contact_center_LP_collage.png

What Is Call Monitoring?: A Comprehensive Guide

Redefine your call center’s performance with cutting-edge call monitoring

what-is-call-monitoring.jpg

What Is Call Monitoring?: A Comprehensive Guide

Redefine your call center’s performance with cutting-edge call monitoring

what-is-call-monitoring.jpg

What Is Call Monitoring?: A Comprehensive Guide

Redefine your call center’s performance with cutting-edge call monitoring

what-is-call-monitoring.jpg

What Is Call Monitoring?: A Comprehensive Guide

Redefine your call center’s performance with cutting-edge call monitoring

what-is-call-monitoring.jpg

Call monitoring is one of the ways by which contact centers ensure that they’re providing the best experience possible for their existing and potential customers. But what is it, why should you use it, and how would your company benefit from it?

We have a quick guide to answer these questions for you. Below, we’ll be exploring concepts and ideas associated with monitoring calls for business. Feel free to use the jump links to navigate to any specific topic you’re interested in, or join us as we delve into each of them one by one.

Call monitoring is one of the ways by which contact centers ensure that they’re providing the best experience possible for their existing and potential customers. But what is it, why should you use it, and how would your company benefit from it?

We have a quick guide to answer these questions for you. Below, we’ll be exploring concepts and ideas associated with monitoring calls for business. Feel free to use the jump links to navigate to any specific topic you’re interested in, or join us as we delve into each of them one by one.

Call monitoring is one of the ways by which contact centers ensure that they’re providing the best experience possible for their existing and potential customers. But what is it, why should you use it, and how would your company benefit from it?

We have a quick guide to answer these questions for you. Below, we’ll be exploring concepts and ideas associated with monitoring calls for business. Feel free to use the jump links to navigate to any specific topic you’re interested in, or join us as we delve into each of them one by one.

Call monitoring is one of the ways by which contact centers ensure that they’re providing the best experience possible for their existing and potential customers. But what is it, why should you use it, and how would your company benefit from it?

We have a quick guide to answer these questions for you. Below, we’ll be exploring concepts and ideas associated with monitoring calls for business. Feel free to use the jump links to navigate to any specific topic you’re interested in, or join us as we delve into each of them one by one.

What is call monitoring?

What is call monitoring?

What is call monitoring?

What is call monitoring?

Let’s start with a call monitoring definition or two.

Generally speaking, call monitoring is the act of listening in on calls. But in call and contact centers, it specifically refers to tracking and supervising agents’ calls. It’s almost always done by a call center manager, call center supervisor, or on occasion, by new agents.

There are lots of reasons why these people would need to listen in on calls. We’ll go into more detail on those later, but briefly put, it’s usually used to train new agents, improve customer satisfaction, boost agent performance, and even ensure phone calls go smoothly.

As an aside: apart from live calls, you can also choose to monitor other types of customer interactions when you use contact center solutions. For example, a popular kind of live monitoring is live chat monitoring.

Let’s start with a call monitoring definition or two.

Generally speaking, call monitoring is the act of listening in on calls. But in call and contact centers, it specifically refers to tracking and supervising agents’ calls. It’s almost always done by a call center manager, call center supervisor, or on occasion, by new agents.

There are lots of reasons why these people would need to listen in on calls. We’ll go into more detail on those later, but briefly put, it’s usually used to train new agents, improve customer satisfaction, boost agent performance, and even ensure phone calls go smoothly.

As an aside: apart from live calls, you can also choose to monitor other types of customer interactions when you use contact center solutions. For example, a popular kind of live monitoring is live chat monitoring.

Let’s start with a call monitoring definition or two.

Generally speaking, call monitoring is the act of listening in on calls. But in call and contact centers, it specifically refers to tracking and supervising agents’ calls. It’s almost always done by a call center manager, call center supervisor, or on occasion, by new agents.

There are lots of reasons why these people would need to listen in on calls. We’ll go into more detail on those later, but briefly put, it’s usually used to train new agents, improve customer satisfaction, boost agent performance, and even ensure phone calls go smoothly.

As an aside: apart from live calls, you can also choose to monitor other types of customer interactions when you use contact center solutions. For example, a popular kind of live monitoring is live chat monitoring.

Let’s start with a call monitoring definition or two.

Generally speaking, call monitoring is the act of listening in on calls. But in call and contact centers, it specifically refers to tracking and supervising agents’ calls. It’s almost always done by a call center manager, call center supervisor, or on occasion, by new agents.

There are lots of reasons why these people would need to listen in on calls. We’ll go into more detail on those later, but briefly put, it’s usually used to train new agents, improve customer satisfaction, boost agent performance, and even ensure phone calls go smoothly.

As an aside: apart from live calls, you can also choose to monitor other types of customer interactions when you use contact center solutions. For example, a popular kind of live monitoring is live chat monitoring.

What are the types of call monitoring?

What are the types of call monitoring?

What are the types of call monitoring?

What are the types of call monitoring?

Just as there are different means by which contact center managers oversee interactions, there are different types of activities that fall under the classification of call monitoring.

Listening to calls can involve listening without speaking to a live call or giving feedback to the agent while they’re talking to a customer. It may not even involve live call monitoring at all—reviewing recordings of calls can work just as well.

