Call centers rely on a number of tools and software systems to serve customers, train agents, monitor performance, and improve efficiency.
- Interactive voice response (IVR) software is an automated system that collects information from callers before routing them to the most appropriate agent or resource. For example, IVR systems can determine whether a customer should be routed to a technical support agent, a Spanish-speaking customer service agent, a billing representative, or to an automated self-service system that lets customers resolve questions on their own.
- Call monitoring tools review the interactions between agents and customers to track quality assurance metrics, monitor agent performance, and identify needs for additional training or modifications to call scripts.
- Call accounting or call logging tools collect and record telephone usage within the call center.
- Automatic call distributors manage call routing to reduce wait times and ensure that customers speak with the right representative.
- Predictive dialer software automatically dials a number and connects the customer to a waiting representative.
- Help desk software provides a self-service approach to answering customer questions.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software stores and manages important information about customers, including their demographics, history of purchases, and previous interactions with call center agents. CRM software enables agents to better understand a customer’s needs and to avoid asking customers to share the same details each time they contact the call center.
- Call center analytics tools help track a wide range of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) concerning agent performance, customer experience, and call center efficiency.
- Workforce management software helps call center managers predict call volume, establish optimal staffing levels, and manage agent schedules.
What factors are important in choosing call center tools?
Tools with these capabilities can help call centers improve quality, future-proof technology, and simplify maintenance and management.
- Support for omnichannel interactions. Because customers expect to interact with companies seamlessly across all channels, superior call center tools support omnichannel interactions in addition to telephone interactions. Customers must be able to begin a conversation on one channel and seamlessly move to any other channel of their choice.
- Collection of unsolicited feedback. Some of the most useful information for call centers comes from the unsolicited feedback that customers offer in interactions with agents. Call center tools that can capture this unsolicited and unstructured information will deliver more value for call center analytics and quality assurance.
- Cloud-based technology. Cloud-based solutions simplify deployment, management, and updates of call center tools. With cloud-based technology, call center tools are managed by a third-party provider, enabling call center IT teams to avoid the need to purchase, install, and update hardware and software on site.
- Easy integration. Call center software must integrate easily with CRM systems, social networking tools, help desk software and other systems.
- Security and compliance. Because interactions with customers often involve personally identifiable information and private customer details, it’s essential that all call center tools deploy the latest in encryption and security measures.
- Effortless scalability. Call center tools should be able to handle dramatic spikes in call volume as well as the needs of a rapidly growing call center operation.
What are call center analytics tools?
Among the hundreds of KPIs that call centers track, these are often considered the most important.
- First call resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer issues that are resolved on the first call – a measure of process efficiency and agent training and effectiveness.
- Average speed of answer (ASA) measures how long customers must wait on average before their call is answered. High ASA rates indicate problems with staffing levels.
- Average handle time (AHT) tracks the average time that agents need to complete a call, including talk time, hold time, and after-call work. This metric is an indicator of efficiency and training effectiveness.
- Abandoned call rates measure the number of callers who hang up before they can talk with an agent. High rates of abandoned calls suggest insufficient staffing levels or inefficient call handling.
- Transfer rate is the percentage of calls that must be transferred to a supervisor with more authority or to a more experienced representative for resolution. While transfers are often necessary to resolve a customer’s issue quickly, high transfer rates often correlate with higher levels of customer frustration.
- Net promoter scores (NPS) measure the likelihood that customers will recommend the call center experience or the company to others.
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT) measures how satisfied customers are with their call center experience, usually on a scale of 1 to 10.
What KPIs are most important in a call center?
Among the hundreds of KPIs that call centers track, these are often considered the most important.
- First call resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer issues that are resolved on the first call – a measure of process efficiency and agent training and effectiveness.
- Average speed of answer (ASA) measures how long customers must wait on average before their call is answered. High ASA rates indicate problems with staffing levels.
- Average handle time (AHT) tracks the average time that agents need to complete a call, including talk time, hold time, and after-call work. This metric is an indicator of efficiency and training effectiveness.
- Abandoned call rates measure the number of callers who hang up before they can talk with an agent. High rates of abandoned calls suggest insufficient staffing levels or inefficient call handling.
- Transfer rate is the percentage of calls that must be transferred to a supervisor with more authority or to a more experienced representative for resolution. While transfers are often necessary to resolve a customer’s issue quickly, high transfer rates often correlate with higher levels of customer frustration.
- Net promoter scores (NPS) measure the likelihood that customers will recommend the call center experience or the company to others.
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT) measures how satisfied customers are with their call center experience, usually on a scale of 1 to 10.
