Guide to Choosing the Best Call Center Software

Whether you are searching for inbound, outbound, blended, or omnichannel call center software, there are many options and solutions available to consider. We’ve taken a look at the leading providers of call center software solutions and narrowed it down to a few basics on what it takes to have the proper feature set, reliability, and a fair pricing & contract model. 

What is Call Center Software? 

As a consumer, you probably don’t pay much attention to the behind-the-scenes logistics of communicating with a business. On the flip side, an owner or manager does care. How consumers connect with agents using call center software can make or break a customer experience.

Call center software is a collection of systems designed to effectively handle and route large volumes of phone calls that are typically sales or customer service related. There are specific call center solutions built for particular industries, but the core technology is used similarly.

Other types of communication channels outside of voice are important. Email, text messaging, chat, and bots should be considered in the overall design of a call center software solution. 

To be considered a comprehensive call center platform, workforce engagement, monitoring and agent coaching, CRM integration, and IVR capabilities like payments are essential. Contextual agent views from a CRM like Salesforce that provide account information and call history can make menial tasks a breeze.  

Outbound Call Center Features to Consider

Outbound call center software increases agent productivity and efficiency while lowering overall costs by running outbound campaigns with automated dialing. Strategies for using outbound dialing software depend on your organization’s industry and goals; think sales v. collections. The alternative to using the various dialing modes is to dial manually.

Check out some productivity tips our team has put together to help you get the most out of your outbound call center software before reviewing the types of outbound dialers available. 

Predictive Dialer

Predictive dialers help reduce wasted time by using intelligent algorithms to place the highest number of calls based on agent availability and hold queues. In contrast, the dialer monitors busy tones and can even deliver prerecorded messages to answering machines if selected. Agents only need to worry about speaking to live customers and leads. 

Preview Dialer

Preview dialers pull predetermined leads and accounts from a CRM and then present that contact information to the agent BEFORE a call is placed. As designated agents are presented with account information, they can prepare better for the phone call and choose to either place or skip the call. Preview dialers are used primarily on complex sales or service communications and help agents make each more personalized.

Manually Approved Calling

Manually Approved Calling (MAC) combines predictive and manual dialing so that agents call the right – and approved – people at the right time. When third-party contact data appears on the reviewing agent’s dashboard, the agent examines it, then decides whether to approve or reject the potential call. Approved calls go to the outbound-calling agent; rejected ones are segmented into appropriate lists, such as a scrubbed cell phone one.

The agents who approve calls and the assigned to the dialer are separate, in order to help with specific TCPA compliance regulations when dialing cell phones.

Essential Call Center Software Features

With so many companies vying for your call center’s business, it is important to look at some core functionally each call center software provides. To do a few things perfectly is better than doing everything half haphazardly. No one knows your call center and what features you need better than you. Long-term goals are equally important when considering these additional features. A few additional features to explore when choosing a call center software include:

• Voice Analytics
• Real-time Business Intelligence
• Workforce Management / Workforce Optimization
• IVR
• Omnichannel

Call Center Software to Power Collections & More

It is no secret that the Accounts Receivables Management (ARM) or collections industry heavily relies on outbound dialers to help manage their call center and agents. Leveraging any dialing modes listed above will boost agent productivity by eliminating wasted time spent on manual calls while allowing inbound callers to self-cure via the IVR. 

Improving collections starts by using the best call center software. 

Recently we helped a client with significant gains using TCN’s predictive dialer and as a result, overall promise-to-pay rates increased. Here’s an overview of the success our client experienced:

• Increased “right party” contacts by up to 288%
• Increased agent talk time by up to 169%
• Increased answering machine detection by up to 45%
• Ready/idle time reduced by up to 43%
• FTE (full-time employee) reduced by up to 44%

TCN: A Trusted Leader in Call Center Software

There are thousands of call centers that use and trust TCN each day. We take care of that trust and continue to build on our already award-winning platform. With 24/7 customer support and no long-term contracts, you’ll get all the help you need whenever you need it.

For a closer look at TCN, be sure to request a demo and start leveraging the most powerful contact center platform in the industry.