Let’s go into detail on the three primary types of call monitoring.

In order, these are:

  1. Call whispering
  2. Call barging
  3. Call recording

Each has its own benefits, which we’ll be covering in the next section. For now, let’s dive in and find out what each type does, and how they’re different from each other.

Call whispering

When managers use call whispering to monitor calls, they listen in on an active call. The call center agent can hear what their direct supervisor says during the call, but the customer cannot.

Basically, it’s like the manager is “whispering” for only the agent to hear.

This type of call management is particularly helpful for agents who aren’t fully confident in their role yet, or who need extra support with a specific client. Since managers can comment in real-time, they can give advice before a call concludes.

Call barging

Call barge or call barging is similar to call whispering—the only difference is that the manager can directly speak to the client as well. This means customers can get support from both the agent and their manager.

Call barging is different from call listening because managers are able to actively participate in or take over the phone conversation.

Depending on the nature of the call, customers sometimes need to be told that managers are listening in. That’s especially important if there’s a possibility a manager will join in. No one wants to startle customers with a new voice suddenly interjecting.

Call recording

Unlike the other types of call center monitoring, call recording doesn’t require managers to listen in real-time when agents call customers (or vice versa). Instead, they can set the system to record calls and listen to them later.

With call recording, a replayable audio file of an inbound or outbound call is created.

The recording of the call generally maintains the original call quality. That means that if your contact center software supports high-quality calling, you’ll be able to listen back to the calls in high quality too.

Just as there are different means by which contact center managers oversee interactions, there are different types of activities that fall under the classification of call monitoring.

Listening to calls can involve listening without speaking to a live call or giving feedback to the agent while they’re talking to a customer. It may not even involve live call monitoring at all—reviewing recordings of calls can work just as well.

Let’s go into detail on the three primary types of call monitoring.

In order, these are:

  1. Call whispering
  2. Call barging
  3. Call recording

Each has its own benefits, which we’ll be covering in the next section. For now, let’s dive in and find out what each type does, and how they’re different from each other.

Call whispering

When managers use call whispering to monitor calls, they listen in on an active call. The call center agent can hear what their direct supervisor says during the call, but the customer cannot.

Basically, it’s like the manager is “whispering” for only the agent to hear.

This type of call management is particularly helpful for agents who aren’t fully confident in their role yet, or who need extra support with a specific client. Since managers can comment in real-time, they can give advice before a call concludes.

Call barging

Call barge or call barging is similar to call whispering—the only difference is that the manager can directly speak to the client as well. This means customers can get support from both the agent and their manager.

Call barging is different from call listening because managers are able to actively participate in or take over the phone conversation.

Depending on the nature of the call, customers sometimes need to be told that managers are listening in. That’s especially important if there’s a possibility a manager will join in. No one wants to startle customers with a new voice suddenly interjecting.

Call recording

Unlike the other types of call center monitoring, call recording doesn’t require managers to listen in real-time when agents call customers (or vice versa). Instead, they can set the system to record calls and listen to them later.

With call recording, a replayable audio file of an inbound or outbound call is created.

The recording of the call generally maintains the original call quality. That means that if your contact center software supports high-quality calling, you’ll be able to listen back to the calls in high quality too.

Just as there are different means by which contact center managers oversee interactions, there are different types of activities that fall under the classification of call monitoring.

Listening to calls can involve listening without speaking to a live call or giving feedback to the agent while they’re talking to a customer. It may not even involve live call monitoring at all—reviewing recordings of calls can work just as well.

Let’s go into detail on the three primary types of call monitoring.

In order, these are:

  1. Call whispering
  2. Call barging
  3. Call recording

Each has its own benefits, which we’ll be covering in the next section. For now, let’s dive in and find out what each type does, and how they’re different from each other.

Call whispering

When managers use call whispering to monitor calls, they listen in on an active call. The call center agent can hear what their direct supervisor says during the call, but the customer cannot.

Basically, it’s like the manager is “whispering” for only the agent to hear.

This type of call management is particularly helpful for agents who aren’t fully confident in their role yet, or who need extra support with a specific client. Since managers can comment in real-time, they can give advice before a call concludes.

Call barging

Call barge or call barging is similar to call whispering—the only difference is that the manager can directly speak to the client as well. This means customers can get support from both the agent and their manager.

Call barging is different from call listening because managers are able to actively participate in or take over the phone conversation.

Depending on the nature of the call, customers sometimes need to be told that managers are listening in. That’s especially important if there’s a possibility a manager will join in. No one wants to startle customers with a new voice suddenly interjecting.

Call recording

Unlike the other types of call center monitoring, call recording doesn’t require managers to listen in real-time when agents call customers (or vice versa). Instead, they can set the system to record calls and listen to them later.

With call recording, a replayable audio file of an inbound or outbound call is created.

The recording of the call generally maintains the original call quality. That means that if your contact center software supports high-quality calling, you’ll be able to listen back to the calls in high quality too.

Just as there are different means by which contact center managers oversee interactions, there are different types of activities that fall under the classification of call monitoring.

Listening to calls can involve listening without speaking to a live call or giving feedback to the agent while they’re talking to a customer. It may not even involve live call monitoring at all—reviewing recordings of calls can work just as well.

