In the modern digital world, many customers still prefer phone support when contacting a company’s customer service. People want the familiarity of talking to a real human on the phone, and this benefits the brand as it builds trust between them and their customers. That’s why it’s important your contact center runs as smoothly as possible.
But, properly managing your phone support can be a major challenge, especially for growing companies. It might be a great service for your customers, but phone support is also the most time-consuming and least cost-effective support channel. That’s why implementing effective software features will help boost your call center’s performance, as well as supporting your agents.
From cloud management and VoIP phone systems to CRM integration and reports, there’s a bunch of solutions out there for you to consider. Without these types of innovative technology and virtual software, customers can often be left waiting on hold while the contact center agents struggle to answer their queries. On top of this, the agents’ supervisors won’t be able to provide any assistance because they might not have insight into call volume or trends.
The best software integrates every aspect of the call center into an omnichannel strategy, making customer calls seamless and easy to manage. So what software features are out there that can help boost your call center’s performance? We’ve listed a few below that you must integrate into your customer service team.
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Here Are Some Of The Must-Have Software Features For Your Call Center
What software you need depends entirely on what your call center team’s needs are. Every digital tool has both pros and cons to them, depending on how you plan to use the feature. Here are just a few features you should consider implementing to start with:
Cloud-Based Calling
Cloud-based calling, VoIP, is a phone system that runs through the internet instead of a phone line. It can benefit your company call center in many different ways, but here are some of the key advantages:
- Call tools can be accessed remotely
- It presents multiple integration opportunities
- Contact center wage bill reduction – you can hire remote teams instead
- Provides better service to your customers
- It can save you money
There are plenty of VoIP phone system providers out there to choose from, such as the French company Aircall. Most of which offer cloud-based calling that is cheaper to install and maintain compared with regular phone lines. This is because VoIP doesn’t require extensive hardware on-site, removing the typical maintenance and infrastructure costs that traditional landlines have. There’s no doubt that this software feature is the future of contact center calls.
CTI
There’s no denying that customers hate being passed through numerous different departments and agents before they end up speaking to the right person to help with their query. Not only does this cause a lot of frustration, but it can also mean that your agent might not understand what has happened to the caller.
One of the best ways to provide customer context is through a CTI tool (computer-telephony integration). These CTI pop-ups will identify the customer through their phone number and pull up previous interactions to your agent through the browser. By understanding how the software you’re using logs calls and integrates with other systems is vital to providing your customer service agents with enough context to be helpful.
Call Routing
Following on from the above feature, call routing is a necessity in any call center. When customers call your service team, do you know what they’re getting connected to the right person quickly?
No matter what software you pick, whether it offers automated call routing or not, it’s important to understand how your call routing works. Most cloud-based calling software offers call routing as a given feature, but the best ones have multiple configuration options for you to play around with. Aircall for example offers the following:
- Call cascading: You can automatically direct calls to agents in a pre-set order.
- Customized call routing: When call cascading is turned on, each teammate’s phone will be called in the specified order. Once the call is answered, no additional numbers will ring.
- Make your own routing rules: Set up call routing rules based on fit, availability, or any other variable.
Reporting
Your call center managers cannot run their team properly unless they know the metrics of incoming call volumes, call trends, and agent efficiency. Without this data, it’s impossible for them to manage scheduling or plan for future calls without knowing how their agents are handling traffic variants.
By using reporting software, managers can help identify common issues that your customers are calling about, as well as whether there are any gaps in your support coverage and training opportunities. Most integrated technologies out there will have a reporting feature as standard, but make sure it’s thorough so you can get the most of your data.
Final Thoughts
Improvements to the internet and network technology have allowed cloud solutions to flourish, boosting the performance of call centers in businesses across the US and world. Whatever software you decide to pick, make sure it fits your contact center’s wants and needs, as well as offering the features listed above, so that you can offer a quality service to your customers.
If you are interested in even more app-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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