When it comes to call centers, the call center software industry shows a lot of promise. With the increasing popularity of contact centers and contact center software, it is important that you make sure that you are using the most effective tools available.
It’s a tough job to manage a business call center operation these days, with the rise of technology and the inevitable increase in the volume of calls. While most call centers have adopted a number of technological tools to help them manage their call center operations, some call centers continue to stick to traditional tools such as paper-based records that can get lost or damaged.
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means we may receive a commission if you click on some of our links.
Nothing scares away new customers like a hard-to-reach customer service desk or disorganized sales calls.
By using the best call center software, you can equip your teams with the tools they need to communicate effectively. And it costs absolutely nothing if you have a good internet connection.
Forget the requirements of a physical office space or a fixed company phone system. State-of-the-art call center software is all you need to get started.
You still have the difficult task of attracting customers, but you no longer have to worry about managing a call center.
Read on for detailed reviews of my favorite models. I will explain what they offer and what type of businesses they are suitable for. Following the reviews, I’ve included a concise guide to help you evaluate the main options and find the best solution for you.
#1 – Five9 is the best solution to reach more customers without engagingreps.
Five9 centralises all channels you use in one clear interface for your employees. It’s suitable for any call centre application – Five9 is one of the leaders in this field – but I think it’s particularly suited to sales departments.
Find and connect with potential customers on social media. Call the person who just filled out the form on your landing page. Respond to text message requests followed by an email.
No matter how your customers express their interest, your representatives can communicate with them from a single platform. Whether you’re building relationships through a long sales cycle or telemarketing directly to consumers, Five9 gives your employees the tools they need.
You have an auto-dialer with different modes for searching and using call lists. It has built-in calls to manage do-not-call lists and maintain TCPA compliance, which greatly reduces the risk of population coverage issues.
The same representative who used to make 10 calls an hour is now making 50, non-stop. Everything is logged in the system with a few clicks and one moves on to the next track.
Five9 offers sales features, such as online reminders, that you certainly wouldn’t expect from call center software. Suppose someone enters their information on your website to access content about your product. Five9 can place this contact information at the front of the queue, so a conversation with an actively interested prospect is assured.
Strike while the iron is hot. See the number of calls grow instead of talking to cold prospects after a few weeks.
You can use skill-based routing regardless of how customers contact you. Ensuring that customer service representatives are the first to pick up the phone when important accounts call. If they are in a meeting, switch the conversation to the next person who best understands the needs of that customer.
Managers get a full picture of their team’s performance. It doesn’t matter if people work at home or on the road.
And it’s not just executives who have an overview of the work. Role-based dashboards also allow agents to track their progress. Managers shall receive detailed information on the operation of the vessel.
Everyone knows what’s going on in their hallway. Achieving goals is not surprising.
As I said, Five9 is one of the biggest players in the communications industry. You have access to almost all call center functions. Some of the best sales teams with mentors are:
- Competency-based planning and forecasting
- Create scenarios for agents
- Drag and drop IVR
- Customizable KPIs
- Gamification and virtual rewards
- Integration with Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, etc.
To get a quote for Five9, you need to contact us. I suspect it’s about $100 per user per month, given the cost of other omnichannel solutions. There are four different packages to choose from, so you don’t have to pay for features you don’t want to use.
Five9 doesn’t have as extensive a list of integrations as some of the other tools I’ve tested, but
At this point, I want to take a step back. I emphasize the details of the sale because I believe Five9 offers the most comprehensive package in this regard.
But it can be used to set up a great call center for customer service. That’s for sure. Universities and hospitals will be happy to use Five9 to centralize their communications, especially if they use a cumbersome system that is unlike any other tool they use.
Make sure each representative can reach more people. Improve every conversation by giving agents the tools they need to communicate through every channel. Contact Five9 today to request a quote.
#2 – Aircall – Lowest prices for complete call center software
For less than half the cost of other good call center software, you can equip your agents with Aircall.
Aircall is elegant and integrates with common business applications. The interface looks simple and is very easy to use, even for beginners.
You might think that the low price means that you don’t have as many useful features. That’s not quite right.
Switch calls to another agent. Make the transfer a warm one and let the new agent know what is happening before you transfer the client. View a customer’s details before answering the call, without having to log into CRM. It’s all there.
You will have real-time metrics, clear reporting and the ability to route incoming calls as you would with a large platform.
