Best Call Center Software Of 2024

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Why We Picked RingCentral Contact Center

RingCentral Contact Center is a cloud-based call center software that has received positive user reviews in the past year. Users appreciate its ease of use, scalability, and integration with other business applications. They also find it to be a cost-effective solution compared to on-premises call center systems.

One of the key strengths of RingCentral Contact Center is its omnichannel capabilities. It allows businesses to manage all customer interactions from a single platform, regardless of the channel used (phone, email, chat, social media). This provides a seamless experience for customers and helps businesses to resolve issues more quickly and efficiently.

Another advantage of RingCentral Contact Center is its reporting and analytics capabilities. It provides businesses with detailed insights into their call center performance, which can be used to identify areas for improvement. This data can also be used to create custom reports that can be shared with stakeholders.

Overall, RingCentral Contact Center is a well-rounded call center software that is suitable for businesses of all sizes. It is easy to use, scalable, and cost-effective. Its omnichannel capabilities and reporting and analytics features make it a valuable tool for businesses that want to improve their customer service.

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Pros & Cons

Omnichannel Support: RingCentral Contact Center seamlessly integrates with multiple communication channels, allowing agents to handle customer inquiries from various platforms (e.g., phone, email, chat, social media) in a centralized interface.
AI-Powered Automation: Advanced AI capabilities automate routine tasks, such as call routing, lead qualification, and sentiment analysis, freeing up agents to focus on complex customer interactions.
Real-Time Analytics: Comprehensive dashboards provide real-time insights into call center performance, enabling supervisors to monitor agent productivity, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions.
Customization and Flexibility: RingCentral Contact Center offers customizable workflows, reporting tools, and integrations with CRM systems, allowing businesses to tailor the solution to their specific needs.
Scalability and Reliability: The cloud-based platform ensures scalability to accommodate growing call volumes and provides high availability with minimal downtime, ensuring uninterrupted customer service.

Limited Customization: Users have reported difficulty tailoring the platform to their specific business needs, leading to a lack of flexibility and efficiency.
Complex Interface: The user interface has been described as cluttered and overwhelming, making it challenging for agents to navigate and access necessary information quickly.
Integration Issues: RingCentral Contact Center has faced criticism for its limited integration capabilities with other business applications, hindering seamless workflows and data sharing.
Reliability Concerns: Users have experienced occasional system outages and technical glitches, impacting agent productivity and customer satisfaction.
Costly Add-Ons: While the base platform may be affordable, users have expressed frustration with the additional costs associated with essential features and integrations, making it less cost-effective than expected.

Key Features

Inbound Call Routing: Includes interactive voice response (IVR), computer telephony integration (CTI) and automatic call distributor (ACD). Use information from the IVR to avoid asking callers repeat questions. Connect customers to the most suitable agents for their queries.
Outbound Features: Eliminate manual phone number entry with automated outbound dialing features, improving team efficiency and response time. Assess when and how to reach specific customers to generate more leads.
Omni Channel Communication: Connect with customers across multiple channels in real time. Track, filter and route communications from initial contact to resolution. Contact staff through video calls, messaging, file-sharing and other collaboration tools.
Call Monitoring Tools: Monitor calls, users, meetings, devices, queues and call quality scores and parameters. Offer real-time coaching during live calls to improve performance.
Reporting/Analytics: Access personalized dashboards for various company-wide and department-specific metrics, including queues, user-level and usage trends, and agent performance. Create custom reports within the point-and-click interface. Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and send real-time alerts to agents via intelligent bots.
SMS APIs: Video and voice functionalities integrate with message support through v-cards, images and videos, including 19 inbound and 13 outbound formats. Manage all messages across apps and send up to 10,000 messages with one API request. Use original numbers to send messages from extensions, other company numbers or departments.
Text Messaging APIs: Use prebuilt bot adapters and frameworks such as Botkit, Errbot, Hubot and Lita. Access robust tools, like direct and group messaging support, real-time notifications, message history, message formatting and team member lists, to build a productive messaging platform within and across departments.
Video Meetings: Create video meetings for immediate engagement. Retrieve past conference data for analysis.
Fax APIs: Send faxes in 29 different file formats, queue messages automatically, forward and resend faxes to avoid re-rendering and consolidate multiple files in a single API request.
Analytics: Work on a single and intuitive data layout for instant analysis of company-wide, departments or user-level trends and usage. Agents can monitor all calls, users, meetings, numbers, devices, queues, and call quality scores and parameters.
Voice APIs: Connect any two numbers from anywhere to make calls through RingOut. Engage in calls through Web RTC-enabled browsers.
- Advanced Call Control: Enable apps to receive, make and forward calls, customize and return presence status, access Call Flip, hot-desking and Call Park, and mute extensions.
- Voicemail: Download or play back voicemail and search call logs. Access audio transcriptions of voicemail messages via speech-to-text conversion.
- Caller ID: Create caller IDs for all calls based on occasions, events and other configurations. Set advanced call routing, location-based routing and scheduling.
- Recorded Greetings: Provide business-specific voice announcements, voicemail greetings and on-hold messages.
- Real-time Notifications: Automate apps and workflows with real-time notifications, including ringing, call initiation, pick-ups, hang-ups and warm transfers.

