February 14, 2012 
In the cloud but not in the dark – Opinion piece by Jed Hewson
Jed Hewson, Director, 1Stream Is your hosted technology provider a trusted advisor or box dropper? The case for cloud is now closed The business case for cloud-based call centres is irrefutable – it is almost always better to leave the procurement, configuration, operation, maintenance and updating of a complex technology platform up ...
Integrating social media into your customer contact strategy
Too many business owners are missing out on valuable feedback because they still dismiss social media as a fringe issue, says Jed Hewson of 1Stream. “We speak to a lot of people who think that opinions about their companies expressed via social media can be ignored because it’s just for kids ...
“Walk in and talk” contact centre solution entices foreign investors
Contact centre investors can dramatically reduce their start-up risk by using a combination of hosted technology and fully equipped and managed premises, says Bruce von Maltitz of 1Stream. “The days of making large capital investments in equipment that needs a lot of skill, effort and money to maintain are over,” says ...
1Stream adds Salesforce integration to hosted contact centre offering
Salesforce integration plugin Hosted contact centre solution provider 1Stream has accounced it now offers integration with leading CRM provider Salesforce.com. “It’s predicted that Salesforce will become the most-used CRM product in the world this year, ahead of rivals like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft,” says 1Stream director Jed Hewson. “It already ...
South Africa slow to tap the benefits of home working
Enabling call centre employees to work from home can raise productivity and lower costs – yet South African companies have been slow to embrace the opportunity, says Bruce von Maltitz of 1Stream. “Most call centres experience peak traffic for a couple of hours a day,” explains Von Maltitz. “If you staff ...
Hosted technology can improve capacity and quality while lowering costs
Hosted or “software as a service” technology is an ideal solution for contact centres who need to cut costs without limiting their capacity or compromising quality, says Jed Hewson of hosted solution provider 1Stream. “When recession looms everyone looks for ways to cut costs – and the IT press is full ...
Invest in contact centre improvements to gain and retain customers
Improving customer service from the call centre is the single most important marketing investment a company can make in times of recession, according to Bruce von Maltitz of 1Stream. “When times are good people are relatively willing to forgive service mistakes,” says von Maltitz. “But when money is tight, customers get ...
Hosted call centres – safer than doing it yourself?
Security concerns are often cited as a reason why businesses are reluctant to adopt hosted and cloud-based strategies – but, according to Jed Hewson of hosted call centre company 1Stream, hosting might actually improve security. “The moment you start to look a little deeper into security, you realise that many of ...
Hosted contact centres boost Cape Town’s profile as an offshoring destination
Hosted contact centre solutions are helping to boost Cape Town’s prominence as a BPO offshoring destination for UK firms, says Jed Hewson, director of hosting provider 1Stream. “Cape Town is already well established as a BPO destination for the Euro zone and the UK,” says Hewson. “Companies like Talk Talk, Budget, ...
