VIPdesk to Present Educational Session on Virtual Customer Care on March 24 at NCOF 2009

VIPdesk’s Sandy Ward Presenting “Answering the Call for Customer Care”


Alexandria, VA - March 17, 2009—Sandy Ward, Vice President of Sales with VIPdesk (www.vipdesk.com), the pioneer of virtual call center services, will present an educational session on virtual customer care, “Answering the Call for Virtual Customer Care”, on March 24, 2009 at the National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment (NCOF). In addition, after this session, Ward will moderate an interactive workshop for conference attendees who want to discuss implementing home/virtual agent programs.

In “Answering the Call for Virtual Customer Care”, Ward will review what organizations need to know in order to determine when the time is right to transition from centrally-located call centers to virtual customer care. This session will educate attendees on key issues shaping the virtual call center model including when and why to utilize home-based customer service, how companies can reduce costs and increase customer loyalty through utilization of a home-based customer service organization, and challenges and solutions involved with hiring, training, and managing a home-based workforce.

“VIPdesk is looking forward to attending the National Conference on Fulfillment this year, and helping educate conference attendees on the vital role that virtual customer care can play in helping companies streamline costs while increasing customer satisfaction, and thus, revenue,” says Mary Naylor, CEO of VIPdesk.

For more information on NCOF 2009 or to attend “Answering the Call for Virtual Customer Care”, go to www.ncof.com. For more information on VIPdesk, visit www.vipdesk.com.

About VIPdesk

VIPdesk specializes in delivering virtual call center solutions to premium brand leaders in several industries including retail, travel, auto and financial services. We serve more than 70 blue-chip clients with over 10 million customers and are continually recognized through numerous awards, including the Inc. 500, Inc. 5000, NCBEA Business Ethics Award, Stevie Awards for Women in Business and Smart CEO Future 50. To find out more about VIPdesk, visit www.vipdesk.com.

About NCOF

The National Conference for Operations & Fulfillment (NCOF) is the only conference for catalog, online, and multichannel retailers. NCOF is dedicated to providing information, ideas, and trends in operations management to help companies achieve greater productivity, efficiency, quality, cost control, customer satisfaction, and profitability. With a 19-year track record of success delivering buyers and sellers of operations and fulfillment products, services and systems, NCOF’s unique back-end focus makes it an important educational resource for direct-to-customer business. For more information or to register to attend NCOF, please visit www.ncof.com.

DMA will provide complimentary NCOF registrations for editorial staff of media outlets that cover multichannel direct marketing-related topics. To request press registration, please email DMA at pressregistration@the-dma.org. For a full list of our requirements for press credentials please, click here.

About Multichannel Merchant

Multichannel Merchant is the leading information source for senior-level executives at catalog, online, retail and b-to-b merchants. Our suite of print, online and event services takes these industry professionals to the heart of multichannel retailing, helping them stay on top of tactics and techniques that are crucial to improving market share and profitability—while integrating front-end and back-end operations and everything in between. Our editors provide the expert strategic advice and practical techniques that operations professionals urgently need to improve efficiencies, productivity, cost savings, and customer service covering the entire fulfillment process—from the moment an order is entered to its delivery at the customer’s doorstep. For more information, visit www.multichannelmerchant.com.

About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents more than 3,400 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 48 other nations, including half of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2008, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — spent $176.9 billion on direct marketing, which accounted for 52.1 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $2.057 trillion in incremental sales. Last year, direct marketing accounted for approximately 10 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also, there are today 1.6 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly support 9.3 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 10.9 million US jobs.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.

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