Improving Customer Service Efficiency in Terms of Tools and Skills

Customer service efficiency is the prime goal for service-oriented organizations, such as contact centers, service desks, and call centers. It is also an important objective for any organization, since it encompasses all relations and transactions with customers or clients. Customer service is a process that can be optimized and made more efficient through the prudent choice of tools and the application of the right skills.

Many different tools are used in customer relations, but the foremost among these must be the information management software. This software provides the interface between agents and the huge databases of customer-related information that the organization accumulates over time. This information includes not only details about the customers themselves, but also the records of previous inquiries. In a lot of cases, customer service agents would also need to access an internal database of information about the organization's products and services. For example, troubleshooting would be much more difficult without a detailed database of information about the organization's products.

Efficiency

Hence, the software used to manage this information must be reliable and robust enough to handle everyday use. It must also be intuitive and have a user-friendly interface so that agents would find it quick and easy to access the information that they need. Depending on the size of the organization, the ease of installation and maintenance may also be a big factor in determining which software tool is most appropriate. Fortunately, there are a whole slew of choices of vendors and software solutions for managing information systems. Organizations would in most cases be able to pick and choose which software they want to use depending on their unique circumstances.

The other important aspect of customer service would be the skills of the personnel or what could be termed the human factor. Because no matter how fast or powerful the tool in use may be, efficiency would still suffer greatly under unskilled personnel. Conversely, using even just makeshift tools, great personnel skills could still result in adequate efficiency. This is why successful organizations and companies pay very close attention to the employees they hire and to their training.

The importance of a good training program is sometimes overlooked by organizations looking to improve their efficiency quickly. And indeed, a training program may need some amount of time before it starts showing results. However, its potential should not be underestimated. A directed and effective training program can work wonders, paying dividends over and over in terms of new or improved personnel skills. For instance, enrolling customer service representatives in communication courses may not pay off in the short term. But in the long term, in their dealings with clients and customers, satisfaction ratings as well as efficiency would eventually go up. Technical training is also important, and also brings about improved performance.

Customer service efficiency combines the use of the appropriate information management system and the presence of skilled personnel. The proper selection of software tools and the implementation of training programs are two of the important steps in improving efficiency.

Improving Customer Service Efficiency in Terms of Tools and Skills

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Tips For Improving Office Efficiency

Every office and workplace has ways to make their business operations run more smoothly. Whether you need to better manage your time or simply de-clutter your workspace, there are numerous tips to help individuals, as well as a team of co-workers, function in a well managed office. Some tips may improve the physical organization of your office, and others are more individualized tips keep on employees on top of tasks. Together, this broad list of ideas is certain to bring more organization and efficiency to the workplace.

o Clear your desk top of all personal mementos. Hang them on the walls, place them on shelves, but give yourself space to work at your desk, without distractions. Keeping an organized, de-cluttered workspace helps you work more efficiently.
o Invest in some of your own inexpensive work supplies and keep them stocked inside your desk in an organizing tray. This way, you can avoid constantly searching for pens and paper clips, or overusing the company-wide supply.
o Consider new ways to organize the supply closet used by employees. Create a list of who takes how much of what and when. Designate a particular person to keep track of the list, specifically the person who takes inventory and orders more supplies. This will insure no one is using too much.
o Conduct quarterly or biannual organization of filing cabinets, discarding, or consolidate and re-file away unnecessary documents and paperwork. Put a shred/recycle program into place.
o Once you've completed a phone call, write down the next action you need to take relating to the call. Do you need to follow-up, provide feedback, make another call, fax or get something in the mail? If you can't complete the next action immediately, write it down.
o Simplify a big project by writing down everything, and group steps and tasks together. Then, put the tasks in order and set up a time line with deadlines and goals.
o Regularly schedule meetings to assess the progress the group is making and identify and expand upon what goals people are meeting. A group huddle, as such, should involve everyone in the office or department.
o Schedule appointments and meetings with both start and end times. People are more concise and to-the-point when they are creeping up on a deadline.
o Set deadlines for when tasks must be completed. This may seem silly, but when one person slips on meeting a deadline, it negatively affects someone else, decreasing more people's efficiency in the workplace.
o Make your work day more productive by leaving the office in the afternoon for lunch. Energize yourself for the remainder of the day by getting some fresh air or just relaxing somewhere outside of the workplace.
o Reduce interruptions at work by moving your desk so you can't see the door. Passersby will not be able to catch your eye as they walk by, thus avoiding unnecessary conversation.

Efficiency

Tips For Improving Office Efficiency

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Office Interiors has been serving offices throughout the country since 1988 and have managed thousands of high density filing projects, including corporate acquisitions, re-locations, consolidations and installations. Office interiors specializes in high density filing systems, office filing equipment, and medical file folders.

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Improving the Efficiency of Your Warehouse Or Shipping and Receiving Department

A busy warehouse or shipping and receiving department can often be a bottleneck in a production line. It is also an area commonly overlooked. To improve the output of this area, you need to increase the speed and ease with which it operates. Rather than increasing the number of staff members, consider the equipment used in this area. Is it really doing the job it needs to do or is there additional equipment that can make this job more efficient?

