TechDogs-All You Need To Know About "Contact Center Software": Part 2

Enterprise Technology

All You Need To Know About Contact Center Software: Part 2

By TechDogs Editorial Team

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Overview

A disgruntled customer tweeting away their woes on social media, bringing down your reputation with each dislike, comment and retweet within a few seconds or minutes. A useful Contact Centre Software will happily bridge that gap for you. What else can it help you with? Check out Part 1 of our Contact Centre Software Series (yes, there's two parts-worth of information) to learn how it can help your business thrive, one inbound call, text and email at a time.
TechDogs-2D Image With Characters Stating "All About The Contact Centre Guru" Streamlining Calls, Messages, Emails And Much More -All You Need To Know About Contact Center Software: Part 2
Remember when Dr. Strange caught Dormammu in a time loop using the Time stone, where he had to go over the same "I've come to bargain" interaction again and again until Dormammu got utterly frustrated? What was the result? Dormammu left and never came back. That's going to be your customer if they have to go over the same issue again and again when they reach out to your customer care center.

Wouldn't it be great if the agent they interact with is already aware of their concerns and ready with a solution? That's one of the many features of a Contact Center Software (CSS).

In the first part of this two-part series, we discussed what Contact Center Software is and how it works. It's now time to get into the nitty-gritty of what Contact Center Software has in store for you. Let's start with some of the many features of our beloved CCS.
 

Key Features Of A Contact Center Software

 
TechDogs-"Key Features Of A Contact Center Software"-Contact Center Software And Its Key Features-Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)-​Interactive Voice Response (IVR)-Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)-CRM Integration-Accurate Call Routing-Operational Reporting And MonitoringSource​​
 
  • Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

    Imagine the MacBook you love refuses to boot up one day. Instead of narrating your tale to 10 agents, wouldn't it be swell if you could directly connect with an on-call engineer who would give you step-by-step guidance on how to reboot your system? A Contact Center Software gives your salesforce the power of Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) such that dialer incoming phone calls, phone numbers or phone support, emails, texts, outbound calling and live chats are queued and routed through workforce management to the agent with the skills or specialized knowledge to effectively address the customer's needs. An ACD has twin benefits. First of all, intelligent routing of all communication results in faster resolution of customer issues. As a result, your customers receive a higher level of satisfaction and increased customer loyalty. Secondly, your agent productivity and become efficient in their tasks through workforce optimization. They perform better due to prerequisite knowledge.

  • ​Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

    “To know your account balance, press 1. To report a lost debit or credit card, press 2.”

    We've all heard the friendly automated voice guiding us through our issues at bank inquiry or flight inquiry portals. That nice lady or gentleman is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) that enables customers to interact with a company's voice self-service system via a telephone keypad predictive dialer or speech recognition.

    An IVR helps gather initial information about the customer as well as their issues and concerns on their incoming calls, which can be passed on to the live agents to better deal with the interaction. An IVR works in tandem with the ACD. Once the IVR identifies the customer's issue for an outbound call, the ACD connects the customer with the right agent based on the issue.

  • Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)

    One fine day, people working at call centers realized that holding the phone by the ear and solving customer queries on a live chat all day is a pain in the neck (literally). That is why the CTI integration to the Contact Center Software was a welcomed addition. This essentially allowed employees to use their computers as telephone systems. What did it turn out to be? All call-related functions such as fetching the information of the caller, routing dial-pad calls from one station to the other and overall control of the phone system could now be conducted using the desktop computer. All your executives have to do is plug in their USB (Universal Serial Bus) headset and their computers are transformed into a modern contact center agents system.

  • ​CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Integration

    Imagine you call a customer care number regarding a delayed refund for flight cancellation; you select the appropriate IVR option and feed in your PNR (Passenger Name Record). Your call gets diverted to a customer care agent, without you having to narrate your story, the agent on the other side exchanges pleasantries and immediately provides you with the information you need. You are happy and hang up the call with a smile on your face. That is what CRM Integration is all about - excellent customer service!

    A CRM integrated Contact Center Software can collect caller identification, including their name, phone number, location, etc. and the call history if the customer has called previously from the CRM and provide it to the agent before the call. Why is this important? With this data ready, the customer service agent will be empowered to decrease the time needed to resolve queries, up-sell or cross-sell other services and provide an excellent and personalized customer experience.

