Contact center software is one of the most important business tools ever, because it is difficult to imagine business without a customer service department, isn’t it? And such a customer service department is a call center that is running thanks to contact center software.
But, as contact center software is a huge investment even for large companies, it is vital to choose it thoughtfully, based on your real needs and requirements. Bad choice of contact center software may generate big problems in the future, so pick it properly, and we will tell you how to do it.
What is contact center software?
Contact center software is a software tool that provides features and capabilities of VoIP telephony to service customer calls, both inbound and outbound, do workforce management, set tasks, communicate with team members, integrate other business processes and tools, and process other contact center operations.
In fact, contact center software is an all-in-one tool that gives you all features and functionalities to communicate with customers, provide customer service, collect customer feedback, and manage customer journeys. Surely, it also has some features for sales if you need them, and it relates to cold calling.
What is the difference between contact center software and call center software?
The main and most important difference between these two software platforms is that call center software is developed to handle customer calls only. This means that no other communication channels are available to use with this software.
The primary advantage of contact center software over call center solutions is that it can offer all available communication channels to use for inbound and outbound communication. It includes emails, web chats, messengers, social media, chatbots, video conferencing, and so on. In fact, you can interact with customers where they prefer to communicate, and clients can also switch between channels during the interaction without losing the progress of the conversation. This makes contact center software much more client-oriented and modern than call center software, and all studies prove that customers prefer some text channels over phone calls as the main customer support contact channel.
Also, contact center software offers much more self-service options than call center software. It relates to such tools as smart IVR systems, chatbots, external knowledge bases, social platforms, and so on. Self-service is one of the most important trends of the last years in the contact center industry, so the more self-service channels you offer, the higher customer satisfaction levels are.
Main contact center software features
- Call transfers – agents can switch a call to other agents in case of need. This happens when an agent isn’t qualified enough to deal with customer issues, or when a customer made the wrong choice in the auto attendant or IVR menu, which led him to the wrong department.
- Call hold – agents can put calls on hold. This is when the customer listens to that backstage music — in purpose to find some information regarding the customer request, contact another specialist to get some information or assistance, or for any other reason.
- Call routing – contact center software offers numerous call routing (call forwarding) options. Call routing is the process of connecting an inbound caller to an agent with the use of an ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) system based on pre-set rules, for instance, you can set up call routing to minimize agent idling time.
- Call logging – this is the feature that allows you to collect data about the call to transform it into real-time reports with all the statistical information you have to know about contact center performance.
- IVR system – one of the most important systems in the contact center by far. First of all, the IVR system is a powerful self-service tool that allows clients to deal with their issues on their own. Secondly, IVR collects data to enhance call routing efficiency, which means that without it you can’t set up intelligent call routing. Also, IVR can be used as an automated calling tool for customer feedback collection and as a call queue management tool to offer IVR callback.
- Third-party software integrations – you can integrate third-party tools with contact center software and boost your performance even more. Such tools as CRM systems, help desk software, payment systems, and so on are important parts of your business, and it is a perfect solution for you to integrate all these tools into an all-in-one interface to optimize your time management.
- Call monitoring and recording – you can listen to real-time calls in three different modes to deal with any issue. You can advise agents, listen to calls incognito, or even connect to a call as the third party of the call. Also, all calls are automatically recorded and stored, so you can listen to those recordings anytime you need.
- Intelligent analytics – you can check your contact center KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and key call center metrics on real-time dashboards which are automatically generated and provided by the system. They can be also customized to include metrics you need to track, but even basic configuration provides you with all the needed information for further analysis and decision-making.
- Outbound calling – you can do massive cold calls, up to 100 calls per hour, to enhance your telemarketing performance and boost conversion rates. Also, the system automates follow-up calls and allows you to provide agents with around 80% of the occupancy rate.
Also, there are many other features, including call scripting, multichannel communication, omnichannel routing, virtual phone numbers, SIP trunking, and many more.
Conclusion
As you can see, contact center software is a complete solution for providing customer service and building your own customer support department. It has some unique features which differentiate it from call center software. These features include multichannel communication and numerous self-service features.
Check this link if you want to learn more about call center software: https://voiptimecloud.com/call-center