Let’s go into detail on the three primary types of call monitoring.

In order, these are:

  1. Call whispering
  2. Call barging
  3. Call recording

Each has its own benefits, which we’ll be covering in the next section. For now, let’s dive in and find out what each type does, and how they’re different from each other.

Call whispering

When managers use call whispering to monitor calls, they listen in on an active call. The call center agent can hear what their direct supervisor says during the call, but the customer cannot.

Basically, it’s like the manager is “whispering” for only the agent to hear.

This type of call management is particularly helpful for agents who aren’t fully confident in their role yet, or who need extra support with a specific client. Since managers can comment in real-time, they can give advice before a call concludes.

Call barging

Call barge or call barging is similar to call whispering—the only difference is that the manager can directly speak to the client as well. This means customers can get support from both the agent and their manager.

Call barging is different from call listening because managers are able to actively participate in or take over the phone conversation.

Depending on the nature of the call, customers sometimes need to be told that managers are listening in. That’s especially important if there’s a possibility a manager will join in. No one wants to startle customers with a new voice suddenly interjecting.

Call recording

Unlike the other types of call center monitoring, call recording doesn’t require managers to listen in real-time when agents call customers (or vice versa). Instead, they can set the system to record calls and listen to them later.

With call recording, a replayable audio file of an inbound or outbound call is created.

The recording of the call generally maintains the original call quality. That means that if your contact center software supports high-quality calling, you’ll be able to listen back to the calls in high quality too.

Benefits of each type of call monitoring: direct comparison

Call whisperingCall bargingCall recording
Does not disrupt calls in favor of coaching agentsLets managers intervene if an agent is struggling, to prevent negative interactions More flexible, since managers don’t need to be available during ongoing calls and can listen to calls anytime they’ve got time
With this, managers can give tips that help boost customer support quality before the call concludesCustomers get direct access to more experienced managers, which helps them get answers fasterTips for improvement can be shared more effectively, since managers can skip directly to parts of a call that warrant feedback and organize audio clips based on trends and themes
Whenever a case needs to be transferred to another department—for example, to a particular sales team—managers can quietly let agents know, so the transfer is more efficientCall barging lets managers directly inform customers whenever their case needs to be escalated. That’s especially useful for support teams and contact centersWhenever agents or managers want to learn about escalations and transfers outside their own teams in the support or sales departments, they can easily listen to other recorded calls
Since customers can’t tell the managers are instructing to their agents, it gives new employees some hands-on experienceWhen agents are in training, managers can use call barging to step in if a trainee agent provides incorrect information to a customer. This reduces risk to the business while allowing new employees to learn from mistakesRecorded calls can be used as general training resources. New agents can listen to them to prepare for the kinds of situations they’ll be facing once they start using the organization’s call center solution to speak to customers directly

Benefits of each type of call monitoring: direct comparison

Call whisperingCall bargingCall recording
Does not disrupt calls in favor of coaching agentsLets managers intervene if an agent is struggling, to prevent negative interactions More flexible, since managers don’t need to be available during ongoing calls and can listen to calls anytime they’ve got time
With this, managers can give tips that help boost customer support quality before the call concludesCustomers get direct access to more experienced managers, which helps them get answers fasterTips for improvement can be shared more effectively, since managers can skip directly to parts of a call that warrant feedback and organize audio clips based on trends and themes
Whenever a case needs to be transferred to another department—for example, to a particular sales team—managers can quietly let agents know, so the transfer is more efficientCall barging lets managers directly inform customers whenever their case needs to be escalated. That’s especially useful for support teams and contact centersWhenever agents or managers want to learn about escalations and transfers outside their own teams in the support or sales departments, they can easily listen to other recorded calls
Since customers can’t tell the managers are instructing to their agents, it gives new employees some hands-on experienceWhen agents are in training, managers can use call barging to step in if a trainee agent provides incorrect information to a customer. This reduces risk to the business while allowing new employees to learn from mistakesRecorded calls can be used as general training resources. New agents can listen to them to prepare for the kinds of situations they’ll be facing once they start using the organization’s call center solution to speak to customers directly

Benefits of each type of call monitoring: direct comparison

Call whisperingCall bargingCall recording
Does not disrupt calls in favor of coaching agentsLets managers intervene if an agent is struggling, to prevent negative interactions More flexible, since managers don’t need to be available during ongoing calls and can listen to calls anytime they’ve got time
With this, managers can give tips that help boost customer support quality before the call concludesCustomers get direct access to more experienced managers, which helps them get answers fasterTips for improvement can be shared more effectively, since managers can skip directly to parts of a call that warrant feedback and organize audio clips based on trends and themes
Whenever a case needs to be transferred to another department—for example, to a particular sales team—managers can quietly let agents know, so the transfer is more efficientCall barging lets managers directly inform customers whenever their case needs to be escalated. That’s especially useful for support teams and contact centersWhenever agents or managers want to learn about escalations and transfers outside their own teams in the support or sales departments, they can easily listen to other recorded calls
Since customers can’t tell the managers are instructing to their agents, it gives new employees some hands-on experienceWhen agents are in training, managers can use call barging to step in if a trainee agent provides incorrect information to a customer. This reduces risk to the business while allowing new employees to learn from mistakesRecorded calls can be used as general training resources. New agents can listen to them to prepare for the kinds of situations they’ll be facing once they start using the organization’s call center solution to speak to customers directly