  • Accurate Call Routing

    Imagine it's lunchtime at your office, you have a craving for a smoked chicken panini and place an order on a food delivery app. However, you make an oopsie daisy and instead of your work address, you select your home address for delivery. You immediately call the customer service of the food delivery app and select all the right options in the IVR. Instead of reaching the team that can change the delivery address, you get redirected to the refund query team. By the time you reach the right team, your order has already been delivered to your house. To avoid this kind of fiascos, Contact Centre Software is equipped with a call routing feature that directs inbound calls to the right agent, department based on pre-determined criteria.

  • Operational Reporting And Monitoring

    Data is everywhere and businesses worth their salt will find a way to collect and use that data to their benefit. A Contact Center Software efficiently collects data and analyses it to better manage your customers and your workforce.

  1. Workforce Management

    The software tracks everything from employees' availability and skills to their performance and KPIs. Not just that, it stores crucial data for quality assessment, including interaction to be used for quality and training purposes... see what we did there? This includes call recording, call monitoring and call coaching features where managers can directly keep oversight on different employees' calls.

  2. Sentiment Analysis

    With eyes on all communication channels of the business, a Contact Center Solution also helps understand the overall customer sentiment regarding the brand. It alerts an increase in negative feedback and highlights positive interactions, thereby assisting businesses in recognizing their strengths and development areas.


Enough praises of the CCS; how does it actually benefit you? Let’s talk about numerous business benefits of CCS.
 

Benefits Of Contact Center Software

 
A Contact Center Software benefits your business both at the operational as well as customer service levels in the following ways:
 
  • It Makes Your Business Omnipresent.

    By integrating emails, messages, calls and live chats, Contact Center Software allows you to be actively available everywhere. It helps you not only monitor all customer communication but also respond immediately.

  • It Saves You Time And Effort.

    Instead of your employees slogging for the correct information and dealing with extended conversations, Contact Center Software allows you to expedite to the customer support team.

  • It Helps In Improving Your Customer Experience.

    Fast resolutions through CSS deliver happy customers. Although, that's not it. Using analytics derived from the software and customer feedback, you know what to improve upon and provide a better customer experience.

 

What’s Next In Contact Center Technology?


Contact Center technology has just started gaining popularity in the industry and several innovations are underway. At present, few Contact Center Software is evolving to integrate social media communication channels within them. However, the day isn't far when we will find social media integrations as a standard feature of the CCS. In addition to that, mobile application-based communication services would take over traditional calling systems, making the cloud based contact center software more customer-friendly. It wouldn't be a surprise to find even video interactions becoming a part of the communication to make the customer feel valued.

On the business front, contact center technology will be driven by cloud based solution innovations on two fronts - Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We can expect data analytics to drive informed customer engagement interactions based on better customer expectations. On the other end, we can also expect AI to assist businesses' communication channel through tools that allow employees to crawl customer interaction service records and suggest answers to customers' problems during a live conversation. Overall, the potential of predictive dialing and what we can expect for a cloud Contact Center Software using such a cloud solution is still untapped. One thing is guaranteed though, any business looking to offer an exceptional customer satisfaction experience will seek the aid of Contact Center Software, sooner or later.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key features of Contact Center Software (CCS)?


Contact Center Software (CCS) comes packed with several key features designed to enhance customer interactions and streamline operations. These features include Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), CRM Integration, Accurate Call Routing, Operational Reporting, Monitoring, and Sentiment Analysis. Each of these features plays a crucial role in improving communication efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall business performance.

How does Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) benefit customer service?


Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) is a pivotal feature of Contact Center Software (CCS) that facilitates the intelligent routing of incoming communication channels, such as calls, emails, texts, and live chats, to the most suitable agents based on their skills or specialized knowledge. This ensures that customers are connected with the right agent promptly, leading to faster issue resolution and higher satisfaction levels. Additionally, ACD enhances agent productivity by optimizing workforce management and providing them with the necessary information to address customer needs effectively.

What are the business benefits of implementing Contact Center Software (CCS)?


Implementing Contact Center Software (CCS) offers numerous benefits for businesses, both operationally and in terms of customer service. Firstly, CCS makes businesses omnipresent by integrating various communication channels like emails, messages, calls, and live chats, allowing them to be actively available across platforms. Secondly, it saves time and effort by expediting customer support processes and providing quick resolutions. Lastly, CCS helps in improving customer experience by leveraging analytics to identify areas for enhancement and delivering better services based on customer feedback, ultimately leading to happier customers and increased brand loyalty.

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