Tech Republic

Cryptocurrencies are no longer confined to the realm of tech enthusiasts — they’ve become a practical payment option for businesses of all sizes. In the U.S. alone, more than 2,000 businesses now accept cryptocurrency payments, with major brands like Starbucks, Home Depot, and Tesla leading the charge. For tech-savvy business owners and entrepreneurs, accepting crypto payments can open doors to a broader customer base, reduce transaction costs, and strengthen payment security. However, diving into this new world of payments comes with its own set of considerations and challenges. Key takeaways: Crypto payments offer global accessibility and reduced transaction fees, making them an attractive option for businesses looking to expand internationally or cut costs. Adopting crypto payments requires careful preparation, including setting up wallets, integrating payment processors, and addressing legal and tax obligations. While crypto offers benefits like faster payments and enhanced security, businesses must navigate challenges like price volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and complex tax implications. This guide will walk you through the essential steps to accept crypto payments confidently and seamlessly in your business. How to accept crypto payments as a business Accepting crypto payments can be straightforward when broken down into a few clear steps. Here’s how you can get started. Decide on retaining or converting crypto Before you begin, decide how you want to handle the cryptocurrency you receive: Retain crypto: Keeping payments in cryptocurrency can serve as an investment opportunity but carries the risk of price volatility. You’ll need a secure digital wallet and potentially a plan for managing tax implications. Convert to fiat: Automatically converting crypto into fiat currency (e.g., USD, EUR) ensures stability and simplifies accounting. Many crypto payment processors offer automatic conversion features. When making this decision, consider your business goals, risk tolerance, and local regulations. This choice will also guide your selection of a payment processor. Choose a crypto payment processor A crypto payment processor simplifies transactions and integrates crypto payments with your existing systems. Popular options include BitPay, Coinbase Commerce, and NOWPayments. For other options, check our list of the best crypto payment gateways. When choosing a processor, evaluate these features: Supported cryptocurrencies: Ensure it supports the coins you want to accept (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT). Integration options: Check for plugins or APIs for seamless integration with platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or custom systems. Fees: Compare transaction fees, withdrawal fees, and other associated costs. Developer tools: Look for detailed API documentation, SDKs, and developer support for custom integrations. Set up your digital wallet A digital wallet is essential for receiving and storing cryptocurrency. There are two primary options: Custodial wallets: These are wallets managed by third parties (e.g., Coinbase, Binance). Custodial wallets are user-friendly and secure but rely on the service provider for private key management. Most web wallets are custodial wallets. Non-custodial wallets: These wallets provide full control of private keys (e.g., Ledger, MetaMask) and are ideal for businesses prioritizing security but require technical knowledge to set up and manage. Non-custodial wallets may be hot or cold–hot wallets, which are connected to the internet, making them more accessible, or cold wallets, which are stored offline, making them more secure. Some options for hot wallets are desktop wallets, mobile wallets, and web wallets. For cold wallets, the go-to option is hardware wallets. For maximum security, consider hardware wallets for offline storage of crypto assets. Integrate with your website or POS system Integrating crypto payment options ensures a seamless transaction experience for your customers, whether online or in-store. For e-commerce: Most crypto payment processors offer plugins for platforms like WooCommerce, Magento, and Shopify. For custom setups, use APIs to integrate directly with your website’s backend. For physical stores: Use QR codes to allow customers to scan and pay directly to your wallet or processor. Many POS systems now offer crypto support or can be upgraded with add-ons like Clover’s Crypto Integration or Shopify POS for physical stores. Display payment options and train your team Clearly display that you accept crypto payments on your website or physical store to inform customers. Ensure your team is trained on how to process these transactions, handle customer questions, and troubleshoot common issues. Visibility: Prominently showcase crypto payment options on your website, checkout pages, and physical store signage. For example, Add a “Pay with Crypto” button on your website. Team training: Train staff to manage crypto transactions, verify payment confirmations on the blockchain, and address customer inquiries. Ensure they can resolve issues like incorrect amounts sent or delayed confirmations. Benefits of accepting crypto payments Accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method can provide numerous advantages for businesses. Here are the key benefits. Lower transaction fees: Crypto transactions often have significantly lower processing fees than credit cards or traditional payment systems, saving your business money, especially for high-volume or international transactions. While card transactions can cost around 2% to 4% per transaction, crypto transactions can be as low as 0% to 2% per transaction. Faster payments: Unlike traditional banking systems, crypto payments are processed almost instantly, regardless of the sender’s or recipient’s location. This can improve cash flow and reduce delays in receiving funds. Global accessibility: Cryptocurrency will enable your business to accept payments from customers worldwide without dealing with exchange rates or international transfer fees; this is particularly advantageous for e-commerce and global enterprises. However, remember there are still a few countries like China where cryptocurrencies are illegal. Fraud protection: Blockchain technology ensures that crypto transactions are secure, irreversible, and transparent. This reduces the risk of chargebacks and fraud, offering businesses peace of mind. Attracting tech-savvy customers: Accepting crypto can differentiate your business and appeal to a growing demographic of tech-savvy customers who prefer alternative payment methods in an increasingly cashless society. Future-proofing your business: As cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow, integrating it into your payment options positions your business at the forefront of innovation, ready to adapt to emerging trends in digital finance. Drawbacks of accepting crypto payments While accepting cryptocurrency offers advantages, it’s important to consider the potential drawbacks. Price volatility: Cryptocurrency prices can fluctuate significantly

