Contact Center Solution for Businesses

A call center is a customer service function of a business organization that handles outbound and inbound customer calls. So, what is a contact center? Like a call center, it manages incoming and outgoing customer calls. However, it also uses several additional channels to interact with customers.

Below are some of the differences between the two:

• Call centers use voice calls to engage with customers, while contact centers unify several communication channels, including phone, social media, live chat, and emails.
• Call centers use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to offer self-service. Contact centers use IVR, chatbots, portals, forums, and the like for self-service.
• Call centers offer reactive support, while contact centers offer reactive and proactive support.
• Call centers use Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) to allocate calls to agents. Contact centers use API-based software and omnichannel routing to distribute queries from multiple channels.

Unify all your business communications with the cloud contact center solution from Ringover. It has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface and integrates easily with your CRM. Ideal for both remote and in-house teams, it has all the features to increase productivity, such as IVR, automatic call routing, power dialing, click-to-call, call recording, and others.

The primary purpose of having a contact center service is to unify all inbound and outbound communications of a business organization. Customers reach out to a contact center for business queries, technical support, service support, sales assistance, and other related matters. At the same time, contact center agents make outbound communications to customers for the following:

Below are some of the differences between the two:

• Run outbound sales campaigns and generate leads.
• Introduce a new product or service to customers.
• Inform customers of any changes in the company policy, product/service, etc.
• Collect the feedback of customers.
• Conduct surveys and polls.
• Make scheduled callbacks.
• Send payment and renewal reminders.

A contact center system is a software-based solution that offers tools and technologies to manage, organize, and distribute customer communication on multiple channels. It will have features and functionalities to handle everything from intelligent routing to recording to analytics. You can integrate it with your CRM and streamline your communications.

A contact center system can be on-premise and cloud-based. On-premise or traditional contact centers require physical infrastructure and regular maintenance by IT teams. So, what is a cloud contact center? It is a suite of tools and applications hosted on the cloud and managed by third-party vendors.

You can install a contact center in the cloud on your phone or laptop and access it from anywhere using an internet connection. Typically, it comes with communication features such as VoIP voice calling, video calling, SMS texting, social media messaging, and live chat.

Contact center employees, also known as contact center agents or representatives, are people hired to handle customer engagement and support at a contact center. They are customer service or sales professionals with communication, problem-solving, and listening skills. A contact center employee may work from on-premise offices or remotely.

The job profile of a contact center employee typically includes the following activities:

• Handle incoming and outgoing customer communications via emails, chats, phone, and social media channels.
• Answer queries related to products/services, order placing, billing issues, and more.
• Raise tickets based on the concerns raised by customers.
• Run outbound sales campaigns and marketing campaigns for lead generation.

According to Salary.com, the average salary of a call center agent in the US is approximately $36,435 per year as of 2022. However, it can range from $ 34,231 per annum to $40,507 per annum.

Resources also indicate that the lowest salary of call center professionals as of 2022 is $25,350 per annum, while the median is $29,250 per annum. It can go up to $42,780 per annum for experienced professionals.

When you consider salary per hour, the lowest is $13 for entry-level positions, while the highest is $21.94 per hour. The median salary of a call center executive per hour is $15 per hour.

The salary of call center agents depends on many factors like location, educational qualifications, professional experience, certifications, etc. The more experience you have, the higher your salary will be.

Call centers can be of three different types based on the kind of calls they handle – inbound, outbound, and blended.

• An inbound call center handles incoming calls from existing or potential customers and responds to their queries related to products, services, billing, order processing, technical support, etc. It uses technologies like Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) to answer and route the calls.
• An outbound call center handles the outgoing calls of an organization. Agents make calls to customers to promote products/services, gather feedback, remind them of payments, notify them of changes in the company policy, etc. It uses power dialing, click-to-call, IVR, and other tools to maximize efficiency.
• A blended or hybrid call center, as the name suggests, handles both incoming and outgoing calls. It manages sales and support calls using tools and software such as IVR, ACD, power dialing, etc.