Whether you’re setting up a call center for your business for the first time, or you’re an experienced call center operator, it’s important to know the facts. This article will arm you with the knowledge you need to set up and run a contact center of your own - or to partner with companies that can run it for you.

Let’s start at the beginning. We’ll begin by breaking down the differences between inbound and outbound call centers before going into further depth on their ins and outs. Here’s a quick list of the topics we’ll be addressing:

Any call center that focuses on handling incoming calls can be described as an inbound call center. These calls are usually be made by customers, so the role of inbound call center agents is to provide customer care and resolve customer issues.

Inbound call centers require a few key components. These include live agents to take the phone calls, managers to perform workforce management, and a call center platform.

Not all inbound call centers are restricted to phone services. Many choose to use contact center solutions that facilitate customer interaction across multiple channels like email, livechat, and SMS to provide omnichannel customer support.

If inbound centers are concerned with handling inbound calls, outbound call centers focus on outgoing communications.

Outbound centers often work to contact sales leads in order to drive conversions. An outbound call center agent might also initiate customer contact to check in on existing customers and make sure they’re happy with the company’s services.

In a similar vein, outbound call center agents can contact customers to fill out customer surveys, which can then be used to improve the customer experience as a whole.

Much like inbound centers, an outbound center might use other avenues of communication besides live calls, such as emails or social media messaging.

When deciding on call center software, there’s a few key things to look out for.

1. CRM integrations. Whether you’ve got an inbound or outbound call center, knowing that your call center solution can work with your CRM (customer relationship management) solution more easily is a huge advantage. It lets you provide a more personalized service, leading to increased customer satisfaction, and in turn, improved sales and reputation.
2. IVR (interactive voice response). Also sometimes referred to as a virtual receptionist, IVR is a kind of automated operator that customers interact with whenever they contact your company. The automated service directs them to the right agent to resolve their query, saving time for both customers and agents.
3. Chat support functionalities. Omnichannel approaches are key - the more platforms your agents can use to communicate with clients, the better. It’s especially useful for those problems that don’t actually need a human touch, but do need a quick response. That’s why a live chat function is all but indispensable in your call center software.
4. High-quality calls. Nobody likes straining their ears to try and understand what their conversation partners are saying. To avoid this, choose a platform that lets you make and take high-quality calls.
5. Options to outsource consultants. You might not choose to use fully outsourced call centers, but that doesn’t mean you should turn away from the option of outsourcing services. If your contact center platform makes it easy to use outsourced solutions and/or to employ outsourced agents, you’ll have access to the option should you need it.
6. Automatic answering services. Even a contact center that operates 24/7 can get overloaded sometimes. It’s a good idea to pick software that can give your callers a pre-recorded response whenever the lines are full. Especially if you can combine it with the next point, which is…
7. Automated scheduling. When you know your platform can handle your appointment setting automatically you get to save a lot of time. Since call center software typically has access to your callers’ contact information, you can use it to schedule appointments at times that are convenient for everyone involved, rather than leaving people on hold.

Contact centers are very similar to call centers. Or, rather, contact centers expand on the abilities of call centers. With a contact center, you can receive more than just calls. Agents also handle emails, messages, live chats, and social media chats.

But what makes contact centers so important?

We’re going to discuss three of the most prominent uses for contact centers: lead generation, customer experiences, and agent training.

Of course, there are plenty of other uses for contact centers, just as there are lots of other reasons why your business might want one. These are just some of the most broadly applicable ones that can benefit just about any business, and that come with just about any contact center.

Lead generation

Your contact centers are hubs of activity and interaction between customers and agents working for your company. That is to say, they’re the perfect space to start generating new leads, driving conversions, and gauging interest from prospects.

If your call center agents are given the right direction and tools, they can turn lots of interactions into opportunities for conversions and lead generation. For instance, if they have access to a great CRM, they can see previous purchases made and use that as a springboard. That means you get to increase your sales, and your contact centers prove just how useful they are to your business.

Improved customer experiences

As mentioned, contact centers are spaces where lots of interactions between your brand and its customers happen. That means they’re the perfect focus for improving customer experiences and providing customers with lots of reasons to stay with your business.

Your inbound customer service is the bread and butter of this use for contact centers.

The better your agents’ customer service is during inbound voice and text communications, the more clearly you can show your customers that your brand is worth staying with. Someone who spends an hour on old, only to be passed between three different departments, is going to have a much worse impression than someone who gets through in five minutes and has the whole thing resolved in ten.