When it comes to streamlining the efficiency and effectiveness of your call team, an auto dialer is one of the most impactful tools. Power dialers and predictive dialers are two of the most common types of dialers used in call centers, but they can be used by any organization that needs to conduct outreach at scale. Cold calling, collections, appointment setting, general customer service — whatever the reason if your agents need to make thousands of calls a week, both of these dialers will help them get more done in less time. We’ll cover everything you need to know about power dialers and predictive dialers so you can choose a solution that automates call center workflows and empowers your agents. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more What is a power dialer? Imagine you’re a customer service rep with a list of hundreds of phone numbers in front of you. One by one, you have to type each one in manually to make your next call. Not only do you spend a ton of time during your day pressing buttons — you have to be extra cautious not to accidentally press a wrong number as you go. A power dialer automates this process by dialing the next number on your list as soon as you complete your previous call. This eliminates a ton of busy work for agents, enabling them to focus on their cold call script, for example, instead the mechanics of dialing correctly. If there is no answer or if the line is unresponsive, the dialer will move to the next contact until it reaches a live person or a machine on which you can leave a message. This is a huge time saver. Now you can make a larger amount of calls in a shorter period of time. Plus, you don’t have to worry about those potential misdials. Here are a few more advantages of using a power dialer: Maintains a consistent 1:1 agent-to-customer call ratio. Gives agents control over the pace of calls. Ensures immediate call connections, eliminating wait times for customers. Enables agents to leave personalized voicemails for unanswered calls. Reduces the likelihood of dropped calls compared to other dialer types. It is not perfect for every scenario or team, however. Power dialers are less effective in scenarios where call connection rates are low (e.g., below 30%), as the 1:1 dialing ratio means agents may spend considerable time waiting for responses. They are also not ideal for high-volume operations, such as businesses with multiple call centers or extensive lists exceeding 1,000 contacts per agent daily, where faster dialing systems like predictive dialers are often more efficient. One last thing to note: power dialers require a dedicated team of agents consistently available to handle calls; without this, the system stalls, reducing productivity and undermining its advantages. What is a predictive dialer? Like a power dialer, a predictive dialer automates and streamlines the process of working through a pre-established contact list. But rather than running through the list consecutively and connecting callers to agents as they become available, a predictive dialer calls two or more numbers at once, relying on call algorithms and system presets to estimate which callers will actually pick up and when an agent will be available. Predictive dialers excel at saving time by automating high-volume calling, making them ideal for: Managing daily call lists exceeding 1,000 contacts per agent. Supporting large sales teams operating across multiple call centers. Running cold calling campaigns with expected answer rates below 30%. Predictive dialers, while excellent for reaching large numbers of people quickly, have some notable drawbacks. The lack of personalization can be evident in a brief pause before a caller is connected to an agent, which may feel impersonal or frustrating. These systems also lack the ability to leave voicemails, limiting follow-up opportunities for unanswered calls. You also have to keep compliance in mind using a predictive dialer — if dropped calls exceed 3% of total calls, businesses may risk non-compliance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, which can lead to penalties. When to use a power dialer vs predictive dialer If your business or team is small to mid-sized and your daily call list includes less than 1,000 fairly high-quality contacts, a power dialer is likely your best fit. This technology will save your agents time while empowering them to engage in a more personalized approach. It can be a little more customer-friendly, as the call connection is immediate, so customers won’t have to deal with that awkward pause before being connected. And in the event that no one answers, agents are able to make good use of their time by leaving a voicemail that elicits possible future connection. Even more convenient — you achieve all of these benefits while avoiding the compliance risks associated with a predictive dialer’s dropped calls. When to use a predictive dialer vs power dialer A predictive dialer is ideal for much larger operations, such as call centers, with sizable teams dedicated to managing customer connections. Since the system is only predictive in its ability to estimate how many people will answer at a given time of day, its multi-number dial feature can sometimes result in multiple live answers. In these cases, the first person to pick up is connected to an agent, while the remaining call is dropped, leading to lost sales opportunities. This isn’t just a negative thing in terms of sales, though. It also has potential compliance implications FCC regulations stipulate that callers have two seconds to identify themselves before a call is considered abandoned,  and businesses are allowed only a set limit

According to a new report, cloud computing was worth between $9 billion and $10 billion to the Australian economy from 2022 to 2023. However, continued enterprise cloud migrations and a boom in AI computing could push its annual contribution to GDP up to $81 billion by 2029. The report, endorsed by the Australian Information Industry Association and compiled by DT Economics for Amazon Web Services, indicated that Australia has seen a 300% growth in the cloud sector’s GDP contribution in Australia since 2007. Cloud computing also supports between 47,000 and 56,000 jobs across the Australian economy, boosting productivity by 0.2%-1.0% of GDP annually. AIIA CEO Simon Bush called the cloud “a driver of national productivity and prosperity.” Cloud computing’s economic contributions are rising ADAPT Research, an Australian technology research firm, suggested that 55% of Australian organisations’ workloads will be hosted on public clouds by 2025. Meanwhile, Gartner has predicted the proportion of Australian and global workloads in the cloud will rise to 70% by 2028. The AIIA said this uptake in cloud services propelled a compound annual growth in contribution to GDP of 10% between 2007 and 2023, now representing 0.4% of GDP. The report projected the cloud industry will contribute between $68 billion and $81 billion to the nation’s GDP by 2029, accounting for over 0.5% of GDP. Many Australian jobs are connected to cloud computing The cloud computing sector supported up to 56,000 jobs in 2022-23, according to the report. This marks a significant growth from an estimated 20,000 to 23,000 jobs in 2007-08. Projections indicated that cloud-related jobs will grow to between 71,000 and 84,000 by 2028-29. SEE: Australia Could Have 200,000 AI Tech Workers by 2030 The report noted that these jobs include those employed directly by cloud service providers and many others across supply chains. The cloud