Implement an IVR to help customers find the right service, manage the queue and give callers the option to call back later if the wait time is too long.
Other features are
- Skills-based routing
- Challenge Tags
- Ring groups
- General contacts
- Conference call
- Electric composer
Just highlight your contact list or select a list. A powerful autodialer goes to work saving clicks and time on every call.
So why is Aircall so much cheaper? The main reason is that it is not omnichannel from the start. Yes, you can set up SMS messaging through the Salesmsg integration, but it costs more. Other more expensive products I’ve tested offer all the channels inside.
In a way, that’s the beauty of Aircall. This is a simple but effective solution. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle that connects voice communications to the rest of your business.
Developers can use web hooks and APIs to extend Aircall’s connectivity to other software. Everyone else can benefit from one-click integration with 85 apps like Salesfoce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk, Slack, Shopify, Big Commerce, Intercom, and the list goes on.
If you already use these applications, Aircall can be a great way to get the call center you need without spending a lot of money.
With the Essentials plan, which starts at $30 per user per month, you get a complete call center for voice communications. This includes unlimited calls within North America. Keep in mind that some providers charge calls by the minute, which can save you a lot of money.
The Professional plan, which starts at $50 per user per month, offers additional analytics and coaching features, as well as enhanced customer support.
For large call centers, this is a good idea as you get a dedicated customer service representative and personalized training to get everything right the first time.
It is important to note that the integration with Salesforce is only included in the professional version. However, all other integrations are supported by Essentials. I cannot stress enough how easy Aircall is to use. If you’re interested in an affordable solution to help your agents, sign up for a demo. Or start your free 7-day trial today.
#3 – 8×8 Contact Center – ideal for large customer service areas
8×8 Contact Center is one of the most robust tools on the market. 8×8 has been around for a long time and can fully support the transition to a UCaaS contact center.
You can configure it for any size and purpose, but I recommend it for large customer service centers. Why? Because working in such an environment is stressful. The company has a high turnover rate, with new agents struggling with angry customers and seasoned managers burned out.
8×8 offers a comprehensive suite of tools to fully support agents and help managers keep morale high. You can retain talented employees, which makes for a less hectic workday, and happy agents make for happy customers.
Imagine a new employee’s first day in a call center. If they work 8×8, they have everything they need as soon as they put on the helmet. This includes easy access to an extensive knowledge base of call scripts, best practices and a library of recorded calls that show agents at their best.
Speech analysis tools are also very useful. You can use it to make sure new employees follow the script so they can read the voice messages instead of listening to them. This makes it easier for agents to find important conversations in the backlog.
Managers can use speech analytics to identify trends in customer demand and potential performance gaps that would otherwise go unidentified. They also have a dashboard that clearly displays key indicators and makes it easy to identify agents who need additional support.
8×8 also offers an intelligent IVR that gives your customers self-service capabilities. This reduces operating costs by eliminating the need for agents to talk to customers for simple questions. This reduces the time it takes to resolve issues and gives agents more energy because they don’t have to handle the same call over and over again.
The ACD can handle skill-based routing, so you can make sure calls get to the right agents. This is important if you offer services in multiple languages or if you have agents divided into departments based on their experience.
Intelligent routing is especially important for companies that offer specific customer premium packages. These customers don’t want a newcomer who doesn’t know their system.
Both DCA and IVR are fairly easy to set up, so you don’t have to rely on your IT department or 8×8 to create a solution that works. Just use the drag-and-drop visual builder to customize it.
8×8 Contact Center is highly scalable. There are integrations with many of the best products you already use, as well as APIs that allow developers to add even more functionality. Additional features include:
- Social media, chat, e-mail and text messaging
- Customer surveys and quality management
- Call and screen recording
- Processing of payments
- Virtual agent
- Instruments for human resources management
Although 8×8 supports all channels, you only have to pay for the channels you use. 8×8 Contact Center is available in the following packages:
- Language – from $87 per user per month
- Omnichannel – from $107 per user per month
- Advanced – from $146 per user per month
The prices are extremely competitive. In fact, $107 for Omnichannel is almost the lowest price for a product that covers everything, including social media. Note that the speech analysis functions are only available in an extended version.
It’s really a great solution for large organizations that want to give agents the best chance of success. Constantly hiring new employees significantly reduces productivity, and the revolving door is not exactly conducive to a collaborative culture.
