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Table of Contents

• What is Call Center Software?
• What are the common features of Call Center Software?
• What are the benefits of Call Center Software?
• How much does Call Center Software cost?
• How to choose the right Call Center Software
• What are the common questions to ask Call Center Software vendors?

What is Call Center Software?

Call Center Software automates receiving and responding to customer phone calls within a call center or contact center. The tool offers features, such as automatic call distribution, call routing, contact management, IVR (interactive voice response), call recording and monitoring, and much more. These features enhance customer interactions with call center agents and assists them in understanding customer concerns for a quick resolution.

Call center software also provides you with a reporting and analytics dashboard to analyze the calling metrics, including total calls attended, time per call, abandonment rate, repeat calls, and other performance metrics. Such insights enable correct assessment of the call performance to strategize customer handling and improve service and experience.

What are the common features of call center software?

• Automatic call distribution: Identify an incoming call for the customer’s phone number, the reason for calling, location, language, past interactions, etc., to determine the agents based on availability and call handling time.
• Computer telephony integration: Integrate telephones and computer systems to sync the database and quickly access customer details. The feature enables controlling calls such as putting on hold, transferring, or ending.
• Call center management: Track, monitor, and optimize call center operations for enhanced customer service. The metrics to monitor include agent activity, call attended, queue status, call time, and other relevant performance data.
• Call recording: Record and store customer interactions for future analysis and training. The feature facilitates automated and manual call recording systems for agents to select based on the requirement. The recorded calls are stored in the connected computer systems and a centralized repository.
• Reporting and analytics: Use the analytics dashboard to get detailed insights into call center operations and agent performance. The features allow for identifying trends, tracking key performance indicators, and making data-driven decisions.
• IVR/Voice recognition: Offer self-service options for callers to navigate the menu and perform basic tasks using their phone’s keypad or voice. The tasks include checking account balances, making payments, scheduling appointments, and more.

What are the benefits of call center software?

• Improve customer experience: You can use call center software to provide your customers with efficient and personalized service. The tool features automatic call distribution to route customers to the right agent, IVR/voice recognition for customers to navigate and perform basic tasks, and a predictive dialer to make or take calls when the agents are available. You can use the reporting and analytics abilities of the tool to get real-time insights into customer interactions and identify gaps to enhance customer service.
• Increase agent productivity: You can use call center software to automate tasks, such as call routing, recording, and monitoring. Additionally, the tool lets you route calls to the agents based on set criteria, including location, language, type of customer, concern, and other differentiating factors. This process reduces the idle time for agents and increases the ability to resolve customer queries. Furthermore, the collaboration feature of the tool allows communication and knowledge sharing among agents to streamline workflow.
• Save on operational costs: Call center software automates administrative tasks, such as call routing, minimizes call handling time, and reduces prolonged queries. These factors lead to reduced costs to the business while increasing productivity and revenue. Additionally, features like IVR acts as a self-service portal for customers to address their concerns without involving the call center agents. This lets you allocate calls more effectively, leading to reduced business costs.
• Prioritize calls based on urgency: Call center software uses automated call distribution and skill-based routing to distribute incoming calls among agents. These calls are routed based on time and caller history, letting agents identify high-priority calls. The call distribution feature also considers the agent’s skills and abilities to understand customer needs and availability to meet the call handling time. This process increases the first-call resolution rate, reducing wait time and enhancing customer satisfaction.
• Access advanced call analytics: Using the call center tool’s analytics dashboard, you can track calling metrics, including call handling time, calls received, calls attended, repeated calls, abandonment rate, and other performance metrics. These metrics act as insights for you to identify opportunities for improvement and increase customer service. Additionally, you can customize the dashboard with reports carrying metrics specific to your business goal for in-depth analysis.

How much does call center software cost?

Most call center software products on the market are priced on a per-user, per month basis, and their entry-level pricing plan ranges from $10 to $199 +* per month. An enterprise product that’s priced higher may include additional features such as auto call logging, voicemail, and multilingual call transcription.

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites as of April 04, 2023.

How to choose the right call center software

• Evaluate “live call transfer” feature: You need to check if the tool allows call center agents to transfer calls in real time. This will ensure that the customers are directed to the most qualified agents to get their questions answered quickly and efficiently. With live call transfer abilities, you provide your customers with a high level of service, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Consider automated call recording: Automated call recording is an essential feature that records and stores customer interactions at a centralized location. You can select the storage location and format of the recording before automating the process. Automating caller interactions assists with the training of agents on unique queries and effective customer service at all times. It is essential to check how automated call recording works for the selected software in terms of storage capacity, search capabilities, and encryption.
• Prioritize multi-channel support: Prioritizing multi-channel support provides options to connect with customers on their preferred platforms. The platforms include phone, email, chat, online tickets, and social media. With multiple options, you can analyze your audience for channels where they spend most of their time and increase the chances of successful calls. You can also use these channels to analyze your customers’ online behavior, improve products and services, or create personalized marketing campaigns.
• Opt for skill based routing: Skill based routing is a call distribution technique used to ensure that the customers are directed to the right call center agent from the beginning of the conversation. With this, you can eliminate the need to transfer live calls, reducing delays in resolving customer queries. When opting for skill-based routing, you need to evaluate the tool’s ability to identify and match agents based on skills.
• Look for a predictive dialer and outbound calling: If outbound calls are part of your call center operations then you need to look for a tool with a predictive dialer. The feature automates outbound dialing based on the agent's availability and the customers in the queue. This increases the success rate of calls and reduces call abandonment. When searching for tools with a predictive dialer, you need to check their ability to handle high call volumes, integrate with the existing calling systems, and legal compliance such as “Do Not Call” lists.

What are the common questions to ask call center software vendors?

• Can the tool generate and share customer feedback forms? Feedback is essential to customer service, as it ensures that your customers are satisfied with your service. Check if your selected call center software allows generating and sharing feedback forms for customers. You should be able to share the forms on multiple platforms, which are used to interact with the customer.
• What type of live call transfer abilities does the tool support? Live call transfer allows you to reroute calls to the right agent to meet customer needs. You should be able to transfer calls to the agents in your team, or a different department or location. Also, check if you can automate call transfer based on customers’ history, location, or any persisting issue.
• What are the available options for storing and assessing call recordings? The automated call recording feature allows you to store calls in the connected storage space. However, you need to check the storage capabilities in terms of the space provided and its capacity. Additionally, you need to learn how the tool helps assess these calls. This includes transcribing calls or creating a summary of the conversations for assessment.
• How does the tool ensure consistency across platforms? Ensuring consistency across platforms includes syncing all customer data across channels. This allows agents to access the customer history using the software dashboard regardless of the platform. You need to check if the tool offers a dashboard to access all the customer data and get notified on inbound customer calls, texts, and online tickets across platforms.