Difficult people are something that can’t be avoided when running a call centre, however, technology can make communication with your customers so much easier. You can’t do much about difficult customers, but technology can really facilitate your customer service processes.
Luckily, there are tonnes of different software out there that can help you and your call centre flourish. With our call centre telephone solution, for example, you will find that communication with tough callers becomes much more reliable and easier to follow.
If your telephone software was built in a time before multiple channels of communication was the norm, it’s definitely time to look into upgrading. Businesses have been moving away from a singular form of communication over the past 5 years and it’s time that your business catches up with modern technology. You’ve got more channels at your disposal than ever before, including email, live chat, forums and even self service. A web-based telephone system would allow your callers access to a wide variety of channels, improving efficiency, understanding and customer service.
Clearly upgrading your call centre phone systems will bring your organisation incredible benefits, however, there should be some questions that you ask yourself before taking the plunge.
Questions to ask before buying contact centre software
1. Do you build or buy?
It is often going to be tenfold easier to buy your contact centre software rather than build it yourself. At the end of the day, you can’t put a price on the technical support that will come when you purchase. Overall, it’s going to cost you less as well as result in fewer headaches from trying to repair and update your system yourself.
2. What can you afford?
Asking yourself what you are willing to spend will be the first step after deciding on buying a phone system. Find out how much value you expect the software will bring your organisation and get you a positive return on investment. Real time queue monitoring, automated call backs and SLA monitoring can improve your customer service and get you more business overall.
Working out your budget and requirements early will give you a better idea of what features you will require as part of your new software. If you’ve got a big budget, you won’t have to fret as much about whether a live chat function is more important to you than a knowledge base. If you can afford both, then that’s great! You don’t want to fall in love with every feature a telephony provider has to offer, only to realise later that you can’t fund them all.
3. Necessity or bonus?
Following from the previous step, it’s important that you work out in advance which features are a luxury bonus and which are vital for your organisation. Luckily for buyers, a lot of features can be bought as modules, meaning you can pick and choose exactly what you need.
Here are just a small selection of the features we offer at PBX Hosting:
- Real time queue monitoring – View how many customers are queuing and how many agents are busy via the switchboard
- Agent Status – View how many agents you have logged into the queue and their current availability
- SLAs – Receive alerts when a customer has been waiting in a queue longer than the specified SLA
- Call Backs – Offer customers the option of receiving a call back from one of your agents rather than waiting in the queue. It will preserve their position in the queue and the supervisor will receive an alert if a call back fails.
- Polling Strategies – Log agents in and out of the queues and ring through to agents using a variety of polling algorithms. From Ring All to Skill Based Routing, you can create an environment which serves your customers the best.
- Wait and talk times – Monitor wait times and average talk times from the Switchboard or Wallboard.
- Review performance and training – Check agent call stats including talk time and calls answered. Features such as Barge/ Listen/ Whisper allow monitoring and intervention when necessary. ‘Listen’ allows supervisors to listen in on agents’ conversations; ‘Whisper’ allows for discreet advice; and, with ‘Barge’ join in the conversation when an agent is in trouble.
- Call Statistics – Automated reports allow you to schedule reports based on the metrics that you want to report on. Reports will be emailed to all nominated recipients on a periodic basis which you choose. If you need to create a specific report then just log into the management console and produce one on the fly.
Some other optional features include software to manage training and schedules, back office functionality, and CRM integration. The possibilities really are endless, so it’s vital that you pick and choose exactly what you need.
We’re even able to integrate your new phone system into your existing software. if you’ve got some software you can’t move away from, be sure your new phone software plays nice with it.
4. “Plug-and-play” vs Bespoke
It’s important to note that while many phone system providers offer a “plug and play” package, a bespoke phone system will be much better equipped to meet your organisation’s unique needs.
It’s a case of deciding how much time, money and energy you’re willing to put into your call centre software.
5. Will you need tech support?
What’s more, some software is going to be a lot easier to learn than others – a bespoke system can be much more complex than a ready made phone system package. It’s vital that you are fully supported both throughout the buying process as well as after you’re all set up. While the chances that you’ll encounter any issues are slim, it’s important that you have an expert on hand to guide you and answer any questions you may have. Before purchasing call centre software, there are a few questions to ask, including: How helpful is customer support? What are their hours of operation, and do they match those of your organisation?
6. What do other users think of it?
This one may be obvious to many of you, but check reviews! If you want to know the quality of the call centre software, the best way to learn is through people who are already using this product. Checking a review site will provide you with a plethora of information such as what customers think about it, how easy it is to learn and the efficiency of their customer support.
Choosing a call centre software
If you’re looking to buy call centre software, your first step should be to outline your business business goals and needs in order to have a good scope on what kinds of software would be most beneficial. The buying process will be significantly easier after doing so, however if you’re still not sure, you can always give the software a test-run before you invest. Choosing a call centre software is not a straightforward process and getting input from your agents could provide you with vital insight.
Want more information on what we can offer your call centre? Check out our call centre software to learn more about the benefits it can provide your organisation.
