Are you considering switching to another call center software provider? Or maybe you're just getting started, and implementing a cloud call center technology is still on your to-do list? In both cases, making sure you pick the right tools can make a significant impact on the day-to-day performance of your call center.
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Yet, when you are about to make the decision, you can easily get overwhelmed with all the options. That is why we prepared a guide to help you in the process.
Take a sneak peek inside our ebook, and don't hesitate to download the complete guide!
What is your first thought when it comes to a call center? Is it still an image of numerous identical desks, with agents that are dialling long lists of numbers and getting hung up after the first few seconds?
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Read for freeWell, these days are over. Today's call center solutions completely transformed modern contact centers.
These days, call center software lets you get in touch with your customers, prospective clients, suppliers, and business partners. In fact, you can find complete call solutions suitable for any needs: from a small business to a global corporation.
As a result, these solutions can serve several purposes: from offering customer support to getting new leads, offering telesales, conducting surveys, or collecting receivables. Whichever types of calls flow through your business, they can easily be managed with a call center technology.
Call center software brings various benefits, comparing to an old-school and spreadsheet ' if picked right, that is. The long list of call center technology benefits includes:
Choosing a cloud call center means that you're getting more flexibility in deciding how you want to work. It has two significant effects on your business. First, you and your team will be able to work whenever you have a stable Internet connection, a PC, and a headset.
The second is safety. As you deal with a lot of sensitive data, your cloud-based call center software should be secure. Check what kind of protocols, compliance, and system maintenance they have. When you use a secure cloud, you can meet higher security standards.
A useful tool helps you in delivering higher quality services. It holds true also with call center solutions. How does it look like specifically in this case? When implementing virtual call center software, you can personalize your services with little extra effort.
Choose a tool that integrates with other services that you use. That is how, during the call, you can preview data from your CRM or the history of the previous contact and give a more personal touch.
You can notice the impact of implementing your cloud call center into your workflow in the productivity boost. Think of all the simple, yet tedious and manual tasks you have to take care of: copying and pasting the notes from your call into your CRM, adding information, assigning agents, or preparing reports.
When you choose a call center technology that allows you to automate those processes and integrate your software, you can invest your time in actions that bring value.
Maintaining an in-house call center with numerous agents, hardware devices, and complicated infrastructure can generate high costs. When you opt for virtual call center software, you can reduce the required resources to the minimum.
When you make up your mind to get cloud-based call center software (as you should by now), take some time in looking through the offers and choosing the best solution available.
First, think about what your specific needs are. Will you be using your call center software for sales or customer service? How big is your team, exactly? What is your budget? And your main area of operations? Those and similar questions will help you in narrowing down the essential qualities.
Now, when you have clear what you need, let's talk about what to look for in call center software:
Among all the criteria you can have to evaluate your choices, the call quality and uptime are the most important. After all, they decide about the quality and reliability of your service, and no feature will make it up for a poor call sound. Look for complete call solutions that guarantee minimal jitter.
When you want to know what to look for in call center software, you need to have your needs clear in the first place. When you lead a huge team, call routing will be a must. It will ensure that each call lands in the appropriate department and is taken by the right agent.
When you focus mostly on outbound calling, Smart Dialer will save your agents hassle connected with typing manually each number. These are just a few examples ' the specific call center features should always depend on the needs and specificity of your business.
A data security breach is a nightmare of virtually any service provider. As you deal with sensitive customer data like, for example, their numbers, you should make sure your call center technology meets the highest security standards. When in doubt, check if they are compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Prepare a list of the tools you'd like to connect with your cloud-based call center software and look for available integrations. Make your workflow smarter with dedicated technology: there will be no need for copying and pasting or keeping in mind manual synchronization.
When you finally come up with a shortlist of the most interesting options, the price vs. value criterion can help you in making the final decision. Make sure you count all the possible fees and costs of hardware changes, training, and so on.
Also, focus on flexible call center software pricing plans and check whether there's an option to upgrade or downgrade your plan. After all, you want your call center technology to respond to your needs, and they may change over time.
If you want to learn more about how to choose your call center software, download our ebook.
For sure, you are wondering how much does call center software cost. The pricing varies according to the provider, complexity of a plan you choose, and the features that are included.
When comparing call center providers and their price lists, don't forget to check user reviews. You will find them on platforms like G2 and Capterra, together with ratings. You can filter the options considering the call center software pricing, features, number of users, or deployment.
Let's take a look at the table where we present the five most popular call center software pricing, features, and reliability comparison.