will also facilitate regional job creation more broadly as more cloud storage facilities are built in urban and regional areas across Australia. More Australia coverage Additional benefits flowing to the economy from the cloud According to the report, the GDP figures or job numbers do not capture several other productivity benefits flowing from the cloud. The report said that benefits relate to more efficient use of labour and capital resources in producing goods and services because the cloud is intertwined with business. The report noted how the cloud’s ability to conserve energy leads to enhanced market access opportunities locally and globally, enhanced capabilities, cost savings, improved operational resilience, reduced cyber security risks, and reduced energy and carbon emissions. SEE: Resilience in Focus: How Australian Boards Are Preparing for CPS 230 AI supports cloud growth Artificial intelligence computing is another key and emerging benefit of the cloud for Australia. The AIIA said that cloud computing service providers support integrating emerging technologies, such as AI and machine learning, across Australia’s public and private sectors, as evidenced by the recent growth in AI. AIIA urges caution in future cloud computing regulation The Securing Australia’s Cloud Potential report was produced, in part, to caution regulators about imposing strict rules on cloud services providers. This follows regulatory recommendations made by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as part of its ongoing Digital Platform Services Inquiry. The ACCC recommended implementing legally binding, service-specific codes of conduct for certain designated digital platforms. These codes aim to address issues such as anti-competitive self-preferencing, tying the sale of one product to another, and exclusive pre-installation agreements. Bush explained that “Australia has at times focused on regulating technology rather than supporting innovation,” and that “we must strike a balance to safeguard citizens and customers while fostering creativity, investment, and growth.” He added that poorly designed regulations risk dampening the sector’s potential and undermining Australia’s position as a leader in the digital economy. “We need forward-thinking regulation that empowers, not encumbers, the sector to remain at the forefront of global innovation.” source

The European Commission has approved NVIDIA’s proposed acquisition of Run:ai, an Israel-based provider of a compute management platform. It is pushing for Apple to enhance interoperability between iOS and third-party devices. NVIDIA supplies GPUs for data centres, while Run:ai supplies GPU orchestration software. These products must be compatible, and it was thought that the acquisition could result in the companies intentionally hampering their respective products’ compatibility with competitors. However, the Commission’s investigation found that NVIDIA could not prevent its GPUs from being compatible with the orchestration software of Run:ai’s competitors due to the widespread nature of tools that ensure such compatibility. Furthermore, Run:ai lacks a dominant position in the GPU orchestration software market, as many equivalent alternatives are available or can be built in-house. This led to the deal being approved unconditionally. NVIDIA’s purchase of Run:ai intended to improve customer satisfaction, efficiency Big Tech firms are rapidly investing in young AI startups to gain early control and capitalise on the AI boom. Notably, this can be seen through partnerships such as Microsoft and OpenAI, NVIDIA and Inflection AI, and Google and Anthropic. However, such collaborations can lead to market dominance, making it more difficult for other independent companies to get funding, attract talent, or compete with the advanced technology and reach of the big players. Innovation within AI specifically depends only on a few elements, with GPUs being one of them. NVIDIA announced its plans to buy Run:ai in April “to help customers make more efficient use of their AI computing resources.” Run:ai’s platform dynamically allocates GPU resources, whether on-premises, in public clouds, or at the edge, allowing companies to get the most out of their hardware and reduce operational costs. “Together with Run:ai, NVIDIA will enable customers to have a single fabric that accesses GPU solutions,” NVIDIA said in the acquisition announcement. The two companies have been working together since about 2020. The deal is worth $700 million, according to TechCrunch, and NVIDIA does not currently have plans to change Run:ai’s business model. Initially, Italy flagged the deal to the E.U. Merger Regulation, which allows for mergers that don’t have an E.U. dimension but could impact trade and competition within the region. While it did not meet the E.U.’s or Italy’s turnover thresholds, at the time, the Italian competition authority determined that the acquisition either posed concrete risks to competition or met other conditions outlined in the Italian Competition Act. SEE: UK Probes Alphabet’s Partnership With Anthropic Over Competition Concerns What’s hot at TechRepublic EU continues to hold Apple accountable, proposing interoperability measures for Digital Markets Act compliance On Dec. 19, the Commission proposed measures to enhance interoperability between Apple’s iOS and iPadOS and third-party devices, which is required under the DMA. Apple has expressed concerns that granting access to its operating system could compromise user privacy. The Commission’s recommended measures include improving compatibility between iOS and features of devices such as smartwatches and earbuds. These features include notifications, automatic Wi-Fi connections, AirPlay, AirDrop, and automatic Bluetooth audio switching. The authority also suggests that Apple make its process for developers to request interoperability within iOS and iPadOS features more transparent and predictable. This involves providing clear information about its internal features and timely status updates for requests. Apple says measures will impact privacy, security In response to the measures, Apple published a document outlining how granting access to its technology stack and, thus, user data could compromise privacy and security. It also highlights how Meta Platforms has made 15 requests for access to Apple’s software tools, including messages, iPhone mirroring, and connectivity to all a user’s Apple devices, under the DMA. “If Apple were to have to grant all of these requests, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could enable Meta to read on a users device all of their messages and emails, see every phone call they make or receive, track every app that they use, scan all of their photos, look at their files and calendar events, log all of their passwords, and more,” Apple wrote. “This is data that Apple itself has chosen not to access in order to provide the strongest possible protection to users.” Apple also highlighted that Meta “has been fined by regulators time and again for privacy violations.” In 2019, Meta agreed to pay a $5 billion penalty to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to settle an investigation into privacy, including the unauthorised sharing of user data with third parties. It was also fined €1.2 billion in 2023 by the Irish Data Protection