One critical but challenging aspect of success for any project or program is achieving organizational alignment: keeping all key participants and stakeholders on the same page, working towards a common purpose. For many Support and Service organizations, organizational alignment is a major challenge, due to the unique role these organizations play in driving customer interactions. [...]

Sure, Gordon Ramsay is too good looking, seems to bask in celebrity, acts like a rude sod, and teaches management by intimidation. But, if, as one suspects, his eponymous London showpiece reflects the man, you gotta like him. Ramsay runs a terrific restaurant. No, we’re not talking French Laundry or Joel Robuchon here, my standards [...]

I wrote this blog when Steve Jobs announced his retirement from Apple. Tragically it has now become an eulogy to a great man. It’s worth repeating. When Steve Jobs launched the iPad, he described it as ‘revolutionary’, ‘unbelievably great’, ‘extraordinary’ and ‘truly magical’. He could just as easily have been talking about himself. No one in [...]

Post-it notes, Notepads, calling a colleague, stretching above cubical wall and yelling “Hey, have you received the PO yet? Can I invoice?” have become a part of our day to day work. How many times you have to ‘run around’ to get an order processed? Umpteen phone calls, emails, contract reviews etc. All this is [...]

“I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.” Chef Thomas Keller. I live in a tiny, tiny town called Yountville. For foodies, Yountville is synonymous with Thomas Keller and his superlative French Laundry restaurant. As America’s greatest chef, Keller has branded our little [...]

I’ve spent the past few days in the company of someone who works for a large Canadian city, one of KANA’s customers. She asked me about my role and keenly probed me about social media and how it could help her and, in turn, her city to connect to people. So I told her, referred [...]

I was traveling abroad with my family recently and was prepared with the two different languages of the three different countries we were traveling through. I had my English to German and English to Italian books along with the CDs of common phrases. My wife and I religiously played those CDs every time we were [...]

In past few weeks in the US we’ve seen spirited debates on raising debt limits, budget, and need to ‘Cut, Cap & Balance’. I’m not going to comment on budget or economic policies but I am intrigued by the idea of ‘cut, cap and balance’ in customer service as over the years customer service organizations have [...]

A silly bird shows up, like clockwork, outside my living room and expends an hour or two, each and every afternoon, flying into our window. Whack. Whack. Whack: head first, into the glass. Einstein famously said that doing the same thing over and over yet expecting a different result is the precise definition of insanity. [...]

Question – Where do people usually focus their attention when talking about customer service? Answer – Call/contact centers. Question – What percentage of customer service is provided via call/contact centers? Answer – It depends. In some markets it may be close to 100% yet in others it may be under 10%. In some cases a [...]