These days, there is no end to the number of software available for a call center. However, choosing one that is a right fit for your business can be an overwhelming task. You have to invest a lot of time, money, and energy in purchasing, implementing, integrating and training your agents on how to use the software. Therefore, it is necessary that you choose the right software for your call center.
We have come up with some points to be considered while selecting a call center software:
- Software Type
Primarily, there are four types of software available for a call center. They vary based on cost, user-friendliness, reliability, and security.
- On-premise software – It is installed on the systems located at your company premises.
- Hosted software – This is installed on the systems located off-site. You can access it via a network connection.
- Cloud-based software – This is hosted online and you can access it via an app installed on your computer or your mobile phone. Moreover, internet connectivity is required.
- Browser-based software – All the call center features like – telephony, IVR, call recording, call control, and others are integrated with your browser.
- Software Features
A software that has numerous options and functional capabilities available for the user can enhance its overall functioning capability. Following are the most common call center software features.
- Call recording – Records inbound and outbound calls.
- Call control – Provides features like hold, mute, warm transfer, blind transfer, and call conferencing.
- Call queues – This can be used to enhance the customer’s queue-waiting experiences.
- Click-to-call – Agents can simply click on a phone number to place outbound calls.
- International numbers – Displays local and toll-free phone numbers from multiple countries.
- Call Disposition Codes and Notes – This is used to add call summary notes and disposition codes to your call log.
Several other features like Voicemail, Predictive Dialer, Power Dialer, Real-time Reporting, Historical Reporting, Call Barging, Call Monitoring, Automatic Screen Pop, Skills-based Routing, Outbound Caller ID, are also available in a call center software.
- Business Tools Integration
It is vital to choose a software that has the option and capacity to integrate business tools like, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), helpdesk, chat, social networking platforms, e-commerce platforms, and marketing platforms. Integrating enables you to run your operations more efficiently and also helps in saving time. You can also opt for a software that has the capability to perform automated tasks.
Call center software solution with integrated business tools and automated task features will computerize recurring tasks for your team. Consider the following examples:
- When a customer call is missed, the software will create a new ticket in your helpdesk system. This ticket will contain the voicemail transcription and the call data.
- When a new customer contact is created in your CRM, the software will be updated with that contact as well.
- When a note is created in the software, it will also create a note in your e-commerce platform.
- When a new chat is completed, the software will get updated with the chat transcript.
- Software Flexibility
You software should be flexible enough to support all your business needs. For example, with browser-based software, agents/supervisors just need their laptop, headset, and an internet connection to do their job. Thereby, they can:
- Make and receive calls
- Access real-time reports
- Monitor live calls
- Participate in conference calls
You can also configure browser-based software in minutes and can customize the features to suit your business needs, with ease. This makes the following tasks simple.
- Hiring a remote workforce
- Scaling up and down
- Working while traveling
- Employing flexible agents
- Other Features
Following are some of the other features that you can look for in the software.
- It should be highly scalable and you should be able to perform the following tasks with minimum time, and effort, such as.
Add/remove agents.
Program the software to handle high call volume.
Customize features.
Update the software, and install plug-ins.
- The software should be easy to use. You and your agents should be able to master it within a short span of time.
- It should be easy to implement. You should be able to roll-out it with minimal effort and time.
- It should have an instruction manual that is simple to understand. Most of the software companies usually provide instructional documents and videos that are easy to follow. Some companies even offer to help train agents on-site.
- It is important that the software provider has a technical support that you can reach, if something goes wrong.
- Make sure that the software company offers a free trial period, for you to test the software and its features.
A software that has all these features does not come cheap. However, in the long run, an efficient call center software will definitely be beneficial for your call center.
