A Blended Workforce for Customer Service
08/05/2020Working Solutions chief executive Kim Houlne addresses the value of a blended workforce of in-office…
Keeping Online Education Exciting
08/04/2020Kahoot! A game-based, e-learning platform used to host live games and presentations or assign self-paced…
Student Engagement Platform
07/20/2020Tamara explores a tool for engagement called Nearpod at nearpod.com Are you an educator seeking…
Pandemic Compounds 2020 Hurricane Season
07/14/2020April Wiita poses a probing point in a new Contact Center World piece: As the…
Plan Well to Survive Hurricanes and COVID-19
06/25/2020“Prepare, prepare, prepare.” That’s the battle cry for businesses trying to weather the dual threats…
Virtual Education – Wheel of Names
06/19/2020In today’s episode, Tamara talks to Jennifer about Wheel of Names at wheelofnames.com.
A Free Virtual Education Tool
06/19/2020In today’s episode Tamara talks to Stacy and they provide a free tool Stacy called…
Virtual Classroom Expert Offers Remote Workforce Tips
06/17/2020In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are requiring their employees to work…
Working Solutions Insight Featured on CEO Spotlight
06/09/2020Talking with KRLD business analyst David Johnson, Working Solutions chief executive Kim Houlne discusses how…
Workforce Training Webinar: How to Ensure Successful Virtual Education
05/04/2020The new social guidelines imposed by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic have led to a sharp…
Why Personalized Customer Care Is Essential in the COVID-19 Era
04/27/2020The COVID-19 coronavirus is being described as a defining moment for the world, and probably…
Customer Service During Lockdown: Is Your Call Center Prepared?
04/15/2020We’re just months into a new decade, and already, everything has changed. The world is…
Using a Remote Hiring Process to Bring in Top Talent
04/13/2020Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, some companies are still hiring, and they are doing so online.…
From Hurricane Planning to Pandemic Disaster Recovery: Tips for Tackling COVID-19
04/07/2020The COVID-19 pandemic is a once in-a-century phenomenon, comparable to nothing else we’ve faced in…
You have 24 hours to move your training online… Now what?
03/26/2020It is hard to fathom anything altering life so abruptly as the pandemic of the…
Ensuring Continuity in Times of Crisis: What to Do about COVID-19
03/23/2020In just a few months, the emergence of the new COVID-19 coronavirus has changed the…
Review: Most Read BPO Blogs
02/20/2020Welcome to Working Solutions Monthly News Update Today’s savvy consumers demand great customer experiences so…
Why Understanding Last Year’s Holiday Shopping Season Is Essential for the Year Ahead
02/18/2020Last year’s holiday shopping season is officially over and in the books. Like most retailers,…
Is Your Travel Business Prepared for Global Climate Disruption?
01/31/2020January 26 is Australia Day, the country’s biggest summer holiday and the centerpiece of such…
What Every Executive Should Know about Customer Service Outsourcing
01/23/2020In an era of instant communications that span a dizzying variety of consumer technologies—from Instagram…
How to Choose the Right U.S.-based Call Center Company
01/21/2020The age of offshoring is over: Today, delivering a premium experience for your customers in…
Why Your Customer Service Reputation Is Important — and How to Protect It
01/16/2020No matter what industry or demographic you serve, if you’re managing a company of any…
Working Solutions Ranked #5 on FlexJobs Top Companies with Remote Jobs for 2020
01/14/2020For the sixth consecutive year, Working Solutions is proud to be among FlexJobs’ 100 Top…
5 Essential Customer Data-protection Tips for Your Business
01/09/2020In a story that made international headlines in 2018, British Airways was targeted by hackers…
How to Improve Patient Experience with Healthcare Customer Service Outsourcing
01/03/2020The push toward value-based care. A constantly changing insurance marketplace. Intensifying competition from retail walk-in…
Why Every Business Needs to Build Customer Trust — and How to Do It
12/31/2019With more companies competing for their hard-earned dollars than ever before — and with the…
How Outsourced Customer Care Can Help You Focus on Your Brand Purpose
12/26/2019Does your business have an authentic, clearly defined brand purpose? If not, you could be…
Why Is Customer Experience Important for Your Business?
12/24/2019You may have heard it said that customer experience (CX) is of the utmost importance…
12 Holiday Traditions Around the World (video) and 5 Unique Workplace Holiday Traditions (blog)
12/16/2019Before we get into the 5 unique workplace traditions, let’s check out some other unique…
4 Reasons to Consider Technology BPO Outsourcing
12/10/2019As the logistics of running a successful company in today’s hyper-competitive global marketplace have become…
7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Multi-channel Customer Service Strategy
12/10/2019Are you reading this article on a desktop computer? Or maybe your phone, a laptop,…
How to Use Contact Center Data Analytics to Improve Your Customer Experience
12/05/2019Is your business offering the best customer experience (CX) it possibly can? And if it…
Does Your Business Have the Cross-selling and Upselling Strategies You Need to Succeed?
12/02/2019We live in a time of unprecedented opportunity when it comes to creating and executing…
Take a Lesson from Lincoln: Be Happy—and Grateful.
11/26/2019These days, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by “bad news on the doorstep.” Trade wars.…
Cyber Monday/Black Friday Checklist for Retailers
11/20/2019The post-Thanksgiving shopping season is almost here again, a time when most retailers focus on…
13 Tips for Getting the Most from the Holiday eCommerce Sale Season
11/19/2019The holiday season is almost upon us, a time when most online businesses launch promotions…
Prepare for Retail Selling Season with On-demand Contact Center Services
11/14/2019Whether your business is focused on online or brick-and-mortar sales, preparing for the year’s various…
5 Reasons Why Travel Companies Are Outsourcing Customer Care
11/12/2019In the era of Airbnb and Arrivedo, travelers are savvier than ever. They know how…
Perfecting Customer Care with Actionable Call Center Data
11/07/2019A big part of customer service success in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing market landscape is the…
Why Your Business Needs an Omnichannel, Customer-service Strategy
11/05/2019In today’s tech-focused world, great customer care requires interacting with people on a wide variety…
6 Essential Contact Center Requirements
10/29/2019Is your business delivering high-quality customer care with modern contact center sales and service? If…
Happy Employees: It’s All in the Math
10/28/2019Working Solutions was named among the Best Places to Work in North Texas by the…
Is Your Business Measuring the Right Customer Satisfaction Metrics? 5 Ways to Do It.
