20 Key Features Every Contact Center Needs

A contact center is a vital investment that can reduce business costs and improve the productivity of your sales and customer service reps. However, choosing one can be challenging since so many options are available in the market. 

To help you, we have prepared a list of twenty crucial contact center software features to look for.

List of 20 Essential Contact Center Features

Every contact center software offers a range of features, some of which may or may not be useful for your business. Here is a list of must-have features that you should look for:

1. Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

Automatic call distribution helps call centers efficiently manage incoming calls and distribute them among available agents.

It uses sophisticated algorithms to evaluate the nature of each call and direct it to the most suitable agent based on factors like language, location and availability. This can help businesses reduce wasted time and resources.

2. Call Monitoring & Analytics

Monitoring and analytics features are helpful to evaluate the overall performance of the call center operations. It can offer KPIs like:

» Call volume

» Wait times

» Call duration

» First-call resolution rates

» Customer satisfaction

You can also use analytics to identify trends and patterns in call center activity. This information can be used to improve call routing and prioritization, optimize staffing levels, and identify areas for improvement.

3. Call Recording

Call recordings can help call center managers and supervisors evaluate the quality of conversations and train new agents. They can also extract information from calls and past interactions.

4. Call Transcription

Transforming the voice call data into text can help you organize and locate important information. Businesses can use the transcripts to obtain insightful data about the needs, attitudes and behavior of their customers.

5. Interactive Voice Response

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) enables callers to navigate menu options using their keypad or voice commands, eliminating the need for constant explanation and repetition of information. This feature is useful for call centers with a huge volume of incoming calls, as it can reduce call handling time and improve customer satisfaction.

6. Skill-based Routing

This feature can match customer inquiries with agents based on their expertise. Agents are categorized based on their experience, language knowledge, and skills. You can rank agents based on their abilities and then route the calls to the most appropriate agent. This helps customers get through to an agent most qualified to answer specific questions, increasing customer satisfaction.

7. Live Call Transfer

The call transfer feature enables agents to transfer calls to other agents, supervisors, or an IVR while on the call. The agent takes the customer’s consent and initiates a call transfer request through the portal, and the customer is connected to a new agent or supervisor and continues the call.

8. CRM Integration

Integrating the call center with a CRM can help agents deliver personalized experiences to customers. The agents can see the customer’s past interactions with the business and help them work efficiently, organize, and offer relevant solutions.

9. Real-time Call Monitoring

Real-time monitoring offers in-depth insights into agent-customer interactions and other important metrics, such as the average call waiting time, handling time, and number of agents available. It helps stakeholders make informed decisions that align with the organization’s objectives. Managers can make strategic decisions, boost efficiency and improve customer experiences.

10. Predictive Dialer

A predictive dialer can automatically dial numbers to increase agents’ talk time and productivity. It utilizes pre-configured algorithms so that agents no longer need to find and dial numbers to make outbound calls.

This feature saves time and decreases the chances of failed call attempts. After an unanswered call, the system moves on to the next lead, while answered calls are quickly routed to the next available agent.

11. Self-Service Portals

Every call center software should offer self-service options since they help save resources and offer instant customer support.  The system allows customers to use FAQ pages, knowledge bases and virtual assistants to access information like billing and invoicing, service status updates, progress of support cases and resolve issues independently.

12. Call Queuing

Call queuing is the management of a phone queue to minimize the average wait time during rush hours.  This means you can put your customers on hold if no agent is currently available to assist them. Customers may hear music, recorded messages, or estimated wait times during the hold time. This feature ensures no call is missed and all customers are attended to in order.

13. AI Assistants

AI assistants in call centers can help reduce manual and repetitive tasks so agents can focus more on strategic activities. For example, AI-powered virtual assistants can provide support to callers around the clock for general inquiries.

14. API & Integration Capabilities

With APIs, businesses can integrate their systems with their contact centers, such as CRM, emails, knowledge bases, and ticketing systems.  This can streamline usage by minimizing the number of clicks between apps while enhancing functionality through plugins and extensions.

15. Speech Analytics

Speech analytics uses AI to analyze voice interactions, process them into text, and find keywords to understand customer sentiment. For example, speech analytics inform a supervisor if a customer uses an aggressive tone or has long pauses. This can help managers identify areas for improvement or training needs.

16. Workforce Management

The call center software must include features that help managers optimize the workforce with the right number of agents at the right time. It should automate scheduling and performance management based on agent availability, forecast call volume, and revenue targets. This can help organizations achieve a balanced workforce, reduce operational costs, lower churn, and enhance customer experience.

17. Omnichannel Integration

The software should support multiple communication channels, including phone, chat, email, text (SMS), and social media. This empowers agents to perform customer interactions with a comprehensive view of previous interactions from other channels. You can map the customer journey to serve their needs and personalize the customer experience precisely.

18. Outbound Dialer

An outbound dialer automates a phone system that dials a list of phone numbers. It then connects the call to an available agent.

It helps agents make more phone calls and focus more on customer engagement and conversion. For example, it enables contact centers to target specific segments, understand customer preferences and offer more personalized customer suggestions.

19. Number Masking

Number masking or call masking allows businesses to conceal the phone numbers of the parties involved in a call, replacing them with proxy numbers. This will help safeguard the privacy and security of the participants’ real phone numbers. Call participants feel more comfortable interacting without disclosing their numbers, ensuring better privacy for customers.

20. Live Chat

Live chat helps you resolve customer problems faster than regular call support. Agents can manage multiple chats simultaneously to avoid long queues and track real-time customer activity. It also allows agents to proactively approach customers at strategic moments to offer support with live chat in a contact center.

Boost your Contact Center Efficiency with Exotel

Exotel is an AI-powered platform to transform customer communications. Its contact center solution enables you to run operations efficiently with omnichannel support. It offers features like:

→ Smart IVR to drive faster resolutions

→ Reports and dashboards to enable informed decision-making

→ Live monitoring to take proactive measures and resolve issues faster

→ Integrations to access information across various sources

→ Auto-call distributor to prioritize high-value customers

 Request a demo today to learn more about the platform and how it can help you improve your call center operations.

FAQs

1. What are the Critical Functions of a Contact Center?

The critical functions of a contact center may include customer support, technical support, order processing, sales and upselling, and feedback collection.

2. What is Omnichannel Support?

Omnichannel support integrates various communication channels to offer customers a seamless experience. It allows customers to interact through phone, email, live chat, social media, and SMS without losing context.

3. How Does an IVR System Work?

An IVR system uses pre-recorded messages and menus, which can be navigated using keypad or voice commands.