Benefits of each type of call monitoring: direct comparison

Call whisperingCall bargingCall recording
Does not disrupt calls in favor of coaching agentsLets managers intervene if an agent is struggling, to prevent negative interactions More flexible, since managers don’t need to be available during ongoing calls and can listen to calls anytime they’ve got time
With this, managers can give tips that help boost customer support quality before the call concludesCustomers get direct access to more experienced managers, which helps them get answers fasterTips for improvement can be shared more effectively, since managers can skip directly to parts of a call that warrant feedback and organize audio clips based on trends and themes
Whenever a case needs to be transferred to another department—for example, to a particular sales team—managers can quietly let agents know, so the transfer is more efficientCall barging lets managers directly inform customers whenever their case needs to be escalated. That’s especially useful for support teams and contact centersWhenever agents or managers want to learn about escalations and transfers outside their own teams in the support or sales departments, they can easily listen to other recorded calls
Since customers can’t tell the managers are instructing to their agents, it gives new employees some hands-on experienceWhen agents are in training, managers can use call barging to step in if a trainee agent provides incorrect information to a customer. This reduces risk to the business while allowing new employees to learn from mistakesRecorded calls can be used as general training resources. New agents can listen to them to prepare for the kinds of situations they’ll be facing once they start using the organization’s call center solution to speak to customers directly

Advantages of call monitoring in call centers

Advantages of call monitoring in call centers

Advantages of call monitoring in call centers

Advantages of call monitoring in call centers

There’s a reason why call monitoring activities are standard in contact centers—and that’s because they can benefit from them. Advantages include:

  • The ability to improve customer satisfaction. We’ll go into more detail on this one later. But for now, it’s worth noting that providing managers with the tools they need to consistently support agents ensures those agents can more easily facilitate customer success.
  • Increasing sales. Having call monitoring built into your contact center solution lets direct managers monitor conversations and identify opportunities for furthering the marketing departments‘ goals. That means managers can find the perfect times to push sales or upsell.
  • Boost call quality standards. This is one of the most important benefits of call monitoring. With managers able to directly guide agents to the, your call monitoring system helps you improve call quality in your call center and by extension improve customer experience.
  • Improved options for automatic call distribution. If you’re using an IVR system as part of your cloud contact center, you can configure it to place tougher cases in a call queue that doesn’t just lead to specialist agents, but representatives who are being actively monitored as well. That way, managers can help manage the more complex queries while training an agent to handle similar types of calls in the future.

There’s a reason why call monitoring activities are standard in contact centers—and that’s because they can benefit from them. Advantages include:

  • The ability to improve customer satisfaction. We’ll go into more detail on this one later. But for now, it’s worth noting that providing managers with the tools they need to consistently support agents ensures those agents can more easily facilitate customer success.
  • Increasing sales. Having call monitoring built into your contact center solution lets direct managers monitor conversations and identify opportunities for furthering the marketing departments‘ goals. That means managers can find the perfect times to push sales or upsell.
  • Boost call quality standards. This is one of the most important benefits of call monitoring. With managers able to directly guide agents to the, your call monitoring system helps you improve call quality in your call center and by extension improve customer experience.
  • Improved options for automatic call distribution. If you’re using an IVR system as part of your cloud contact center, you can configure it to place tougher cases in a call queue that doesn’t just lead to specialist agents, but representatives who are being actively monitored as well. That way, managers can help manage the more complex queries while training an agent to handle similar types of calls in the future.

There’s a reason why call monitoring activities are standard in contact centers—and that’s because they can benefit from them. Advantages include:

  • The ability to improve customer satisfaction. We’ll go into more detail on this one later. But for now, it’s worth noting that providing managers with the tools they need to consistently support agents ensures those agents can more easily facilitate customer success.
  • Increasing sales. Having call monitoring built into your contact center solution lets direct managers monitor conversations and identify opportunities for furthering the marketing departments‘ goals. That means managers can find the perfect times to push sales or upsell.
  • Boost call quality standards. This is one of the most important benefits of call monitoring. With managers able to directly guide agents to the, your call monitoring system helps you improve call quality in your call center and by extension improve customer experience.
  • Improved options for automatic call distribution. If you’re using an IVR system as part of your cloud contact center, you can configure it to place tougher cases in a call queue that doesn’t just lead to specialist agents, but representatives who are being actively monitored as well. That way, managers can help manage the more complex queries while training an agent to handle similar types of calls in the future.