10/24/2019Today, more than ever, customer satisfaction is essential to your success. After all, a happy…
Why Work-from-home Contact Center Agents Are Better for Your Business
10/22/2019It’s been said many times before, but it bears repeating: Your customer service is only…
Here Comes the High Season: Travel Industry Customer Service Tips for 2019
10/15/2019If you work in travel and hospitality, the time you have to prepare for the…
Speed Matters: Why Fast Customer Service Is Essential to the Success of Your Business
10/10/2019Is the customer service you offer fast and efficient? Do you make it a point…
How to Improve Customer Care: 10 More Tips from Our Experts
10/08/2019The evidence is undeniable: The service that a business offers its customers has a direct…
6 Key Benefits of Retail Contact Center Outsourcing
10/03/2019Are you losing customers because of subpar service? If you’re not working to offer the…
Fire Season Is Here: Is Your Disaster Recovery Plan Ready?
10/01/2019Whether it’s wildfires in the West, hurricanes in the South, flooding in the Southeast or…
How to Choose the Right Cloud-based Backup Service
09/26/2019No matter your size or your industry, doing business today means dealing with data. From…
Contact Center Return on Investment: How to Measure the ”Soft ROI”
09/24/2019In a tech-savvy marketplace where customers are more demanding than ever before, a sophisticated, high-functioning…
Is Your Business Ready for Small Business Saturday?
09/20/2019Is your business ready for Small Business Saturday? Or, perhaps more to the point, is…
4 Reasons Why You Should Never Underestimate the Importance of Customer Loyalty
09/13/2019Today’s consumer marketplace is more competitive than ever before, with upstart companies springing up each…
8 Ways Back-office Outsourcing Can Benefit Your Business
09/10/2019You’ve worked hard to put in place a great customer service strategy. If you’re lucky—and…
5 Essential Contact Center Components
08/29/2019As experts in the delivery of on-demand contact center services, we never tire of explaining…
11 Benefits of On-demand, Virtual Customer Service
08/27/2019As more and more data supports the fact that a great customer experience (CX) is…
Why Contact Center Education Is Essential for Great Customer Service
08/21/2019It may seem obvious, but it still bears repeating: Your customer care is only as…
4 Customer-focused Contact Center Metrics You Should Be Tracking
08/20/2019For most businesses, contact center metrics are an integral part of a customer service strategy.…
Making Virtual Viable with the Right Agent Education
08/15/2019With decades of experience, Tamara Schroer, vice president of Education and Development at Working Solutions,…
Preparing for Hurricane Season:
08/13/2019
3 Important Customer Service ConsiderationsHurricane season 2019 is at its mid-point, with several months still left to go. And,…
Does Your Business Need a Modern Contact Center? Here’s How to Find Out
08/08/2019For the vast majority of companies, of all sizes and across many industries, call centers…
Got an IT Disaster Recovery Plan? Here’s Why You Need One
08/06/2019Does your business have an IT disaster recovery plan? If not, you’re leaving a crucial…
The Different Types of Call Centers: Which One Is Right for Your Business?
07/30/2019From inbound phone calls to web-based chatting, from email marketing to social media interaction, and…
Call Center Predictive Planning: A Must for 2019 Hurricanes
07/29/2019Ensuring Nonstop Customer Service this Season Predictions for the 2019 hurricane season forecast more…
Is Your Travel Call Center Ready for the High Season? Here’s How Contact Center Outsourcing Can Help.
07/24/2019More than most industries, businesses operating in travel and tourism experience fluctuations in customer demand…
Why It’s Important to Offer Personalized Customer Service — and How to Do It
07/18/2019The relationship between customers and the businesses they interact with is constantly evolving. And in…
2019 Hurricane Season Is Underway: Best Prepare.
07/16/2019In an article posted on Contact Center World, April Wiita, vice president of Program Success…
Chief Executive Kim Houlne Advocates On-demand Workers in Contact Center Pipeline Feature Story
07/11/2019For me, the headline sums it up: “On-demand Is In Demand.” The July cover story…
9 Ways Businesses Can Prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
07/09/2019The holiday shopping season may still be a few months away, but the time to…
How to Balance In-house Call Centers with Outsourced Contact Center Solutions
07/02/2019There are many good reasons why outsourced contact center solutions have become such an integral…
How Improving Customer Service in Finance Can Benefit Your Business
06/25/2019Businesses today are focusing more on offering a great customer experience (CX) than ever before.…
Never Underestimate the Importance of Friendly Customer Service
06/20/2019There are many factors that go into delivering a great customer experience (CX), a goal…
How to Make Sure Your Online Business Benefits from Amazon Prime Day 2019
06/18/2019Amazon Prime Day 2019 is almost here. Is your business ready? If you’re in retail,…
4 Tips to Improve Customer Service in Travel and Tourism
06/14/2019The quality of customer care is important for any company—and not just for its reputation,…
What’s Your Net Promoter Score Value? And Why Should You Care?
