Picking the right call center software can help you automate, monitor, and manage business communications effectively and easily, via different channels. It can help minimize costs, increase profits, boost team productivity, and save precious time. This blog covers the different benefits of using small business call center software, tips to select the best one, and some of the most popular software solutions available today.
Effective and easy communication and 24×7 support are the lifelines of small businesses and can even help boost them to compete with big players. Having a call center is no longer a choice but rather a necessity. It can help offer customer assistance round the clock, resolve queries and complaints promptly, and enhance the customer experience.
However, if you want it to run smoothly and handle all the operations efficiently, investing in call center software is essential. The perfect small business call center software can automate and manage both incoming and outgoing communications via email, phone, texting, instant messaging, live chat, and more channels.
So, what are the key benefits of choosing software that is intelligent, affordable, and reliable? How can you make the right choice? Read on to find out.
Advantages of Using a Call Center Software
A call center is no longer about hiring a few people as agents and instructing them to make and receive phone calls. It needs sophisticated tools and processes to maintain a competitive edge by improving customer interactions, engagement, conversion, and loyalty. The best call center software for small businesses usually offers the following advantages, and you can explore and compare them on Zoftware before making your choice:
- Superior customer experience – Accelerate and improve query resolution through automation and personalize service for better conversion.
- Lower costs – Use call center solutions for small businesses to automate and streamline communication, thereby lowering costs and saving time.
- Better security – Protect sensitive customer data against unexpected situations, cyberattacks, and unauthorized personnel with cloud-based call center solutions.
- Advanced analytics – Analyze multiple call parameters to reduce handling time, improve profits, boost agent performance, generate customized reports on trends, call volumes, and satisfaction ratings.
- Improved team collaboration – Enable employees to share real-time updates and information, monitor and track tasks, collaborate, and become more accountable.
- Multi-channel support – Offer a seamless and holistic customer experience through phone calls, chat, email, social media etc., switch channels easily during interaction, reduce customer frustration.
Tips to Choose the Best Call Center Software for Small Businesses
While there are plenty of call center solutions for small businesses, here are a few things to keep in mind before picking one. You can also go through the options on Zoftware, compare features, and then pick the one that fits your requirements and budget.
- Both on-premise and cloud-based call center solutions should be easy to deploy and scalable.
- Cloud-based call center solutions are easier to integrate with other apps than on-premise ones.
- Find out if the software vendor offers excellent technical and customer support.
- Both on-premise and cloud-based call center software solutions should offer a disaster recovery and business continuity plan.
- Price will depend on equipment, software fees, cabling, features, etc., and should not be the only driving factor.
- Pick a software that is intuitive for agents, with features like AI prompts, screen popping, gamification, etc.
- It should be easy for supervisors too, when it comes to configuring, reaching targets, improving team performance, routing, and monitoring calls.
- A small business call center software should offer omnichannel functionality.
- It should automatically route calls to the right agents.
- Check if it has Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for 24×7 availability and personalized customer experience.
- The software should record calls in real-time, track calls 24×7, monitor quality, and ensure timely follow-ups.
- The best call center software for small businesses will let you analyze call reports to gain insights about overall performance and agents.
- Check if the facility for live call transfer without disconnection is available.
- Decide which features you actually need and request demos before buying software.
Top Call Center Solutions for Small Businesses
On Zoftware’s platform, you can research and compare multiple call center software solutions to see which one aligns closely with your business goals and budget. You can also visit vendor websites for more information.
To make your decision-making process simpler, here are a few top tools to consider:
- Monster VoIP – It leverages multiple communication tools, such as messaging, phone systems, and video conferencing to streamline customer interactions. You can route incoming calls automatically, manage calls, configure the on-hold music, and more. The software integrates with HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, etc.
- HoduCC – A HoduSoft product, this small business call center software automates customer communications and ensures fast resolutions via chats, SMS, audio/video calls, and social media platforms. Automatic call distribution, predictive dialing, IVR, and task scheduling are some of its key features.
- JustCall – Simple to deploy, this tool lets you consolidate workflow automation needs and customer communication on a single platform. Its predictive dialer feature is ideal for boosting sales. All you need to do is upload the list of contacts and let the software start dialing the numbers. It also allows agents to take notes, read call scripts, tag contacts, and more, during a call.
- CallTools – This call center software is known for its inbound solution and predictive dialer. Apart from real-time analytics, it helps you connect with prospects and customers in multiple ways. CallTools integrates easily with Zoho CRM, Shopify, Pipedrive, and Salesforce Sales Cloud.
- Broadvoice – One of the best cloud-based call center solutions, Broadvoice combines UC and collaboration features, and cloud PBX with a virtual call center on a single platform. It is affordable and integrates with Salesforce Platform, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Outlook.
- Calibre – Offered by HigherGround, this software records, reports, analyzes calls as well as multimedia interactions via status indicators and interactive dashboards. You can use it to enhance sales operations and customer service.
- Servetel – Suitable for recording as well as analyzing customer communications, this call center software is cloud-based and ensures quality control while facilitating agent training. IVR, SMS alerts, call forwarding, call queue management, and notifications for missed and received calls are some of its attractive features. Servetel allows you to send promotional and transactional messages as well as OTPs. It also offers real-time analytics to study the performance of agents and marketing campaigns. You can integrate it with Textmagic, Zoho CRM, Talkdesk, Avochato, etc.
- eTollFree – This predictive dialer call center software enables you to record calls and manage operations efficiently. Its campaign management feature is customizable and helps managers call phone numbers associated with leads automatically.
Key Takeaways
- Call center solutions for small businesses can help manage multi-channel customer communications effectively through automation.
- Using call center software can enhance the customer experience, reduce costs, increase team productivity and collaboration, and help derive actionable insights.
- Cloud-based call center solutions are usually easier to deploy, scale, integrate, and use compared to their on-premise counterparts.
- The ideal software should have features like IVR, call tracking and monitoring, omnichannel functionality, automatic routing, live call transfer, etc.
- Before buying software, always research and compare multiple options, choose features that you truly need, and request demos or free trials.
References
- Business.com – Choosing Call Center Software
- SoftwareSuggest Blog – Key Benefits of Call Center Software
- Call Center Studio Blog – Contact Centre Software Blogs
- HashMicro Blog – Benefits of Good Call Center Software
- CloudTalk Blog – 8 Key Advantages of Call Center Software Every Business Must Know
- Global Empire Blog – Benefits of Call Center Software for Business