With 8×8 Contact Center, you can build a system that works for you. Support your agents with best-in-class software, centralize their work across multiple channels, and let supervisors help them before problems get out of hand.
Learn more about how 8×8 is helping businesses today.
#4 – Dialpad is a secure way to move a traditional call center to the cloud
Dialpad is a phenomenal cloud-based call center that connects to traditional landline infrastructure. You can go fully in the cloud from day one if you want, or stay hybrid and evolve at your own pace.
This allows companies to preserve their hardware investments and immediately enjoy the benefits of the cloud platform. Combine your business phone system with SMS, chat, fax and web conferencing. Let your employees work in the office as easily as they do at home.
Moving your phone system to the cloud is stressful. Many vendors promise a turnkey solution, but anyone who has ever been involved in a large-scale transition to enterprise communications knows it’s rarely that simple.
Dialpad offers two local gateway options to connect traditional phones to its cloud platform. Whether you use a traditional phone system or a PSTN, you can continue to use your existing systems without any problems.
The company provides 24-hour support for desk phones and conference phones and enables number portability without service interruption. International numbers are also available.
Instead of making a huge transition all at once, companies can phase out embedded technology at their own pace.
The best part is that the benefits are immediate. You get extensive calling and routing capabilities that are much easier to manage than a traditional phone system. Plus, all your channels are in a single interface for administrators and agents.
Other features of the platform are
- Transferring and queuing calls
- Virtual wedge
- Real-time and historical reporting
- Call control and coaching functions
- Data backup
- Linguistic intelligence
Dialpad’s speech intelligence functions are particularly well developed. It records conversations, making them easier to find later. Post-meeting summaries are automatically generated, including action items and feelings recorded during the meeting.
It can also help agents by recording calls and automatically providing the appropriate documentation.
Your old phone line doesn’t work by itself. But with Dialpad, you can still use the phone along with VoIP, chat and text. Regardless of how customers contact us, agents will communicate through a central cloud-based platform.
The price of the Dialpad Pro is $125. This is typical of high-end call center software, but what I like about Dialpad is that all integrations come with Pro. These include Salesforce, Zendesk, Slack and others.
You also get unlimited texting and MMS in North America, as well as 24/7 phone support.
The cost per minute is low: $0.01 for incoming calls and $0.02 for outgoing calls.
If you’re just looking for a sales call center solution, you should check out Dialpad Sell. You get most of the features that help teams stay organized, plus a powerful outbound dialer.
But however you choose to use it, Dialpad is definitely a good option for the modern call center. This can be the best option if you want to use your phone system for business purposes or gradually move to the cloud.
For a seamless migration, contact Dialpad today.
#5 – Talkdesk CX Cloud is the best solution for helping customers answer their own questions
Providing important customer information to your agents is a necessity for any good call center software. All my recommendations do a good job, and Talkdesk CX is no exception.
The advantage over the competition is that the information is available to your customers without an agent answering the phone.
The use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) allows callers to perform routine tasks and receive the information they need independently. This significantly increases agent productivity and customer satisfaction.
No call center software makes setting up the IVR as easy as Talkdesk CX. It’s not the only company on my list of recommendations that offers a visual method for creating an IVR, but its IVR studio is much better.
From the simple interface that lets you create a personalized customer experience with just a few clicks to the artificial intelligence-based alerts that ensure a seamless calling experience, IVR Studio is truly modern.
Of course, you can create an IVR that integrates your applications and databases with other options. But can you do that without writing a line of code?
With Talkdesk CX, administrators and others can quickly create and configure an IVR. There is no need to ask the IT department for help just because there has been a change in department. You will be able to offer your customers a wider range of self-service options.
The more customers can help themselves, the more time agents have to respond to other requests. It is not wise to overload your phone lines with callers who need routine tasks or information.
It is PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant, so customers can pay their bills and access billing information right from their phone.
Your agents will never have to ask for a three-digit code on the back of your card again.
And Talkdesk is not just about language. They have the same IVR feature for text calls as chat and SMS. Chatbots aren’t the perfect solution to all customer concerns, but they do wonders for the bottom line.
Surveys are easy to integrate and automate. What could be better next time? What additional services would you like to be able to perform independently? With a few clicks, you can quickly discover and implement your IVR.
I know companies that used to outsource all their IVR work. To be honest: It used to be very difficult. Talkdesk CX changes the game.
In this article, I’ve focused on IVR because that’s where it really stands out, but don’t forget that Talkdesk CX is good in almost every area.
