Call Center Software

Call Center software can provide preprogrammed reports and scripting capability or they can be customized to fit a company’s specific needs.

When you are researching and comparing call center software, make sure and look carefully at the reporting and scripting capabilities. You will want reports that are easy to read and utilize, along with options that can be ‘tweaked’ to meet your precise requirements.

Reporting

Call Center management reports can be one of the most important tools generated by the software programs. Many will give you literally hundreds of ‘canned’ options and the ability to create your own, customized reports. These reports need to be easy to read and manipulate so the data can be utilized for agent specific training, and to give your clients or the center management team an overall feel for how training programs and scripts affect call times and support options.

If you can’t readily understand the reports, the data won’t help. So make sure and get copies of sample reports before you choose the right call center software for your company. Look at the reports and ask questions about the customizable features for future needs.
Scripting

Many call center software programs will come with scripting. Scripting is the ability to allow your agents to follow a computer screen of questions, comments and gather information for the next question or step. This can simply be for transaction management, to ensure you’ve collected all the information needed to make a sale or get service related data.

Or the script can be used to make sure all critical information is furnished to a customer. Scripts can be utilized to handle objections, provide technical assistance in the form of question and response, and for knowing when and how a call should be escalated to the next level of agent or to management.

Call center software programs differ in their scripting abilities, so make sure if this feature is important to your center, or is something you will want to incorporate eventually, that the software you choose has the flexibility you’ll need.

Scripting options include the ability to create a tree of information with logic that will take the answers input into the script and then move the agents screen to the next rational branch of questions or comments. Many scripts will allow management to capture and input data, the change the scripts in real time as information evolves.

Call Center Management

Call center software will come with management abilities that vary by software. Make sure you inspect the administrative capabilities of any software to determine what utilities are available and how the system is managed. Some software will need to be ‘reset’ before changes take effect, and some software will allow you to make changes real-time.

Get a list of management options. They can include things like creating and modifying call lists. You will want to see what the options are for setting up a new agent and what you need to do to change the agent’s skills, and permission levels. Meaning what information and programs they can access.

Can you create, view or customize specific campaigns, agents, or groups? Or do you have to look at and change the entire center? It might be important to have search capabilities to find a specific recording or transcript of a specific call. Can you do this, or do you have to manually scroll through everything that happened that day?

Live Data

Another important option is the ability to see the data now, live. Accessing what happened on that last call, versus only getting reports at the end of the day can make a big impact on how your center runs. Call center management options should allow you to set and monitor quotas and goals on several different levels. Whether for motivation or compensation, an agent level view can be priceless.

Change The Settings

Management should be able to go in and change the outbound dial settings, add information or areas and numbers to the programming and update the compliance requirements on a real-time basis. The more flexibility you have, the better.

Can you manage the inbound queues and reroute calls that are holding? Do you have the ability to ‘see’ which agent is excelling and who needs a little more time? Managing a call center isn’t just about the data and numbers; it’s using those numbers to help your agents manage their callers and clients and overtime enhance their performance.

Consistency

Call center software should be easy to use. You want tools that will help you minimize training time. Time off the floor will cost you money, so anything you can do to make the agent’s job easier, and ensure consistency will make a difference.

Having screen pops with customer data will help provide this consistency. If the agent can see the customer information, including previous calls and comments, it will help them manage each call.

If you are searching for call center software, the terminology may sound like a foreign language. The list of features and functionality is miles long and can confuse even the most knowledgeable. You will need to start this search with some very basic decisions about what you are going to use the software for. The first question will be if you are going to implement your own call center, or if you plan on outsourcing the service.

In-house Call Center vs. Outsourcing

Outsourcing means you are going to hire a call center to manage this part of your business. They will in turn, utilize their employees or hire specific personal to handle the calls. The physical facilities and equipment, and probably the software will already be in place. If you plan to outsource, the only decision you need to make in reference to software, is if the software they have or will provide is what you need for your business. Some call centers will customize or build programs if you need a specific functionally that their package doesn’t include.

In-house, means that you will be starting your own call center. A few years ago this meant you would be providing a large ‘brick and mortar’ space, filling it with employees, telephone and computer equipment, and running an actual center. It still can mean that. If this is what you plan to do, one of your main questions about the call center software will be if it will work with your telephone system and your computer system. You will want the interface and resulting functionality and reports to be seamless.

Seamless is a term that simply means you don’t want to have to do a lot of technical patching. You want to make sure it works without any “holes” or things like dropped calls and calls handled without showing up on the reports.

In-house, can also mean you plan to run a remote or off-premise call center. This means that all or a portion of your call center is staffed by employees who work from their homes and utilize their personal computers, or one provided by the company. They may utilize their own telephone, or you may be installing a separate line just for your business.

When you are researching call center software, the first question is if the software only handles call centers that are centrally located with everyone in one place, or if it will only work if your employees are working remotely. If you plan to ever have a combination of the two, make sure the software can handle both on and off-site options.

Inbound vs. Outbound

Is your call center an Inbound Center, meaning it takes Inbound calls via a local or toll-free, 800-type service? Or is it an Outbound Center, whereby your employees are placing the calls? Rarely is the type of center split equally. You may have an Inbound Center that places a percentage of the calls– outgoing, or vice versa, but most of your calling will be one or the other. Software and services will be targeted toward the focus of the center which will be either Inbound, or Outbound.

Automated Call Distribution or ACD

If the call center is Inbound, do you plan on utilizing ACD or Automated Call Distribution? The basic function of this technology is to answer the call via a recording and allow the user to make choices and be routed to the department or person who can help them. Calls are generally routed on a first come, first serve basis. But they can be routed intelligently by the use of identifiers, like the telephone number the client is calling from, to give priority service and ‘bump’ the call to the front of the line.

ACDs can be standalone call center software, or this service can be incorporated as part of a package. The system can be offered by a long distance telephone company as part of their network services, or it can be a software or hardware solution on-premise.

Other routing options can include the option for bi-lingual service – press one for English, two for Spanish…or the calls can be routed by time of day to different centers if you have one on the East coast and one in the West. Your ACD may also have an IVR or Interactive Voice Response, option. This allows you to route the call based on words said, versus pressed numerical response.

ACDs can be used to offer solutions to a customer’s problem without them talking to a live body. You can offer an option that has a recorded address, for instance. Or one that gives hours open, or even walks them through general questions and answers.

As you can see, there are so many options and different terms to learn and we haven’t really started.