06/11/2019Achieving customer satisfaction is critical for any company that aspires to long-term success. Satisfied customers…
SmartBrief Article: Managing the Virtual Workforce
06/06/2019After 23 year in contact center outsourcing, Kim Houlne, founder and chief executive of Working…
Virtual Contact Center Pros and Cons
06/04/2019The shift to digital communications over the past few decades has changed the way businesses…
How to Reduce Your Customer Churn Rate in 4 Steps
05/30/2019You can call it churn, the rate at which old customers leave and new ones…
4 Customer Service Innovations to Improve Your Company’s CX
05/28/2019Negative customer care experiences come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Whether it’s…
Finance BPO: Why Outsourced Customer Care Is a Key Part of Cloud Financial Services
05/23/2019Thanks to accelerating industry competition, higher expectations from stakeholders, and a growing demand from customers…
How to Implement a Customer Complaint Resolution Process that Actually Works
05/21/2019Once just an afterthought for many businesses, delivering a great customer experience (CX) has become…
CX Metrics that Matter: Choosing the Right On-demand Customer Care Provider
05/16/2019From building customer loyalty to ensuring continued growth in a hyper-competitive marketplace, offering the best…
6 Reasons Why Retailers Should Embrace Contact Center Outsourcing
05/14/2019Every year, a larger percentage of retail business is conducted via the online marketplace. Well…
Ensuring Healthcare Data Security with Business Process Outsourcing
05/09/2019In an era of widespread data breaches, it’s never been more essential to keep the…
What are the Consequences of Offering a Bad Customer Service Experience?
05/07/2019Few companies set out to deliberately offer a bad customer service experience. At the same…
How to Increase Brand Loyalty by Offering a Great Customer Experience
05/02/2019Fueled by ever-evolving technologies, and fraught with the potential to be undercut or bypassed by…
On-demand Agents Help Handle Customer Demand During “Most Complicated Tax Season Ever”
04/30/2019The April 15 tax-return deadline has come and gone—at least for more than 100 million…
How to Improve Customer Experience (CX): 10 Tips from Our Experts
04/25/2019Think that the customer experience (CX) offered by your business doesn’t matter? Think again: “Seven…
Working Solutions Survey Shows: Savvy Service Experts Know What Sophisticated Travelers Expect
04/23/2019Automated self-service travel reservations have upped the ante for customer expectations when they turn…
[INFOGRAPHIC] The Modern-day Travel Agent
04/23/2019Is your first thought that travel agents are outdated–and anything but modern? In fact, the…
Six Essential Types of Contact Center Data
04/17/2019The acceleration of technology in recent years has led to equally rapid shifts in consumer…
Travel Weekly features Working Solutions Survey
04/10/2019The customer-service demands of the global travel industry require contact center agents to be well-versed…
How to Improve Call Center Security with Virtual, On-demand Customer Care
04/09/2019Call center security is an operational necessity for today’s businesses, and not something to be…
How Data-driven Contact Center Analytics Can Drive Growth and Save You Money
04/02/2019The term contact center analytics gets thrown around quite a bit these days. But make…
What Makes a Successful On-demand Business Model for Customer Care?
03/28/2019In any industry, running a successful business has become a fragmented, complex undertaking. Not only…
7 Customer Service Tips to Refresh Your Customer Experience for Spring
03/21/2019Spring is here again, and with it comes the promise of warmer weather, fresh breezes,…
Spring Clean Your Business. Prepare for the Busy Season with this Contact Center Audit Checklist.
03/19/2019Spring cleaning isn’t just for the home, or for your desktop and shared office spaces…
Recognized by FlexJobs as a Woman-owned, Remote-workforce Company
03/13/2019Don’t you just love the follow-on stories born from headline-making news. Such is the case…
Ready for Spring? Get Prepared with Our Quick Contact Center Assessment
03/12/2019Spring is almost here, and summer’s following fast on its heels. For some businesses, that…
The Importance of Consistency in Customer Service (and How to Achieve It)
03/06/2019In today’s fast-paced, multichannel marketplace, there’s no longer any doubt that businesses of all shapes…
Chief Executive Kim Houlne Talks about Customer Service
02/28/2019After leading Working Solutions for 23 years, founder and chief executive Kim Houlne has definite…
6 Ways to Improve Company Culture with On-demand Customer Care
02/26/2019In an era when competition for talented workers is high and a brand’s reputation is…
Why Customer Self-service Is Essential to a Successful CX Strategy
02/19/2019Delivering a superior customer experience (CX) in an era when customers are savvier than ever,…
Why Ongoing Education Is Essential for Successful On-Demand Customer Service
02/12/2019The secret is out: As the demands of offering a superior customer experience become more…
What’s the Difference between Omnichannel and Multichannel Customer Care, and Why Does It Matter?
02/07/2019Creating a superior customer experience in 2019 is no small challenge. With the rapid proliferation…
Company’s New Volunteer Program Could Provide 3,000+ Hours of Service
01/31/2019As a caring culture, Working Solutions empathizes with our clients and their customers, going above…
Recession coming? Prepare with an on-demand workforce.
01/29/2019Based on recent news, the New Year—and the predicted economic slowdown—could be a wild card…
How to Create a Business Continuity Plan that Works:
01/23/2019
6 Tips to Ensuring SuccessA business continuity plan is an essential part of any company’s strategy. And while most…
2019 Customer Service Trends: What to Expect in the Year Ahead
01/22/2019Each year, achieving superior customer care becomes a bit more challenging for businesses. Here’s a…
6 Call Center Strategies for Engaging Mobile Customers
01/18/2019For businesses of all types, most customer interactions come via mobile devices. Here are 6…
Working Solutions Ranked #5 on FlexJobs 2019 List of Top Companies with Remote Jobs
01/16/2019For the fifth consecutive year, Working Solutions has landed near the very top of the…
5 Essential Call Center Tips for 2019
01/10/2019Is your customer care team ready for the year ahead? From expanding your tech footprint…
Year in Review: Our Top Customer Service Blog Posts of 2018
01/03/2019From new insights into the benefits of outsourced customer care to news about what’s going…
Elevating Customer Service and Sales in the New Year
12/27/2018In 2019, Working Solutions begins its 23rd year serving clients and their customers across many…
5 Ways Onshore Contact Center Outsourcing Gives Businesses More Bang for Their Buck
12/20/2018There are more than a few good reasons why so many businesses today are choosing…
(VIDEO) Happy Holidays! A Christmas Carol from Working Solutions.
