[collaborative-vr] Hello from the other side - funding and other info requested
Julie Strange
julie.strange at gmail.com
Wed Oct 2 10:24:08 PDT 2024
Hi everyone -
I was part of the leadership with the statewide service in Maryland
(AskUsNow!) from 2006-2013. Yes, I've been lurking here ever since. Hello
to those of you I know! Hello also to those of you I haven't had the
pleasure of meeting yet.
I'm wondering if ya'll could help me out with some stats/info for a
presentation I'm doing soon.
In my current role as marketing manager with a communications company that
solves voice, chat, and video (vertical.com), I'm attending a government
contact center conference (agccp.org) and giving a presentation on things I
learned having run a public sector chat service all those years ago (and
then launching one for my current company). I'm working on a couple of
preso sections I could use some larger insight on. (Full disclosure, I
never considered us to be in the "contact center" area, but we 100% were.)
1. If you're a statewide service or a large, multi institution consortium
providing chat reference - how are you funded? Partner libraries buy in?
Grants? Tell me all the things. We were always 100% IMLS funded and never
managed to become more sustainably funded.
2. If your service languished or died, what was the final death knell?
2.1. What would you have done differently / what larger scenarios had to
have been different to survive?
Currently my preso covers:
1. offering chat is a foregone conclusion at this point and if you're not
offering multi-channel communication lines to your customers, it's to your
detriment.
2. success requires buy-in and enthusiastic consent at all levels
3. a good knowledge base is key to exceptional customer service (I also
talk about how there are some AI tools that help customer engagement folks
access more information faster than having them take the time to look it up
manually with the customer waiting.)
4. you have to train people how to chat - not everyone knows how to
effectively build rapport or communicate effectively using these tools
5. begin as you wish to proceed (I talk about the funding challenge here)
While I do have those two above specific inquiries to you all, I'd love to
hear from you (in this thread or separately) about your experience or
insights about VR in general (are we still calling it that?!) and what it's
looking like these days. (Is the collaborative model dead and it's all been
decentralized? Which statewides are still standing?)
Thank you all for your time! I look forward to hearing from you,
Julie Strange
(former VR alum who went rogue and ran a cookie biz for a decade before
landing back in communications.)
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