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Providing a good customer experience goes beyond simply making the sale. You also need to ensure customers are supported when they have post-purchase queries or issues. As a result, call centers are essential for most businesses. While it’s a good idea to keep an open line of communication with customers, modern consumers use multiple communication platforms. This requires you to establish a call center that does far more than just handle calls. This may seem like a big request, but with the right call center software, you can successfully pull it off.
You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to modern call center software and technology. There are many solutions available to address issues that call centers encounter, whether it involves customer service, technical support, telemarketing, or more. You’ll also need to decide whether you’ll handle your call center in-house, or if you’ll outsource to a service provider like Helpware.
Features to Look For in Call Center Analytics Software
You’ll have to consider the specific needs of your business in order to choose the best call center analytics software for your needs. What industry are you in? What does a typical call entail, and what are you hoping to achieve? After assessing the needs of your business, draw up a list of requirements. This will guide you when choosing the perfect call center analytics software.
Regardless of your industry, certain features have proven to be near-universally useful. Still, each key feature has its upsides and downsides. You’ll have to make careful considerations to determine what’s right for your business. Here are some features to take into account:
Multichannel Support
Modern call centers do far more than just handle phone calls. They’re capable of handling varied communication channels, including texts, emails, chat apps, and more. This has become increasingly necessary in the modern world where consumers have embraced multiple communication channels. So, when you’re deciding what call center analytics software is right for your business, consider whether it has multichannel support.
With multichannel support, customers will be able to connect with agents regardless of what communication platform they’re using. This ease of availability drastically improves the customer experience, which in turn leads to greater customer loyalty. Furthermore, it gives you a better opportunity to learn about your clients. Using tracking and data analysis capabilities of your call center analytics software, you can gain multiple data sets from different communication platforms. This will allow you to make informed decisions regarding your products, services, marketing, and customer support.
Omnichannel Support
Although a multichannel approach is useful, you can take things even further by leveraging omnichannel support. With multichannel support, customers can communicate using multiple communication channels. Omnichannel support ensures that customers can jump between communication channels without having to rehash past conversations. You achieve this by having all the communication channels integrated with each other. Consequently, call center agents can easily view a client’s past emails or texts, even if the customer is currently making a call.
Cloud-based Calling
Cloud-based calling, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), uses the internet to handle calls instead of a phone line. It has become popular because it’s cheaper and easier to install than landlines. Call center software cloud technology doesn’t require on-premises infrastructure, thus eliminating maintenance costs. For businesses, especially small businesses hoping to save money, it’s worth seriously considering cloud-based solutions, for instance free VoIP phone services.
Call and Screen Recording
If you want to always provide the best customer experience, you must provide adequate training for your agents. You can do this by assessing the current performance of your employees and pinpointing all the strengths and weaknesses. The aim isn’t to punish or reward agents, but simply to illustrate ways agents can improve. You can assess the performance of your agents by utilizing call center quality monitoring software. Such software often makes use of call and screen recording. These help you determine what goes into a successful interaction with customers. It can also show you which mistakes lead to unhappy customers.
Security
When dealing with customers, you may end up handling very sensitive information, including financial and private details. Hence, your communication channels must remain secure. Clearly, data breaches negatively affect your customers. Even if the breach is not your business’s fault, it can tarnish your reputation, making it very difficult to rebuild trust. To prevent these issues from arising, ensure that your call center software has robust security features, including firewalls, advanced encryption, and intruder detection.
Types of Call Center Analytics Software
In addition to determining what key features you require, you’ll need to pick the correct kind of call center software for your business. With so many options on the market, it’s easy to led astray. To avoid needlessly wasting money with trial and error, do the appropriate research to learn what each kind of call center software offers, and how it can help your business grow.
Hosted
Hosted contact centers are located at your service provider’s physical location instead of yours. Service is provided remotely via solutions such as cloud technology. The terms “hosted” and “cloud-based” are often used interchangeably. There is a difference, however. Cloud-based call centers are a subsection of hosted call centers, which encompass a wider array of call centers, including those that rely on virtual call center software.
Cloud-based
As previously discussed, call center cloud software utilizes the internet instead of landlines to make calls. Many businesses are turning to cloud-based solutions because of the numerous advantages it provides. In addition to being cheaper to install and maintain, cloud-based calling is also very scalable. This allows you to increase your call center’s capacity without having to invest in on-premises infrastructure. You’re also able to scale things down easily during times of reduced business activity, saving you money.
