Survey Highlights Opportunities for Service Organizations to Better Engage Employees

NICE Systems announced that a benchmark study on trends and best practices in frontline performance management indicates that a majority of companies do not use collaboration and gamification to improve employee engagement. Only 12 percent of companies actively solicit ideas from frontline employees, and less than one third set daily or weekly performance goals.

 

Organizations that use gamification from the initial, onboarding stage drive better business outcomes such as performance, engagement, and retention, according to the Aberdeen Group. While technologies such as gamification can be applied to focus the frontline every day, the NICE survey found that companies continue to motivate performance through traditional contests, and two in three companies run those contests less than once per month.

 

According to the NICE study:

 

-- Eighty-eight percent of companies run contests and competitions to motivate employees

 

-- Contest kick-offs and results are most frequently communicated through email (86 percent) and verbally (49 percent)

 

-- The most common rewards used in contests and competitions are trophies (78 percent) and financial incentives (57 percent)

 

-- Gaming mechanics are used infrequently, with only 31 percent of companies exploring some form of digital rewards.

 

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More Than One-Third of CIOs Plan to Hire New IT Graduates; Lack of Interpersonal Skills Greatest Obstacle to Success

School may be out, but IT hiring is in session for more than one in three firms. Thirty-five percent of chief information officers (CIOs) interviewed said they plan to hire new IT graduates in 2013, according to a recent poll by Robert Half Technology. 

But not all CIOs polled give new graduates high marks when it comes to being ready for their first job. More than one in four respondents (26 percent) said entry-level professionals aren't prepared to contribute right away. Among these executives, more than half (55 percent) said the reason is a lack of skills in areas such as communication and leadership.    

The national survey was developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis, and conducted by an independent research firm. The survey is based on more than 2,300 telephone interviews with CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies in 23 major metro areas with 100 or more employees.

CIOs were asked, "Does your organization plan to hire any new IT graduates this year?" Their responses:

Yes.....................................................................         35%

No.......................................................................         63%

Don't know..........................................................         2%

CIOs also were asked, "In general, how prepared do you think new IT graduates are to start contributing as soon as they start a new job?" Their responses:

Prepared.........................................................  69%

Unprepared..................................................     26%

Don't know.....................................................  5%

CIOs who didn't think IT graduates were prepared to contribute right away were asked, "Which single skill or attribute do you feel new graduates most lack?" Their responses:

Personal skills (i.e., communication, leadership skills)..... 55%

Technical skills.....................................................................29%

Business skills (i.e., job-related experience, teamwork).......17%

Other.........................................................................................1%

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Survey Highlights the Growth of Web Self-Service

While phone-based interactive voice response (IVR) systems are still the largest channel for customer interactions, self-service via the Web and mobile channels are quickly gaining ground, according to the findings of a new survey conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, the parent company of CRM magazine, in partnership with IntelliResponse.

In fact, 31 percent of all customer interactions today are conducted via the Web, and an additional 9 percent are conducted via the mobile Web or mobile applications. Only 46 percent of all interactions are conducted via IVRs.

Close to half (48 percent) of the 520 CRM managers and professionals who responded to the survey said they have Web or mobile-based self-service capabilities. Seventy-nine percent claim to have had Web self-service capabilities for a number of years now, and six out of 10 are also moving into mobile.

The highest concentration of Web self-service capabilities right now is in the finance/insurance (52 percent) and government/education/nonprofit (50 percent) sectors. Customers are largely using these channels to research products and services or for routine inquiries, including order status and account balances.

While interest in Web and mobile is running high, most of these capabilities are limited to customer portals with FAQs, contact information, or the use of site search or a knowledgebase in a customer service environment.

The benefits of self-service are tangible. About half (45 percent) of executives with Web or mobile self-service capabilities report measurable reductions in phone inquiries and 39 percent report less email traffic. 47 percent have also seen increased sales through their customer self-service channels, and 54 percent also report increased Web traffic since launching online self-service on the Web or mobile.

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Worldwide IT Spending on Pace to Reach $3.7 Trillion in 2013

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.7 trillion in 2013, a 2 percent increase from 2012 spending of $3.6 trillion, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. Last quarter, Gartner's forecast for 2013 IT spending growth in U.S. dollars was 4.1 percent. The 2.1 percentage point reduction mainly reflects the impact of recent fluctuations in U.S. dollar exchange rates; growth in constant currency is forecast at 3.5 percent for 2013, down only slightly from last quarter. 

The forecast for spending on devices in 2013 has been revised down from 7.9 percent growth in Gartner's previous forecast to 2.8 percent. The decline in PC sales, recorded in the first quarter of 2013, continued into the second quarter with little recovery expected during the second half of 2013. While new devices are set to hit the market in the second half of 2013, they will fail to compensate for the underlying weakness of the traditional PC market. The outlook for tablet revenue for 2013 is for growth of 38.9 percent, while mobile phone revenue is projected to increase 9.3 percent this year. 

