When you hear about call center software, it probably brings up memories of irritating telemarketers. Even after you tell them to stop calling, they continue nagging you until you hang up. That’s one unfortunate use for call center software, but it’s not the only one.
Call center software is a useful tool for every business, even if you’re not in the business of selling often unwanted wares.
Handling Incoming Calls
Every business has incoming calls from customers and people asking questions. What do you do when your volume of calls increases more than you’re comfortable handling? You get a tool to make it easier.
That’s exactly what call center software helps you do. Despite the title, it’s not just meant for call center businesses. Any business with incoming calls can benefit from it. It’s helpful to have a software at your disposal that will allow you to monitor and manage calls without letting any slip through the cracks.
Once you’re dealing with enough incoming calls that you need a dedicated customer service staff member, or more than one, call center software is a tool you should consider.
What Does Call Center Software Do?
There are a few different things call center software does for you. These are the main functions you can expect to see:
- Inbound Calling Services
With inbound calling features, you can distribute calls immediately to open agents, create a queue automatically when necessary, record calls, and collect useful analytical data to improve your process moving forward. Monitor the number of calls incoming, the length of the calls, the average wait time, where the callers are from, and which agents handle calls the best.
There are other automatic features you can take advantage of as well, including self-service call menus, customer service surveys, and CRM integration. All of these features make it a lot easier to understand, monitor, and improve customer experience, which makes your customer service department more successful.
- Outbound Calling Services
Although not as useful for every business, outbound call services can make it easier for your organization to do a few central functions. One of the most used features is robocalling, which is often used to make important announcements (think school closings or appointment reminders). Customer service agents can be more efficient with outbound calling services, since they will be using a computer software that helps them to automatically dial, record their progress, and continue seamlessly from one call to the next.
You can also record analytics from outbound calls, giving you a few new data points for your customer service analysis.
- Additional Features
Besides the core features, many call centers include SMS, instant messaging, and other related communication platforms. These can generally be customized to suit your preferences.
Why Every Business Needs It
Call center software is a good fit for many small and large businesses. As a small business owner, you can more easily manage your calls. Implementing a useful software from early on helps you get ahead of your calls before they’re out of control. It’s better to be proactive and start using and mastering a call software before you’re receiving a large number of calls.
For many small businesses, call center software is a very efficient solution for secretaries, even if you don’t have a dedicated customer service department. You can route calls to the right people with an automated menu, set up automated call reminders for customers, create a queue when multiple people call at once, and attach people’s calling information to a secure customer profile.
As an example of this in practice, imagine a dental office with around 10 employees. There is a front desk attendant, administrative staff members, dentists, and hygienists. Call center software would help the front desk staff route calls quickly, schedule appointments, and handle multiple calls simultaneously while still sending out reminders to people with dental appointments that day. All of this could be done with minimal effort while the front desk staff still handles other duties.
In a medium-large business, the use of call center software is a bit more obvious. When you have even one dedicated customer service employee, call center software makes their job easier and more accountable. Customer service is really important, so it’s worth investing in a software that will help you monitor every facet and handle each action more efficiently.
Call center software might not be a common part of the everyday business toolkit, but there are a few compelling reasons that it probably should be. Even if you run a small business, getting connected now might help you scale up your growth and maintain a strong customer experience at any size.