You get clear dashboards for management, an intuitive interface for agents, and integration with leading CRM and e-commerce platforms. Other features are as follows:
- Help from agents with artificial intelligence
- Smart divert
- Predictive outgoing voter
- Business information tools
- Speech Analysis
- The tools of in-depth coaching
Managers can listen to recordings of agent conversations and leave time-stamped comments to provide specific feedback to improve performance. Even when all employees are working remotely, supervisors can identify problems and improve agents’ skills.
Everything is done in a few clicks. All information can be found here – for customers and agents.
You will have to check with Talkdesk for pricing, but the IVR studio is included in all plans offered. With the premium plans, you get a scaled-down code editor that allows you to customize even more.
Take a look at this new generation call center and request a quote from Talkdesk today.
What I was looking for to find the best call center software
I call when I am considering a decision on a new product or service. A lot of people do.
Human connection is real, intimate, and unfortunately it’s easy to ruin it.
Lost Call. A fake name of a cop who talked to 35 other people in an hour.
It doesn’t take much to lose a prospect or turn a one-star review into a digital gem on the web.
They are looking for a system that inspires confidence in customers because they know they can call and speak to the right person quickly.
It should also have an interface that allows agents to view calls, customer history, and any other information they need to troubleshoot in real time.
Customers want quick answers from helpful agents. End of story.
The best call center software includes everything you need to solve these two basic tasks and much more.
Here’s what you need to think about when making your choice.
Support any channel used by your agents
The best call center software is not limited to voice communication. This is why many solutions are marketed as contact center software. This is common sense, because people don’t just use the phone to communicate.
Phones still play an important role, but for many businesses the ability to serve more channels is becoming increasingly important.
Some customers want to send text messages. You want to be able to reply or send reminders to people after they call to make an appointment.
Or maybe you want to be able to seamlessly switch to a phone call with a customer who contacted you via chat. You desperately want to talk to a real person (you know the feeling). Do it earlier than they expect.
Here’s a list of channels you can connect to your modern call center solution:
- Phone
- VoIP
- E-mail :
- SMS and MMS
- Cat
- social media
- Video and web conferencing
All the solutions I’ve tested can handle most of these channels, with 8×8 Contact Center, Five9 and Talkdesk CX making it as easy as possible. These solutions are known as omnichannel solutions or unified communications as a service (UCaaS).
No matter how your customers contact you, your agents see every conversation within a single platform. There they can see the whole relationship and give informed answers.
But not everyone needs everything. Some don’t even need a blended call center that handles inbound and outbound calls. If inbound requests are all you need for customer service, buy this one.
For UCaaS, you will definitely have to pay more than $100 per seat. If you really only need voice communication, Aircall costs half as much and is much easier to implement.
Combining all your channels can be very beneficial, but it takes a lot of work and money. The good news is that all of my recommendations have tiered pricing and other options that allow you to add channels over time.
You know what channels you already use, but what would you add if you could? Buying the right call center software is an investment no matter how you do it, so see it as an opportunity to rethink the way you communicate with your customers.
Ask them how they would like to contact you. It would be nice if they could send you a note. Maybe they already exist and you just don’t know it yet.
Clear view of agent for management
One of the main differences between call center software and a simple business phone system is quality assurance. In addition to the basic telephony infrastructure, you have the tools to organize and manage your employees.
Managers know what their agents are doing in real time. They can blend into the conversation, whisper instructions that the customer can’t hear, and help the newbie close their first deal.
They are also in a better position to help agents over time. By recording conversations, the customer service manager can back up his instructions with solid evidence. That’s where you went wrong – that’s another point where you could successfully go back to the script.
There are dashboards with clear statistics for supervisors, sales managers and vice presidents alike. What is the resolution rate on the first call? How many new leads are generated per agent per month? Do you reduce the average call time?
Many key indicators, such as. B. the cost per lead, should be the result of the call center software working together with the CRM. Make sure the options you are considering give you an idea of which measures are most important.
Customers are automatically connected to the correct agent
Call center software has routing capabilities that allow inbound calls to be segmented and routed, automating the processes that connect callers to the expert or agent they are looking for.
This allows the priority support customer to speak with their service specialist. Or it could be a lawyer making sure calls on his line go directly to a virtual clerk while he runs to the courthouse to put out a last-minute fire.