Cloud-based software can also increase the security of your business. Cloud technology service providers employ thousands of workers who are dedicated to monitoring their software. They take security seriously because their reputation depends on it. This results in more secure telecommunications than what you could achieve with on-site hardware, which is subject to human error and mismanagement.
On-premises
On-premises call center software is the more traditional method of doing things. The software is tied to a specific location. While this may be suitable for small businesses, it does come with a couple of downsides. This has led to it falling out of favor as businesses have turned to more modern solutions.
One of the biggest issues is that on-premises call center software requires agents to be on-site. This is increasingly unattractive in a post-COVID world where many employees prefer hybrid work styles. Additionally, scaling up your call center requires you to invest in expensive hardware that is likely to go obsolete very quickly in today’s rapidly changing tech landscape.
Browser-based
Browser-based call centers allow customers to access an agent with a simple press of a button on a webpage. Calls are made via VoIP. Many customers prefer this because it’s convenient, and it also has many benefits for your business. It allows you to maintain and update your agents’ software without having to distribute new software to your customers. You also save time and money - browser-based call center software is easy to install and you don’t have to worry about maintaining physical hardware.
Top 5 Call Center Analytics Software for 2023
When choosing the best call center software for your business, consider the following solutions, as they come with some key advantages.
1. Zendesk
Zendesk is a popular help desk software that offers many features. Agents receive a centralized workspace where they can view all the information necessary to aid customers efficiently. Agents will be using this a lot, as Zendesk supports numerous communication channels, including live chat, email, messaging, and voice calls. Zendesk is also useful for its ticketing system, which ensures that customers receive help quickly. After a customer contacts the call center, a ticket is created and added to a queue. Customers are reassured that help is on the way, while agents are given access to tools such as routing, CSAT ratings, time tracking, service level agreements, and more to ensure they work with maximum efficiency.
2. Twilio Flex
As the name might suggest, Twilio Flex shines with its flexibility. It allows you a great deal of customization in terms of its features and its pricing. The cloud-based software allows you to choose which platforms to connect with your customers. The options are numerous, including voice calls, email, SMS texts, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, and more. With the pricing, you can pick between per-hour pricing which costs $1 per hour used or per-month pricing which comes with a $150 flat rate per user.
3. RingCentral
RingCentral is an affordable VoIP service provider that is simple to set up. It also offers high-definition audio and video, which makes it convenient to establish meetings and conferences with customers. RingCentral provides plenty of convenience to your customers through its “RingOut” feature which allows one-touch calling from any phone or internet-enabled computer. There are four subscription plans available, with the cheapest costing $19.99 per month and the most expensive being $62.99 per month.
4. Dialpad AI Contact Center
Dialpad excels thanks to its use of AI-based voice intelligence, which you can use to analyze calls. It also allows you to transcribe live calls, which can be useful if a call is transferred to another agent. Clients also benefit from Dialpad, as they can begin their conversation on their smartphone and seamlessly switch to their computer. Customers won’t have to worry about their sensitive data being exposed either, as Dialpad has a suite of built-in security features.
5. Avaya Contact Center
Avaya has been in the industry for a long time, and it’s been tried and trusted by many. The contact center software is perfect for the modern world that embraces a hybrid workplace. It allows you to remotely monitor your employees’ application usage, processes, and schedule adherence. Agents are also more efficient with Avaya because of its AI-driven voice-to-text-transcriptions that deliver prompts and guidance based on words or phrases spoken by customers.
Found The Perfect Call Center Software? Find Your Outsourcing Partner Next
Determining the correct call center software for your business is no easy task. Nevertheless, it’s worth the effort. With the right call center software, you can increase the productivity of your agents. Not only does this result in greater job satisfaction, but it also allows them to more efficiently serve customers. This, in turn, leads to happier, more loyal customers.
As discussed, you’ll have to consider many variables and take into account the specific needs of your business. Once you’ve found the call center software that’s the perfect fit, you’ll also need to consider whether to handle your call center internally or outsource the job. Doing things in-house gives you a great degree of control. Outsourcing is cost-effective. Furthermore, outsourcing makes scaling your business easy. With a partner like Helpware at your side, your outsourcing journey will be hiccup-free.
Helpware’s Outsourcing Solutions
Helpware can provide you with a tailored team with expertise across the right communication channels. Whether you need chat support, email support, or telephone answering services, we have the right people for the job. We also provide technical teams that focus on first-pass resolutions for any technical issues. Our teams also provide support in over 25 different languages, making it easier than ever for you to expand your business’s reach.
Book a meeting with Helpware today, and let’s start discussing how to grow your business with tailored solutions.
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