There’s a reason why call monitoring activities are standard in contact centers—and that’s because they can benefit from them. Advantages include:

  • The ability to improve customer satisfaction. We’ll go into more detail on this one later. But for now, it’s worth noting that providing managers with the tools they need to consistently support agents ensures those agents can more easily facilitate customer success.
  • Increasing sales. Having call monitoring built into your contact center solution lets direct managers monitor conversations and identify opportunities for furthering the marketing departments‘ goals. That means managers can find the perfect times to push sales or upsell.
  • Boost call quality standards. This is one of the most important benefits of call monitoring. With managers able to directly guide agents to the, your call monitoring system helps you improve call quality in your call center and by extension improve customer experience.
  • Improved options for automatic call distribution. If you’re using an IVR system as part of your cloud contact center, you can configure it to place tougher cases in a call queue that doesn’t just lead to specialist agents, but representatives who are being actively monitored as well. That way, managers can help manage the more complex queries while training an agent to handle similar types of calls in the future.

How does call quality monitoring improve call center quality?

How does call quality monitoring improve call center quality?

How does call quality monitoring improve call center quality?

How does call quality monitoring improve call center quality?

One of the biggest reasons why lots of people choose to use their call monitoring solution—this includes call quality monitoring—is that it brings massive improvements. But how exactly does it do this?

We’re going to get into five of the main ways in which monitoring agent calls can elevate the service quality of your call center.

Real-time tips

This point applies to both call barging and call whispering.

When a manager notices things that can be improved upon, they can let the agent know right away. This ensures that the agent mind can make improvements in real-time. When they enact the correct protocol in the moment, they’re more likely to retain the knowledge for future interactions.

This boosts the quality of your interactions. And when your call center is known for its great calls, that improves the overall reputation of the brand it supports.

Asynchronous agent training

We’ve already seen how giving live tips to agents makes a difference, so let’s focus on call recording this time.

Recorded calls can be used to show trainees which strategies are beneficial, and which approaches are best avoided.

For example, if you’ve got a recording of a call that scored high on first call resolution or other metrics, you can use it to show agents how that was achieved. This gives new agents successful tactics to emulate. These audio files can even be uploaded onto an internal knowledge base that agents can access at any time as a refresher.

Quality assurance data

What’s the best way to make sure your call quality is high? The answer is deceptively simple: you need the data to prove that it is.

Call monitoring is a great way to gather the necessary examples to validate quality assurance performance analytics. In particular, using call recording as proof of high-quality service is a useful way to illustrate to stakeholders that the analytics are based completely on actual interactions rather than conjecture.

Managers who listen to calls through call whispering or barging can also choose to take notes during calls. Those notes can then be used to augment quality assurance data reports.

Artificial intelligence

With AI-based solutions like speech analytics, you can ensure your call center quality consistently adheres to a high standard of excellence.

That’s because AI apps can help track patterns in each call as it unfolds. This lets your call center system software alert managers whenever a call needs to be actively monitored. That ensures managers use the right approach to help every call go smoothly.

Automation

This is particularly useful with call recording, though automation is also involved in making AI integrations run as planned.

Setting up automatic call recordings adds another dimension to call logs, in that it makes it easier for the CRM or contact center platform to identify trends in customer interactions. With this in place, the organization can pinpoint sentiments and inclinations that need to be leveraged or addressed—and quickly devise a plan of action.

One of the biggest reasons why lots of people choose to use their call monitoring solution—this includes call quality monitoring—is that it brings massive improvements. But how exactly does it do this?

We’re going to get into five of the main ways in which monitoring agent calls can elevate the service quality of your call center.

Real-time tips

This point applies to both call barging and call whispering.

When a manager notices things that can be improved upon, they can let the agent know right away. This ensures that the agent mind can make improvements in real-time. When they enact the correct protocol in the moment, they’re more likely to retain the knowledge for future interactions.

This boosts the quality of your interactions. And when your call center is known for its great calls, that improves the overall reputation of the brand it supports.

Asynchronous agent training

We’ve already seen how giving live tips to agents makes a difference, so let’s focus on call recording this time.

Recorded calls can be used to show trainees which strategies are beneficial, and which approaches are best avoided.

For example, if you’ve got a recording of a call that scored high on first call resolution or other metrics, you can use it to show agents how that was achieved. This gives new agents successful tactics to emulate. These audio files can even be uploaded onto an internal knowledge base that agents can access at any time as a refresher.

Quality assurance data

What’s the best way to make sure your call quality is high? The answer is deceptively simple: you need the data to prove that it is.

Call monitoring is a great way to gather the necessary examples to validate quality assurance performance analytics. In particular, using call recording as proof of high-quality service is a useful way to illustrate to stakeholders that the analytics are based completely on actual interactions rather than conjecture.

Managers who listen to calls through call whispering or barging can also choose to take notes during calls. Those notes can then be used to augment quality assurance data reports.

Artificial intelligence

With AI-based solutions like speech analytics, you can ensure your call center quality consistently adheres to a high standard of excellence.

That’s because AI apps can help track patterns in each call as it unfolds. This lets your call center system software alert managers whenever a call needs to be actively monitored. That ensures managers use the right approach to help every call go smoothly.

Automation

This is particularly useful with call recording, though automation is also involved in making AI integrations run as planned.

Setting up automatic call recordings adds another dimension to call logs, in that it makes it easier for the CRM or contact center platform to identify trends in customer interactions. With this in place, the organization can pinpoint sentiments and inclinations that need to be leveraged or addressed—and quickly devise a plan of action.

One of the biggest reasons why lots of people choose to use their call monitoring solution—this includes call quality monitoring—is that it brings massive improvements. But how exactly does it do this?