Commission for violating GDPR. SEE: Meta Offers Less Personalised Ads for EU Users to Appease Regulators However, Meta has not taken this lying down. Meta Communications Director Andy Stone posted on X: “Here’s what Apple is actually saying: they don’t believe in interoperability. In fact, every time Apple is called out for anticompetitive behavior, they defend themselves on privacy grounds that have no basis in reality.” The Commission is now collecting feedback on its proposed measures, which may impact the final set that is put to Apple. Apple’s ongoing tussle with the Digital Markets Act The DMA has been a point of contention for Apple since it was enacted in September 2022. On Nov. 4, the Commission announced its investigation into whether Apple’s iPadOS operating system complies with the legislation. The DMA’s requirements apply only to the 24 core platform services offered by the seven “gatekeeper” companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Booking, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. The gatekeepers have a major economic impact in the E.U. and more than 45 million monthly users in the region or more than 10,000 yearly business users for at least three years. iPadOS, along with the App Store, Safari, and iOS, is on the list of core platform services as it provides “an important gateway for business users to reach end users.” However, the platforms must comply with the DMA’s requirements. iPadOS users should be able to choose their default web browser, use third-party app stores, and explore features with non-Apple accessories such as

In theory, telemarketing lists are great. Pay for a spreadsheet full of leads instead of doing the insanely labor-intensive work of getting that information yourself. Any decent call center dialer enables a rep to have a hundred conversations a day, sometimes much more. Keeping a hungry rep busy full-time is going to require thousands of leads. For a team, you need an even longer telemarketing list to draw from. List-building is hard. And yes, I know about all the Google Maps scrapers and AI lead-gen tools out there. Some are amazing, but building a list of contacts that is actually going to help a sales team make money still takes a high-degree of human involvement. I have paid people $5k per month (sometimes much more) for list-builder roles. So the prospect of a telemarketing list that has all that research and verification done ahead of time is really attractive. I understand how buying business leads works, and the labor that goes into creating these lists. $25k for a telemarketing list? If the volume and quality of leads is good, that price can easily pencil out for me. But the list has to be good. It has to be full of fresh, relevant contacts, and free of potential legal exposure for my agents and organization. The truth is that not every telemarketing list hits these requirements. Even a good list that has aged or been recycled is going to cause problems. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more The risks of buying low-quality telemarketing lists Buying low-quality telemarketing lists just isn’t worth it. There are too many serious risks if you accidentally use a bad one: Wasted resources: The information on these lists often isn’t worth what you pay for them, and you can spend a lot of money on outdated, useless information. Unproductive outreach: If your agents are spending all their time calling numbers that are out of service or irrelevant for your needs, that’s time they’re not spending calling actual leads or customers. A negative impact on your business’s reputation: Everyone hates spam calls, and that’s exactly what your company’s calls will feel like if you work from a bad list. The risk to your reputation just isn’t worth it. Even the best cold call script in the world won’t help a rep who is calling a list of dead leads. A low-quality list puts reps in a no-win situation and can easily lead to call center burnout. Using a bad list also comes with a number of legal and financial risks. These lists often have numbers that are on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, and if you call one of these numbers, your company can be held liable for up to $50,120 per call. That’s right. Over $50,000 for one phone call. This is true even if you make the call using an outbound dialer, so you need to be super cautious about who you’re calling. If you continually call numbers on the DNC registry, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can also sue your business. Signs of a garbage telemarketing list So how do you know if you’ve got your hands on a bad list? Here are some signs. Incomplete or inconsistent contact information: If the list is missing data or has inconsistently formatted entries, it’s likely to be a bad list. This isn’t always true, but it’s not a great sign, and can create issues or extra work when you import/export the list. Outdated info: Sometimes you can find a timestamp that indicates the data is old. Often you will find addresses of stores that have moved locations, people who have switched employers, and other details that can clue you into when the list was built. High bounce rates: All lists are going to have some level of bounce rate, but if the list you’re looking at has a bounce rate over 10%, you shouldn’t buy it. Low response rates: Similarly, if the list you’re looking at has lower than average response rates, leave it alone. Anything lower than 10% is a red flag. Duplicate entries: This is a sign that the list hasn’t been reviewed or cleaned in a long time, if at all, and is likely of lower quality. Be on the lookout for names that might not immediately appear to be duplicates. For instance, it may include the same contact with their middle name in one entry and without it in another. Irrelevant or unqualified contacts: Some people go into the process of buying telemarketing lists thinking that any batch of contacts is better than no contacts, but this isn’t true. If the list you’re looking at has a bunch of people who have never indicated any interest in your industry or company, leave it alone. Poor data sources: The quality of data sourcing varies widely from company to company, so do some digging and see if you can find out where your prospective list’s data comes from. The better ones have data from verifiable sources, like networking platforms, business websites, and utility lists. The lists you don’t want either won’t list their data sources at all, or just list vague, unverifiable sources. Lack of segmentation: Low quality telemarketing lists are a free for all — anybody’s contact info can be on them, regardless of who they are and what they’re interested in. Avoid any lists that don’t allow for customer segmentation. Any good vendor in this space is going to give you tools to make sure that your list is populated with contacts that fit your industry. For instance, if you’re fundraising for a nonprofit, a good

