By Keith Ward

As a toast to PSS's brand new website which we hope will both convey our messaging better and provide a platform for continued communication with our customers - long-term and potential, I thought this an opportunity to extend my reach outward as well.  As a self-proclaimed uber-geek and bleeding-edge technologist (I have many a scar to prove it) it comes as a surprise to many that this is my very first - dare I say virgin - Blog!  I will endeavor to provide both my personal technology views (I've been accused of having an opinion, well many!) and PSS's overall direction and navigation through the technologies that drive the Call Center world.

One of the great things about my job is the ability to constantly be engaged with customers, partners, vendors and peers.  This gives me an opportunity to view our Call Center world from many different viewpoints.   It's very satisfying to have a closely held belief or opinion about the future of our industry and to have it verified (or, sometimes, shot down) via these different groups.  On a recent trip to Florida for the Frost and Sullivan MindXchange conference, I attended a seminar on the Multi-Channel Call Center (full disclosure: sponsored by PSS and our partner Holly Connects) where we had an opportunity to talk about the myriad of ways customers will, and want, to communicate with us.  One thread of conversation was around the Web and the idea of an Agent "co-browsing" (seeing the same browser session) with customers.  I have always believed that "co-browsing" was a stop-gap technology and that, eventually, Agent desktops will be the SAME web application (maybe with additional fields and/or data) that customers are using across most companies today.  Most in the room agreed with this although many disagreed on when and what issues will arise (i.e. HIPAA, privacy, compliancy, etc.)

For me, it was the culmination of a thought-turned-philosophy vindicated by a group of thought leaders, peers and Call Center professionals.  I believe this Blog gives yet another avenue for feedback - so, what do you think?  Is "co-browsing" in your future?  What exists on Agent desktops today that will not translate to a web application, or even more to the point, translate to a Customer-facing web application?  I look forward to your feedback and to Blogging yet again in the near future.

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