Like many people, I’ve raised my expectations of the products I use and the companies with which I do business, both personally and professionally. As my choices of vendors have expanded, so have the criteria by which I measure them.

At one point, the smallest price tag won the battle. I didn’t always get the best result, but I saved some money. I can get a whole lot more store-brand ice cream for my dollar, but it’s never as good as Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk. Never.

Product quality, convenience, brand reputation, price, previous experience, are all in the mix. Increasingly, customer service is taking a greater role. I want to work with companies that want to work with me.

Collaboration technology gives you more avenues to interact with and serve your customers. Make it easy to be your customers. The efforts are worth it. In a new white paper, titled “Turning Customer Service into Customer Collaboration,” ZK Research says “the time is now for companies to use collaboration tools to evolve customer service.” Read More »

Tags: AAA, collaboration, contact center, Customer Care, customer collaboration, Hilti, NHS BSA, twitter, white paper, zk research

Visit us at Educause to learn more about our newest Cisco “Connected Insights” paper for Education, “Transforming Education, Transforming Lives.” As we find ourselves at the cross-roads of preparing the workforce of the future while facing one of the most daunting economic environments that many of us have ever encountered, we have the opportunity to work together to realize results and effect change. This white paper includes the latest thinking on how to address some of our most pressing challenges today.

Education is at the heart of human progress: educating students, driving innovation, and promoting social equity. The very best educational systems prepare people to be successful, productive, and engaged members of society. These systems provide appropriate knowledge, skills, and experiences, enabling students to obtain jobs that promote social equity and economic growth. Today, education is undergoing change at an unprecedented rate. To prepare for the jobs of tomorrow, today’s students need new skills, taught in new ways. Professors need to develop new material and deliver it differently. Parents expect greater involvement, and administrators need to constantly do more with less.

Cisco can help educators overcome these challenges. Our solutions drive cost savings, expand access to quality education, support learning transformation, improve student engagement, prepare the workforce of the future, and place schools, colleges, and universities at the heart of smart and connected communities.

Tags: connected insights, educause, transforming education, white paper