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Best Overall

Best for Call Routing System

Best for Collaboration

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Best for Voicemail and Messaging

Avaya

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^$30

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Why We Picked Avaya

Avaya's Call Center software has received mixed reviews from users in the past year. Some users praise its robust feature set, including its omnichannel capabilities, customizable dashboards, and advanced reporting tools. These features allow businesses to manage customer interactions across multiple channels, track key metrics, and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, Avaya's integration with other business applications, such as CRM and ERP systems, is seen as a major strength, enabling seamless data sharing and streamlined workflows.

However, some users have expressed concerns about the software's complexity and cost. Avaya's feature-rich nature can make it challenging for some businesses to implement and manage effectively, especially for those with limited IT resources. Additionally, the software's pricing can be a barrier for some organizations, particularly small businesses with tight budgets. In comparison to similar products, Avaya's Call Center software is generally considered to be more comprehensive and feature-rich, but also more expensive and complex. Its strengths lie in its omnichannel capabilities, customization options, and integration with other business applications. However, businesses should carefully consider their needs and resources before investing in Avaya's software.

Overall, Avaya's Call Center software is best suited for large enterprises with complex customer service requirements and the resources to implement and manage a feature-rich solution. Its omnichannel capabilities, advanced reporting tools, and integration options make it a powerful tool for managing customer interactions and improving customer satisfaction.

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Pros & Cons

Seamless Integration: Avaya's solutions effortlessly integrate with existing systems, streamlining call center operations and enhancing efficiency.
Robust Reporting: Comprehensive reporting capabilities provide valuable insights into call center performance, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Advanced Call Routing: Intelligent call routing optimizes agent utilization, ensuring calls are directed to the most qualified agents for faster resolution.
Omnichannel Support: Avaya's solutions support multiple communication channels, allowing customers to connect with agents through their preferred method.
Scalability and Flexibility: Avaya's solutions are designed to scale with growing business needs, providing flexibility to adapt to changing requirements.

High Cost: Avaya's solutions can be expensive compared to competitors, making it difficult for businesses to justify the investment.
Complex Interface: Some users find Avaya's interface to be complex and difficult to navigate, leading to frustration and reduced efficiency.
Limited Integration Options: Avaya's solutions may not integrate seamlessly with other business applications, creating challenges for businesses that rely on a connected ecosystem.
Frequent Outages: Users have reported experiencing frequent outages and downtime with Avaya's systems, impacting business operations and customer satisfaction.
Poor Customer Support: Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with Avaya's customer support, citing slow response times and a lack of technical expertise.

Key Features

Workforce Engagement: Boost employee engagement with game mechanics and keep a close eye on an agent’s application usage, off-phone activities, schedule adherence and processes.
Team Management: Automate quality management via scoring evaluations and coaching. Seek assistance from subject matter experts when required. Streamline and track the progress and processes of the team. Simplify staff scheduling and forecasting. Provide access to call recordings, skills routing, live monitoring, analytics and coaching to agents to boost productivity and improve workflows.
Contact Tracing: Get access to AI and automation tools to deliver some of the deepest and fastest solutions for contact information, identification and communications.
- Chat Bot: Employ virtual agents to connect with customers through an easy transfer to live customer support when needed.
- Automation: Enable automatic notifications, alerts, text interactions, auto-forms, voice calls and emails to reach out to customers and engage in long-term communication.