We’re going to get into five of the main ways in which monitoring agent calls can elevate the service quality of your call center.

Real-time tips

This point applies to both call barging and call whispering.

When a manager notices things that can be improved upon, they can let the agent know right away. This ensures that the agent mind can make improvements in real-time. When they enact the correct protocol in the moment, they’re more likely to retain the knowledge for future interactions.

This boosts the quality of your interactions. And when your call center is known for its great calls, that improves the overall reputation of the brand it supports.

Asynchronous agent training

We’ve already seen how giving live tips to agents makes a difference, so let’s focus on call recording this time.

Recorded calls can be used to show trainees which strategies are beneficial, and which approaches are best avoided.

For example, if you’ve got a recording of a call that scored high on first call resolution or other metrics, you can use it to show agents how that was achieved. This gives new agents successful tactics to emulate. These audio files can even be uploaded onto an internal knowledge base that agents can access at any time as a refresher.

Quality assurance data

What’s the best way to make sure your call quality is high? The answer is deceptively simple: you need the data to prove that it is.

Call monitoring is a great way to gather the necessary examples to validate quality assurance performance analytics. In particular, using call recording as proof of high-quality service is a useful way to illustrate to stakeholders that the analytics are based completely on actual interactions rather than conjecture.

Managers who listen to calls through call whispering or barging can also choose to take notes during calls. Those notes can then be used to augment quality assurance data reports.

Artificial intelligence

With AI-based solutions like speech analytics, you can ensure your call center quality consistently adheres to a high standard of excellence.

That’s because AI apps can help track patterns in each call as it unfolds. This lets your call center system software alert managers whenever a call needs to be actively monitored. That ensures managers use the right approach to help every call go smoothly.

Automation

This is particularly useful with call recording, though automation is also involved in making AI integrations run as planned.

Setting up automatic call recordings adds another dimension to call logs, in that it makes it easier for the CRM or contact center platform to identify trends in customer interactions. With this in place, the organization can pinpoint sentiments and inclinations that need to be leveraged or addressed—and quickly devise a plan of action.

One of the biggest reasons why lots of people choose to use their call monitoring solution—this includes call quality monitoring—is that it brings massive improvements. But how exactly does it do this?

We’re going to get into five of the main ways in which monitoring agent calls can elevate the service quality of your call center.

Real-time tips

This point applies to both call barging and call whispering.

When a manager notices things that can be improved upon, they can let the agent know right away. This ensures that the agent mind can make improvements in real-time. When they enact the correct protocol in the moment, they’re more likely to retain the knowledge for future interactions.

This boosts the quality of your interactions. And when your call center is known for its great calls, that improves the overall reputation of the brand it supports.

Asynchronous agent training

We’ve already seen how giving live tips to agents makes a difference, so let’s focus on call recording this time.

Recorded calls can be used to show trainees which strategies are beneficial, and which approaches are best avoided.

For example, if you’ve got a recording of a call that scored high on first call resolution or other metrics, you can use it to show agents how that was achieved. This gives new agents successful tactics to emulate. These audio files can even be uploaded onto an internal knowledge base that agents can access at any time as a refresher.

Quality assurance data

What’s the best way to make sure your call quality is high? The answer is deceptively simple: you need the data to prove that it is.

Call monitoring is a great way to gather the necessary examples to validate quality assurance performance analytics. In particular, using call recording as proof of high-quality service is a useful way to illustrate to stakeholders that the analytics are based completely on actual interactions rather than conjecture.

Managers who listen to calls through call whispering or barging can also choose to take notes during calls. Those notes can then be used to augment quality assurance data reports.

Artificial intelligence

With AI-based solutions like speech analytics, you can ensure your call center quality consistently adheres to a high standard of excellence.

That’s because AI apps can help track patterns in each call as it unfolds. This lets your call center system software alert managers whenever a call needs to be actively monitored. That ensures managers use the right approach to help every call go smoothly.

Automation

This is particularly useful with call recording, though automation is also involved in making AI integrations run as planned.

Setting up automatic call recordings adds another dimension to call logs, in that it makes it easier for the CRM or contact center platform to identify trends in customer interactions. With this in place, the organization can pinpoint sentiments and inclinations that need to be leveraged or addressed—and quickly devise a plan of action.

Top ways call monitoring improves customer experiences

Top ways call monitoring improves customer experiences

Top ways call monitoring improves customer experiences

Top ways call monitoring improves customer experiences

call-monitoring-customer-experience.jpg

call-monitoring-customer-experience.jpg

call-monitoring-customer-experience.jpg

call-monitoring-customer-experience.jpg

Of course, it’s not just the contact center that benefits from call monitoring—customers get perks out of it too. Here are the best examples of this.

  1. It helps improve agent performance. As we’ve previously mentioned, having access to supervision whenever it’s necessary allows even the newest agents to provide the help customers need when they need it. When sales and support reps improve performance through this method, customers get the service they deserve no matter who picks up their call.
  2. It shortens waiting times. Using a call center management system with monitoring features lets managers ensure cases get resolved, escalated, or redirected to the right department as soon as possible. That means callers don’t have to stay on the line for hours while waiting for the right kind of help or deal with a complex ticket system for cases that don’t need to take days to get resolved.

