The most important aspect for customers when contacting a call center, is to get their requirement or problem quickly resolved and feel that the they were treated as an important caller. There are various ways one can contact a call center – there is a direct call via a published phone number, via email, using live chat or some via other method, such as letter writing. The age of the caller is sometimes a deciding factor with older people prefering to speak to someone, whilst younger people are often happy to use live chat. Voice calls can be frustrating when calling badly designed call centers. According to Alok Kulkarni Forbes Councils Member, writing for Forbes in his article, “Don't Neglect Your Contact Center in the Midst of Digital Transformation”, “The voice channel is often your customers’ first touch point with your brand -- and your first chance to make a strong initial impression. We all know that within a minute of meeting someone, we make and form first impressions. There's no doubt it’s even less time when it comes to a customer service call. Getting off on the right foot is critical to representing your brand well and building a lasting impression that leads to customer loyalty. Here's one frustration we've all experienced: You call into a company’s customer service center, and you dutifully enter your account number and state your name as requested through the IVR. Then, perhaps after a wait, you’re finally transferred to an agent. The first thing the agent asks for is the same exact information you already provided, tipping you over the edge of impatience and creating a frustrating first interaction with that brand.” So, setting up an efficient and customer-friendly call center can be a challenge. Whilst much of the call center experience depends on the agent, the software that drives the whole system is of major importance. Agents can be trained but call center software can be expensive and troublesome to change once installed.
Call Center Software
The choices can be endless but first it is best to lay down exactly what your requirements are. It is important to specify how your IVR will work and how the calls are queued and how the calls route to the correct group of agents. Agent skillsets are also important to log so that the most important calls from your best customers go the most skilled agent. The other aspect is outbound calling and auto-dialers which are used for marketing calls and contacting customers regarding existing cases. Call center software can be hosted on in-house equipment or can be cloud-based with the agents connected to the cloud system and the calls routed via the cloud. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of system, but it should be pointed out that many companies have migrated to cloud-based call centers with the whole system managed and supported by a third-party supplier. The only equipment in the call center will be screens and headsets with calls routed via the cloud system. With these hosted systems it is normal to pay rental charges rather than up-front capital costs which will be needed when the call center is purchased for in-house use. With the cloud-based system, agents log on via a web-browser and manage the incoming and outgoing calls by on-screen actions. To incorporate any extra features and functions in a cloud-based system, it is important that the call center software provider’s voice API platform is versatile so that a business’s CRM, or other specialist software, to be integrated.
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All incoming calls are manged by the system IVR so that the calls can be queued and routed to the most applicable agent depending on what information is input by the caller. According to Alice LaPlante, Brand Contributor for Forbes in her article; “6 Tips on Making Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Work for Your SMB”, “IVR systems are everywhere. Call any larger business: your bank, an airline, or a hospital and you’ll be greeted by a recorded voice that gives you instructions on how to proceed. You know the drill. “Press 1 if you’re an existing customer” and so on. Popular because they save businesses time and money in routing calls to the right people, IVR systems allow customers to serve themselves by leveraging touch-tone or, increasingly, voice-recognition programs, the latter of which allows callers to speak their preferences.”
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Conclusion
Modern call centers are increasingly being hosted in cloud-based systems and have integrated specially-designed IVRs and CRM systems. Other features increasingly being supported are voice-recognition programs. The choice of the call center software is of prime importance and should meet all the requirements necessary for the business.
