Table of Contents
Call center systems contribution characteristics with both standard business phone systems ( besides known as PBX systems ) and customer service / help oneself desk solutions. At the same meter, call center software offers a count of dedicate features for both agents and supervisors that ca n’t be found in other types of business communications solutions .
This buyers guide will cover the major differences and points of overlap between these software categories to help you understand which best fits your needs. We ‘ll besides highlight the specific functionality that can lone be found in a truthful call center solution.
here ‘s what we ‘ll cover :
What is call center software?
Simply put, this is an umbrella term for applications dedicated for consumption in either a conventional or cozy address center. The closely relate term “ contact center software ” is in many cases a synonym, but besides refers to features used in call centers that handle a number of communication channels in addition to voice ( for example, electronic mail, moment message, SMS textbook, social media, and live old world chat ) .
Call center software supports the agents whose job it is to assist customers over the phone, or via one of those other channels. It besides supports the supervisors who oversee the bid center ‘s operations .
Standard features and applications
here are some common functionalities you can expect to find in a distinctive bid center software package :
Agent Desktop Interface in Five9
| Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) | Parks incoming calls in a queue, where callers wait until an agentive role is available . Most birdcall center systems are able of a extra mode of ACD known as skills-based route, which distributes calls to agents based on rules that factor in agent skills and performance metrics . Simpler modes of ACD can be found in standard business call systems . |
| Interactive Voice Response (IVR) | The engineering underlying the voice menu that allow callers to complete actions over the telephone via spokesperson or computer keyboard remark . IVR systems share similarities with car attendants, but are much more compromising, enabling callers to do things such as paying a bill or checking an report balance . IVR systems are defining components of inbound call center solutions. Businesses that only need to direct callers to the right extension do n’t need IVR ; a standard clientele phone system and an car attendant will suffice . |
| Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) | A slang term for integrations between call systems and customer relationship management ( CRM ) systems. CTI integrations add features both to CRM systems and call focus on systems . CRM systems gain click-to-dial functionality, where agents click on a customer ‘s phone number in a database of contacts to dial out . Contact center systems gain “ screen pop ” ( shield population ) functionality, or displays that immediately appear on contact center agents ‘ screens when they receive an inbound call . Screen pops pull data about the inbound caller from the CRM system to help the agent better manage the interaction. Read more: MBA Programs | Online or On Campus |
| Auto dialers | Applications that automatically dial numbers from a list or at random. There are 3 major types :
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| Workforce scheduling | Enables prediction of staffing requirements based on historic data . |
| Performance analytics and reporting | Captures and analyzes information about agent interactions ( frequently via integration with a call recording application for easy retrieval of trouble calls ) . This information is fed into agentive role scorecards and reports on team-wide statistics such as abandonment rate and average clock in queue . |
| Call center scripting | Enables supervisors to program agent scripts for sales calls and customer serve calls. besides allows supervisors to control operational rules for calls and generates fields that feed data from calls into the CRM arrangement . |
| Monitor/whisper/barge | These are three criterion call see features used by call center supervisors :
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How call center software differs from PBX and customer service software
Call center systems are built on the same engineering as business telephone systems, and offer many of the lapp features. additionally, help desk and customer service solutions can be viewed as a speciate category of contact center software .
Here are the major differences:
- Standard business phone service providers don’t offer applications such as IVR, dialers, and skills-based routing.
- Call center systems are only appropriate for employees who are working in sales or support teams, though some systems include features for front office employees. Many call center vendors also offer standard phone systems and can deploy both, if needed.
- Licenses for call center systems are, on average, significantly more expensive than licenses for standard phone systems.
- Help desk and customer service solutions offer “trouble ticketing” functionality, i.e., when a customer contacts support, a ticket is created to help agents track the issue until it’s resolved. This functionality can be added to call center systems, but it requires integration with a CRM system.
- Help desk and customer service solutions are only appropriate for inbound contact centers. They don’t offer features for managing sales campaigns in outbound contact centers.
Similarities and differences between call center, PBX, and customer service software
What type of buyer are you?
We ‘ve already seen that there ‘s significant overlap between call center systems, clientele call systems, and customer service systems. different categories of buyers will need different types of solutions :
- Small offices needing call queueing can usually make do with a standard business phone system. (See examples here.)
- Outbound call centers focusing on sales will need a dedicated call center system such as the examples listed on this page.
- Inbound call centers focusing on support can use either:
- A call center system integrated with a separate CRM system for trouble ticketing functionality.
- A customer service or help desk system with built-in trouble ticketing functionality.
- Collections agencies need to work with vendors specializing in deployments for this industry segment. These vendors offer tools to help maximize debt recovery rates and to ensure that call centers operate in compliance with applicable regulations.
- Virtual contact centers, i.e., contact centers that rely heavily on remote workers, will need solutions that offer robust mobile apps and softphones.
Market trends to understand
Contact center software has evolved as customers ’ expectations and needs have shifted with the rise of mobile devices and sociable media. The following trends are peculiarly authoritative to consider when selecting a solution :
Multi-channel contact centers: As more customers seek to engage businesses through other channels than spokesperson ( for example, SMS text, live chew the fat, and e-mail ), liaison concentrate software has evolved to enable agents to interact via these extra channels. Interactions across all channels in a multi-channel arrangement feed into a unite agent queue .
Social media: Contact concentrate software vendors are increasingly offering modules that leave agents to manage interactions via social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. New analytics tools besides help businesses data-mine social media for signs of likely customer issues before phones start ringing.
Virtual queuing/web callback: Traditionally, callers had to wait on hold to maintain their place in an ACD queue. immediately, a new engineering known as web recall or virtual line up allows callers to “ about ” hold their place in the queue after they hang up in ordain to receive a recall former. While this technology has proven democratic with consumers, it ‘s however not a standard offer in call center systems. If this is a must-have sport, you ‘ll need to shortlist vendors that offer it .
Speech/text analytics: Call center reporting traditionally focused on metrics such as call length and call abandonment. now, systems are emerging that can analyze audio data to detect anger, frustration and other emotions in callers ‘ vocal tones. The results of this analysis can be used to identify trends in the performance of agents and the touch center as a wholly .
text analytics is used to scour textual interactions ( for example, emails, SMS text messages, and moment messages ) for certain keywords that indicate frustration or satisfaction on the part of the customer. While knock-down, these tools are silent relatively rare offerings compared to standard applications such as ACD and call record .
