When you think of a call center, you likely picture an office with a bunch of cubicles and employees on headsets repeating lines like “I understand your frustration” and “can you please hold for a moment?” While such legacy call centers no doubt still exist, they’re being phased out in favor of more modern options. In fact, you could argue that adopting a modern contact center is one of the most important parts of digital transformations for any business.
Digital transformation is basically the process of adopting digital solutions to replace manual processes. There are several key challenges involved, and some companies still have difficulty with the concept, but it pays off well over time. When it comes to call center software, this will essentially replace manual call routing options and speed up your workflow in general. Here are just a few of the biggest areas where a cloud-based call center can improve your business.
Customer Satisfaction
You have no greater resource than your customer base, and you need your customer interactions to go as smoothly as possible. Customers may already be frustrated when contacting your agents, and the last thing they need is to be put on hold for long periods or to receive subpar service.
Let’s say you’re running a business that provides bay and bow replacement windows. Customers who call in are likely to have had an incident where one of their windows has been broken, or it may no longer be sealed properly. To avoid adding to their frustration, you need automation like an interactive voice response (IVR) system on your side. This will automatically route customers to the right agent for their concerns as quickly as possible.
Modern customer relationship management (CRM) systems also allow customers to contact your agents via their preferred digital means. This could include voice calls, text, SMS, live chat, your mobile app, etc. With true omnichannel capabilities, customers will even be able to seamlessly switch between communication channels if needed, and they’ll stay in contact with the same agent. This saves everyone’s time and makes for a memorable and personalized customer experience.
Agent Productivity
Using a cloud contact center as a service (CCaaS) doesn’t just benefit your customers. You’ll also be able to improve agent efficiency by offering them the best tools available. Thanks to a unified agent desktop, your agents will be able to easily keep track of conversations across all channels and pull relevant customer information from a single source.
High turnaround time is one of the biggest concerns for any contact center, and providing the tools to guide calls toward quick and effective resolutions inspires customer loyalty and can help retain your agents in an industry where turnover is rampant. Best of all, most cloud solutions provide easy CRM integrations for any programs you’re already running like Salesforce, Five9, and Office 365, so agents can easily adapt to new features.
Robust Analytics
A CCaaS platform will also include powerful analytics tools that let you easily store, update, and retrieve customer data. This can be used to improve your services for existing customers by either solving their problems more quickly or by making special offers to your most loyal customers. Your sales team can even use this information to come up with ways to pursue leads more effectively.
Easy call recording options will also make it easy for supervisors to monitor calls to ensure customer expectations are being met and to coach agents who may need additional help. CCaaS providers can also help automatically upgrade your solutions, so you’ll always have the best tools available and maintain impeccable security.
Lastly, a cloud contact center gives you the freedom to run a remote call center with agents all around the globe. With all the freedom and options to make better customer experiences, CCaaS models offer too many benefits to pass up.