

More and more colleges and universities, technical schools and institutes are answering the call for online education. Courses provided online allow students to work towards certifications and degrees. In some cases, they also supplement face-to-face learning.

Vocational courses are related to a particular skill or kind of work. Students complete a series of tasks and assignments which prepare them for real work experience. Certification programs include a variety of professional fields including like social care, health care and childcare; hospitality and catering; leisure and tourism; media and design; construction; business; information technology; and animal care. Vocational courses traverse a vast landscape of professional possibilities.

Coggno is one LMS with a simple interface and a variety of professional skill-building online courses.

Enter Coggno’s marketplace and discover LMS online courses for cultivating your professional skills. For a limited time, Coggno is offering a free trial on their Learning Management System.

Furthering your skills might involve enrollment in a technical or community college program, an online certification course, or an LMS training program. Regardless of form your studies take, developing your skills is the first step on your path to new and better employment opportunities.  Take advantage of the flexibility offered by online courses to gain the skills and/or certification that will take you where you want to be.

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Coggno.com offers premier e-learning education.

April 13th, 2010 by Robin Green

If you are an executive or manager who has implemented a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) strategy, you know that a great deal of work goes into maintaining a relationship with the service provider and dealing with risks that such strategies involve. Maintaining a BPO relationship and mitigating risks is often a chore that costs an organization a great deal of time and energy–and consequently, money.

For this reason, becoming educated on BPO risk assessment and ORM (Outsourcing Relationship Management) is a must for any BPO manager. Of the myriad LMS (Learning Management System) courses out there for executives managing an outsourcing relationship, the most effective course covers not only how to maintain an outsourcing relationship, but how to assess and prevent the risks involved. In order to reap the benefits of business process outsourcing, any potential problems need to be prevented before they happen.

The first critical move, you may think, is choosing the right service provider. Not doing so can result in unnecessary costs to your business, and even make the BPO a failure. However, if you’re considering an LMS course on BPO risk management, you are also faced with the task of choosing an LMS provider. For a limited time, Coggno is offering a free trial on their system.

Click this link to try Coggno’s learning management system for your BPO management training.

There are a few potential risks involved in a BPO relationship–and the number increases when the relationship with the service provider is conducted exclusively via internet, and when the work assigned to the provider is internet-based. The internet’s vast geographic reach, ease of access, and anonymity call for close attention to maintaining secure electronic systems, intrusion detection, as well as user authentication, verification, and authorization. Understanding how to manage an outsourced relationship with these risks in mind will ensure that any related and potential dangers are avoided.

Reputation risk, compliance risk, operational risk, and strategic risk are four main BPO dangers for which an LMS course can help you prepare.

Reputation risk may be one of the most important to avoid. As Benjamin Franklin said: “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” Reputation management is therefore an essential aspect of an LMS outsourcing management course. Reputation risks could result from poor service from the service provider, or from customer interaction that is inconsistent with the quality and standards of your organization. It can happen when the service provider’s practices are inconsistent with your business practices. Remember that the service provider is, for all intents and purposes, an extension of your organization, and any act on its part is a direct reflection on your organization.

Compliance risk occurs when consumer or legal compliance controls are not sufficient, or when a service provider has insufficient control systems. Operational risk can happen as a result of technology failure, insufficient financial capacity to complete responsibilities or offer remedies, and errors. Finally, strategic risk can result from adverse business decisions and can lead to adverse effects to earnings or capital.

An LMS course can train managers on the issues involved in outsourcing relationship management, including how to assess risks, choose a service provider, document a contract, and monitor progress and results. One critical element of risk assessment is determining the capability of the service provider to provide the necessary level of service. The process of choosing a service provider must include adequate time for executives to evaluate proposals and information the provider offers about the service.

An LMS course should also train managers to manage a contract in a BPO relationship. This includes tracking, measuring, and ensuring future results, penalizing failure, preventing failure, and creating performance measurements. These measurements should not only focus on current performance and results, but also respond by providing proactive solutions and predictions. Another part of contract management is a quality assurance approach which governs the processes and the service delivery of a BPO group.

