Archive for September, 2010

Sports Fans Rejoice – WOW! Will Offer ESPN3

In: Entertainment

By: Libby Pawlick on Sep 30, 2010 at 6:56 pm

I hear a chorus of hoorays being shouted as many sports fans will appreciate the addition of ESPN3 access this Thursday, September 30th.  WOW! HSD customers will have access to 3,000+ yearly events that are broadcasted on the website.

So what is ESPN3?  It is a broadband network for live sports programming through an interactive environment.  Most of the content is exclusive to ESPN 3 and the other programming is from one of ESPN’s TV networks.  You’ll now have access to College Football and Basketball games, NBA, MLB, UEFA Champions League Soccer, The Masters, US Open Golf, all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and much more.  In addition, you’ll get a full interactive experience that has real time in-game stats, scoreboards and live chat.

You’re probably wondering how you access the ESPN3 content.  Well, if you are on the WOW! network, you are automatically authorized to view the content.  Yes, it is that simple!

And, for those users wondering if their computer has the appropriate system requirements, here is what ESPN3 suggests for the best viewing experience:

PC

Processor Speed: Single Core CPU @ 2.4GHz or Dual Core CPU
Memory: 512 MB of RAM (minimum of 256 MB)
Video Memory: 128 MB of Video RAM
Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Linux
Recommended Browsers: Internet Explorer 7+, Mozilla Firefox 3.5+, Safari 4, Chrome 3
Flash Player: Adobe Flash Player 10
Screen Resolution: 1024×768 or higher with 32-bit color
Connection Speed: 768 Kbps (minimum of 450 Kbps)

Mac

Processor Speed: 1.5 Ghz
Memory: 512 MB of RAM
Operating System:OS X 10.4+
Recommended Browsers: Mozilla Firefox 3.5+, Safari 4.0+, Chrome 3
Flash Player: Adobe Flash Player 10
Screen Resolution: 1024×768 or higher with 32-bit color
Connection Speed: 768 Kbps (minimum of 450 Kbps)

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Is the Grass Ever Greener?

In: Customer Experience & Support

By: Bill Wright on Sep 30, 2010 at 9:01 am

  Have you ever called a call center because you were just so happy with the service, you had to tell them? My guess would be probably not.  Working in a call center is a pretty tough place to work, if you really think about it. Calls from angry consumers, upset that their service is not working the way they want. Or the customer’s that are having a hard time paying their bill, due to whatever reason.  I would say that most people, when deciding on a career, would not choose a call center in their top ten.

 The industry standard “attrition rate” (Percentage rate at which something is lost, or is reduced by, over a period.), from what I have read, a typical call centers attrition could be somewhere around 50% -100%. That means other call center will have to hire continuously to make sure they are staffed appropriately. This creates a less experienced employee. So, when a customer calls in, they are put on hold more and the calls take longer to resolve.

 So, is the grass any greener at WOW!? I would have to say, yes. The WOW! call centers attrition is around 30%, for one. Why is that? Well, I am glad you asked. It is the culture, the environment and the people in general in and around the call center. A good amount of the employees have been here over 4 years which is incredible for a call center. Remember what I said about the less experienced employee? Your calls at WOW! are handled quickly and efficiently. I have seen quite a few employees come and return. And that is because WOW! is the better place to work. Trust me! I have been with WOW! almost 10 years starting out as a customer care agent. WOW! takes great care of their employees. Take a look at what the industry is saying about us now:

http://www.cable360.net/cablefaxmag/diversity/Cable-Fax-2010-Top-10-Places-to-Work-in-Cable_43006.html

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Innovation and Customer Satisfaction

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Sep 29, 2010 at 8:01 am

I just received my weekly copy of Information Week, an industry rag that caters to IT and Communications professionals.  It’s free to those of us in the business that make “purchasing” decisions for IT and communications equipment.  Because of that factor alone, I suppose I could call into question editorial objectivity.  But I was particularly irked this week because IW had published the names of 500 companies that are “leading the charge in business technology innovation”.  Not that that is a bad exercise in and of itself, but IW selected companies, at least in our sector (telecommunications/communications) that have, at best, checkered reputations for customer satisfaction.  In fact, it appears that IW largely ignored the customer side of the equation, choosing to focus only on the so-called innovation factor.

