Some Must-Have contact center features solutions
Since businesses are becoming more customer-centric these days, they do not want to leave any stone unturned in order to provide complete satisfaction to their clients. The quality of call center services provided determine the probability of customers who choose to stick to your brand. This calls for the need to unleash the full potential of contact center services to make an easy pathway towards providing better services to the customers.
Here we have tried to cover some of the best basic features of contact center solution which one must choose for their business.
Below are Must-Have Features of Contact Center Solution
1. Automatic Call Distributor (ACD):
Automatic Call Distributor is considered as the backbone of the call center. Generally, the call centers are flooded with large volumes of incoming calls but ACD helps in organizing things in a systematic manner. This telephony system helps in routing/ dispersing calls to the most suitable agent or the department within the company.
2. Interactive Voice Response (IVR):
You all must have experienced IVR system at some point of time while trying to contact any call center. After the IVR greetings, the customer is given the option to choose the appropriate field in which they need some help. Depending upon the selection, the call is then routed to the most appropriate department or the field.
Speech-enabled IVR such as Text-to-speech and Automatic Speech Recognition are also available for IVR routing.
3. Business Tools Integration:
Here is a way to revamp the idea of call centers altogether by integrating call center software solutions with business tools. CRMs, help desks, marketing software, chat systems, and e-commerce platforms are the most common business tools deployed. With this integration, the call center agent would be able to gather all sorts of information about the customers from purchase history, to voicemail, notes, chat transcripts, etc., in order to offer customized services to the customers.
4. Omni-Channel Contact Center:
The customers today demand receptivity and responsiveness in communicating easily with the contact center agents. Omnichannel contact center solution enables information integration across various channels and takes customer’s experience to an altogether different level. Throughout the entire lifecycle of customer communication, the information keeps on integrating whatever the mode of communication is chosen for the subsequent times, and without the customer having to repeat the details again and again. A consistency is maintained and it offers an organized way of dealing with the customers.
5. Reporting and Monitoring:
A number of variables and real-time dynamics play an indispensably important role in determining the performance and productivity of the contact center. Traditionally, the reports and charts could not help in capturing dynamic information effectively. Therefore, today, contact center managers need interactive tools to analyze dynamic information. Dashboards, information portals, and dynamic visualizations help in giving a quick oversight of business dynamics, making comparisons by examining data, quickly identifying and resolving issues and taking effective business decisions.
6. Contact Center Analytics:
To pave a pathway to success, it is important to analyze and profoundly examine the customer’s behavior and the updated trends and patterns that they follow. For that purpose, the managers must have access to comprehensive metrics including call volume, abandonment time, handle time, First Contact Resolution etc. so they can make data-driven decisions for a measurable impact on the contact center as a whole.
7. Call Recording Feature:
Today, with the increasing emphasis on improving customer service and complying with corporate governance policies, the contact center managers have realized the need to record and analyze customer’s interactions. Furthermore, this dynamic information can be used as business intelligence source to have a thorough customer analysis and also sometimes for legal compliance.
Call recording allows you to live monitor your agents, listen to recordings, conduct quality control, record data for any future dispute resolution and much more.
8. Remote Working Capability:
The remote working is the present and future of workspaces. And, this norm makes communication and collaboration mandatory and more pressing. In fact, the distributed workforce needs to get connected consistently to remain communication intact. A softphone is one such communication tool that has the agile remote working capability and user-friendly interface- that implies no need of knocking at your IT team door. Simply, download it from the web, install it, and use it. One more edge- it can be easily connected, even configured with all settings of your workstation PBX. Yes, use your same contact database, PBX features, and the additional features of a softphone (HD voice/video calls, chat, conferencing call, screen sharing, etc.) on your device.
- Published in Uncategorized
Having end-to-end encryption for your video meetings
The rush to work from home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has led to a rapid adoption of video-based meeting services, often without organizations having the time to perform necessary due diligence to evaluate security and compliance capabilities. Of late, a few security-related issues have arisen around Zoom Meetings, leading Zoom founder Eric Yuan to pen a blog post stating that he has implemented a 90-day feature development freeze to focus resources on addressing security issues.
As you can imagine, Zoom’s competitors have used these issues to reinforce their own commitments to security as they attempt to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.
