Why Do You Want A Call Center System?

Call centers – increasingly called “contact centers” as they incorporate inquires from web, e-mail, and fax sources in addition to phone calls – depend on technology. Call center systems provide benefits such as instant routing of important customers to the best agents, reduced hold times, more efficient scheduling of employees, and detailed reporting.

One distinction to note is between call center software and customer relationship management (CRM) applications. Call center software manages interactions, helping customers and corporations communicate with each other more efficiently. CRM applications are more focused on collecting and acting on information about your customers. Call center systems can connect to CRM systems to be more effective, but they don’t replace them.

A modern call center system provides several distinct and important benefits. The three main categories, all of which are interrelated, are: improving customer service, increasing efficiency and reducing costs, and improving management and reporting.

Your evaluation will depend on what’s most important to you -- if you see a call center as a “necessary evil,” you’ll want to focus on reducing costs. If customer service is a cornerstone of your business philosophy, you’ll want to emphasize that aspect in your search.

Improve customer service

The right call center system can have an immediate impact on customer satisfaction. Reducing hold times, letting callers know how long they’ll be waiting, and connecting them to the right agent or department the first time will all improve customers’ perception of your company. This can be an important differentiator for your business, particularly in highly competitive industries.

In addition, customer expectations are higher than ever. They want to get the same service no matter how they contact you – phone, email, or web. They expect you to have their information at your fingertips when they call, and if they called about a problem last week, they don’t want to explain the situation again. Upgrading can help you meet these expectations and keep customers from getting frustrated.

A good call center system works for people who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impediment, as well. This can include a special TTY number or text telephones and text-to-speech technologies. Depending on your customer base, you may also want to consider a system that can manage callers and agents who speak multiple languages.

Improve efficiency and reduce costs

Depending on the solution you choose, an investment now can reduce your costs almost immediately. You may be able to handle more calls with the same amount of staff, or the same number of calls more efficiently.

Despite the hefty price tag for call center hardware and software, the biggest expense in a call center is people. Since improved call handling can shave 10 or 20 seconds off each call, a call center that takes hundreds of calls per day will quickly save hours of valuable time per agent.