There may be a lesson here in what corporate America “thinks” that their customers want.  At best, there appears to be a disconnect in this area–a tacit implication that innovation is an island that has nothing to do with customer satisfaction.  The list of companies that did not make the list was a veritable “who’s who” of those who routinely receive high customer satisfaction scores:

Apple Computer

Honda Motors

Northwestern Life Insurance

Kraft Foods

And many more…

Here’s the thing.  Technical innovation is absolutely meaningless unless it translates to a better experience for the customer.  Information Week, please give me a list of companies that effectively use technology to enhance the customer experience.

At WOW! our engineering team understands this principle very well–every new design, every equipment change out, every new technology implementation is focused solely on the customer experience.  Sometimes that takes the form of enhanced feature sets or additional capacities.  Sometimes it’s done to reduce operating costs to hold retail costs down.  Either way, the customer is never far from our minds as we implement new technologies in the central offices or in the field.  This customer centered focus is shared by other teams in the company.

Here is the link to the Information Week article.  I’d be interested to hear your perspective.

Until next time….

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Celebrating Internal Servanthood

In: Culture

By: Sherry Zachary on Sep 28, 2010 at 8:15 am

Servanthood.  Yes, it’s a made up word, but it is one of our four core values and we define it this way:  Embrace the attitude and honor of serving others rather than being served.  It helps define the culture at WOW! because we relate not just to customers for the honor and opportunity to serve, but also across departments and regions.   Internal customers are just as important as external customers and frankly, I think they are more important.  (That might be the HR in me – do ya think?!) 

We have two major groups of employees at WOW! – those who interact directly with customers and those who don’t.  The quality of service and support provided by ‘those who don’t’ to ‘those that do’ makes the difference in our success.  In one region, we celebrate the contributions of ‘those who don’t’ annually with a Support Staff Appreciation Outing.  We have lunch, we take a few hours out of the day to go somewhere and play, and we try to express to this group of employees how much we appreciate the role they play.  This year we went bowling.  We had to split the group into two events in order to keep business running as usual, and it was clear at both locations we had a solid mix of real bowlers and good-sport bowlers.  The top three bowlers at each event won awards, as did anyone who bowled a turkey (which I learned means three consecutive strikes) and we even had some recognition for ‘most improved.’   I think everyone had a good time and the support staff so critical to our success had a few hours to relax, have fun, and be recognized.  Serving our support staff for an afternoon seems the least we could do to appreciate them.  Servanthood is a core value that really works!

Top three bowlers of the first event, Corey Motes, Kevin Ruskowski and Matt Crouse

Top 3 bowlers of the first Support Staff Outing, hamming it up for the camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 3 bowlers (green shirts) at second event, and 3 'most improved' (blue shirts). Do you think they had a plan?!

Top 3 bowlers (green shirts) at second event, and 3 'most improved' (blue shirts). Do you think they had a plan?!

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Scope of Support

In: Education

By: Barbara Kubereit on Sep 24, 2010 at 7:00 am

Most of the times you call us for troubleshooting help, we solve the problem over the phone.  Sometimes though, we end up referring you to your computer, router, television, game console, or other manufacturer.  When it comes to WOW! equipment, it’s never a problem.  We have all the troubleshooting tools, documents, and diagrams we need to reestablish service.  We can help you navigate through complex menus and explain what what wire goes where.  But, with non-WOW! equipment, we  don’t have the expertise or tools to support you.   When other equipment is involved in the service equation and we can’t get your services working, we’ll bypass the non-WOW! equipment  to verify our equipment is working properly.  Once we’ve done this, our only option is to refer you elsewhere.  It’s disappointing to you, we know, and we hope you understand.   It’s not that we don’t want to help you, it’s just that we can’t because the  problem is  “outside our scope of support.”  Thanks for understanding.

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