Moving Pallets And Loads

Efficiency

The equipment used to move loads around your building and in and out of trucks depends on your set up and the amount of space you have available. A used forklift with a narrow aisle design might be better for moving loads through a warehouse toward a loading dock. You will also be able to use reinforced industrial shelving to store waiting loads vertically, saving valuable space.

If you have no need to raise loads to great heights and only need something to move pallets on and off transport trucks, you may want to consider a pallet jack instead of a used forklift. If you find yourself having to constantly wait on a rental, why not purchase a used forklift? Purchasing the right style of used forklift and accessories may seem like an expense at the start, but the return on investment will be well worth it in the end.

Weighing Loads

Anything shipped by a transport company has to be weighed before it can be loaded. Having to weigh each pallet out by the piece is a long, drawn out process, particularly if everything on the pallet has a different weight. Rather than having staff use a small desktop scale, consider having a scale the size of a standard load installed into the floor. This way, the employee only has to pull the load onto the scale, pull off with the pallet jack or used forklift, and record the weight. You can weigh with the equipment under the load, but be certain it sits in the same place on the scale each time and that the weight of the equipment is subtracted for accuracy.

Securing Products

To prevent damage to the product while traveling, the products need to be secured on the pallet. This often requires some kind of shrink wrap or plastic wrap around the outside. Instead of having the rolls on a handle, consider an automatic shrink wrap machine that spins the pallet and covers the entire load in one step. A strapping machine will prevent boxes from opening up during transport. For larger equipment, consider having stands that hold the straps and clasps all together in one spot so the worker can keep everything together. In addition, consider a custom made stand that holds labels, bills of lading, packing slips, knives, tape, and any other minor equipment needed to get a package wrapped, loaded, and on its way. The fewer steps each person makes, the less time wasted, giving your employees more energy throughout the day.

Whether you run a grocery store in a small town, or a large warehouse with a shipping and receiving department in Illinois, forklift and moving equipment, weighing stations, and even the securing of loads can eat up a lot of time if they are inconvenient. If you find this area doesn't work as efficiently as the rest of your business, carefully examine each task in the area and see where you can make improvements. Even the smallest change can make a huge difference when added up over time.

Improving the Efficiency of Your Warehouse Or Shipping and Receiving Department

Christine O'Kelly is an author for the Illinois forklift experts at RHI Lifts. They carry a full line moving and storage equipment and provide maintenance and service for everything from a used Clark forklift to E-Z-Go Cars. They focus on providing high-quality products with fast and dependable customer service for a premium experience.

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Improving the Energy Efficiency of Your House

Energy costs are soaring and it seems that everything in your house uses energy. Remember the days when your computer only needed one plug? Now, you need one plug for the monitor, one for the speakers and one for the hard drive. How about the appliances for your kitchen? We no longer want hand-powered tools. We want appliances that do the work for us, including our electric can openers. We like our conveniences, but complain when we have to pay the energy costs. What are we to do? How can we keep our conveniences and conserve energy at the same time? Here are five ways to make your house more energy efficient.

1) Buy energy efficient appliances.

Energy Efficiency

Buy energy efficient appliances because they save electricity. What you save in electricity or water costs will more than pay for the difference in cost between a regular appliance and an energy efficient appliance. Also, replace any appliance that is over 15 years old. Newer appliances are built to be more energy efficient.

2) Buy energy efficient light bulbs.

The price of energy efficient light bulbs has come down dramatically the past few years. According to Energy Star, "If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars." And that's just from one light bulb. Think about it, how many light bulbs are there in your house?

3) Plug air leaks.

Plug air leaks around doors and windows with proper caulking and weather stripping. In the winter, this means less heat will escape your house and will help to lower your heating costs. Plus, proper sealing around windows means less moisture build up. Excessive moisture around the windows can lead to mold growth, which is bad for your health.

4) Turn your furnace fan on.

Turn your furnace fan on and let it run all day. It will help to circulate the air in your house and allow for more even heat distribution. During the summer, the fan will bring up the cool air in the basement to the upper levels in the house and reduce the use of your air conditioner.

5) Buy a programmable thermostat.

Programmable thermostats are great! They allow you to set a schedule so that the temperature in your house will change automatically for different times of the day. Most allow you to program two schedules, one for the week and one for weekends. In the winter, set your thermostat one degree lower when you go to sleep at night or when you are away at work during the day. During the summer, set the thermostat so that it will run less when you are not at home. Even a difference of one degree can save you a lot of money.

Improving the Energy Efficiency of Your House

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Improving the Energy Efficiency of Historic Homes

From every media source we are challenged to find a way of living that will ensure the longevity and health of our environmental, economic, and social resources. We all want to do our part, but the plethora of information about "green" living, "green" technologies and "green" architecture can be overwhelming. Lucky for those of us with historic homes, our houses were built with many environmentally friendly assets that help us reduce energy consumption. Prior to the introduction of central heat and air conditioning, local builders used techniques that "green" designers are now advocating, such as deep covered porches and wide eaves, window awnings and shutters, and operable windows. While we may not be willing to turn off our air conditioners in August, these features do allow us to make the most of the more temperate seasons while reducing our energy consumption.