Of course, it’s not just the contact center that benefits from call monitoring—customers get perks out of it too. Here are the best examples of this.

  1. It helps improve agent performance. As we’ve previously mentioned, having access to supervision whenever it’s necessary allows even the newest agents to provide the help customers need when they need it. When sales and support reps improve performance through this method, customers get the service they deserve no matter who picks up their call.
  2. It shortens waiting times. Using a call center management system with monitoring features lets managers ensure cases get resolved, escalated, or redirected to the right department as soon as possible. That means callers don’t have to stay on the line for hours while waiting for the right kind of help or deal with a complex ticket system for cases that don’t need to take days to get resolved.

Of course, it’s not just the contact center that benefits from call monitoring—customers get perks out of it too. Here are the best examples of this.

  1. It helps improve agent performance. As we’ve previously mentioned, having access to supervision whenever it’s necessary allows even the newest agents to provide the help customers need when they need it. When sales and support reps improve performance through this method, customers get the service they deserve no matter who picks up their call.
  2. It shortens waiting times. Using a call center management system with monitoring features lets managers ensure cases get resolved, escalated, or redirected to the right department as soon as possible. That means callers don’t have to stay on the line for hours while waiting for the right kind of help or deal with a complex ticket system for cases that don’t need to take days to get resolved.

Of course, it’s not just the contact center that benefits from call monitoring—customers get perks out of it too. Here are the best examples of this.

  1. It helps improve agent performance. As we’ve previously mentioned, having access to supervision whenever it’s necessary allows even the newest agents to provide the help customers need when they need it. When sales and support reps improve performance through this method, customers get the service they deserve no matter who picks up their call.
  2. It shortens waiting times. Using a call center management system with monitoring features lets managers ensure cases get resolved, escalated, or redirected to the right department as soon as possible. That means callers don’t have to stay on the line for hours while waiting for the right kind of help or deal with a complex ticket system for cases that don’t need to take days to get resolved.

What is call monitoring software?

What is call monitoring software?

What is call monitoring software?

What is call monitoring software?

Call monitoring software refers to the technology that lets contact center managers record, listen in on, and evaluate phone calls between agents and customers. More often than not, it comes as part of a call center software suite that also helps the organization with operations like call routing, automatic dialing, and workforce optimization. Without monitoring solutions like this, sales or support campaigns are more likely to run into roadblocks caused by lack of supervision and training.

Who needs call monitoring software?

Broadly speaking, any business that handles a lot of calls can benefit from giving its managers a call monitoring capability or two. That’s true whether you’re running a small business or a global enterprise.

More specifically though, two main groups that stand out as ones that most clearly rely on software with call monitoring features. These are:

  • call center users
  • businesses that rely on office-wide phone systems

Let’s look at how call monitoring functionality benefits these groups.

Users of contact center software

Call center monitoring software is essential to all users of modern contact center software. That’s because it helps agents improve their performance, provide better customer support, and learn from managers as they go.

In particular, having access to call center quality monitoring features is useful to these ends.

And with contact centers now using VoIP technology to leverage cloud-based calls as well as video conferencing, both of which make hybrid work possible for agents, a software that has remote monitoring functionality is a must-have for operations that have a dispersed workforce.

Office-wide phone system users

Any company that uses a centralized business phone system can also benefit from having access to call monitoring capabilities.

The reasons for this are similar to those for contact center users: call monitoring just translates to better calls.

For regular office communications, the main call monitoring function used relates to call recording. Recordings of traditional or virtual phone calls, audio conferencing, and the like can be used to review agreements with partners and vendors.

This isn’t to say that non-contact center operations should have limited access to call monitoring functionality. For example, 8x8 offers call barge capabilities for receptionists who need to make emergency announcements or supervisors who need to offer support for negotiating with B2B merchants.

Call monitoring software refers to the technology that lets contact center managers record, listen in on, and evaluate phone calls between agents and customers. More often than not, it comes as part of a call center software suite that also helps the organization with operations like call routing, automatic dialing, and workforce optimization. Without monitoring solutions like this, sales or support campaigns are more likely to run into roadblocks caused by lack of supervision and training.

Who needs call monitoring software?

Broadly speaking, any business that handles a lot of calls can benefit from giving its managers a call monitoring capability or two. That’s true whether you’re running a small business or a global enterprise.

More specifically though, two main groups that stand out as ones that most clearly rely on software with call monitoring features. These are:

  • call center users
  • businesses that rely on office-wide phone systems

Let’s look at how call monitoring functionality benefits these groups.

Users of contact center software

Call center monitoring software is essential to all users of modern contact center software. That’s because it helps agents improve their performance, provide better customer support, and learn from managers as they go.

In particular, having access to call center quality monitoring features is useful to these ends.

And with contact centers now using VoIP technology to leverage cloud-based calls as well as video conferencing, both of which make hybrid work possible for agents, a software that has remote monitoring functionality is a must-have for operations that have a dispersed workforce.

Office-wide phone system users

Any company that uses a centralized business phone system can also benefit from having access to call monitoring capabilities.

The reasons for this are similar to those for contact center users: call monitoring just translates to better calls.

