Government Customer Support Update
for February 2008

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-- COMMUNITY NEWS --

Very Special Keynote!
I am extremely honored to welcome United States Representative Henry Cuellar, sponsor of the Federal Customer Service Enhancement Act, as our special invited keynote speaker at Government Customer Support Conference 2008 in April. Representative Cuellar’s topic will be, “Tomorrow’s Government Customer Service." Welcome Congressman!

GCSEA Finalists for 2008
Congratulations to the following finalists for this year's seventh annual Government Customer Support Excellence Awards. Winners will be announced at GCS '08 in Alexandria on April 28th.

Teamwork Category

  • EPA Call Center
  • IRS Employee Resource Center
  • New Hampshire Information Technology Help Desk Services

Technical Excellence Category

  • FAA Logistics Center -- Customer Care Center
  • Navy Defense Messaging Service Consolidated Help Desk
  • U. S. Army Information Technology Agency Consolidated Customer Service Center

Customer Focus Category

  • City of Norwalk, Connecticut IT Department
  • UWC Keyport Navy Marine Corps Intranet Transition Team
  • USA Services eGov Initiative

Overall Excellence Category

  • EPA Call Center
  • IRS Employee Resource Center
  • U. S. Army Information Technology Agency Consolidated Customer Service Center

Networking Outings in DC
Two Cgov networking activities are scheduled in conjunction with Government Customer Support Conference 2008 in Alexandria. Both are excellent opportunities to network with others while enjoying the splendid sights of Washington. You don’t have to attend the conference to participate. Reservations well in advance are highly recommended for both.

Monuments by Moonlight Tour
We’ll gather at the conference hotel on Monday evening, April 28 and travel as a group via Metro to Union Station for dinner (lots of choices) before the tour departs. Following the tour, we’ll return to the hotel as a group. Details and discounted tickets are available at www.trustedtours.com [click links for “Washington DC” and then “Monuments by Moonlight”]. Discounted tickets can be purchased at the web site now, but you’ll need to make reservations for the specific tour date (April 28) beginning March 1 at 202-832-9800. Vickie will be glad to take your questions at 800-213-2474.

Potomac Dinner Cruise
Our dinner cruise gathering aboard Nina’s Dandy on the Potomac is set for Tuesday evening, April 29. The boat will depart from Alexandria near the GCS site. Full cruise information and pricing is at http://www.dandydinnerboat.com/boats.htm. Only those who register and pay in advance and mention “Cgov” can be seated with the group. For reservations, call 202-832-9800.

Caution on Phone Acronyms
Judie at the Department of Labor advises that the new PDA phones do not show letters for each number on the key pad, so those users can’t dial telephone numbers comprised of acronyms. If you’re listing or publicizing only these, you may wish to also include the telephone number expressed as pure digits. Thanks Judie!

See You @ HDI
If you’re attending the Help Desk Institute’s Conference next month, plan to join me on Wednesday morning for Session 803 on elevations and let me know ASAP if you’re interested in joining a networking dinner outing for Government attendees.

Conference Lodging
Government Customer Support Conference: Limited rooms at the published Government rate are available at the conference hotel:
http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/DCAOTHF-AGC-20080426/index.jhtml

HDI Conference
Rooms at the published Government rate are available nearby:
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel
http://homewoodsuites1.hilton.com/en_US/hw/hotel

-- INFORMATION --

Segmentation of Government Services
-- http://www.usaservices.gov/aboutus/CustomerSegmentation.doc

Customer Second Life
-- http://www.customerthink.com/article/your_customers_are_flocking_second_life

vGov
-- http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/156690/1

Post-Call Surveys
-- http://rs6.net

Hosted Software
-- http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39051&dcn=e_tma

Privacy
-- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010102334.html

Email Records
-- http://www.governing.com/articles/1email.htm

Green IT
-- http://akamai.infoworld.com/pdf/whitepaper/Top_10_Reasons.pdf

Mitigating Attrition
-- http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/157293

-- RESOURCES --

Federal Customer Service Enhancement Act Update
-- http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39079&dcn=e_gvet

How Citizens Search
-- http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports

Blogging
-- http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/WyldReportBlog.pdf

Multilingual Translations
-- http://langtech.jrc.it/DGT-TM.html

-- OPPORTUNITIES --

Presenter Call
Knowledge Management – Closes February 5
-- http://www.e-gov.com/event_planning/cfp.asp?Conference=178

-- Webinars --

Green Data Centers -- February 12
-- https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet

The Best Service is No Service -- February 13
-- http://hthts.com

Citizen Service Award Nominations
Closes February 15
-- http://www.usaservices.gov/aboutus/citizen_service_award.php

Knowledge Management Research Opening
Hong Kong – Closes February 15
-- http://www.polyu.edu.hk/hro/postspec/96189.pdf

Customer Satisfaction Study
It’s last call to participate in a survey of government employees responsible for implementing customer satisfaction programs. To do so, email me ASAP. Results will be shared with participants.

IT Salary Survey
Results shared with participants
-- http://proj.cicresearch.com/survey/intweb.dll/project/web08/proj08766

-- EVENTS --

Social Media for Internal Communications
San Francisco, February 4-7
-- http://www.aliconferences.com/conf/social_media_intcomm0208/index.htm

Lean Six Sigma
Washington, February 11-12
-- http://www.potomacforum.org/?view=220

Call Center Conference
Miami, February 13-15
-- http://www.callcenterdemo.com/index.jhtml?CID=EM08

Geographic Information Systems
Washington, February 20-22
-- http://www.esri.com/events/feduc/index.html

Knowledge-Centered Support
Sydney, February 21
-- http://www.servicestrategies.com/emails/Sydney08_workshop.html

Content and Information Management
Boston, March 3-6
-- http://www.aiimexpo.com

9-1-1 Awards Gala
Washington, March 4
-- http://www.e911institute.org

Help Desk Institute
Dallas, March 9-12
-- http://www.ThinkHDI.com/HDI2008

Voice Search
San Diego, March 10-12
-- http://www.voicesearchconference.com

Internal Communications in Government
Washington, March 17-20
-- http://www.aliconferences.com/conf/internal_comm_gov0308/index.htm

VoiceCon
Orlando, March 17-20
-- http://www.voicecon.com/orlando/?priorityCode=CMDBVC17

IPv6 Networking
Washington, February 20-22
-- http://www.digitalgovernment.com/Agenda

Government Customer Support
DC Area, April 28-30
Registration discounts end 3/15
-- http://www.hthts.com/gcs.htm

Networking Monument Tour
Washington, April 28
-- EMail Daryl.L.Covey@noaa.gov

Networking Dinner Cruise
DC Area, April 29
-- EMail Daryl.L.Covey@noaa.gov

-- GOOD READING --

A Look Ahead @ ‘08
http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_2008CrossIndustryOutlook_government.pdf

Government’s Customer Service
http://www.sideroad.com/cs/column20.html

-- PARTING THOUGHT --

“We must acknowledge that no one can take the place of end users in telling us
how they like to be served and what makes for a positive experience.”
-- Nava Shaked



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