If you’re outsourcing work to a third-party service provider to perform long-term activities, an LMS course is essential. Perhaps you already know a thing or two about managing an outsourcing relationship and preventing risks involved in BPO strategies.

You can avoid risks in your outsourcing strategy by conducting training using Coggno’s LMS. For a limited time you can try the system for free.

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Coggno.com provides high-quality LMS platforms world-wide.

April 6th, 2010 by Robin Green

A company planning to outsource one or more of business processes (BPO) should prepare extensively for success. Thorough preparation is, in fact, the only action that will ensure a successful BPO strategy.

Specifically, company executives managing the BPO transition should study ORM before proceeding with the outsourcing strategy. ORM stands for “outsourcing relationship management”, a term that includes organizational structure, management strategy, and IT infrastructure. It’s an entire business discipline, and execs should be familiar with it before embarking on any BPO project. An LMS online training course on how to manage an outsourcing relationship will ensure that the BPO strategy is effective.

BPO means, of course, that work once done in-house is moved to specialized offshore or domestic service providers. Oftentimes, a few employees are transitioned to the service provider team while others remain in-house to manage the outsourced group. Or, a company makes no changes in their in-house team, but contracts an outside service provider. Either way, it’s in the outsourcing governance area that companies and institutions tend to struggle.

An online ORM course teaches company execs what is often unforeseen; that there are certain skills and knowledge required to effectively manage outsourcing relationships. This realization usually comes too late, as companies struggle to effectively manage their outsourcing strategy as it is being implemented, rather than beforehand.

This lack of forethought and a formal design of outsource governance often lead to poor ORM and as a result, ineffective outsourcing strategies. Online crash courses in ORM work to prevent such failure.

A company’s executives should approach outsourcing relationships in a way that corresponds exactly to the company’s short- and long-term objectives. And one concept that an LMS course teaches executives is that good ORM involves a proactive strategy in preventing failure. Instead of simply measuring, tracking, reporting measures against targets, and penalizing the service provider, executives should use that information to manage future performance. That way, when systems or processes are showing signs that they are heading towards failure, they can be eliminated or changed before the problem actually occurs. A proactive approach has higher rates of effectiveness than any carrot-and-stick strategy. It will also help to root the major causes of dysfunctional or unsatisfactory outsourcing relationships.

A complete online course in ORM deals with the three areas of concern in BPO transition and ORM, which are management strategy, organizational structure, and IT infrastructure. Management strategy refers to identifying the best service level agreement and relationship techniques for your business process outsourcing strategy. Organizational structure refers to developing the appropriate in-house management, or the oversight structure and mechanisms. Finally, IT infrastructure is the supportive IT infrastructure which enables the monitoring and management of a network of external service providers.

Management strategy involves a critical element: contract management. This includes tracking, measuring and ensuring results, tracking, penalizing and preventing failure, and developing performance measurements. These measurements should not only address current performance, but also respond by providing proactive solutions and predictions. Contract management also involves a quality assurance approach that governs the processes and the service delivery of a BPO group. Remember that the outsourced service provider has a vested interest in achieving results, just like the company is it servicing.

Since service provider contracts are often transitory, they should specify responsibilities and processes of the BPO transition term. Generally, the contract with an outsourced service provider should include provisions for performance management, and the contract language should be flexible, allowing for changes as they become necessary.

An LMS course for executives implementing and maintaining an outsourcing relationship should cover not only the benefits of BPO, but also the risks involved, so that problems can be prevented before they arise. For example, there are a number of possible risks when the service provided involves the use of the internet. The internet’s extensive geographic reach, ease of access, and anonymity call for close attention to maintaining secure electronic systems, intrusion detection, as well as user authentication, verification, and authorization. Understanding how to manage an outsourced relationship with these risks in mind will ensure that any potential dangers are avoided.

Ultimately, it is the executive’s responsibility to manage the outsourcing relationship, a task that shouldn’t be taken lightly, and is best prefaced by an LMS course in ORM. After all, regardless of service provider shortcomings, changes in business conditions and technology, and other factors that may account for problems in a BPO strategy, the responsibility of achieving results lies with the party who has the most to gain or lose in the outsourcing relationship: the company itself.

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Coggno.com offers premier LMS online training courses.