Call center systems can help you improve your customer service and sales calls. Here’s what they can do.
- Call center systems can have major benefits for businesses that take large volumes of calls on a daily basis.
- These systems are equipped with features that make customer service and client management much simpler for large, midsize and some small companies.
- Some systems’ capabilities include analytics to monitor your agents’ performance and even a lead’s interest level in your company.
Call center systems are a way for startups and other businesses to bring their communication systems into the 21st century. Once you’ve delineated your basic needs and decided on the type of hosting you require, you’ll want to specify the added features you’d like to have. Try to identify those you definitely require, those that will be advantageous but not critical, and those that are unnecessary.
Some basic features can make a big difference when it comes to running a call center, such as being able to measure the time operators spend on calls or which operators take the most calls. Here are some of the most useful and common features available in call center systems.
Automatic call distribution (ACD)
Some form of ACD is now a must for a typical call center. A system that automatically routes callers to the relevant individuals cuts down on wasted time and resources. ACD systems distribute calls according to user-specified criteria, such as sending the call to a phone that is idle, or sending calls about billing to the accounting department. Nearly all call center systems have some form of ACD. They range from simple push-button virtual operators to those that use caller ID or voice recognition.
Call center monitoring and analytics
This is an essential feature for call centers. Being able to scrutinize call durations, costs, and other useful metrics can help supervisors and managers make informed decisions on issues such as staffing and employee performance and training needs. Some of the best systems provide real-time statistics, letting you know what’s going on in the call center second by second. Historical reporting allows you to compile hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and annual statistics for detailed long-term analysis.
Call recording
Useful for training and monitoring, call recording allows supervisors and operators to record and store phone calls as audio files on the server. However, the storage requirements for call recording can be quite large. Third-party hosted systems and cloud-hosted systems are better suited for this function, because they make it easy to upgrade the size of your storage space without buying new hardware.
Credit: All the credit of this post goes to Business.com
