Choosing the best call center software is crucial for any business since customers contact your call center with inquiries every day. Modern call center software directly impacts various metrics, from sales to profitability, from ROI to customer loyalty. But how to choose software that can meet all your business needs?
In this material, we will discuss the key factors to consider when choosing call center software for your business and share our experience in implementing cloud call center software from Global Bilgi for the tourism company ANEX Tour. Get ready for a deep dive, it will be interesting!
Is There Free Software for Organizing a Call Center?
This question deserves a serious answer because in our turbulent times, businesses seek to cut their costs at all levels. There is open-source (FOSS) call center software that can be installed on a server, physical or virtual, giving your employees access via a browser to handle calls.
The main drawbacks of such platforms include:
- Lack of fault tolerance.
- Integration complexities with proprietary systems and domains.
- Limited report details and access flexibility.
- The need to install additional software (e.g., SIP client).
- Inconvenient interface and limited functionality.
- Instability with a high volume of calls or software errors.
- Difficulty in scaling.
- Limited technical support.
- Vulnerability of calls and data if trusted data centers and security protocols are not used.
It’s important to understand that “free” is a delicate term in the business world. The weaknesses and drawbacks of conditionally free call center software tend to manifest at the most inconvenient times. And we know that time is crucial for business. Highly competitive markets with many customers demand advanced, secure, and effective technologies that bring profit. We will discuss such technologies further.
Key Factors in Choosing Call Center Software
If you want to serve your customers efficiently and qualitatively, you need to consider four main parameters when choosing call center software:
- High technology software.
- User-friendliness for operators/agents.
- Management convenience and reporting.
- Maximum attention and convenience for customers
The technological sophistication of call center software allows providing an omnichannel customer experience and improving agent performance. Modern call center software includes the following functional components:
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.
- Call routing (voice and non-voice) by queues.
- Automatic Call Distribution (ACD).
- Dialer for automated outbound calling.
- Chat support.
- Email handling.
Regarding user-friendliness for operators/agents, this encompasses:
- A 100% web application without additional software.
- A user-friendly and logically understandable interface.
- Simple and intuitive CRM.
- The ability for agents to track their status and working hours for automated payroll calculations.
- Quality support (information on all calls and chat messages).
- Statuses of other operators/agents.
When it comes to call center management, it’s crucial to have transparency and comprehensive information about platform operations. The number of calls, operators, clients, achieved KPIs, real-time statistics, and reporting should be structured and readily available to managers in the most convenient form at any time. For this, modern call center software should offer the following tools:
- Online dashboard (all information about calls and operator availability).
- Online supervision of inbound and outbound calls and chats.
- Extensive reporting (IVR, by each channel, and for each operator).
- Call and chat recordings.
- Operator screen recording.
- Access to all the mentioned information from any device 24/7.
A company’s success is demonstrated through its dedication to service quality. After all, call centers exist to serve customers, solve their problems, answer their questions, and provide services when they need them. Customer convenience is reflected in the presence of such elements in the call center platform:
- Availability of all convenient customer communication channels (phone, chat, messengers, social networks, video calls, etc.).
- Customer recognition through all communication channels.
- The option for a customer to request a call back (a “Callback” button).
- Feedback options for customers to assess service quality.
From our specialists’ perspective, call center software should efficiently address the challenges of omnichannel customer support, enhance agent efficiency, improve their satisfaction (leading to reduced staff turnover), enhance KPIs, reduce overall costs, and increase return on investment (ROI).
Customer Experience, ANEX Tour Case
ANEX Tour is one of the pioneering operators in the independent travel services market in Ukraine. Many of our fellow citizens have discovered popular destinations through ANEX Tour’s tours.
Our collaboration with ANEX Tour started in 2020. The company approached us, having an in-house call center with 100 operators located in five cities across Ukraine. The call center was divided into 16 departments, receiving approximately 1,700 calls per day and up to 4,500 emails per day*.
Case Issues
• ANEX Tour’s call center was hosted on a single server, which, in case of power outages or internet problems, completely halted customer service operations.
• Stationary phones did not allow remote work.
• Working with Outlook led to chaos in processing emails and an inability to structure inquiries.
• Minimal reporting, lack of transparency in the volume of inquiries, and real-time statistics.
• Uncontrolled call transfers and a high number of missed calls.
Call Center Software from Global Bilgi as a Solution
We offered ANEX Tour our cloud-based call center platform and the following solutions:
• Introduced an email system based on our MailQueue Software with a full search by email topic and content, as well as support for new token-based authorization with Office 365 cloud mail. This allowed employees from any department to record the subject of the inquiry and the processing outcome, set priorities, control email forwarding, and provide quantitative and time-based reporting. This approach simplified retrospective analysis and provided real-time project insights.
• Implemented a feedback form on the company’s website. This allowed for inquiry structuring and reduced the number of repetitive emails.
• Migrated the phone server to our cloud platform, significantly improving the work of both operators and managers. Operators could see each other’s statuses, more efficiently transfer calls, queue calls, and expedite inquiry processing times. Managers and agents gained the ability to work remotely and access all data from any device in real time. • Implemented an IVR system, which improved the efficiency of distributing inbound calls, reduced customer waiting time on the line, and minimized the percentage of missed calls.
The result of transitioning ANEX Tour’s call center to Global Bilgi’s software was the ability to work efficiently and grow the business despite the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the company’s operator staff in Ukraine decreased by 50% due to a full-scale invasion, ANEX Tour additionally purchased 50 licenses for our software, which operators from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia now use.
The Future of Call Center Software: Will AI Replace Agents?
In fact, call centers worldwide have long been using artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to varying degrees. Technologies like speech recognition already allow for detailed interactions with customers in interactive voice response (IVR) systems. Programmed chatbots help solve common issues and offer contextual guidance without agent intervention. AI-based call routing systems can also direct customers to the most suitable agents based on their needs, leading to quicker and more efficient issue resolution.
In the end, AI enhances customer interactions and satisfaction. But if you want a short answer, no, AI tools are not planning to replace agents anytime soon. Instead, they will transform agents’ work, ensuring higher-quality customer service.
At Global Bilgi, we are actively integrating AI and neural networks into our software to make call center interactions more flexible and efficient for customers, while reducing the workload on call center agents. We fully understand the trend of shifting phone calls to voice and text messages, so we continually improve our IVR system and integrate our software with chatbots. An important goal for us is enhancing contextual guidance to aid agents in real-time. Currently, AI can provide agents with automatic responses or responses based on historical data and successful solutions, speeding up call handling.
Conclusions
So, if you want to enhance your call center, Global Bilgi’s Sirius cloud platform offers:
• Improved IVR self-service system.
• Enhanced agent productivity.
• Effective quality assurance and analytics processes.
• Reduced operational costs.
• More satisfied customers.
Contact us to learn how our innovative software can elevate your call center to a new level.
*Statistics on inquiries were collected using the Global Bilgi Sirius call center platform before the start of cooperation.
