Why is The Selection of The Right Call Center Software Essential?
Every day customers reach out to a business to resolve their issues related to products and services. Each interaction is an opportunity to grow your business. Competing in the market is not enough for a company; it is more than required because a poor customer service experience can even push your loyal clients to competitors. Enter Call Center Software as a suitable solution to achieve your customer service goals. However, investing in this technology is a big decision that requires time, effort and money. You should evaluate your business requirements and consider the following factors to find the best software for efficient call management.
Factor 1: Call Center Software Type
Call centre systems can vary in terms of cost, type, ease of use, security, reliability and deployment. This is why you should particularly consider the kind of call centre system you will invest in. For instance, they are available as on-site, hosted, cloud and browser-based systems. Companies can select the best software for their business by evaluating their needs and goals. This way they can provide the top-notch customer service your customers expect.
Factor 2: Call Centre Software Features
After deciding the type of call centre system, you should start listing the features your team needs to ensure a superior customer service experience. For instance, automatic call distributor (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR), skill-based routing, call queuing, call monitoring, and call recording are important features that streamline the incoming call processes. Likewise, call barging, whisper coaching and auto-dialling modes help efficiently manage outbound campaigns. Call centres can also access real-time and historical analytics to make informed decisions on improvement. Your chosen system should have these features to get the desired outcomes.
Factor 3: Business Apps/Tools Integration
Another important aspect to consider while investing in a call centre solution is its integration capabilities. Your software should allow integration with CRM, social networking sites, chat, helpdesk, and other business tools. This will transform your team’s productivity and efficiency by automating various routine, repetitive tasks. For instance, in case of a missed call, the system automatically generates a new ticket containing call data and voicemail transcription. Moreover, the software also updates the chat transcript after a new chat.
Factor 4: Flexibility & Scalability
Technological advancements have made call centre solutions more flexible and scalable than ever. Browser-based call centre technology enables users to access the system on any internet-connected device regardless of location. Thus, with just the internet, headset and laptop, your sales and customer service agents can initiate and receive calls, benefit from conference calls and collaborate on business matters. You can do this with hosted and cloud solutions. Meanwhile, the latest solution also allows users to be added and removed quickly. Similarly, you can scale up and down considering your business needs.
Factor 5: Security & Data Protection
Keeping important business and customer data secure is critical today as cyberattacks have become common. Companies store different information in contact centres, a major target of data breaches. You should select a call centre solution and service provider that fulfils privacy and security requirements and uses the latest measures to keep data secure from breaches. For instance, many companies consider on-premises systems more secure than cloud solutions. However, cloud service providers also use advanced measures to ensure data security.
Factor 6: Facilitate Omnichannel Communication
Today, customer expectations are higher than ever so companies should offer them to communicate in their preferred digital channel. You should choose the call centre system that facilitates communication through email, phone calls, chats, instant messaging apps, social media, SMS etc. This will allow your agents to manage all communication channels through one unified system increasing efficiency. Omnichannel platforms save your agent time spent on switching apps and contribute to better customer service. Still, most customers prefer phone calls over other communication channels to contact a business.
Factor 7: User-Friendly Interface
Once you have chosen scalable and flexible call centre solutions with the right type and features, evaluate them considering ease of use. A user-friendly interface streamlines your routine operations, allowing agents to manage incoming and outgoing calls faster and provide more effective support. When your agents can easily navigate the software, it saves their time, makes them more productive, and increases customer satisfaction.
Factor 8: Customer & Technical Support
Managing on-premises solutions is complex and employees require training on using the system. However, a cloud-based system is easy to handle as you can use it on mobile apps. When selecting the call centre solution, choose the service provider that offers the customer service and technical support you need. Likewise, you can add more features according to your inbound and outbound calling needs to make things easier for your teams. For instance, the IVR feature in the software enables companies to provide round-the-clock support. It allows customers to self-service to avoid wait time or connect with live agents for issue resolution.
Factor 9: Use Free Trial
Companies can also use the free version of the call centre system for an extended time to understand the system and evaluate different use cases. Most service providers already offer a free version so you can ask your teams to invest their time and energy to understand the system by making and receiving calls and using different features. This will also help you choose the best call centre solutions that align with your business goals. Moreover, companies may not continue the business operations during disasters, emergencies or system malfunctioning with on-premises systems. Cloud call centre solutions allow business continuity during every situation and offer advanced data recovery plans.
Final Thoughts
Are you deciding to modernise your call centre operations to increase customer satisfaction and improve productivity? Invest in robust Call Center Software to streamline your calling processes and provide the service quality they expect from your business. However, the aforementioned factors should be considered before investing in the technology to get the best solution. Contact CherryBerry UCM for further assistance in choosing a reliable system for your business.
