15 Call Center Management Software Must-Haves

CallCenterSoftwareMust-Haves1.jpg

Call Center managers looking to be at the top of the game should leverage the tools to do so. But how do you know what the best tools are? This blog post lists the top 15 tools that a progressive call center cannot afford to work without. If it is on this list and you don’t have it, you are definitely missing out.

Call Center Management Software Must-Haves

  1. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
    Every industry would have a few interactions that are common and which can be automated. With increasingly mobile consumers wishing to manage their own interactions, IVR has helped in automating routine interactions and reducing the cost of operations.
  2. Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)
    ACD will help levelling call spikes and optimally managing call center employees by effectively directing calls to available agents improving customer experience and reducing agent idle time.
  3. Predictive Dialer
    Predictive dialers intelligently dial outbound calls to customers based on inbuilt algorithms, placing the call when an agent is available and at the best possible time. This has a measurable impact on agent productivity and calls ratios.
  4. Skill Based Routing (SBR)
    SBR routes call to specific agents based on business rules, agent skillset, and/or customer preference. This reduces call transfers to a great extent, which minimizes the cost of operation and improves First Call Resolution.
  5. Call Recording
    Call recording automatically records calls and stores them to be played for a later time. This tool can help managers evaluate agent performance during a call, and tweak them to be better.
  6. Click-to-Call
    Click to call tool allows agents to easily place an outbound call by merely clicking on the phone number.
  7. Screen Pop-ups
    This tool automatically displays the caller information in the agent’s screen as soon as a call is connected. This helps the agent to have a preview of the customer, without having to swap multiple applications.
  8. Real-time Reporting
    Real-time reporting displays metrics (call rates, agent idle time, customer holding time, abandonment rates, etc) in real-time. This helps managers to make data-driven decisions that can have an immediate impact.
  9. Historical Reporting
    Historical reporting tool allows managers and supervisors to track the performance of their campaigns, departments, agents, etc to gain a comprehensive understanding of their performance. This helps them in accurately forecasting call volumes and staff their agents accordingly.
  10. Voice Broadcast
    This tool helps call centers to effectively communicate to a large audience by simultaneously placing an automated call to every contact in a targeted dialing list.
  11. Workforce Management (WFM)
    WFM tool helps managers in predicting call volume fluctuations and staffing agents accordingly. Understaffing will result in high abandonment rates and customer frustration, and losing business and overstaffing results in a huge waste of money.
  12. Business Tool Integration
    Call centre management software with API that are capable of integrating with third-party applications allows call centers to leverage advanced business tools with synchronized information across the entire system.
  13. Local Presence Caller ID
    Local Presence Caller IDs customizes your outbound caller IDs with local area codes increasing your connection rates. When agents match their caller ID to the local area code of the contact they are calling, the contact will more likely answer the call, or return the call if he fails to answer.
  14. Automatic Machine Detection (AMD)
    AMD tool helps dialers in identifying answering machines when the call is connected. This tool enables the system to connect the agent to the outbound call only if a human voice is heard at the other end of the call. This increases the productivity of the agent extremely, because most of the calls made by call centers are answered through answering machines.
  15. Multimedia Integration
    Multimedia Integration allows call center agents to communicate with customers in their preferred mode of channel (Email/SMS/Chat/Call/Social Media). It empowers your agents to handle all types of customer interactions across multiple communication channels.

Call Center managers ought to leverage advanced tools and technologies to be the best-of-the-best in the industry. The top 15 tools in the list should be a benchmark for organizations and managers when selecting the right call center software.