12/18/2018Happy holidays from Working Solutions. During this season and all year ‘round, we appreciate that…
Contact Center Pipeline: April Wiita Shares Her Industry Expertise
12/14/2018April Wiita, vice president of Program Success at Working Solutions, knows the ins and outs…
Under-the-hood Tech Insight Enables Client Business Solutions
12/11/2018As a technologist, I tell clients you need to understand the “gutworks” of a system…
7 Steps for Applying Transformational Leadership to the Virtual Workplace
12/06/2018Just as expanding technology has changed the basic nature of American commerce in recent decades,…
Podcast: Whether Wildfires or Hurricanes, Businesses Should Always be Ready
12/04/2018Drawing from 20+ years of experience in call center outsourcing, April Wiita, Working Solutions vice…
Holiday Sales Are Up. Is Your Service? What About Next Year?
11/29/2018Retailers, how well did you get your arms around this number? About 164 million consumers—about…
How to Build Customer Loyalty with On-demand Contact Center Solutions
11/27/2018“One of the most important measurements used to quantify call center performance is customer satisfaction,”…
Giving Thanks for Our Clients and Colleagues
11/20/2018At this time of the year, I hold dear the people and things for which…
Virtual Education Expert Tamara Schroer Shares her Insight
11/16/2018Tamara Schroer, an expert in the virtual classroom, offers a few ideas to engage remote…
Call Center Automation Adaptation: Balancing Technology with Live Agents
11/14/2018With technology’s role in customer service growing, call center automation adaptation is essential. What’s the…
How to Reduce Call Center Overhead Costs with On-Demand Customer Care
11/07/2018For most businesses, maintaining a call center is no easy task. With the explosive growth…
Want to improve business performance? Be Empathetic and Prosper.
10/31/2018Which would you rather do business with or work for? A compassionate company that understands…
Reliability and Resilience: The Most Essential Benefits of Call Center Outsourcing
10/25/2018Maintaining reliability and resilience during planned fluctuations and unplanned setbacks are among the most important…
‘Tis the Season Year-round for On-demand Contact Center Agents
10/23/2018The marketplace is awash with stories about businesses needing holiday help. Hundreds of thousands of…
A Brief History of the On-Demand Economy (and What It Means for the Future of Customer Care)
10/16/2018The on-demand economy enables businesses to enjoy premium outsourced services at truly economical prices—a key…
How to Improve Customer Experience with On-Demand Contact Center Services
10/11/2018How to improve customer experience in an era of rapidly evolving tech and instant gratification?…
7 Tips for Adapting Your Management Team to a Virtual Workforce
10/04/2018Especially when it comes to call centers, virtual workforce management is a must in today’s…
For Retailers: Will the Holidays be Happy or Hellish? All Depends…
10/02/2018Given the good economy, consumers should be buying plenty this holiday season. Question is: Can…
Cross-industry Innovation Produces Blended Business Results
09/27/2018In any industry, the same old begets the same old. Staid can end up stale.…
Empathy in the Workplace and Marketplace Pays Off for Businesses
09/25/2018Ever think about the economics of empathy? Said another way, empanomics—the dollars and sense behind…
Where Business Continuity Meets Disaster Recovery: Planning for Hurricane Season and Beyond
09/20/2018As another hurricane season ramps up, here’s a rundown of what businesses should know about…
5 Customer Experience Lessons from Showrooming & Reverse Showroom Marketing
09/18/2018Once considered a real threat to retailers, showrooming has become a powerful tool for driving…
Hurricane Recovery Checklist:
09/13/2018
A Step-by-Step Guide for Contact CentersCreating a workable hurricane recovery plan is essential for any business with a contact center…
Working Solutions Agents, Employees Stepped In to Help Stamp Out Cancer
09/11/2018Working Solutions contact center agents and employees to take pledges during the Stand Up To…
Are You Ready for Disruption? Preparing for the 2018 Hurricane Season
09/06/2018The 2018 hurricane season is here, and along with it, the need for advanced planning…
New Technology Strategist Dives Deep for Client Solutions
09/04/2018Ashok Narayanan, an industrial engineering leader in healthcare and travel, joins the senior management of…
Improving Your Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Score with On-Demand Customer Experience
08/28/2018How does your customer satisfaction (CSAT) score stack up against the competition? Here’s how…
Improving the Travel Customer Experience with On-Demand Call Center Solutions
08/22/2018Delivering a premium travel customer experience requires a proactive, engaging, personalized strategy. Here’s how the…
Scale up Operations 300% or More with 110,000+ On-Demand Agents
08/16/2018Every call center needs a responsive workforce. Skilled and ready, whatever the situation.…
5 Lessons Digital Retailers Can Learn from the In-Store Customer Experience
08/14/2018Far from being obsolete, the in-store customer experience has become a key part of omnichannel…
Is the Gig Economy Go-go or Oh-no? Depends on Who You Ask.
08/07/2018In recent years, the gig or sharing economy—read that on-demand workforce—has become a heady subject…
Contact Center World features Working Solutions for Storm Preparedness
08/03/2018As vice president of Program Success, April Wiita directs Working Solutions on-demand agents, ensuring nonstop…
Increase Your Company’s Close Rates by 30% and Extend Add-On Sales by 20%
08/02/2018Contact center agents need to be as sharp as the savvy consumers they…
Travel Weekly Spotlights Expertise of Working Solutions
07/31/2018The on-demand, contact center prowess of Working Solutions to overcome disruptive situations—“from bad weather…
(VIDEO) 20+ Years of Great Customer Experience
07/26/2018In 1996, visionary entrepreneur Kim Houlne perceived a need for high-quality, North America-based call center…
7 Key Reasons to Choose Onshore Call Center Outsourcing
07/25/2018Today, more businesses are choosing onshore call center outsourcing over the offshore option. Here are…
Call Center Best Practices: Got a Plan for Storm Season?