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Vonage Contact Center

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^$20

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Why We Picked Vonage Contact Center

Vonage Contact Center has received mixed reviews in the past year. Users praise its ease of use, comprehensive features, and reliable performance. They appreciate the intuitive interface, which makes it easy to navigate and manage calls. The software's robust feature set, including call routing, IVR, and CRM integration, allows businesses to tailor their contact center to their specific needs. Additionally, Vonage Contact Center's uptime and call quality are consistently high, ensuring seamless customer interactions.

However, some users have expressed concerns about the software's pricing and scalability. Vonage Contact Center can be more expensive than some competing solutions, and its scalability may be limited for larger businesses. Additionally, some users have reported occasional technical glitches and integration issues with third-party applications.

Overall, Vonage Contact Center is a solid choice for businesses looking for a user-friendly and feature-rich call center solution. Its strengths in ease of use, comprehensive features, and reliability make it a good option for businesses of all sizes. However, businesses should carefully consider the software's pricing and scalability before making a decision.

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Pros & Cons

Seamless Integrations: Vonage Contact Center effortlessly integrates with popular CRM and business applications, streamlining workflows and enhancing agent productivity.
Omnichannel Capabilities: Handle customer interactions across multiple channels (voice, email, chat, social media) from a unified platform, providing a seamless experience for both agents and customers.
Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Gain valuable insights into call center performance, agent productivity, and customer satisfaction through robust analytics and reporting tools.
AI-Powered Features: Leverage artificial intelligence to automate tasks, improve call routing, and provide real-time assistance to agents, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Scalability and Flexibility: Vonage Contact Center scales seamlessly to meet changing business needs, allowing for easy expansion or contraction of agent capacity as required.

Limited Customization: Users report that Vonage Contact Center offers limited customization options, making it difficult to tailor the platform to specific business needs.
Integration Challenges: Some users have experienced difficulties integrating Vonage Contact Center with other business systems, such as CRM and ticketing platforms.
Reliability Issues: Occasional reports of system outages and call quality issues have been noted by users, impacting call center operations.
Pricing Concerns: While Vonage Contact Center offers flexible pricing plans, some users have expressed concerns about the overall cost compared to competitors.
Limited Reporting Capabilities: Users have reported that the reporting capabilities within Vonage Contact Center are not as robust as desired, making it challenging to track and analyze call center performance.

Key Features

Call Flip: Transfer calls from mobile to desktop or vice versa with a single click.
Cell Phone Integration: Get VoIP system functionality on a cell phone.
Paperless Fax: Receive or send faxes anywhere or anytime. Access is available only in the US.
Voicemail to Email: Receive voicemail recordings directly in an email inbox.
Collaboration: Take advantage of features such as call to announce, call monitoring, call groups (forwarding calls to more than one extension at once) and team messaging.
Conference Bridge: Connect up to 30 callers at a go with a single button.
Virtual Assistant: Answer calls immediately through voice-driven, AI-enhanced natural language interactions.
Call Screening: See all incoming call numbers and prioritize answering essential calls.
Spam Shield: Check all incoming calls for phone spam; the feature is only available in the U.S.
Call Continuity: Get instant access to automatic call rerouting during an emergency.
Click-To-Call-Me: Give customers a quick and easy way to contact and enhance customer satisfaction rate.
Receptionist Console: Manage a large volume of calls (up to 50) efficiently without any disturbance or dropped calls — available in US and UK only.
Smart Numbers: Program phone numbers according to the business's exact needs. Available in the US and Australia only.
Single Sign-On System for Cross-Domain Identity Management (SCIM): Use company credentials to log in to the product's business communications easily with centralized authentication and password management.
Video Collaboration: Connect with customers virtually from anywhere with Meetings. Get access to video and vice collaboration plus chat. Schedule meetings right from the calendar and connect up to 150 attendees in up to 25 simultaneous videos in a single session.
Support Plus Powered By Soluto: Take advantage of friendly remote support for IT and tech issues. Available in the US only.
SD-WAN: Prioritize bandwidth-intensive cloud applications with SmartWAN solution and get reliable and quality service for embedded voice into VBC for Teams-available only in the US.
Virtual Receptionist: Create a simplified and robust phone menu system IVR, customize call routing for holidays and day-offs and route callers to the right individual or department for a streamlined experience.
Call Queue: Set up detailed messaging prompts and options to help callers connect automatically to the appropriate agent.
Call Continuity: Route calls anywhere from a variety of options. For instance, when the team is away from the office or during emergencies.

