Blog

It’s been an amazing few of months. Countries around the world closed down their economies as a means of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing has proven to be the most effective tool for combating a virus without a cure or vaccine. Life has changed dramatically, and a “new normal” will be established as the world reopens.

Kim Felice joined the NUG board in 2012 as Director of Membership and Communication. She currently serves as the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).

Disaster planning and recovery, business continuity, working remotely and now, working from home. As these terms increasingly dominate the vernacular around business operations and preparedness, a diverse community of companies and organizations are finding that NICE's CXone cloud contact center platform enables them to meet disaster-related challenges in ways they never thought possible.

Call center managers are always looking for ways to assure that agents work productively, meet their KPIs, and stay with the company. It’s a constant challenge to motivate good performers to stay the course and even raise the bar on the KPIs they are able to achieve. At the same time, employees who are falling short of expectations may need some external motivation and a friendly “push” to improve. When done right, gamification can be an effective and fun way to drive agent motivation and performance.

If predictions are true, call centers are about to get busy. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, and we have already had 3 named storms this year. Call centers must be prepared with a business continuity plan that accounts for any type of disaster.

Annise Jones-Martin of PHI joined the NUG board in 2016 and serves as the Chapter Chair.

Over the last few months, organizations across the world have relocated their contact center agents from cubicals to comfy couches (or hopefully kitchen tables and desks.) Regardless of the furniture, the point is, most contact centers have adopted a work-from-home model in a very short amount of time. Every day we see leaders of countries and companies alike trying to balance their message to stakeholders– these are extraordinary times, but at the same time, we must also do what we can to maintain normalcy and business as usual.