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Paul Stockford

Saddletree Research


Paul Stockford was the President and Chief Analyst at Saddletree Research, a veteran-owned business based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 1999, Saddletree Research provided focused communications industry research, including analysis of market trends, issues, technologies, and companies in the Contact Center industry with special emphasis on emerging technologies and developing markets.

In addition to over 30 years as an industry analyst, Paul has also done telecommunications research and analysis at Cahners In-Stat Group, Vanguard Communications and Dataquest. Paul began his telecommunications career with GTE.

Paul has authored numerous articles on contact centers and related technologies for several industry journals in the U.S. and abroad, and is a frequent speaker at major industry conferences in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia.  Since 1993 he has authored monthly columns in such magazines as Call Center, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Interface, Voice+ (U.K.), Enterprise Communications and Voice Processing.  He currently authors the monthly “View from the Saddle” column in Contact Center Pipeline magazine and is a member of that magazine’s editorial board.  In addition, he has sat on the Editorial Advisory Boards of several European industry magazines and has served on the advisory boards of a number of industry organizations and events. 

Paul is currently a member of the board of directors at the National Association of Call Centers (NACC), a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit industry organization based at Middle Tennessee State University.  He also serves as research director for the NACC where he is directly involved in research activities on behalf of the NACC membership.  He is a regular contributor to the monthly NACC “In-Queue” newsletter with a circulation of over 8,000 contact center professionals. 

Paul graduated cum laude from California State University at San Francisco with a BS degree in Marketing and holds an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Author Wall of Fame

What is one thing other people don’t know about you?
To quote Rockin’ Rod Stewart, “Every picture tells a story, don’t it?”

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Articles by Paul Stockford

The Customer Service-Support-Experience-Journey

Over the years, definition of customer service remained essentially the same until customer communications channels began to expand.

Strategy Customer Experience


Phone Rage, Incivility and Why I Love Westerns

It seems that rude and disrespectful behavior is becoming more and more common these days.

People Culture


The Year of the Agent

It’s clear that companies need a greater focus on people, alongside changes in technology.

People


Remembering Greg Sherry

Greg's legacy at Verint will be one of leaning in, investing in others, lending a happy helping hand, keeping the customer at the heart of the business, and bringing out the best in one another.

Strategy Culture


Employee Engagement and the Quality Management Renaissance

What we believe is driving this renewed interest, or renaissance, if you will, in QM is an industry focus on employee engagement that is driving the majority of operational changes in the contact center.

Technology Workforce Optimization


Rosie the Robot Meets Margot the Wine Bot

Chatbots work best when the user has a clear idea of a question in mind, and that is usually the case in customer service.

Technology Self-Service


Babylon, Black Ink and Biometrics

In the contact center, authentication issues have become of paramount importance as such security techniques as passwords and ID numbers are increasingly proven to be ineffective in the fight against fraudsters.

Technology Data Security


What Would Miss Manners Say?

Surprisingly, how to address a customer during an interaction is not part of agent training in the majority of contact centers.

Strategy Service Delivery


Contact Center 2018: A Fireside Chat

The contact center has become a focal point of business intelligence.

Technology Vendor - Management


2018: The Times They Are a-Changin’

Back in the dark days, contact center employees were considered to be disposable assets, easily replaced by a revolving door in the human resources department.

People Culture


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