07/17/2018Is your call center ready for the next storm season? Our list of call…
Holiday Season Call Center Management Checklist
07/10/2018Are you ready for the holiday season? In most industries, that’s a loaded question,…
Gain the Homefield Advantage with Onshore Customer Service in the USA
07/03/2018American On-demand Contact Center Solutions Working Solutions began business as an American company. Today,…
Do Holiday Sales Shortchange Consumers… And Your Business?
06/26/2018Profit All Year Long with Predictive Selling Every year, a lot is written advising…
Sell More During Holiday Season with On-Demand Solutions
06/20/2018Time for a Seasonal-sales-and-service Gut Check Two words rev up retailers: Holiday sales. With…
Improve Agent Retention for Long-Term Investment
06/12/2018Do you have $6,440 to spend—and then lose—on an agent? Here’s a pricy industry…
What’s the Difference between Customer Experience and Customer Service, and Why Does It Matter?
06/08/2018If you lead a business—and especially if you lead a retail business—you very likely…
Equip Your Call Center for 2018 Hurricane Season
05/22/2018The odds aren’t looking too good for this year’s hurricane season here in the…
How Prepared Is Your Call Center for Fluctuating Volume?
05/16/2018In an evolving world of bytes and bricks, companies are recalibrating retail. They seek…
Working Solutions Showcases New Dallas Headquarters
05/03/2018Company Celebrates with Well-Attended Open House After 17 years in Plano, Texas, Working Solutions…
Championing the Work-from-Home Workforce
05/02/2018Proven Business Model Suits Today’s Gig Economy Bill Hethcock of the Dallas Business Journal…
Understanding Today’s Contact Center Technology: From ‘Disruption’ to Unprecedented Opportunity
04/25/2018Yesterday’s call center is today’s contact center — a sophisticated, adaptable, multi-channel suite of technology…
Achieving the Right Balance in Retail Customer Service
04/19/2018Blending Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Agents We live in a world where a “digital-first”…
Gavin Woody Goes the Distance — and Then Some
04/06/2018Forward-thinker and Long-distance Runner Ask Gavin Woody, former vice president of operations at A…
How Traditional Call Centers Have Evolved
03/29/2018
(and What You Should Know about Them)The Modern Contact Center: In with the New This, of course, is not exactly…
Call Center Operations Audit
03/27/2018Are You Measuring the Right Things to Perform Well? Got a good handle…
3 Call Center Metrics for Successful Operations
03/13/2018Considering Outsourcing? Review your Call Center Performance. After much thought, you’ve realized your in-house…
Working Solutions Earns REBRAND 100® Global Award
03/08/2018Refreshed Brand Reflects a Modern Call Center Outsourcer This before-and-after blog showcases the modernization…
Myths vs Facts of Call Center Outsourcing
03/06/20185 Call Center Outsourcing Myths Dispelled You’ve never outsourced your call center operations. As…
5 Tips to Make Your Call Centers More Efficient
03/05/2018You’ve probably watched a Farmers® Insurance commercial, with the familiar tagline: “We know a thing…
Remote Work Model Validated
02/27/2018FlexJobs Top 100 Work-from-Home List For businesses big and small, remote work is just…
Call Center Security Tips
02/19/2018Security Fundamentals In an information-driven era data security tops the list of importance in…
4 Key Metrics to Finding the Customer Service Sweet Spot
02/13/2018Feeling the Love Year-round with Sustained Call Center Performance For Valentine’s Day, many…
Disaster Recovery in Contact Centers
01/31/2018Business Continuity and Minimizing Impact from Disasters In the rock classic, “Call Me the…
3rd Year in a Row to Rank Top 10 in FlexJobs List
01/18/2018Named to FlexJobs Top 100 Remote Companies For the third straight year, Working Solutions…
Contact Center Customer Experience Takeaways of 2017
01/12/2018Work shifts into overdrive at year-end and the New Year. I bounce from laptop…
What disaster recovery plan do you have in place for the next storm?
01/09/2018So far, the winter of 2017-18 is so bad that news outlets are coining…
A Special Holiday and New Year Video Card
12/22/2017Sing along to our holiday contact center carol to the tune of God Rest Ye…
Doing Something Extra for Clients
12/20/2017Christmas Pickle Signifies Giving More As a kid, I traveled the world, the son…
5 Most-read Business Blogs of 2017
11/30/2017Here’s to Great Experiences in the New Year Before 2017 ends, we’d like to…
WSOL Business Highlights of 2017
11/29/2017Working, Living and Loving in 2018 Baseball great Satchel Paige often said: “Don’t look…
Customer service shouldn’t be trick or treat
10/31/2017Crypt Keeper Running Your Call Centers? Halloween is one of the scariest times of…
3 Technology Trends to Increase Customer Engagement
10/23/2017Increasing Customer Engagement Through Technology Whenever the topic of customer engagement or service comes…
3 trends Shaping Customer Service in 2018
10/11/2017Trends that get business traction Is the business year ending the way you thought…
Do offshore call center services benefit business?
09/27/2017Politics aside, the decision to use offshore vs. onshore call center services is a…
Refreshed Brand: What’s in it for me?