In other words, a good contact center doesn’t just resolve customer issues - it also makes customers feel valued. It should encourage customers to keep coming back to your company.

That, in turn, drives up your average customer’s CLV, since they’ll know to return to you whenever they’re looking to make a purchase within your sector.

Training new call center agents

Whether your contact centers are mostly staffed via outsourcing or in-house hires, it makes a lot of sense to use the information generated inside those centers to train new agents.

When your contact center keeps a record of its communications, those records (both transcripts and audio recordings) can be used to show new recruits exactly what kinds of situations they’ll be facing at your contact center.

In other words, there’s no better way to prepare for a situation than to learn directly from others who have been in it.

Speech analytics are particularly helpful in this regard. That’s because they show your agents which parts of past conversations they should pay particular attention to, directing their training in the direction you need it to go.

Analytics are also hugely helpful when it comes to quality management - meaning you can keep training your existing agents long after they finish onboarding.

Your contact center might expand in the future, especially if you’re hoping to scale your business up. That means dealing with greater call volume, which is a lot easier to do when you’ve got more agents available.

Even without considering upscaling, it’s a good idea to be prepared to train new agents in case positions become vacant. And what better place to do that than within your center itself?

Of course, you might not have the capacity to run an entire call center yourself. If that’s the case, it’s time to look into outsourcing. This has many benefits, including:

• Getting access to dedicated agents and support teams full of people who have already gone through their training and are ready to boost customer success at your company
• Specialized technical support teams that can fill any gaps in your company’s tech support capabilities
• Full support services for small businesses and startups, which might not have the necessary resources to set up a full call center otherwise
• General business process outsourcing (BPO) to ensure your call center service provides every functionality and feature your callers expect
• Increasing the daily number of handled calls, since outsourcing companies can provide you with as many agents as you need
• Exceptional customer experiences thanks to experienced call center agents who help your business provide the best customer service possible
• No more gaps in staffing, since both outsourced inbound and outbound agents can be chosen based on their ability to cover shifts that your in-house agents can’t take
• 24/7 call center uptime when you use customer service outsourcing with agents working in other time zone based call centers
• Increased sales thanks to outsourced telemarketing agents redoubling your telemarketing efforts
• Access to customized contact centers when you outsource your center’s design app developers to and web designers

Now that you’ve learned all about contact centers, both inbound and outbound, you might decide your business would benefit from having one or two of its own. But how do you take that idea and turn it into reality?

There are three key points to keep in mind as you’re going about choosing a contact center solution. We’ll go into greater depth on both of them shortly.

First, you’ll want to make sure you don’t limit yourself to just grabbing the first provider you see. Then there’s your business’ individual needs - these should guide your decision at every step. The last thing to think about is how much outsourcing you want to do.

Consider multiple call center service providers

Let’s start by talking about the importance of comparing lots of different call center software providers.

Each call center company has subtly different software to offer. Even ones that seem to provide the same features might have different call center pricing, offer different integrations, or not easily allow for outsourcing to cloud consultants. You’ve got to know all about these details.

It’s a good idea to list pros and cons next to every company name for software you’re considering. This helps you ensure you’ve got enough call center providers to consider - and it also helps you narrow the list down to the best providers.

Pick contact center software that suits your needs

Any business or organization is going to have its own unique needs, and yours is no exception.

If you already know, for example, that your inbound and outbound call center has to be able to support a lot of agents at any given time, you’d need to choose a provider with software that caters to this need. That would help you eliminate any platforms geared towards small businesses with few agents.

Other factors worth considering include the size and flexibility of your budget, whether you’re looking to scale up in the near future, what kinds of operating hours you’re looking to provide, and various others.

It’s very helpful to list out your business’ needs in order of importance. This will let you approach your selection of prospective contact center software with a critical eye that knows which features to prioritize.

Decide whether you’ll be outsourcing business processes

This is technically a part of choosing contact center software that caters to your needs, since outsourcing is also a business need.

That’s why you’ll want to know if you’re looking for software that offers opportunities for out- or inbound call center outsourcing - and to what extent. Is outsourcing a major part of any solutions for your business, or is it a secondary concern?

Different out- and inbound call center solutions will give you different ways to outsource agents. You’ve got to know whether those methods work for you, or whether another provider’s approach is better suited to your business needs.

Whether you’re gonna be outsourcing your call center or keeping it all in-house, a powerful call center software can elevate both customer and agent experiences. If you’d like to know more about call center software, contact our agents at 8x8 today to request a demo.