For regular office communications, the main call monitoring function used relates to call recording. Recordings of traditional or virtual phone calls, audio conferencing, and the like can be used to review agreements with partners and vendors.

This isn’t to say that non-contact center operations should have limited access to call monitoring functionality. For example, 8x8 offers call barge capabilities for receptionists who need to make emergency announcements or supervisors who need to offer support for negotiating with B2B merchants.

Call monitoring software refers to the technology that lets contact center managers record, listen in on, and evaluate phone calls between agents and customers. More often than not, it comes as part of a call center software suite that also helps the organization with operations like call routing, automatic dialing, and workforce optimization. Without monitoring solutions like this, sales or support campaigns are more likely to run into roadblocks caused by lack of supervision and training.

Who needs call monitoring software?

Broadly speaking, any business that handles a lot of calls can benefit from giving its managers a call monitoring capability or two. That’s true whether you’re running a small business or a global enterprise.

More specifically though, two main groups that stand out as ones that most clearly rely on software with call monitoring features. These are:

  • call center users
  • businesses that rely on office-wide phone systems

Let’s look at how call monitoring functionality benefits these groups.

Users of contact center software

Call center monitoring software is essential to all users of modern contact center software. That’s because it helps agents improve their performance, provide better customer support, and learn from managers as they go.

In particular, having access to call center quality monitoring features is useful to these ends.

And with contact centers now using VoIP technology to leverage cloud-based calls as well as video conferencing, both of which make hybrid work possible for agents, a software that has remote monitoring functionality is a must-have for operations that have a dispersed workforce.

Office-wide phone system users

Any company that uses a centralized business phone system can also benefit from having access to call monitoring capabilities.

The reasons for this are similar to those for contact center users: call monitoring just translates to better calls.

For regular office communications, the main call monitoring function used relates to call recording. Recordings of traditional or virtual phone calls, audio conferencing, and the like can be used to review agreements with partners and vendors.

This isn’t to say that non-contact center operations should have limited access to call monitoring functionality. For example, 8x8 offers call barge capabilities for receptionists who need to make emergency announcements or supervisors who need to offer support for negotiating with B2B merchants.

Call monitoring software refers to the technology that lets contact center managers record, listen in on, and evaluate phone calls between agents and customers. More often than not, it comes as part of a call center software suite that also helps the organization with operations like call routing, automatic dialing, and workforce optimization. Without monitoring solutions like this, sales or support campaigns are more likely to run into roadblocks caused by lack of supervision and training.

Who needs call monitoring software?

Broadly speaking, any business that handles a lot of calls can benefit from giving its managers a call monitoring capability or two. That’s true whether you’re running a small business or a global enterprise.

More specifically though, two main groups that stand out as ones that most clearly rely on software with call monitoring features. These are:

  • call center users
  • businesses that rely on office-wide phone systems

Let’s look at how call monitoring functionality benefits these groups.

Users of contact center software

Call center monitoring software is essential to all users of modern contact center software. That’s because it helps agents improve their performance, provide better customer support, and learn from managers as they go.

In particular, having access to call center quality monitoring features is useful to these ends.

And with contact centers now using VoIP technology to leverage cloud-based calls as well as video conferencing, both of which make hybrid work possible for agents, a software that has remote monitoring functionality is a must-have for operations that have a dispersed workforce.

Office-wide phone system users

Any company that uses a centralized business phone system can also benefit from having access to call monitoring capabilities.

The reasons for this are similar to those for contact center users: call monitoring just translates to better calls.

For regular office communications, the main call monitoring function used relates to call recording. Recordings of traditional or virtual phone calls, audio conferencing, and the like can be used to review agreements with partners and vendors.

This isn’t to say that non-contact center operations should have limited access to call monitoring functionality. For example, 8x8 offers call barge capabilities for receptionists who need to make emergency announcements or supervisors who need to offer support for negotiating with B2B merchants.

Improve business performance with call monitoring today

Improve business performance with call monitoring today

Improve business performance with call monitoring today

Improve business performance with call monitoring today

There are so many ways by which monitoring calls—whether through real-time listening or recording—can elevate both customer and employee experiences. But to get the full benefit of this functionality, it needs to be part of a holistic communications platform.

8x8 has award-winning solutions for all types of businesses, with or without contact centers. Why not start your journey to communications optimization with us?

There are so many ways by which monitoring calls—whether through real-time listening or recording—can elevate both customer and employee experiences. But to get the full benefit of this functionality, it needs to be part of a holistic communications platform.

8x8 has award-winning solutions for all types of businesses, with or without contact centers. Why not start your journey to communications optimization with us?

There are so many ways by which monitoring calls—whether through real-time listening or recording—can elevate both customer and employee experiences. But to get the full benefit of this functionality, it needs to be part of a holistic communications platform.

8x8 has award-winning solutions for all types of businesses, with or without contact centers. Why not start your journey to communications optimization with us?

There are so many ways by which monitoring calls—whether through real-time listening or recording—can elevate both customer and employee experiences. But to get the full benefit of this functionality, it needs to be part of a holistic communications platform.

8x8 has award-winning solutions for all types of businesses, with or without contact centers. Why not start your journey to communications optimization with us?