09/20/20173 Reasons Why It Matters To You Working Solutions, a leader in on-demand contact…
Building on 20 Years of Great Service
09/20/2017Refreshed Brand Inspired by Clients When Working Solutions began in 1996, an on-demand workforce…
Refreshed Corporate Brand
09/19/2017Refreshed Brand With more than 20 years of success, Working Solutions introduces its refreshed…
Kim Houlne Featured on KRLD’s CEO Spotlight
09/19/2017David Johnson Interviews Industry Pioneer Working Solutions chief executive Kim Houlne and her company,…
Reasons to Keep your Call Center Texan
09/14/2017Texas Call Center Solutions Maximize Business Does your company value great customer service? Then…
Ensuring Empathetic Service
09/11/2017Ensuring Empathetic Service Finding the right agents is key to building a client’s trust…
Partner with Texas-based contact center
09/06/2017Call center outsourcing model Our flexible business model honed over 20 years allows you…
Creating Great Experiences in Sales and Service
08/30/2017Ensuring Excellence in Execution Selling white-glove contact center solutions is a lot like running…
5 Steps to Proactive Customer Delight
08/28/2017Delighting your customers is a critical component that drives your brand’s success. Therefore, measuring customer…
First Contact Resolution – The Foundation of Customer Experience
08/25/2017Customer experiences are the make or break metric for contact centers. We are very aware…
Focusing on Customer Experience in Energy & Utility Industries
08/14/2017Many energy and utility companies have considered the foundational element of their customer acquisition strategy…
Hiring Contact Center Agents? Don’t Forget Multi-Lingual Markets
08/04/2017When considering trends for customer service and how to best empower agents, it is easy…
Woman-owned Business Pioneered an Industry
07/28/2017On-demand Work Benefits 10,000s of Women As it goes with some of the best…
Workplace Reviews Influence Business Success
07/26/2017Companies Should listen to, learn from workers’ comments Remote workers—employees and contractors—are expanding in…
Benefit of Using a Work-from-Home Contact Center Model
06/29/2017Managing Call Volume Fluctuations Our client, Gavin at A Place for Mom discusses the…
Working Solutions: Leader in Remote Workforces
06/27/2017Early Adopter of the “Gig Economy” Model Much is written about the “gig economy,”…
Women in Business 2017 Awards
06/22/2017Contact Center Chief Named as Influential Businesswoman Working Solutions chief executive and founder Kim…
Is Your Customer Service Kick-Ass?
06/12/2017Agents Step in Where Self-service Leaves Off Normally, I don’t associate the term “kick-ass” with…
Travel and Hospitality Call Centers Secrets to Success
06/01/2017It’s all about Recruiting, Developing and Culture Any call center manager will tell you good…
Five Trends for Travel and Hospitality in 2017
05/18/2017Consumers are Willing to Pay for Better Customer Experience For travelers, the more responsive the…
What’s Really the Best Way to Manage Retail Seasonality?
05/02/2017White Paper: What’s really the best way to manage retail seasonality? For retailers, the holiday…
Manage Retail Seasonality with a Flexible Workforce
04/20/2017Capture More Sales, Elevate Service during the Holidays with Scalable Staffing As more consumers shop…
How prepared are you for the holiday season?
04/13/2017Strategies to Capitalize on In-Store Sales While Courting More Digital Dollars The 2017 retail holiday…
How far can Self-Service go?
03/27/2017Balance between Self-Service and Customer Service Agents In the call center and contact center industry,…
Improving Private Equity ROI
03/22/2017Aggressively Improve ROI with These 5 Tips With public stock market levels hitting all-time highs,…
The 32nd Flavor: Sweet Success
02/28/2017Entrepreneurial Lessons Learned As founder and chief executive of a woman-owned company, entrepreneurs—women and men—often…
Internet of Things Refined: Internet of Trespassers
02/14/2017True Security Resides Everywhere. Since I work in IT, a colleague sent me this recent…
Forbes, CNBC & Yahoo Finance Report on WSOL
02/09/2017Ranked in the Top 10 Companies for Remote Jobs From CNBC to Forbes to Yahoo…
Named Again to FlexJobs Top 100 Companies with Remote Jobs
02/07/2017Increasing Value of Remote Workforce Good news never gets old. Especially when it occurs year…
Partnering to Find the Best Contact Center Solutions
01/24/2017Customize Solutions –From Sports Franchiser to Retailer Business partnerships specifically in call center outsourcing make…
Ensuring Continuous Business Operations
01/18/2017White Paper: Ensuring Continuous Business Operations In business, it’s best to prepare for the inevitable—which,…
Business Continuity Planning Checklist
01/13/2017In business, the inevitable always comes. Shutdowns. Breakdowns. Letdowns. Best prepare beforehand. That means having…
Steps to Ensure Business Continuity
01/03/2017Steps to Ensure Business Continuity With today’s technology, mega-storms are predictable—hurricanes or blizzards. No surprises.…
Top 5 Blogs of 2016 from Working Solutions
12/30/2016Connecting in the Workplace and Marketplace Before 2016 ends, we’d like to reprise a few…
Creating a Caring Culture with Emotional Intelligence
12/27/2016Kim Houlne is student of different psychological management styles, having experienced good and bad. As…
Happy Holidays from Working Solutions
12/23/2016Happy Holidays Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and a New Year of peace and…
Cloud Call Centers – Better for Business & Customers
11/29/2016Cloud-based call centers have a host of benefits to both the organization deploying them and…
What’s the “ketch” to business success?
11/18/2016The karma of ketchup and how it applies to business in several ways.
Improve Call Center Performance with Diversification
11/10/2016You’ve probably heard the expression: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Daughter’s Love Goes the Distance
11/08/2016Running is Stacy’s passion, something she attributes to and does on behalf of her father.
Cancer Awareness is Year-round
10/31/2016Cancer doesn’t abide by any calendar. Fighting the good fight all year.
Celebrating Entrepreneurs
10/17/2016Entrepreneurism is alive and well, Working Solutions chief Kim Houlne said after a Chase conference.
