The technologies available to consumers and businesses are, undoubtedly, developing at a rapid pace. People have new demands when it comes to their technological needs. ITIL, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, provides guidance for IT service providers on how to bring IT best practices and business needs together, giving companies the tools to approach many kinds of IT challenges. The capability of applying it to a variety of situations and vendors makes it a go-to resource for many service providers when looking towards solutions for complex business problems in both customer service and IT support. The last time that ITIL was updated, however, was in 2011. While it may not seem that long ago, the last five years have brought many changes in the technological landscape, and ITIL alone may not be the most effective way to find an answer.

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Traditionally, call centers monitor the calls of customer service employees using methods such as random call monitoring selection, consistent monitoring of a small sample size of employees with five being the optimum number, and a checklist that evaluates the efficiency of the call. This is all done with the goal of decreasing variations between calls, increasing customer quality experiences, and combining all of the data gathered in hopes of creating a standard call checklist that meets all of those requirements. However, it has been revealed that not only is this method of call monitoring and quality assurance outdated, it is also relatively ineffective when compared to the information and results that could be obtained through the usage of the increasingly popular Emerging Model.

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The importance and value of cultivating and maintaining customer relationships cannot be overstated. Any business that fails to cater to their customers in ways that are business efficient as well as positively reinforcing, are doing themselves a great disservice. Businesses tend to understate the importance of customer relations management, only focusing on problem solving, rarely prevention. This is a mistake that can cost them dearly. It is rare that businesses can be effective and efficient in all areas. There are three big benefits to having a separate customer service division:

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Last year's Customer Service Hall of Fame list from 24/7 Wall St. highlights the top ten businesses with an "excellent" rating and can be found here. With the list of companies established, the question becomes what makes their customer service so great? Let's zero in on the top five: Kroger, Marriott, Apple, Chick-fil-A, and Amazon to find out.

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Sometimes life gives you lemons. It happens to you personally and it will happen with your business too. From the small issues like late delivery of a customer's order to the big ones like a product recall that threatens the bottom line, the trick to handling lemons is learning to make them into lemonade. Here are some examples of companies who turned lemons into lemonade and some tips for how to do it yourself.

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The eternal argument: should companies outsource customer service? The truth is, it depends. There are a number of factors that go into deciding whether or not to outsource your company's contact center. Let's take a look at both sides.

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Good customer service is important in any industry, but especially in healthcare. Patients are essentially the customers of the healthcare industry and their happiness is key. Providing better customer service will go a long way towards improving the healthcare experience.

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Is your company's customer service department stuck in the mantra that negative feedback should be swept under the rug and kept silent? Negative customer feedback can be a death knell in today's world of intense competition, social media and instant virtual report cards, but it doesn't have to be!

In Giva's recent Customer Think article "Why Encourage Negative Feedback to Make Customers "Sticky"?' learn how to embrace negative feedback and turn your customers into a massive marketing force. This guide details how to make the best out of unfavorable responses to keep your customers coming back every time!

Service level is an important KPI in a call center. Basically, service level is defined as the percentage of calls answered within a specified number of seconds. A common SLA metrics example is 80% of calls answered within 30 seconds. This response time SLA is sometimes considered an industry standard, but customer service is about more than just a speedy response. Let's take a look at some of the other factors involved in setting service level goals and service level objectives.

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