Here are some popular call forwarding features you may encounter:
- Automatic call distribution (ACD) : Greet the customer and have them choose from the main menu or enter an extension number to be connected.
- Automatic answer: Answer calls when all agents are busy, play music on hold, communicate wait times and remind callers that their time is valuable.
- Smart Forwarding : Use automation, artificial intelligence or interactive voice response to guide customers to the most appropriate agent.
- Routing for mobile devices : Allows you to forward calls to mobile devices.
- Omnichannel routing : Allows calls to be routed to any channel.
- Call Routing Based on Skill : Assigns calls to the appropriate agent based on relevant skills, such as. B. proficiency in a particular language.
- Virtual plug: Offer customers the option to be called back when the agent is ready, rather than waiting on the phone.
- Warm clothes: Offers customers the opportunity to speak with a new agent before the call is transferred, and gives the previous agent a chance to explain what has already been transferred.
These qualities are important. For example, during the warm handshake, customers should not repeat information over and over again. Cops also like it because they don’t get yelled at if they have to ask.
Another important feature is Interactive Voice Response (IVR). This allows customers to access information from a connected database over the phone. It could be someone calling to check their account balance, find out the status of their order or pay an invoice.
If your customers are constantly calling for information, setting up an IVR can save you a lot of time on the phone. It’s basically a self-service solution that helps people get what they want without having to talk to an agent.
This all sounds great, but who is going to maintain this system? 8×8 and Talkdesk CX have applications for creating phone trees, call flows and IVR. This means that the administrator can change the phone list when a new person joins the team, rather than having to wait for IT support.
Integration with the tools your teams rely on
Cloud-based phone systems boast that they require no hardware or can be deployed instantly.
This is all very interesting, but are you really ready to make a call in a few minutes?
Maybe – it depends on what you have in mind and what systems you need to connect to the new call center software.
Want to connect to a popular CRM like Salesforce? It could be a true one-click integration.
But have you set up your CRM yet? If this is the case, a little more attention may be needed to make the connection work properly.
In theory, call center software has a lot in common: it helps you track customers better, route calls faster, etc. But in practice, none of this will work if the integration is complex.
If the help desk software does not communicate with the call center software, agents will lose ticket information. If your calendar is not synchronized, it is not possible to make appointments. You got it.
You need to test these products to understand the true quality of the integration.
There are integrated, pre-built, seamless and direct integrations. What’s the difference between the two? Nobody knows. Until you see how it works in practice, you should take the concept of integration with a spoonful of salt.
Supplement
Ten years ago, it took months to set up a call center. You can do it today over the weekend. Let’s take a look at my complete list of top picks:
- Five9 – the best way to reach more customers without hiring additional representatives.
- Aircall – lowest prices for end-to-end call center software
- Contact Center 8×8 – the most suitable for large customers call centers
- Dialpad is a secure way to migrate a traditional call center to the cloud.
- Talkdesk CX Cloud – best suited to help customers answer their own questions
Aircall is a very affordable and easy to set up option. It’s very affordable for small businesses, and you can try it out for free for a week.
If you are just starting your migration to the cloud, Dialpad will make your life much easier.
Follow the links for more information on each product. My comments are a good start, but you should contact us to get a demo or a test. You can’t know if a call center software is any good until you let agents experiment on the phone for a few days.
- SEO – Unlocks a large amount of SEO traffic. To see real results.
- Content marketing – our team creates epic content that gets shared, attracting links and traffic.
- Paid media – effective paid strategies with a clear return on investment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which software is best for call center?
The best software for call centers is a combination of the following: – Microsoft Office 365 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM – Microsoft Lync Microsoft Office 365 is the best software for call centers because it has all of the features that a call center needs. It also has a lot of integrations with other software, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Lync.
Which software is used in call Centre?
The software used in call Centre is Microsoft Office.
What is the best call center CRM?
The best call center CRM is one that is easy to use, has a lot of features, and can be customized to fit your needs.
Related Tags:
Feedback,call center software comparisonbest call center software in indiaoutbound call center softwarecall center software freecall centre software australiacloud-based call center software,People also search for,Privacy settings,How Search works,RingCentral,Talkdesk,Five9 Inc.,Zendesk,Nextiva,See more,TTEC,Sitel,Convergys,Sykes Enterprises,Concentrix,Conduent,call center software comparison,best call center software in india,outbound call center software,call center software free,free call centre software for small business,call centre software australia,cloud-based call center software,inbound call center software