5 Ways to Foster Emotional Intelligence
10/13/2016The workplace is filled with four-letter words. “Work” itself is one. Also “hire” and “fire.”
Kim Houlne Makes Virtual Viable on KERA
10/10/2016A forerunner in remote contact center solutions, Working Solutions made virtual work viable.
20 Years of Contact Center Solutions
10/06/2016In an industry crowded with competitors today, Working Solutions continues to stand out.
Tune into KERA: Kim Houlne Interview
10/05/2016KERA’s CEO series features Working Solutions chief Kim Houlne at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7.
5 Ways to Engage Remote Agents
09/20/2016For some companies, remote workers began as retrofits of brick-and-mortar business models.
5 Ways to Find On-demand Agents
09/13/2016Apply a little search engine optimization (SEO) thinking to recruit work-at-home agents.
Behind the Scenes: KERA Interview
09/01/2016Take a look behind the scenes at Kim Houlne, featured on upcoming KERA’s CEO series.
Giving Has Its Rewards
08/15/2016From Backstage to Center Stage At work, Rhonda is front and center, helping customers book…
Reduce Agent Attrition
07/27/2016The bane of call or contact center services and businesses they serve? Agent attrition.
Disrupting Retail – Again
07/20/2016The "fluidity of the buy" is reshaping how consumers shop. Online to your doorstep.
Experts Validate Our Value
07/18/2016In business, there's no such thing as unconditional love. That's for Moms, kids and dogs.
NPS: Is It Really the One Number You Need to Know?
06/22/2016How satisfied are your customers? Do you know how to truly measure customer satisfaction beyond…
Introducing Our Website
06/16/2016New site marks 20 years of success delivering on-demand solutions. How can we serve you?
Speak the Culture
05/24/2016Companies should focus more on culture vs. language to serve U.S. Hispanic markets.
Pay for Value Delivered
04/18/2016Getting full value from your contact center agents? If not, time to run the numbers.
Balancing Tech and Touch
04/11/2016Technology, by itself, isn’t enough. You also need high-touch care to personalize service.
AARP Makes Driving Safer
04/07/2016Serving Others Karen is a relative newcomer to Working Solutions, but she’s long on…
How Secure Is Your Provider?
03/31/2016Nothing is more personal than your identity. Unless it’s your customers’ data and privacy.
Feeding Children Everywhere
03/03/2016Doing a World of Good Ruby’s days are as long as they are fulfilling. She…
Six Tips: Finding Best Contact Center Provider
03/01/2016If you don’t ask the right questions, service excellence can be elusive.
Retailers Turn to Outsourcing as Consumers Shop at Will
02/03/2016Retail hopscotching makes serving customers trickier than ever.
Take a Lesson from Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction
01/21/2016Listen before you talk? Take the time to learn and leverage what’s said.
Bruce Lee Had It Right: “Be water, my friend.”
04/15/2015To deliver great customer service, you must first be fluid in thought and action.
Our Company: What Was—and Still Is
03/09/2015In business, some things change. Others don’t. Like why you began the company.
Making the FlexJobs Top 100—Second Year in a Row
01/28/2015Working Solutions is again recognized by FlexJobs in its Top 100 Companies.
Developing Gold Medal Agents for Your Contact Center
02/11/2014The Olympics are in full swing and there is nothing more exciting than watching athletes…
5 Tips to Find and Hire the Best Remote Agents
01/09/2014Work-from-home opportunities are in great demand, especially among the recently unemployed, underemployed, and those juggling…
Contact Center Technology Predictions for 2014 – Are You Ready?
01/02/2014Predictions are certainly interesting, particularly when you read them years after they are made. Yet…
13 in 2013 – The Best Contact Center Advice
12/31/2013As 2013 comes to a close, we wanted to share the 13 top blog posts…
Prepare For Bad Weather With Business Continuity Services
12/10/2013Inclement weather is a great equalizer – no one is immune and there is no…
Amazon’s Mayday Button Sets a New Standard
12/05/2013Just when you thought customer support was going the way of self-service, Amazon introduces a…
Living the Dreamforce
12/03/2013I was pleased to attend the 2013 Dreamforce with over 120,000 of my closest friends…
Balancing the Two Prongs of Healthcare Customer Service
10/22/2013In the world of healthcare, agents are required to strike a delicate balance between serving…
The Secret to Minimizing the Impact of TCPA Rules
10/08/2013The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) became law in 1991 to protect consumers from receiving…
Self-Service – A Positive or Negative for Customer Experience
09/26/2013Self-service options are standard in today’s contact center environment. It’s typical to dial support and…
4 Ways Contact Centers and Marketing Go Hand-In-Hand
09/24/2013Positive customer experience requires leadership teams to understand every point a customer engages with an…
Develop with Style – Learning Styles That Is
09/19/2013In this online, get it now, instant gratification world we live in, delivering training, particularly…
Affordable Care Act Means Rapid Agent Ramp-Up for Insurance Providers
09/17/2013Healthcare Reform brings a tidal wave of changes, compliance challenges and adjustments for almost any…
NPS – A Tool in Your Metrics Toolbox
09/04/2013A lot of time is spent in contact centers gathering and reporting metrics. What really…
Looking to Improve QA Coaching? Go Peer to Peer!
08/29/2013It is not unusual for quality assurance teams to get into a routine. Evaluate transactions,…
Contact Center Outsourcing – Go Traditional or Non-Traditional?
08/21/2013The benefits of outsourcing all or part of a contact center go beyond the cost…
7 Facts on Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing
08/13/2013There are long-standing and compelling reasons to consider outsourcing contact centers, including cost savings and…
Top 4 Traits of Virtual Contact Center Solutions Providers
08/01/2013Outsourcing contact centers has been a positive for many organizations. Unfortunately there are companies that…
Creating a Win-Win-Win for Call Centers, Customers & Your Bottom Line
07/30/2013Companies are becoming increasingly aware of the power of customer experience, particularly as it pertains…
Social Media – The Elusive VOC Platform
07/25/2013There has been much discussion about social media and the power it has as a…
Looking for Ways to Improve Performance? Add Scenario-Based Learning!