Most recently, Zoom’s encryption model has come under attack, underscoring an issue that isn’t unique to Zoom. Like Cisco and Symphony, Zoom offers end-to-end encryption for its messaging app. However, Zoom doesn’t provide end-to-end encryption for meetings. Rather, as described her, it encrypts voice and video data in transit between the Zoom client or Zoom Room endpoint to Zoom’s servers, but once the data reaches the servers, Zoom must decrypt the data to support recording, transcription, and a variety of other features. Zoom isn’t alone in this respect. For meeting vendors to offer advanced features such as transcription and recording; take advantage of emerging AI capabilities like facial recognition; or support third-party integrations, they must be able to unencrypt video and audio data to analyze it.
The common model for encryption among meeting applications is data at rest (on the provider’s servers) and in motion (e.g., endpoint to server). Cisco is worth noting as an exception, as it does offer an end-to-end encryption option for Webex Meetings.
However, as Cisco notes, using this option disables its web app, recording, the ability for participants to join a meeting before the host arrives, and the use of video endpoints. Another vendor, Wire, offers end-to-end encryption for videoconferencing and messaging, but has a limit of 10 participants per call. The fact that most all video meeting vendors have neither end-to-end encryption nor the ability for customers to manage their own encryption keys as standard in their services means that government entities can obtain a warrant and tap meetings.
Most cloud providers, including Cisco, Google, and Microsoft, publish transparency reports that list government requests for data. Yuan’s blog post notes that Zoom will soon likewise do the same to address concerns about meeting data the government might be requesting to access. More to the point, the debate over end-to-end encryption brings up the question as to whether or not enterprises truly need it to meet their security and compliance needs. Obviously, the unique needs of the organization will drive requirements.
Those operating in regulated industries, conducting meetings in which personally identifiable information is shared (e.g., telemedicine), or involved in national security, will likely have more stringent security requirements than say an analyst firm having an internal meeting to discuss an upcoming research project. For those organizations that truly can’t take the risk of a meeting vendor, or third-party entity, gaining access to meeting data, on-premises meeting platform options from vendors such as Cisco, Compunetix, and Pexip may suffice. Using these kinds of platforms means that a company is buying, deploying, and managing its own conferencing infrastructure within its data center, or within a public cloud service that it controls.
For those responsible for information security and/or collaboration, it’s worth taking some time to understand the security capabilities of vendors in use, and those you may be evaluating for future use. Start first with documenting your own requirements for information protection and privacy and conduct a thorough assessment of whether or not cloud providers can meet your needs, or if you will need to consider an on-premises option.
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Few good reasons why startup businesses should switch to Call Center Outsourcing
When your business is still in its growth stages, every cent matters and excess expenses are not recommended. By turning to call center services outsourcing, it is possible to maintain expertly-run customer support services.
What’s more, businesses can comfortably procure call Center services outsourcing at a percentage of what they could have paid had they installed or implemented in-house call center services.
The good news for startups and young businesses is that the options regarding call center outsourcing are looking great. To shed more light on this issue, below are some well-explained benefits of why call center outsourcing is advisable for new businesses.
No Need for Additional Office Space
Office space can cost a pretty penny, especially if you are based in major cities where rent is astronomical. By outsourcing this service, you will remove the need for extra space because outsourced call services staff are usually off-site.
In contrast, establishing an entire call center will need acres of space for both the in-house staff and hardware. This will save the business substantial amounts of money while ensuring that they have access to world-class services.
Outsourced Call Centers Can Comfortably Deal with Overwhelming Inquiries from Clients
Sometimes there can be an overflow of customer queries to an extent that the business in-house call center staff is overwhelmed. This will lead to customer dissatisfaction and consequently translate to the loss of not only clients but also profits.
Through outsourcing the company’s customer service, you can rest assured that every client will receive expert customer support from seasoned professionals.
Business Will Have Access to Emergency Support
If you run an in-house call center for customer support, inevitably, disruptions such as power outages, ill weather, and natural disasters might at some point affect your operations and ultimately the ability to effectively serve clients.
By embracing outsourced call centers, you can be assured that matters are in capable hands. These service providers usually provide disaster recovery services so that even if your entire operations are down, they can take charge and deal with your clients.
Besides, outsourced call centers provide businesses with after-hours support services. This means that regardless of the time, your customers will always have someone to assist them.
Enhanced Quality of Services
Call centers go to great lengths to retain the services of a proficient, efficient, and technically-gifted workforce. This means that any business that outsources its call services to them will get services that are tested and proven to be top-notch.
