Dean LaGrow

414.489.1056

dean.lagrow@gmail.com

Dean with over 17 years experience as a leader in customer care, inside sales and telephony as a Director, and Vice President most recently with a Fortune 500 technology company is currently available for contact center consulting opportunities.

Hosted Contact Center Solutions: Northwinds

 In their server based telephony environment, Northwinds has created a wonderful managed telephony tool I recently spent some time analyzing Northwinds offer and I was impressed with the ease of use and vast functionality.

 The current tool works with PC-based softphones and has the ability to connect calls to any PSTN-attached telephone. Future developments will include multiple contact methods such as e-mail, chat, social media, etc.

 Northwinds’ tool is a telephony dream; first, it is a managed service so you do not need a huge piece of equipment that comes with service contracts and additional staff. The base of the system is powerful ACD, as well, it does outbound campaigns through the dialer functionality, IVR, call recording (QM) and call disposition capabilities in the systems database or you can hook into an existing CRM system. All this functionality in a managed environment through one system so integration is not an issue.  Additionally, their soft phone receives call-associated data so CTI integration.  Currently, workforce management is not part of the solution. Because of the way they built it, integration is an easy hook.

 The interfaces are simple and easy to make changes no programming skills are required to run inbound or outbound campaigns. If you need to make changes on the fly, it is quick and simple. They have attacked the legal side if protecting their clients by having the ability to load Do Not Call lists. Agents can even add numbers to this list with the click of a button. The system does all the filtering.

The agent interface is easy to use so adaption will be at a quick rate. After the agent logs into the system, they starts receiving calls to their phones inbound, outbound or even a blended environment for maximum staff utilization. Call disposition feature limited in the information that it can capture, but it is easy to use. If you are not tracking today, this information will give you better knowledge of the voice of the customer. 

 Northwinds it is not the solution for the 500-person mega call center, but if you have fewer than 200 seats, you need to help your employer and look at this solution.