07/23/2013e-Learning is an important part of continued improvement and performance for all virtual contact centers.…
Customer Experience – the Common Metric in a Multi-Channel Center
07/18/2013Customers have the ability to reach out to your contact center at any time, any…
The Positive Customer Experience – Customer Loyalty Formula Requires the Virtualpreneur™ Factor
07/16/2013Loyalty programs have really taken off since 2008 and are widely used, particularly in consumer…
The Impact of Virtual Outsourcing – Part 2
06/27/2013In part one, we discussed how the New World of Work has changed the very…
The Impact of Virtual Outsourcing – Part 1
06/25/2013There is a move worldwide to send jobs to independent contractors. Whether its virtual technicians,…
The Secret to Handling Summer Schedules – Accurate Forecasting
06/20/2013It’s critical to ensure that you have agents handling transactions at the time they come…
Does Your QA Need a Boost? Try Speech Analytics!
06/13/2013As business continues to rapidly evolve in today’s constantly changing global markets, we’ve seen a…
Customer Engagement Requires Understanding Emerging Channels
05/10/2013With new and better ways to communicate with customers, it is important that contact center…
A Customer-Focused Strategy Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
05/07/2013JC Penney recently released new ads apologizing to their customers. While work reportedly began on…
Is Your Contact Center Plagued with Spring Fever?
04/23/2013Flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and plants are greening up. Spring is here…
Beyond the Numbers – Quality Assurance Encompasses Coaching
04/02/2013The merging of training and quality assurance (QA) programs strengthens virtual contact center agents. At…
Training for the Future
02/28/2013Have you noticed that we are currently in a professional environment that expects people to…
Quality & Training – Like a Hand in a Glove
02/07/2013Training is such an important component of preparing atHome™ agents to not only accept transactions,…
Build a Solid Foundation for Positive Multi-Channel Customer Experiences
01/22/2013There are a multitude of discussions on contact centers using cloud technology, adopting multi-channel interactions…
Beyond the Metrics: They are People, People!
01/10/2013Metrics are good. They give a snapshot of the state of a contact center. Whether…
Do Magic Metrics Exist?
01/08/2013Due to the number of metrics needed to effectively measure contact center performance, there is…
Want Improved Customer Experiences? Think Virtual.
01/03/2013Customer experience is a much-touted metric that, while a positive goal, can prove to be…
Winter Is Coming – Time to Review Your Inclement Weather Policy
12/18/2012One of the benefits, and there are many, to operating a virtual call center is…
Want a Solid New Year? Use Objective-Driven Budgeting
12/11/2012Contact centers are driven by resources, in particular people and technology. Headcount is one of…
‘Tis the Season – For Increased Customer Transactions
11/29/2012The holidays bring an unusual dichotomy to business. Those that provide consumer products popular for…
Future Proofing Contact Center Technology
11/27/2012Contact centers are continually progressing, in no small part to the continued evolution of technology.…
Virtual Business Models – The Future Is Here
11/13/2012The New World of Work is creating the virtualization of industries at a rapid rate.…
Transitioning Knowledge – Beyond Basic Training
11/08/2012When you envision training new hires in a contact center, you think about the first…
How to Implement a Remote Work Solution for Your Company
10/11/2012When I first launched Working Solutions in 1996, virtual call centers were a largely unknown…
When Is It Time to Outsource Your Contact Center Operations?
10/05/2012In the past, the primary motivator for outsourcing contact center operations was saving money. However,…
Tim Houlne to Speak at Dallas Business Growth Summit, October 11th
10/02/2012Back by popular demand, Working Solutions CEO Tim Houlne will be speaking at the Dallas…
What a Virtualized Workforce Means for the American Economy, Part 2
09/18/2012Last week I wrote about some of the possible negative effects that a virtualized workforce…
What a Virtualized Workforce Means for the American Economy, Part I
09/13/2012I’ve already written about what the “New Worker” looks like in a world where job…
The New Contact Center: Solutions, Not Service
08/21/2012A recent article in DestinationCRM.com got me thinking about how customer service has evolved –…
Announcement: CEO Tim Houlne on Dallas radio show tonight!
08/05/2012I’m sorry for the last-minute announcement, but we only received word of this yesterday so…
Phone, Chat, Email, or IM? The Best Call Center Solution for Your Company
07/31/2012There was a time when call centers were populated mostly by headset-wearing “operators” (as in,…
Emotional Intelligence and Its Importance in the Call Center
07/10/2012In 1995, psychologist Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., rocketed to stardom with the publication of his book,…
Habla Customer Service? Why You Need Bilingual Call Center Agents
06/14/2012Once upon a time, customer service came in one language in the United States: English.…
Business Continuity in the Contact Center
06/06/2012A sudden ice storm can shut down your contact center for a day, or a…
Measuring Customer Satisfaction
05/10/2012Of all the measurements used to quantify call center performance, none is as important as…
The Value of Customer Loyalty
04/16/2012Often in sales-focused organizations, a lot of time, money and effort are placed in acquiring…
Social Media Is More Than Just Marketing
04/12/2012In any company, the debate rages: what department “owns” social media? Should marketing so they…
Content Is Not Enough
03/29/2012Content is the focal point of any marketing campaign. Whether it’s a flyer, a billboard…
Astute Solutions 2012 Customer Conference
03/08/2012Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Astute Solutions 2012 Customer Conference in…
Welcome to the Working Solutions Blog
03/05/2012In his 2012 State of the Union address to Congress, President Obama said, “Ask yourselves…