What will you find in our Buyer's guide? As you can see, the call center solutions vary. Some specialize in covering certain needs, like the US area calls, and others are more flexible.
So, you have reached that point in the article, and still, need some more information? We've got you covered. All of the points mentioned above are described in detail in our ebook: the Complete Call Center Software Buyer's Guide.
Want more information on Cloud Call Center? Feel free to contact us.
You will find there more details on the use cases of cloud call center tools, the process of choosing the right match, switching to another solution, and the next steps after implementation. In short: all the information you need to make the right choice.
And to make it even more straightforward: as you might have already guessed, CloudTalk is a perfect example of a cloud call center solution that is likely to meet all your requirements.
It doesn't only let you make and receive lots of your calls but also offers an excellent quality of calls, a variety of features and integrations, and favourable pricing terms on top of that.
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14 days free trialIn my last column, I provided a buyer's guide to cloud technology'focused on pricing, service level agreements (SLAs) and the statement of work (SOW).
Related: Buyer's Guide to Cloud Solutions
But let's back up a bit. What if you don't know if you are ready to go to the cloud? Or what if you are trying to figure out the project scope and which vendors to consider? Or what if you want to leverage what you've already got (e.g., Salesforce.com) or tie an upcoming investment into what you hope to pursue (e.g., Google Contact Center AI)? This broader guide may help you navigate the increasingly interesting waters of contact center technology.
Five key decisions'two on Scope, three on Sourcing'will put you on the right path.
Often, buyers need to replace an aging PBX that also provides their contact center technology'perhaps from Avaya, Cisco or Mitel. Or, the company will keep the enterprise telephony platform but opt for a new contact center technology platform, often cloud-based. That all seems straightforward.
Now, broaden the view from ' systems' into 'Unified Communications' (UC) with voice, video, and collaboration and decisions can get a bit trickier. The world we've lived in with coronavirus and remote working has further transformed how people work, spending their day on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, Cisco Webex, GoToMeeting or other voice and video conferencing platforms. So 'traditional' cloud UC providers (aka UC as a Service or UCaaS) like 8x8, RingCentral and Vonage, have some interesting new competition, as do the traditional PBX vendors that evolved into UC players. These vendors may offer UC and CC but not every buyer wants or needs both! This important decision can be intertwined with other scope and sourcing decisions. The levels of integration can vary and some vendors will help you migrate with a hybrid premise/cloud approach.
The Bottom Line: Don't isolate your contact center technology decisions from your UC plans. Look at the whole picture and make informed decisions.
I've used Figure 1 in seminars and articles for years, and it keeps evolving with the market. The key message in this buyer's guide is to consider many technologies as you pursue new contact center solutions. Take inventory of what you have and define which elements you will keep and which you will replace. Do a gap analysis and prioritize your 'wish list,' even if that includes some phasing since you can't have it all day one.
Figure 1: Overview of Contact Center Technology
Copyright © Strategic Contact, Inc. All rights reserved. | www.strategiccontact.comHaving set your plan, determine if you will seek everything from a single provider or be open to vendors providing subsets or certain elements. With powerful niche solutions (e.g., knowledge management, unified agent desktop, bots for self-service or agent assistance) as well as rich suites (e.g., for workforce optimization), you have a lot to consider!
A key caution: As you pursue omnichannel, define where the various channels will be managed and how they fit together'for routing, reporting, agent skills, and the variety of workforce optimization capabilities such as workforce management and quality monitoring. Consider what you do in your CRM (e.g., Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics) or with niche channel solutions. It's easy for sellers to convince buyers that various systems integrate easily, they have connectors and APIs, they've done it countless times' but how you use that variety of technologies and your business and operational expectations are unique.
The Bottom Line: Clearly define your scope for any contact center technology pursuit and make it clear what you expect of your new technology and how it will fit with your existing technology.
It seems small centers and big centers have much in common in pursuing omnichannel service delivery and a great customer experience. Centers of any size may move to the cloud or seek artificial intelligence applications. But centers can have distinct differences when it comes to contact center technology'IT resources available, budget for CCT, support resources to use tools for workforce optimization or administer routing and reporting, etc. And they can have different experiences with who influences buying decisions.
As you look at the five key decisions in this article, make sure you factor in your center size in terms of how it impacts your resources and budgets. Here are a few examples:
Figure 2 summarizes the key sourcing decision in the market today'variations on cloud, and where each fits, along with premise. Multi-tenant true cloud options can have highly developed applications, focus on the development platform, or both! In fact, many vendors are trying to straddle both these worlds so that buyers can have it all (e.g., use bought capabilities, extend them through a marketplace, and/or build their own through use of the APIs). Amazon and Twilio are the disrupters in this space, and many entrenched cloud solution providers have responded.