Customer satisfaction is the highest priority in a contact center. If you want to provide top-notch customer service, you need well-trained, competent customer support agents. However, with burnout rates averaging between 30%-45% in the call center industry, hiring and retaining top talent can be a major challenge. This means that the hiring process is the most critical step in building a strong and effective call center team. And that’s where a pre-hiring assessment comes in. A pre-hiring assessment is an invaluable tool in identifying the right candidates, reducing turnover rates, and ensuring long-term success for your call center. It allows contact center hiring managers to identify and analyze the specific skills and behaviors that are compatible with the call center’s demands, such as excellent communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and customer empathy. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more 13-point contact center pre-hiring assessment Our pre-hiring assessment for contact centers covers a broad range of skills and traits you should assess when considering candidates to join your team. Here’s a high level overview: Remote readiness. Typing speed. Customer service experience. Problem-solving abilities. Technical proficiency. Communication skills. Multi-tasking abilities. Stress management capacities. Attention to detail. Empathy and understanding. Sales skills. Conflict resolution skills. Knowledge retention. I’ll walk through each point, why I think it’s important for candidates to demonstrate, and strategies I use to assess candidates for each skill or capability. 1. Remote readiness If you are 100% on-site, all the time, and you know that contact center agents will never work from home — you can skip this point in the pre-hiring assessment. For everyone else, you need to ensure that any candidate who plans to work from home (part or all of the time) has an internet connection that can support professional-grade communications. I would have them take a free VoIP speed test at a bare minimum, to measure their ability to make calls reliably. If you are hiring for a virtual contact center where the expectation is fully-remote work, you should also try to ensure that the employee has a quiet place to work where calls and video conferences will not be disturbed. Many first-time remote workers haven’t thought through the reality of working from home with kids, roommates, pets, neighbors, an upcoming move, etc. It’s common to provide equipment to new remote hires, but if you aren’t you will need to ensure that candidates have reliable VoIP headset to ensure hands-free, crystal clear conversations with customers. SEE: Learn whether or not virtual contact centers are viable for companies that handle a lot of volume.  2. Typing speed Typing speed is a critical skill across all contact center positions. Agents need to be able to type fast so they can: Respond quickly and accurately to customer queries. Document and transcribe conversations. Listen while typing to accurately record client notes. Accurately input error-free customer information. The most common way to assess a potential hire for typing speed is by assigning a typing test. These tests are readily available and often free, making it easy to integrate into the hiring process. These tests measure the words per minute (WPM) of an individual. A good rule of thumb for call centers is to aim for a minimum of 30 words per minute with an accuracy rate of at least 95%. If a test results in a slow typing speed or a high amount of errors, this may lead to inaccurate information being documented or a slower response time, which can negatively impact the customer experience. In a multichannel contact center, it’s completely normal for a single agent to be on the phone while answering questions via multiple live chats — verifying a candidate’s ability to type quickly and accurately is a must. SEE: Discover how a multichannel call center solution can replace numerous apps.  3. Customer service experience Previous experience can provide valuable glimpses into how a candidate may perform since there are a handful of universal aspects to customer service roles, like of these include: Adhering to scripts while maintaining a friendly tone. Superior listening skills to understand customer needs and concerns. Resilience and patience to handle difficult customer interactions. Having your candidate submit and elaborate on their prior customer service experience can help determine which specific skills they possess. Role-play scenarios help test the abilities of new hires, which involve recreating a real-life call that the future agent may encounter. Keep an eye out for listening skills, relational candor, and a friendly tone while maintaining compliance with the call script. You can also keep track of the agent’s ability to solve the theoretical problem you’re roleplaying and take note of how long it takes for them to resolve the issue. The better suited candidates are for providing quality service, the easier it will be for you to improve contact center customer experience. 4. Problem-solving abilities Employees must know how to think on their feet — and there is always a lot to know. You’ll want to to be hiring from a pool of people who can: Resolve complex customer issues swiftly. Work through unexpected technical glitches. Handle multiple problems simultaneously. You can assess a candidate’s problem-solving abilities with situational judgment tests or role-play scenarios that mimic real-life challenges. For example, you can provide a scenario where the agent must handle an irate customer while also dealing with a technical issue on their end. Some helpful metrics to keep an eye out for include the ability to respond quickly to unexpected issues, an overall positive demeanor in the face of conflict, and a capacity to generate creative solutions. The best call center software or contact center solution

An interactive voice response (IVR) system provides an automated phone menu for callers to interact with instead of a live agent. They present a tree of options for customers to serve themselves, thus giving businesses an efficient and cost-effective way to route calls and solve certain issues. For callers, an IVR can reduce wait times and deliver a better customer experience. As long as it’s easy to navigate, customers can quickly interact with a reliable system on their own and find solutions whenever they want or need. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more 2 Talkroute Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Call Management/Monitoring, Call Routing, Mobile Capabilities, and more Designing an elegant IVR phone tree Not too long ago, changing an IVR phone tree required a call to the vendor — these days, most changes can be handled in house by an administrator.  