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Cisco Contact Center

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^$100

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Pros & Cons

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Give customers a smoother, more efficient experience. Send calls to the right agent, monitor events and record conversations so customers get help faster and come back for more.
Better Teamwork: Make it easier for your team to work together. Allow them to share information and talk in real time, and help each other solve customer problems.
Business Growth: Expand your teams, connect with other tools you might use and set up the software in different ways to match your growing needs.
Smart Decision-Making: Use real-time data reporting tools to track what's happening in your call center, spot trends in customer questions and improve overall performance.

Added Initial Costs: While call center software can save you money in the long haul, it can be a bit pricey to get started, especially for smaller businesses. There are the upfront costs of buying the software and then maintenance, like paying subscription fees every month. Companies need to take a good look at their budget and make sure the benefits outweigh those costs.
Connectivity Issues: Cloud-based call center software relies on a steady internet connection for agents who work from home. If the internet goes down, so does communication with customers. Companies should have backup plans in case the internet goes out so they can keep helping customers.
Limited Adaptability: Call center software comes with many features and ways to customize it, but sometimes, it might not do exactly what a business needs. This can lead to figuring out workarounds or having to buy extra software to fill in the gaps, which can make things more complicated and expensive.

Key Features

Cloud Contact Center
- Unified Open Platform: Enhance workflow efficiency and business processes, and integrate with business tools with its open platform architecture, agent desktop, management and reporting.
- Routing and Queue Management: Distribute calls intelligently across teams, agents and remote agents in multiple sites. Create routing strategies to leverage skill assignments at the agent or team level. Match agent skill set and availability with customer needs, priorities and values.
- Call Distribution: Prioritize call distribution depending on agent capabilities, Designate the way calls are distributed to salespeople and reroute them to another available agent if the prior one is elusive. Put the non-responsive worker to an unavailable state to avoid sending them calls and toggle their status back to an active state once they’re back.
- Flow Builder: Build custom contact flows over system-generated events, including transfer, hang-up and agent answer, while handling customers with precise routing and workflows. Create, edit or validate flows before publication through an automatic drag-and-drop UI interface. Configure Call Associated Data (CAD) variables, courtesy callbacks and transfer activity based on Estimated Wait Time (EWT) and Place In Queue (PIQ) while customers hear music. Enable custom flow requests, including Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF), playing prompts, touchtone menus, digit collection, screen pops, triggers for feedback and music in the queue with Webex Experience Management.
- Wrap-Up Codes: Create deposition codes to track the reason for an agent’s inactivity and call’s end.
- Callback Options: Offer customers the option to leave their contact numbers and receive a callback from agents rather than waiting in a long queue.
- Disaster Recovery: Redirect traffic during unexpected emergencies such as transport facility outages, natural disasters and power disruptions. Be productive anytime and anywhere only with the availability of a computer, internet connectivity and phone.
- Single Sign-On: With a one-time login, you can access all Webex applications. Integrate all call center solutions with your Webex Control Hub identity.
- Webex Control Hub: Offer a blended administration experience for all collaboration services such as messaging, calling and contact center. Enable a simplified and seamless onboarding experience to users for multiple collaboration services through a unified interface along with security, control entitlements and compliance
- Management Portal: Set up simple, flexible call flows and routing strategies, direct multi-skilled sales representatives to queues and administer a Default Outdial Automatic Number Identification (ANI). Monitor team performances in real time via call monitoring and dashboards, analyze customer trends by accessing historical reporting and analytics and log out team members who are inactive through the agent state dashboard.
- Supervisory Features: Access calls and listen to conversations from a dial-in connection or corporate network without the agent or caller's knowledge. Barge in or coach during the call at any time and train the agent privately during a live discussion.
- Email Channel Capabilities: Pull emails from multiple accounts, set up a template with signatures and greetings, route messages by the subject line keyword analysis and edit emails with rich-text capabilities. Access add-on capabilities such as attachment support with configurable limits, wrap-up codes, audible indicators for new emails, conversation history and grouping. Access email reporting in the analyzer and multi-session support for contacts.