Figure 2: Premise and the Variations on the Cloud
Copyright © Strategic Contact, Inc. All rights reserved. | www.strategiccontact.comSome 'cloud' solutions are private, hosted versions of what a premise solution looks like. And traditional premise vendors are happy to help a customer make that transition. Some of the key differences between cloud and premise are blurring as vendors offer (and downright encourage!) purchase models based on subscription pricing, as outlined in Figure 3. Vendors want to help buyers in their transition to the cloud. They also want to leave behind the challenges of maintaining back versions of premise solutions.
Figure 3: Additional Sourcing Considerations
Copyright © Strategic Contact, Inc. All rights reserved. | www.strategiccontact.comThe Bottom Line: Make thoughtful decisions about how and when to move to the cloud that match your environment, investments, resources and expectations.
I have outlined the best-of-breed versus suite trade-off with countless clients and seminar attendees. That debate has now shifted into a world that I call the 'hybrid/ecosystem' where buyers can hope to have the best of both worlds.
As Figure 4 shows, the hybrid is also driven by the market as cloud vendors offer an ecosystem of partners'with products and services'to be the 'go-to' resource to help a contact center get everything they need and have it all work seamlessly together. (I'm being optimistic here!) The center of the ecosystem is an interesting consideration for contact centers. Is it the omnichannel routing platform like Genesys, Five9, Talkdesk or NICE inContact? Is it the CRM, like Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics? Or, is it the innovation leaders, such as Amazon and Google? As you look at the diversity of technologies in Figure 1 and consider your world, you may find a single 'sun' or determine you have multiple 'stars' in your ecosystem.
Figure 4: Evolution of the Market to a Hybrid Best-of-Breed/Suite Approach
Copyright © Strategic Contact, Inc. All rights reserved. | www.strategiccontact.comAs most companies come from a best-of-breed (or just mixed breed!) environment, it's important again to assess the current state and define what stays and what goes, which vendors are a good partner to consider going forward, or which should be relegated into an ecosystem niche player. And, if you're looking at new vendors (or VARs), look for a broad ecosystem from someone that can be a strategic partner as your business and technology evolves.
The Bottom Line: The market is moving to the hybrid/ecosystem approach. As you plan for your next technology, make sure you consider how a buying approach that takes advantage of that can help you go farther, faster, and continue to enhance your capabilities.
One last sourcing decision to consider is whether to buy directly from a vendor or through one or their partners'variously called value-added resellers (VARs), system integrators (SIs), channel partners, etc. In some instances, this decision will be made for you based on the vendor's business model'some are direct only, some rely almost exclusively on partners (with occasional exceptions, for example for large strategic accounts). In other cases, you have options and should explore the trade-offs and fit for your environment.
On the surface, it may appear direct is better for access to development, engineering, product management, etc. However, partners may offer more extensive product suites, implementation resources and support services. If you like the ecosystem concept, consider that while vendors have an ecosystem their partners may create a broader one. If ongoing support is a key factor for you, explore the vendor and partner offers in this realm. Many are now seeing this as a differentiator and offering value-added services'for free or at a cost'that help you get more out of the solution and continue to meet your business needs. Making buying even more interesting, partners may have a variety of vendor solutions to offer. They can look at a buyer's requirements and suggest the best option(s) to fit.
The Bottom Line: As you consider which solution options to consider, approach the direct versus partner question with an open mind and define the factors that are most important to you short-term and long-term.
One more thing to be aware of in the pursuit of contact center technology: Master Agents and Sub-Agents. These sellers operate as a broker, representing a broad range of vendors and helping buyers select, procure and implement among them. They may offer a wide range of telecommunications technologies (beyond contact center technology). Agents position as 'independent' and may put pricing for multiple options in front of a buyer. They can act as 'consultants' in the decision process and may even provide implementation services at no charge. They make their money on the backend based on percentages of licensing or usage costs.
If you are going to work with an Agent, it's important to understand how they differ from the other types of vendor partners. I think the VARs or SIs would argue they have a deeper relationship with the products and more in-depth knowledge and services than Agents. And as noted, many have value-added solutions that work with the vendor products.
Agents also differ from independent consultants (full disclosure'this is what I am!) who may help you define requirements, evaluate options and/or provide implementation services. Independent consultants do not get paid by the seller; they are paid by the buyer and represent the buyer's interests in all stages of the project.
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