Call Centre/CRM show to reflect regional realities

For those organisations that value superior customer service as a way of differentiating themselves from their competitors and who need to increase their abilities to perform business transactions 'remotely', the MECC events have become the region's premier forum.

According to INSIGHTS' President, Dominick Keenaghan, 'the New Year has witnessed a dramatic increase in interest in Call Centre applicability especially in certain sectors such as telecoms and banking. Not only are existing call centres looking to expand their operations and in the process generate greater operational efficiencies, but many new installations are being considered and emerging business alternatives such as Outsourcing are being evaluated.

At this stage of market evolution, education is key and so we have structured the MECC 2004 event to provide learning opportunities for everyone. Our MECC 2004 Conference will provide generic guidance and advice for organisations looking to implement strategies and develop plans in key areas such as team building, process refinement and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) management, all in the context of regional customization. The free-to-attend MECC 2004 Exhibition will offer both state-of-the-art demonstrations and a comprehensive program of product/service presentations from the region's leading vendors such as Etisalat Contact Centre, Avaya Communications, Cisco Systems, Synovate, Altitude Software and ACCPAC. And such is the growth in interest in Outsourcing, that we have organised a special Outsourcing Workshop on January 26'.

Continued Keenaghan, 'the MECC 2004 event could not have come at a better time. The wisdom of deploying call centre capabilities to satisfy ever-increasing customer service demands and as a pro-active CRM (Customer Relationship Management) function to retain hard-won customers and to explore new revenue opportunities is no longer disputed in the region. The discussion has moved on and now focuses on more practical planning and operational issues such as managing customer expectations, calculating call loads, workforce management and scheduling, developing HR, technology fine-tuning, and corporate applications/process integration. For those that have moved into these phases, the diverse combinations of knowledge, skills, competencies and resources required to maximize call centre potential is all too apparent, and these topics will form the focus of our discussions at MECC 2004.'

Some of the other top regional and international companies exhibiting at MECC 2004 include Globalstar Telecom, Timna Telecoms, ProNet, ATCOM (Ericsson), Al Futtaim Panatech, Globitel, Future Technology, Rayatech, CIAC, GlobalTech and Emerging Technologies. Together, the exhibition represents the ideal venue to gather product information, discuss requirements with vendors, learn about the latest products/services, see demos, gain ideas on how to develop call centre/CRM plans and identify useful resources.

The MECC 2004 Exhibition opens at the Shangri-La hotel in Dubai on Sunday January 25 at 10.00 am and is open until 6.00 pm, repeated on January 26.