- Text/Social Media Capabilities: Access various features, including secure interactions, wrap-up code for chats, blind/consult transferring and conferencing, submission of customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys, reporting on text/social interactions in Analyzer and customer satisfaction history on social channels.
- Virtual Agent (Chat and Voice): Offer a 24/7 intuitive, self-service experience across multiple channels with a bot for less complex and simple inquiries to customers. Reduce calls to agents, leading to better customer experiences and improved productivity. Improve call containment with fewer calls escalating to agents, automate more business transactions using self-service and relieve agents from mundane and repetitive tasks.
- CRM Integrations: CRM Integrations: Improve workflows with pre-built connectors for integration with several leading CRM systems, including Zendsk, Salesforce and MS Dynamics.
- Flexible Cloud Migration: Take the first steps to the cloud with the "cloud-first-not-cloud-only” approach. With advanced hybrid cloud and flexible consumption services, you can achieve cloud innovation without disturbing existing on-premise models.
On-Premise Contact Center
- Finesse Desktop: Improve agent performances through customizable supervisor and agent desktop layouts, personalized heading and logo, blended agents with outbound and inbound capability, screen-pop-ups with complete information about customers, phonebook, E 164 support, multi-session web chat, live data reporting, agent state and call history and drag and drop gadgets
- Customer Surveys: Conduct surveys to understand the client’s needs and serve them better. View self-assessments and compare with other team members and boost productivity.
- Home Agents: Use Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) phone devices to transfer, accept, disconnect and conference calls while Cisco Unified CCX handles interactions.
- Workflows: Allow simple and easy configuration of complex screen-up actions via REST APIs and Finesse HTTP. Set up actions and workflows for digital and voice channels using an intuitive, logic-based interface that offers better service and reduces handle times.
- Cloud Connect: Enable customers to connect an on-premises solution to the product’s highly redundant and secure Webex Contact Center and deliver new services and consistent reporting.
- Next-Generation Reporting: Get live and historical data and dashboards along with flexible presentation options through the Unified Intelligence Center. View historical and live or custom reports depending on the information that needs tracking via existing studies.
- Open System: Take advantage of hardware platforms to enable various benefits at a modest hardware cost. Access features, including Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)-compliant databases and Java interfaces for CTI applications and integrate them with existing solutions while preserving investments and offering a platform with modern applications.
- Smart Licensing: Manage licenses across the business with a more agile method and let customers pool licenses across various sites. Redeploy when required and increase usage during burst requirements.
Cloud Applications
- Predictive Analysis: Make informed decisions regarding improving customer and agent experience for positive business outcomes.
- Financial Analysis: Access a one-page, boardroom-ready financial analysis to get budget and buy-in approval for customer experience initiatives.
- Journey Path Analysis: Solve the attributes impacting financial metrics and customer experience to get better results.
- Theme Analysis: Get 95% accuracy while analyzing the theme and sentiment of customers’ unstructured data through AI and machine learning.
- Dashboards: Create a personalized dashboard and access real-time performances of agents through KPIs, comparisons and analysis.
- Actionable Insights: Track customer experience and improve performances by turning mounds of data into real-time measurable actions through customer journey maps.
- Closing The Loop: Improve customer experiences by listening to all customer responses and handling them in real time
- Question Builder: Add, delete and modify questions easily. Create surveys to analyze customer experience across all channels and touchpoints.

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Bright Pattern

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^$70

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Why We Picked Bright Pattern

Bright Pattern has garnered positive feedback for its user-friendly interface and robust omnichannel capabilities, making it a strong contender in the contact center software market. Users appreciate the platform's intuitive design, which simplifies agent onboarding and daily operations. The ability to manage interactions across various channels, including voice, email, chat, and social media, within a unified interface streamlines workflows and enhances agent efficiency. Reviewers frequently highlight the platform's flexibility and customization options, allowing businesses to tailor the software to their specific needs and workflows. This adaptability is particularly beneficial for organizations with unique requirements or complex customer journeys.