Because calls are received immediately the clients call (the call waiting time is significantly less than using in-house staff), this will enhance the quality of customer service.
Final Thoughts
Finally, most business owners will agree that the pros of outsourcing call center services greatly outweigh relying on in-house call center employees. In today’s cut-throat business world, new businesses should take any opportunity to stay afloat and ensure that their growth trajectory is favorable.
The myriad of benefits to businesses-especially new businesses- that come with outsourcing call services is significant. Extra benefits include access to lead generation services and up-to-date sales techniques that will do wonders for businesses. By taking this road, businesses that are just starting, plus established ones, will see the positive effect that it brings to the company.
- Published in Uncategorized
5 Challenges UCC tools resolved for Companies
Unified Communications and Collaboration brings internal and external communication within a company together. It improves efficiency and productivity and ensures through more effective communication better dialog experiences with customers. UCC supports companies in unifying diverse strategies — and this, in an integrated, easy to manage solution.
Read in this blog article which challenges UCC can resolve for your company when it comes to being one step ahead through better customer experiences and an optimal customer journey.
More efficiency and optimal productivity are good reasons why UCC is simply more than just one hot communication topic among many. And, in terms of the customer journey, there is more. The time has now come for all companies to be one step ahead of the competition in times of turbulent markets.
Today, customer experiences develop as the ultimate differentiator in modern business. And, agents find it difficult to keep track when customers attempt to establish via numerous channels contact to entrepreneurial brands.
Let us therefore take a closer look at the top challenges UCC can resolve for companies in a competitive market today.
1. Restricted flexibility
For modern companies, flexibility is a critical factor, too. Working at different locations is on the rise and the most experienced employees in customer service and support ask for more versatility from their employers. UCC solutions in particular, which are offered via web-based platforms, offer the requested flexibility at work. If everyone has access to the necessary communication tools irrespective of where they work or the terminal devices used, companies no longer have to restrict themselves to recruiting personnel where they are geographically located.
As your company grows, you can also simultaneously integrate freelancers and other employees throughout the world into your network. In the area of human resources, notable cost savings can also be made through lower ancillary and operating costs as well as expenses for premises for traditional offices. In addition, this means that you could easily offer your customers 24-hour support. An additional service that will serve to improve your reputation on the market.
2. Optimizing agent management cost-effectively
it can be said: UCC makes it far easier for the IT unit and administration to manage the communication network within a company. In this way, valuable IT resources can be used for other business purposes and companies can retain complete control over their network.
If you as a company use cloud solutions, the number of IT resources can also be reduced locally, which you would otherwise have to maintain. The flexibility of a cloud-based UCC solution also offers you the option of fast upscaling — if you wish to integrate new agents during peak periods. High investment in additional hardware is therefore unnecessary.
3. Problems with productivity
If your employees are unable to communicate efficiently with each other, how can they make innovative suggestions or resolve complex problems for your customers? For every successful business, communication has always been a critical component. UCC supports collaboration among your employees by combining conventional telephony, direct messages and customer information as well as collaboration tools.
UCC can also provide your employees and agents with better access to many more forms of communication such as instant messaging or video telephony. For a fast-moving company, this can be far more efficient than having to wait for an e-mail or fax response. With UCC, employees can switch seamlessly between video calls, telephone calls and instant messaging, make faster decisions and ensure that every employee is offered the support they need — precisely when it matters.
4. Improving customer experiences
For modern markets, customer satisfaction is probably the greatest challenge faced by companies. UCC can greatly improve the customer experience. This is because useful tools, e.g., intelligent routing, ensure that customers are transferred immediately and directly at the first attempt to the right experts to answer their questions. A survey commissioned by popular UCC solution companies shows that companies actually improved the customer experience through UCC solutions. Almost 80% of those surveyed said that the possibility to forward product enquiries from customers to support staff in real-time made their work far easier.
5.Budget savings
In conclusion, from a budget perspective, UCC solutions can greatly benefit your company. To be mentioned first of all is the cloud option. If you invest in web-based UCC, you can access all your required services in the cloud — and save initial investments in hardware and software at the same time. Moreover, you only pay for what you use.
Furthermore, UCC consolidates all internal and external communication into an integrated solution. This means: you save both costs as well as support for a wide range of individual tools and equipment. Even traveling costs can be reduced, since personal communication with regard to meetings with international customers and colleagues can be replaced by video conferences.
- Published in Technology, Uncategorized