For many years, customer service call centers have been the primary mode of communication between businesses and customers. However, in recent years, people have opted for messaging rather than calling customer service. According to BusinessWire, 53% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 prefer to contact a company via digital media rather than calling them. To cope with this, businesses must adapt to new trends by incorporating the latest call center technologies.Â
There are times when your call center might also have a heavy call traffic surge. In this situation, having a handful of agents is not enough. Your company must have one of the best contact center software solutions that meet your unique needs.Â
Customers are the foundation of any business. So it is essential to satisfy them in the best way possible. However, adapting new technologies to meet market trends can help you understand your customers better.Â
Moreover, all businesses have different preferences when choosing contact center software. Some might want to transfer the customer’s call to the appropriate department, while others might want to direct the calls to the IVR system. Some businesses prefer to deal with every customer independently, while others want some AI tools to deal with them.Â
However, some successful ones want to incorporate all the contact center technologies and use them according to the need. In short, all businesses have their preference regarding contact center software.Â
Now you might be thinking about how to choose the best contact center software. Don’t worry! We have jotted down some tips and practices to choose the best contact center software. Let’s jump into the article to learn about it.Â
1. Always Keep Integrations in Mind
Integration is the first thing you might consider while choosing the best contact center solution for your business. Your contact center software would not be a stand-alone system. You need to integrate it with many other departments like marketing, sales, etc.Â
So always select a software that can integrate well with all your other software and tools. These might include your CRM, management, marketing, business intelligence, social media platforms, and more. Hence, integration is an essential feature of the best contact center software.Â
2. Security and Compliance
In an era full of data breaches, you must be very careful about the security and compliance of your contact center software. Customers are your important assets, so keeping their information sound and secure is important. In this regard, you should consider software that uses top-notch encryption and other security measures to protect your information.Â
It is vital to choose software that has recognition with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to ensure its security level.Â
3. Unified Software Solution
Your company might have different software and tools for different departments with separate data silos. These data silos can sometimes create a significant mess when making informed business decisions.Â
Let’s suppose a business owner wants to adopt some new changes in the business processes. He must have to go through all the data to come up with the solution. But going through multiple data silos can sometimes become too confusing and time-consuming.Â
To overcome this problem, you need to incorporate a system in your business that has a unified solution. To your surprise, the best contact center solution can help you in this situation. Try to have a unified software solution for your contact center that eliminates all your data silos. In this way, making decisions would be much easier and less confusing.Â
Moreover, you can face challenges using separate tools to analyze chat messages, phone interactions, email communications, and other communication channels. These separate tools don’t paint the whole big picture.Â
An integrated, comprehensive software solution can help you overcome this. It can analyze all interactions between your agents and your customers. As a result, it provides you with a unified, comprehensive view of the customer journey that allows for historical contextual analysis.
3. Interactive Voice Recording System
Some businesses believe that they do not need contact center software. This is because they have live agents for entertaining their customers. But this approach can lead you to face customer frustration and dissatisfaction. How? During heavy call traffic, your customers have to wait in a long call queue. As a result, they get frustrated and unsatisfied.Â
The use of call routing and IVR systems can eliminate this potential issue. Do you want to know how? It is simple. It is not necessary for an agent to entertain every customer itself. Let’s take an example of a mobile network company.Â
A customer wants to know the unsubscription code of his existing package. In this situation, an IVR system can guide him in the best possible way. There is no need for the live agent in this scenario.Â
The right contact center solution can overcome all your issues. It can answer or route incoming calls depending on the caller’s input. For example, the IVR asks the customer to press a particular button for their query.Â
With this technology, your business phone system can handle many simple solutions for your customers. Also, with intelligent call routing, you won’t waste time and resources trying to get callers to the correct department.
4. Analytics Tools
An essential feature of any contact center software is the analytical tools. A contact center software is incomplete without analytical and metrics tools. The metrics will help you to judge your agents’ and the new system’s performance. Moreover, it will help you identify the places where you need improvements.Â
Moreover, data is everything in the modern business world. It can assist you with tasks ranging from improving workforce management to increasing the efficiency of calls. You’re doing your entire organization a disservice if you use business phone systems that don’t track metrics and provide analytics.
Taking Away
Despite the popularity of digital channels, many customers prefer to contact businesses by phone. They want to speak with a live person, receive more personalized service, and receive prompt action.
As a business, you want to be able to serve all types of customers, from young people who spend a lot of time on social media and messaging platforms to professionals who want quick, straightforward phone responses.
A good contact center software solution would be invaluable in such cases. You want one that empowers agents improves the customer experience and drives effective strategies.