Modern business phone services and call center software make setting up an IVR phone tree fairly easy, with drag-and-drop builders to help people visualize call flows, define prompts, and ultimately guide callers. Administrators can configure the menu structure, assign actions (such as forwarding to specific agents or departments), and set up voice recordings for each menu option. The technical steps are easy — the hard part is designing a really useful IVR phone tree that fully meets the needs of your customers. Clear, intuitive navigation and that minimizes customer frustration is the goal. A poorly structured IVR phone tree can lead to confusion, long wait times, and higher call abandonment rates. Every business is different, but there are some practical, proven tactics you can use to help callers help themselves. Below are some key best practices to consider when designing and maintaining an effective IVR system. Best practices for IVR phone trees 1. Limit menus to 5 options People can easily process and remember a small number of choices. When there are too many options, it can overwhelm callers, leading to confusion and frustration. The rule of thumb for the industry is to keep phone menus limited to five options. Less is better. A cluttered menu increases the chances of errors, longer call durations, and even abandonment. By sticking to five or fewer options, you make it easier for callers to navigate the system quickly and efficiently, improving their overall experience and reducing the likelihood of them needing to call back for assistance. To account for more complex queries, use a tiered or nested menu structure, where callers can choose a broad category first and then select from a smaller set of options within that category.. For example, after a general greeting, you could offer main options like “Billing,” “Technical Support,” and “Sales,” and then present a second level of more specific choices once the caller selects a category. This keeps the initial menu simple while still accommodating a larger number of options, which follows IVR design best practices and is familiar to most callers. 2. Conduct regular IVR phone tree testing Let’s assume that when you first set up your IVR call flow, it was perfectly matched to your customer needs and business outcomes. Even so, you want to revisit this design on a regular basis to make sure that your IVR is doing the best job possible. Without regular testing, issues such as confusing menu options, incorrect routing, or broken links may go unnoticed, leading to customer frustration and longer wait times. Testing also helps identify any technical glitches or areas for improvement, ensuring that callers can easily navigate the system and reach the right destination. Periodic testing should also ensure that IVR phone trees are up to date, and that they reflect any changes in business operations, staffing, or service offerings. A product name-change that is not addressed in your phone tree is going to cause massive confusion for callers and agents alike. Busy offices and contact centers can use analytics to find opportunities for improvement, such as unused phone menu options, drop-off points, and other signs that callers aren’t getting what they need. 3. Create crisp, high-quality IVR recordings A phone tree’s main objective is to provide customers with personalized self-service. Since this involves interacting with customers in natural language, it behooves you to select a natural-sounding, realistic voice that puts them at ease — or at least one that doesn’t stand out. To achieve this, most IVR platforms allow you to record and upload your own audio recordings. Alternatively, you can also use text-to-speech (TTS) technology to convert text prompts into spoken audio. With some platforms, you can even choose a hybrid of human voice actors combined with TTS. Having a clear, natural-sounding voice for IVR recordings is essential because it enhances the overall caller experience and ensures that the information being conveyed is easily understood. A clear voice helps prevent misinterpretation of options, reducing caller frustration and the likelihood of mistakes in navigating the menu. 4. Provide language options first If your product serves an international audience, start by having callers select their language of preference right away. It’s simply not a great idea to subject your callers to lengthy bits of information in a language they don’t understand. Instead, ensure your callers are greeted in their local language, facilitating meaningful communication. In addition to using multilingual services when warranted, you should also try to use unique verbiage for each menu option. If everything sounds similar to callers because you’ve used the same phrases and words, it could be more difficult than it has to be for them to differentiate between menu options. Furthermore, spicing up the menu is appealing and natural sounding to callers. 5. Offer callers clear off-ramps An effective IVR phone tree should not only guide callers efficiently but

Setting up a virtual call center is easier and faster than you might think. A lot of people waste too much time trying to plan every detail to perfection. But the best approach is to jump in and learn by doing. This guide explains how to set up a virtual call center in just four steps (or three if you don’t need to hire). How to start a virtual call center in four steps You don’t need to spend months to launch a virtual call center. The entire process should involve some basic planning, the right call center software, and (maybe) a remote team. Once it’s live, you can make adjustments and experiment with new features as needed. Using RingCentral to set up your virtual call center is my top recommendation. But these steps still work even if you’re using something else. Be sure to check out our RingCentral review and our guide on the best call center software if you’d like to learn more about your options. Step 1: Set the groundwork This planning phase should only take a few hours at most. In most cases, it doesn’t even take that long. All we’re doing here is thinking through the basics just enough to know what we need before we go any further. Here’s what you should be thinking about: Are you setting up an inbound or outbound call center? Maybe one that does both? What is the purpose of your call center and what are you trying to achieve? How much money are you willing to invest upfront? What about your monthly or annual budget? Are you strictly handling phone calls, or will you have a multichannel contact center? Do you need to hire employees? How soon does this need to happen? Don’t get too deep into the weeds here. All you need is a simple call center business plan that defines your goals and general sense of direction. Make sure you’re not overthinking things too much, and definitely don’t wait until your plan is “perfect” (or you’ll never start). As I said earlier, you’ll figure everything out along the way. Step 2: Sign up for RingCentral I recommend RingCentral for most call centers because it works equally well for small businesses, growing call centers, and even high-volume omnichannel operations. Small or new call centers can get by just fine with RingEX. This is RingCentral’s business phone plan – it starts at just $20 per user per month (if you pay annually) and includes all the lightweight features you’ll need. It’s less than half the price of a dedicated call center solution, and it supports unlimited inbound and outbound calling throughout the US and Canada. All RingEX plans come with SMS messaging, an IVR call menu (which is a must-have for call centers), and AI-powered call transcriptions. But I recommend starting with the Advanced plan if you can — it adds automatic call recording, advanced call monitoring features, and CRM integrations for just $5 more per month. Pro-tip: Change the number of users slider to 1-5 on the pricing page— you’ll see an option to try any of RingCentral’s business phone plans for free.  For high-volume call centers, fast-growth, or larger teams, I recommend starting with the RingCX Contact Center plan. It comes with the basics plus a range of advanced features that’ll help you improve contact center CX for agents and callers. Some of these advanced features include: Unlimited domestic inbound calls. Per minute outbound usage pricing. ACD, IVR, and skills-based routing. 