Early morning start - so finally got a bit of time out of a hectic work/life schedule to add a new post!!
Several of my work colleagues are big fans of Twitter and to be honest I could not tell the difference between a cheep and a Tweet, so on a trawl to find an idiot’s guide to Twitter I came across this excellent guide to getting started on Guy Kawasaki’s blog. He opens the post with a nice story about going on an overnight trip and forgetting the charger for his Macbook and a Twitter user came to his rescue.
The article provides you with top 10 tips for getting started, including a break down of various tools available to get the best out of Twitter.
Nice link to a free O’Reilly webcast Twitter for Business
Just been watching the PDC 2008 keynote on-line. Microsoft has at last clarified it’s Cloud computing and software as a services strategy with the announcement of the Azure services platform. This allows you you to develop and deploy applications within the cloud and/or enhance existing applications with cloud based technology (Software plus services).
You want SQL Server in the cloud - you got it, you want a cloud based operating system (Windows Azure) you got it, you get the jist!!
A nice diagram of all the components of this technology can be found here
I thought I would attempt to be the first person within our technical team to download the community technical preview but alas on going to the Azure website, the sign up form does not yet seem to be enabled. I will keep checking the site and will post some more info when I get some.
Why the red shoes remark? Well Amitabh Srivastava gave a great overview of Azure during the keynote presentation, wearing a nice pair of brightly coloured red shoes. It was exiting to learn that Dave Cutler was also involved in the project as he was the father of Windows NT and has been heavily involved with Windows Live.
Looks like a very exciting development!!
Some great content being posted on the web and via Twitter by Windows IT Pro magazines Paul Thurrott on his blog
Great 15 minute on-demand webinar from Nuance about proactively contacting your customers using Outbound IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Technology:
http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=123189&s=1&k=1B8965333867C15B49E369AE22E8ED2A
In this lean times, companies are looking at innvoative technology to help maintain resource levels whilst reducing costs. Outbound IVR fits the bill, my employer provides Outbound IVR technology, for more information on what we do and live demos, check out www.qire.co.uk
Received my latest Technet subscription update. Some interesting information on Windows 7.
Whilst I’m at it also go this invitation to a technical session on Microsoft Vitalisation - Vitalisation Unplugged. Have signed up for the session in Reading on 27th November. Looks to be a good full days hands on session (well demonstrated on some big screens at least). Have been to some sessions presented by James O’Neill before and they are well worth attending.
I have been in the IVR game in it’s various guises from designing and implementing push button menus on propetary IVR systems such as Nortel’s Merdian Mail and CCR to open platforms which are based on Voice XML and Call Control XML for some time. So I thought it about time that I started sharing some top tips for creating inbound and outbound IVR applications:
- Know you end user - Ensure that you design the system with the end user in mind. Don’t create an IVR system just for the sake of it. When designing your IVR system make sure that you are clear that it is the most efficient way for a user to achieve the activities that they are looking to complete
- Create the correct system persona - IVR systems should have personalities just like people. When defining a system persona, bear in mind the type and tone of voice you use as well as the ’sex’ of the system. You should not make the system too ‘human’ to avoid confusing the end user. They must be clear that they are dealing with a system and not a human
- Fall back to DTMF - Speech recognition has come a long way. However even the most advanced speech recognisers can get their interpretations wrong. Always add a dtmf (push button) failback option, so the end user can interact with the system when recognition fails. This avoids user frustration whilst still allowing them to achieve their desired goal
- Test, Test and Test again - Just because a system technically works, does not mean that your end users will be able to successfully use it. I recommend designing a script on paper first and walking as many people through the script as possible to see how they interact and where you can improve the script. A formal method for doing this, is known as Wizard of Oz. In addition before you release your application, test with live callers to see if you can improve the script further
- Live interaction - Always allow the caller to speak to a live agent if required. You can create universal commands within your application, such as ‘Help’ which allow a user to speak to an agent if they utter the command. It is also potentially worth setting a maximum number of re-prompts within a script which fail over to an agent on the final attempt
I’ve recently been rolling out Zendesk as our organisations help desk solution. I have found a great plugin for Salesforce from Zendesk ‘Zendesk Ticket View for Salesforce’. Zendesk Ticket View for Salesforce is a plugin for Salesforce which allows you to view Zendesk Tickets from within Salesforce Account or Contact pages and is a must for people who use both systems. The plugin was really easy to setup, it took 10 minutes from end to end. The main steps involved were:
1. Install application from the Appexchange
2. Setup a Salesforce dedicated end user within Zendesk
3. Configure the connection details within the s-control with the url and user details of the dedicated Salesforce login to Zendesk
4. Add a new section called Zendesk to the Contact and Account page layouts, add the appropriate s-controls to these sections
Further information can be found here
Installation instructions can be found here
Once I have permission to post, I will upload a comparison I did between Zendesk and Salesforce service and support.
Writing this post using the WordPress for iPhone application. Download and configuration takes no longer than five minutes. Tip: Remember to enable XML-RPC under - Settings>Writing>Remote Publishing.
Some thought provoking presentations in the top three winning slots from this years contest. Check them out.
1st prize
2nd prize
3rd prize