Enterprise software spending is on pace to grow 6.4 percent in 2013. Growth expectations for customer relationship management (CRM) have been raised to reflect expanded coverage into e-commerce, social and mobile. Expectations for digital content creation and operating systems have been reduced as software as a service (SaaS) and changing device demands impact traditional models and markets. 

Telecom services spending is forecast to grow 0.9 percent in 2013. Fixed broadband is showing slightly higher than anticipated growth. The impact of voice substitution is mixed as it is moving faster in the consumer sector, but slightly slower in the enterprise market. 

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IT Capital Budgets Jump, IT Hiring Lags

IT capital budgets are rising 4% at the median this year, providing a strong indication that large enterprises are beginning to invest in upgrades to systems and infrastructure, the annual Computer Economics IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks study finds.

But the newly released study by the Irvine, Calif.-based IT research firm also cautions that IT job growth remains soft and IT operational spending growth is lackluster across all organizations. “Until we see more strength among smaller companies, we have to conclude that this year will look much like the last two years: there will be a slow improvement coupled with a lack of sustained hiring,” said Frank Scavo, president of Computer Economics. “We are in the midst of an IT spending recovery, but it will need to become broader and deeper before we see any acceleration.”

On the positive side, the study provides evidence that IT organizations are stepping up investments in capital projects. IT organizations cited upgrading existing systems, becoming more cost-efficient, and developing new systems as their top three priorities. IT executives are also more confident that they will get to spend all of the money in their budgets this year. Only 20% were anticipating not being able spend all of the money in their plans this year, which is down from 31% last year, when the fiscal cliff and sovereign debt crisis prompted a more dour outlook.

Another positive sign is that large organizations are showing relatively strong improvement in IT operational spending. IT operational budgets are up 4.0% at the median for organizations that have IT operating budgets in excess of $20 million. Large organizations are starting hire IT workers in addition to making capital investments. In contrast, organizations with IT operational budgets of less than $5 million plan to boost IT operational spending by only 1.1% and are showing no growth in headcount.

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Research finds a simple smile could be the key to business success

A simple smile and a friendly greeting can make customers feel much more loyal towards small independent companies, according to new KingstonBusiness School research.

The study, which examined the retail behavior of 2,006 consumers and the business practices of 1,216 decision makers in small and medium-sized enterprises, revealed that a smile and a friendly hello was the most common reason why consumers felt loyal towards independent retailers. However, only just over half those sampled stated their small business employed this practice.

Three in five consumers were also willing to pay more for a product from a small independent shop rather than deal with a large corporate retailer, the study funded by Barclays Business Banking and carried out by Kingston's Small Business Research Centre suggested.

More than a third of loyal consumers said they were repeat customers because of excellent service and one in five said they valued businesses remembering their usual order. However, only around half of businesses involved in the study kept a record of customers' previous orders.

The research also discovered that less than a third of business respondents considered retaining or growing their current customer base to be their main priority to achieve growth during the next year. Only 50 per cent would encourage word of mouth recommendations by regular customers to grow or survive.

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Companies are Unprepared to Defend Against Cyber Threats

Despite broad recognition that cyber threats are more prevalent than ever before, a large number of companies are not adequately prepared to respond to a data breach or IT security crisis, according to findings from the 2013 IT Security and Privacy Survey by global consulting firm Protiviti.

More than two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents in Protiviti’s survey said they have elevated their focus on information security in response to recent press coverage of so-called “cyber warfare.” However, the number of companies that appear inadequately prepared for a crisis is surprisingly high. When asked if their organizations have a formal and documented crisis response plan for use following a data breach or hacking incident, more than one-third reported that either their organizations did not (21 percent) or they did not know (13 percent).

Data Policy and Retention/Storage Issues

According to the survey results, many companies lack key data policies and are ineffective at managing data through proper retention and storage practices, including the classification of sensitive data.  Approximately 22 percent of companies do not have a written information security policy (WISP) and 32 percent lack a data encryption policy. Not having these policies in place is an important consideration when a breach involves information covered by data privacy laws and can expose an organization to significant legal liability. 

CIOs Take a More Strategic Role

As data security continues to play a larger role in business operations and the use of so-called big data becomes more integrated with strategic business objectives, CIOs are seeing their responsibilities increase. The survey showed that more CIOs are taking responsibility for data governance strategy, oversight and execution within their organizations. Additionally, companies with documented crisis plans enacted in response to a data breach or hacking incident have now begun to involve their CIOs far more than ever before.  In 2012, only 58 percent reported that their CIO was involved in addressing such an incident compared to 72 percent in 2013 (up 14 percent).

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