20+ contact center support channels. Queue callbacks. Call recordings. Service desk integrations. Customer surveys. Built-in AI assistance. RingCentral’s contact center plans start at $65 per agent per month. This is a great deal when you consider how feature-packed the plan is on top of top-tier reliability and five-star customer service. Before moving on, choose a RingCentral plan and go through the signup process. You should set up voicemail, extensions or lines for your team, a basic IVR (with pre-recorded greetings), and CRM integration at the very least. All the other bells and whistles can come later while you wait for volume to start picking up. Remember, the main goal here is to get everything launched as fast as possible. Step 3: Build your team (if needed) You can skip this step if you’re not planning to hire anyone right now. It’s a good reference if you decide to add to your team later, but it won’t be super helpful for you until then. For those of you who do need to hire employees to run your virtual call center, I recommend slowing down for a minute and thinking carefully about the roles and responsibilities you need to hire for. If you’re small, a few generalist agents might be enough. But that’s not the only type of job that exists in a virtual call center. Do you need a manager to oversee your agents? Do you need to recruit people in different time zones who are available to take calls at different hours? What skills are the most important to the stage you’re at right now? Depending on your call volume and goals, you might have two different job listings — one for inbound customer service and another for outbound sales. These are two very different roles with different requirements and skillsets. You may also want to hire a quality assurance analyst among other roles for workforce optimization, agent engagement, and more. From there, you should set up an onboarding flow for remote employees. This could include pre-recorded training, video calls with yourself or other team members, setting up payroll information, or reading through SOPs and documentation. Thinking through this ahead of time ensures each new hire gets off to a great start. For the actual recruitment and hiring process, you have two options. The first is outsourcing the bulk of this work to a recruiting agency. It’s more expensive, but it’s less work for you to handle on your own. They’ll find candidates, qualify

Product catalog templates can act as an internal database for storing and organizing all of your product information, including prices, suppliers, variants, and descriptions. Or you can use them to showcase your products to potential customers. No matter how many items you’re selling and whether they’re physical or digital products, this curated list of templates has something for everyone. Knack: A customizable product catalog database for displaying products online Knack is a no-code application builder that shines for its asset management and online database capabilities — two things that are crucial for product catalogs. With Knack, you can manage your entire catalog with a fully customizable database on the backend. From there, you can embed it on your website or mobile app for customers to look through on their own. It can also work well as an internal database, but it truly shines for showcasing your offers. Use Knack to create an embeddable product catalog database without writing a single line of code. Image: Knack.com If you have an existing website but aren’t able to sell products or add ecommerce functionality, you can embed your product catalog instead of switching and rebuilding your website somewhere else. As a no-code builder, it’s much easier than writing custom code and faster than starting over from scratch. You’ll be able to control every aspect of your database and set up admin accounts so your team can add or update products as needed. This template makes it easy to group products into categories, add details related to size and color, and add as many products as you’d like with no limitations. You can also add images, other variations, customization options, and more. But what makes this template (and Knack) better than the rest for embedding your products is that you can easily integrate it with PayPal or Stripe. If you want to learn more about the differences between the two, check out our guide on the best ecommerce payment solutions. Once that’s set up, users will be able to browse your database and buy whatever they’d like in a few clicks. Despite Knack’s drag-and-drop no-code nature, it still requires technical expertise and time to set up. You’ll also need to maintain it on your own. Knack offers a 14-day trial so you can see if it’s right for you before investing. Notion: A simple product catalog template to organize your data Notion is an incredibly flexible productivity platform with collaborative docs, relational databases, tables, and lightweight project management features. It’s a great way for individuals and small teams to stay organized and centralize everything in one place. It’s a bit of a blank slate when you first sign up — rather than being ready to use out of the box, you can transform your workspace into whatever you need. Thankfully, templates make it easier to get started. My favorite product catalog template is simple and streamlined for internal use. More on Notion: Notion Review | Notion vs Asana | Notion vs Todoist. Notion makes it easy to store and organize details about every product in your catalog. Image: Notion.com The creator of this template has been using Notion for over five years and has a team of 30+ people working for the three digital brands he’s built. As such, it’s been tweaked and improved over time. His real-world experience with Notion has also clearly been applied to this template. There’s also a free video you can watch to see how it works. At its core, it’s a simple and straightforward database for your products. You can keep track of every detail you care about with its built-in table and gallery views. Out of the box, you’ll be able to categorize them by type, give each product a status, set variants, add pricing information, and upload images. You can also add your own custom fields or edit the existing fields to keep track of whatever you need to. If you use Notion for other elements of your business, the simplicity of this template makes it easy to integrate it into your existing set up. The template is technically listed as free, but it’s locked behind a “name a fair price” paywall that starts at $2. There are also various add-ons you can buy, including a product development template, a full suite of templates for product and commerce teams, and access to all product templates from the creator. Airtable: An advanced product catalog database Airtable is one of the most flexible relational database solutions. I’ve used it for years to manage nearly every aspect of my business — it’s powerful, customizable, and capable of streamlining processes and workflows across your entire company. The free plan supports up to 1,000 records and five users. From there, you can scale as much as you need — regardless of how much your catalog expands, you’ll never