Front and rear porches served dual heat-related purposes for historic homeowners prior to the introduction of air conditioning. First, they sheltered the main building from the harsh sun, reducing heat gain and protecting interior furnishings from fading. In addition, porches provided an escape from the sweltering heat inside the home, providing a sheltered space to sit out of the sun while enjoying cooling breezes.

Energy Efficiency

A series of techniques were used in conjunction with windows and doors to increase cooling effects. Awnings were historically used to protect windows from direct sunlight thus helping to keep interior rooms cool. Popular from 1870 to 1930, fabric awnings were made of canvas attached to a fixed or retractable metal frame and came in several colors and patterns to accent the home's architecture. Metal awnings and Bahama shutters were common beginning in the 1940s and original versions are still seen shading many homes.

Windows in older homes were almost always all operable to allow cooling breezes to enter the home. They were typically covered with full-height wood framed screens to prevent pesky mosquito invasions. Screen doors were also installed on all exterior doors, again allowing breezes to enter the home without inviting bugs. Doors typically had covered overhangs when not already sheltered by a porch, protecting entrants protection from rain as well as sheltering the house from the sun.

In many early homes, sleeping porches were constructed for relief on hot summer nights. Usually located on an upper floor, these rooms typically either had rows of casement windows or screened openings to capture as much air movement as possible. As the name implies, rows of cots were set out to provide easier sleeping conditions during hot nights.

These are only a few of the methods typically utilized in older homes that are still effective today. We have become so reliant on air conditioning and heating that we sometimes forget to take advantage of the inherent good design found in our historic homes. As the weather gets more pleasant, consider taking a few steps to operate your historic house more energy efficiently, and save some money in the process. The following are some ideas to consider:

1. Unstick any windows that are painted shut. It is almost a universal trait of old homes to have at least one window that won't budge, but when more than half aren't functioning, it's time to take action. A web search for "windows painted shut" brings up countless websites with step-by-step instructions for loosening stuck windows, including HGTV and This Old House (they offer a video). Releasing a stuck window is not rocket science, but it generally requires some muscle and patience. Professional help can be called in, particularly if you need to reattach the counter weights; just beware of anyone telling you to replace your wood windows. There are good contractors that can repair your windows, preserving the character and integrity of your home as well as keeping dollars in your pocket.
2. Install wood framed screens on windows if they are missing. You are more likely to open those unstuck windows if you aren't worried about welts from mosquitoes. As a bonus, wood window screens add historic character and an additional accent color to the building exterior.
3. Install wood screen doors on all exterior doors. Wood screen doors should be heavy duty since they open and close as often as the primary door; if the model you see is made with thin, finger-jointed wood or comes with a diagonal wire support, don't expect it to function properly for more than a season or two. Choose self closing spring hinges rather than ugly vacuum bars for a more authentic design for your historic home.
4. Install ceiling fans and use in conjunction with open windows and doors.
5. Install awnings, operable shutters or blinds over openings on south and west elevations. When appropriate for your house style, they provide a nice architectural accent in addition to functioning as a shading device. Close shutters and blinds during the hottest parts of the day.
6. Install a solar powered ventilation fan in the attic to help remove excess heat. Turned on by a temperature sensor, this relatively inexpensive project will help reduce your cooling load next summer.
7. Caulk or foam-seal penetrations into your house (where the cable enters, water lines penetrate, etc.) and install weather-stripping around windows and doors. Air infiltration is good when you can control it by opening windows and doors, but bad when the air you paid to heat or cool escapes.
8. Insulate your attic space; most heat loss and gain comes through your roof. If you expose exterior wall framing during remodeling, install insulation as part of the project. Don't remove plaster walls just to insulate though; plaster is a surprisingly good insulator and reduces noise transmission from room to room.
9. Plant some shade trees on the south and west sides of the house. Trees are a long term investment in the environment, providing cleaner air, habitat for wildlife, reducing soil erosion and sheltering from the sun. Your historic house has shown that it appeals to multiple generations already, so even though the trees you plant today may not have much effect on energy bills for a while, the next owners will thank you.
10. Sit on your front porch rather than watch TV in the early evening a few nights a week. We tend to decorate our porches with inviting rocking chairs and beautiful potted flowers, but rarely take advantage of the peaceful atmosphere they provide. In addition to the pleasure of a cool, relaxing evening, you might find one of the other benefits of living in a historic home: friendly conversation with your neighbors.

Improving the Energy Efficiency of Historic Homes

Ms. Peck is a Historic Preservation Consultant with over 12 years experience working with historic Florida homes. She is President of Preservation Resource, Inc., which has recently introduced a specialized product line for historic homes at http://www.HistoricShed.com

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