In today’s evolving market landscape, businesses are looking for innovative ways to provide excellent customer service. Hence, many businesses are adopting cloud-based call center software.
However, choosing an ideal call center software is a challenging task. There are so many different call center software in the market. It can be a daunting task to choose the software that fits your business perfectly. Choosing the wrong software for your business invites several problems like poor customer service, unnecessary operation costs, and poor call management.
To help you come out of this situation and make the best decision, we have prepared this guide, especially for you.
In this blog, you will learn the tactics to choose the right call center software for your business, no matter what size your business is (small, medium, or large scale). Moreover, we will discuss several factors you should consider when selecting call center software.
What is Call Center Software?
Call center software is an advanced technology that facilitates clear communication between a company and its customers via text messages, phone calls, emails, and live chats. The goal of the call center software is to solve customer inquiries related to business products and services by providing 24/7 customer support.
Benefits of Call Center Software
It’s surprising to see how these three-letter words carry huge benefits for a business. Below are some benefits of contact center software for a business:
1. Boosts productivity:
Call center software boosts productivity by effectively managing incoming and outgoing phone calls. It also automates several business tasks and routes customers’ calls to the appropriate agents or departments. As a result, staff can focus on doing other important tasks, leading to higher productivity.
2. Save money:
Businesses can reduce their operation cost and save valuable time by utilizing cloud contact center software. Setting up cloud-based call center software doesn’t require investment in special hardware and there is no need to worry about the maintenance cost as well.
Moreover, with features like IVR and chatbots, regular inquiries and tasks are handled effectively without real human involvement. As a result, businesses can save money and time by cutting off hiring employees for a service that software can do for them completely.
3. Improve customer support:
With contact center software, businesses can enhance customer support. The software provides agents with the information they need to resolve customer issues quickly and effectively. Moreover, it assists businesses in identifying areas for improvement and tracking customer satisfaction.
4. Build a professional image:
A business looks professional when they are available every time to receive customers’ calls and solve their issues. Cloud-based software helps a business create a professional image by handling all these tasks.
Why is it Important to Choose the Right Call Center Software?
As already discussed, call center software is a great asset for businesses of all sizes and types. It influences business operations and customer satisfaction. Hence, it is paramount to choose the right call center solution for your business.
Here are some reasons why it is important to choose the ideal contact center software:
1. To meet the business needs:
Every business has its unique needs and requirements. Likewise, cloud-based call center software comes with varieties of features and functionality with varied pricing options.
It is important to choose the right call center software from the list because the ideal contact center software will align with your business needs, handle call volumes, and has all the features you are looking for.
2. To provide excellent customer experience:
The chosen cloud-based solution directly impacts customer service and customer experience. With the right software, agents will gain customer history beforehand and can provide personalized support to each customer leading to enhanced customer satisfaction.
3. To increase efficiency and productivity:
The optimal call center software has all the necessary features, integration capabilities, flexibility, and scalability capacity that helps automates regular business tasks, streamline business operations, and improve staff performance, leading to improved efficiency and productivity.
On the other hand, the wrong software lacks these features and fails to match the business needs and workflows.
4. Scalability:
Every business keeps changing based on the market needs. Thus, it is vital to select a contact center software that can grow with the business’s growth and accommodate changes in the total call volume, number of staff members, and software.
Also, businesses can prevent frequent software replacements and disruptions by investing in software that can grow with them.
5. Reduce cost:
Selecting an optimal contact center software results in cost savings. It’s because you will be paying only for the features you need. Also, the software will eliminate the need to hire staff by automating tasks and providing self-service options to clients. On the contrary, investing in the wrong software can lead to wasting additional costs.
What Factors Should You Consider When Selecting Call Center Software?
You should consider several factors when selecting call center software. Some of those factors are:
1. Business needs:
Before selecting the software for your business, first determine your business needs. Ask yourself several questions like what do you want this software to do for you? Do you need it to handle calls only? What features do you seek in software? What is your budget range? Once you have answered these questions, start listing out varied software available in the market.
2. Size of your business:
Your business size directly influences the type of contact center software you need. Call center software is designed to suit various business types like small, medium, or large-scale companies. For example, if your business is small, choose software with basic features rather than choosing software with advanced VoIP features and capabilities.
3. Features and functionality:
Access the features and functionality offered by the software. Some basic features include call routing, IVR, automatic call distribution, call monitoring, call transfer, integration with CRM and other business systems, multi-channel communication support, call reporting, flexibility, scalability, and customization options. Then select the one that meets your business requirements and objectives.
4. User-friendly interface:
You should also consider the simple design and user-friendly dashboard of contact center software. Both agents and customers must find it easy to use. It will slow down business workflow and reduce overall efficiency if it has a complex interface.
5. Cost:
You should consider the cost of the software. The software’s cost can range from fifty dollars to hundreds of dollars. Filter the software of a list and choose the software that comes in handy with your budget. Also, remember to check if it has all the features you are looking for.
6. Provider’s reputation:
Examine the reputation of the software provider in the industry. Read the customer reviews on different platforms and know whether the provider is trustworthy and has a good background. The services of an unreliable provider may not be what they promise and may scam you.
7. Security and Compliance:
You should choose software that adheres to industry standards and regulations like GDPR or HIPAA. These regulations ensure data security and privacy.
8. Customization option:
Determine if the software is customizable and that it permits you to customize workflow, scripts, dashboards, and reports.
Features to Consider
The key features to consider in contact center software are:
- Call handling: The software must handle all inbound and outbound calls effectively.
- Call routing: The software should also have call routing features that route incoming phone calls to suitable agents and departments.
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR): This feature enables callers to receive the required information through pre-recorded messages using voice or keypad inputs without talking to a live agent. It also provides a menu option for the caller to transfer a call to an available agent if necessary.
- Automatic Call Distribution (ACD): It automatically receives incoming calls and transfers phone calls to the available agents or the most appropriate agents based on predefined rules.
- Multi-channel support: It enables customers to reach out to businesses through various communication channels like email, phone, chat, and social media.
- Call recording: The software must have the ability to record calls. Businesses can use those recorded calls to train new staff or settle disputes.
- CRM integration: Integrating cloud contact center software with a CRM system will give you a complete view of your customers.
- Call analytics and reporting: It provides information on the average number of phone calls daily, wait time, call status, and agent performance.
- Security and compliance: The software should adhere to general regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, etc.
- Call queuing: This feature holds the caller in a virtual queue during peak time until the agents become available. It also plays music for a caller and informs about the average wait time.
Conclusion
To conclude, call center software is a valuable tool for every business irrespective of its size and industry type. It helps to improve customer experience with the business, save cost, boost productivity, create a professional image of a company, and so on.
Similarly, several factors must be evaluated when choosing the right cloud contact center software for a business. These factors include business needs, features in software, scalability, customization options, cost, provider’s reputations, security, etc.
Assess these factors and select the software that meets your business demands. Needless to say, failing to choose the right software may negatively affect business operations.