outgrow Airtable. More on Airtable: Airtable Review | Airtable vs Asana | Airtable vs Trello. Airtable works just as well whether you have a hundred items or thousands. Image: Airtable.com As one of the most scalable options on my list, Airtable works really well for large product catalogs. If you have a handful of products, it’s probably not worth the hassle of learning how to use it — because of its flexibility and infinite scalability, it has a steep learning curve. But the reason it’s hard to learn is what makes it so powerful. You can build custom applications and trackers, build on top of existing templates or bases, and ultimately centralize everything in one place if you’re willing to put in the time. This template makes it easy to get started building and managing your product catalog. It has built in list and gallery views with dozens of other options you can add in a few clicks. You can sort, group, filter, and view everything however it makes sense for you. There are custom fields for tags, materials, dimensions, price, color, units sold, gross sales, and more. Beyond adding and managing

The rise of agentic AI could help Australia address its low productivity growth problem while overcoming a burnout epidemic in the country, according to intelligent automation technology provider UiPath. Australia’s productivity growth averaged just 1.2% throughout the 2010s. However, Australia’s Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, noted that the Federal Treasury has downgraded its long-run forecasts for productivity from 1.5% to 1.2%. He has said “there is no more important structural problem” to fix in the economy. Burnout may be a factor impacting workplace productivity. A survey of 1,000 full-time office workers by recruiter Robert Half found that 80% of Australians were experiencing some level of burnout in 2024. These findings are supported by Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index, which revealed that 62% of Australian workers were burned out, higher than the global average of 48%. Yelena Galstian, UiPath’s local head of solutions and customer advisory, told TechRepublic that leveraging AI and automation could help organisations attain productivity gains. It could also help individuals reduce burnout by providing more balance through technology support for manual tasks. Agentic AI will be able to make decisions and perform actions Agentic AI is viewed as the next step in automation. IBM combines planning, memory, tool usage, and autonomous actions to perform various workplace tasks. IBM envisions a future with armies of agents that can interact with humans and perform autonomous actions. Galstian said agentic AI, named one of Gartner’s top 10 trends this year, enables automation to expand into decision-making tasks. AI agents will no longer rely on humans to outline problem-solving steps. They can reason independently and interact with tools, such as robotic automation systems, to perform actions. AI agents poised to handle more cognitive steps Previously, process automation technologies were leveraged to ease the burden of workers completing rules-based tasks, such as data extraction and entry. Galstian noted how the invoice dispute resolution process allowed some tasks to be performed by automation to cut down on time. “Anything that would have been about reading and processing the invoice and entering it into systems, anything that would have been about a quick reply, or entering the result into the final finance systems; all of those types of things are classic automation skills,” Galstian explained. However, as these agents become more advanced in the coming years, they can handle more cognitive steps in a process. They will determine appropriate resolutions independently, involving humans only for escalations, clarifications, or when specific criteria require human oversight. SEE: How Generative AI Is Becoming A Source of ‘Costly Mistakes’ for Enterprise Tech Buyers “The amount of time a human agent will need to spend on invoice dispute resolution will be significantly less than it would have been with traditional automation,” Galstian said. “With agents, we’re giving up that curve of reliability for agency; we’re giving them the opportunity to act independently and make dynamic decisions. AI agents are good for non-deterministic type scenarios … where I might be giving the same input, but there are multiple ways a problem can be solved.” AI agents will have applications across multiple Australian industries Galstian said UiPath was seeing some excitement in the Australian market about agentic AI technologies. “There are so many areas [where it can be applied],” Galstian said. “It’s like the last mile of AI transformation; wherever the processing would have been more about streamlining the process, and there would have been a lot more, I suppose, human intervention that would be required. These are the kinds of processes that are now available for automation.” What industries stand to benefit from AI? Several industries could benefit from agentic AI technologies, according to UiPath. Manufacturing: Manufacturing use cases will be “quite large” in Australia, Galstian said, making traditionally challenging supply chain and logistics planning tasks easier to manage. Retail: Agentic AI could take the Australian retail sector’s ability to market and sell “one step further” by orchestrating more hyper-personalised sales and marketing initiatives. Professional services: Human and virtual agents could work together in professional services, with agents helping with tasks such as analysing financial reports. Health care: Galstian sees multiple use cases for AI agents in Australian health care, such as analysing health results or assisting with patient management. SEE: Is Edge Computing Living To Its Promise In The Australian Market More Australia coverage Workers and organisations stand to benefit from AI agents UiPath’s Global Knowledge Worker Survey released earlier this year, which included Australian knowledge worker respondents, found that the global workforce is experiencing burnout. Almost a third (32%) of employees worldwide said they “felt extremely” or “very” burnt out, compared with 29% in 2023. “A very large cohort of Australian organisations participated in the survey,” Galstian said. “The statistics showed there was so much strain on employees and burnout. A big support for that was that Australian workers were looking for how AI and automation could help them alleviate some of that stress.” More than half (55%) of global respondents to the UiPath survey indicated a reduced workload would help, while over a third (37%) want more time and bandwidth to get their tasks completed, the door seems to be open for AI agents to support workers with tasks if it makes their lives easier. Galstian recommends that Australian organisations seeking productivity gains focus on areas where they already see the potential for automation. “We’re looking for areas of the business where you might have a gut feeling about where challenges lie in terms of inefficiencies,” she said. “We’re looking for where we can reduce non-value added work, opportunities for error, or cycle times, and where, if we were smart about how we did the operations, we could increase scale and speed of something you’re trying to do without driving up costs.” source