While Bright Pattern receives praise for its ease of use and comprehensive features, some users note that its reporting and analytics capabilities could be more robust. Compared to competitors like Genesys and Five9, Bright Pattern's reporting tools may lack the depth and granularity required for in-depth performance analysis and data-driven decision-making. Additionally, while the platform offers a wide range of integrations, some users mention that the process of setting up and configuring these integrations can be complex and may require technical expertise. Despite these drawbacks, Bright Pattern's strengths in user experience and omnichannel functionality make it a compelling option for businesses seeking a reliable and adaptable contact center solution. The platform is particularly well-suited for mid-sized organizations and enterprises with diverse communication channels and a focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences.

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Pros & Cons

Omnichannel Capabilities: Bright Pattern seamlessly integrates various communication channels, including voice, email, chat, and social media, into a unified platform. This allows agents to manage all customer interactions from a single interface, enhancing efficiency and providing a consistent experience across channels.
Cloud-Based Flexibility: As a cloud-based solution, Bright Pattern eliminates the need for on-premises hardware and infrastructure, reducing IT costs and complexity. Its scalability allows businesses to easily adjust their contact center size based on demand, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes.
User-Friendly Interface: Bright Pattern's intuitive interface is designed for ease of use, enabling agents to quickly learn and navigate the system. This reduces training time and empowers agents to focus on delivering excellent customer service.
Advanced Routing and Automation: The platform offers intelligent routing capabilities that direct calls to the most qualified agent based on skills, availability, and other criteria. Automation features, such as chatbots and interactive voice response (IVR), can handle routine inquiries, freeing up agents to handle more complex issues.
Real-Time Analytics and Reporting: Bright Pattern provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that offer insights into contact center performance. Supervisors can monitor key metrics, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to optimize operations.

Reporting Limitations: The platform's reporting capabilities have limitations, particularly regarding real-time data and customizability. Users often find it challenging to extract specific data points or create tailored reports to meet their unique needs.
User Interface Complexity: The user interface, while feature-rich, can feel overwhelming and cumbersome for new users due to its complexity. Navigating through various menus and options may require a steeper learning curve than anticipated.
Integrations: Integrating Bright Pattern with other business tools and CRM systems can pose challenges and may require additional development effort or custom connectors.

Key Features

Inbound Voice Calls and SMS: Control calls from the desktop regardless of call delivery options. Call transcription, conversation continuity for dropped calls, in-call and standalone SMS messaging, pre-recorded message playback and a virtual queue with a callback option optimize customer experiences and team workflows.
Outbound Voice: Access all dialing modes, including predictive, manual, progressive and preview, to tailor the dialer for desired agent engagement and any list quality. Maximize answer probability with safe calling windows integrated with postal codes.
Answering Machine Detection: Detect when an agent or answering machine accepts calls. Know when to connect live callers or leave messages while maintaining a high predictive connection rate.
List Sorting and Filtering: Organize data to increase output, move records within campaigns, prioritize high quality leads and work with multiple call center operations.
Predictive Dialer: Dial a list of numbers and automatically connect with live calls to improve call efficiency.
IVR: Personalized IVR menus, scripts and other options ensure exceptional customer experiences. Route callers to suitable agents and IVR scripts that align with core brand messaging.
CTI Integration: Expedite agent responses by centralizing customer information. Employ a hassle-free CTI integration with existing CRMs, like Oracle Cloud Service, Zendesk, Freshdesk and Salesforce.
Workflow Automation: Send notifications for support ticket updates to customers and agents. Automate repetitive maintenance activities and actions on tickets.
AI and Bots: Supplement customer experiences through automation with human touch sentiment analysis, tracking and routing, intelligent assistance and quality management.
Reporting and Analytics: View real-time stats and metrics about assigned service campaigns, queues, agents and teams with associated alerts, statistics and actions. Work with data from Amazon Quicksight, Tableau, Zoho Reports, Zoomdata, Google Data Studio and more.
Case Management: Connect with customers across all channels. Access communication history with detailed information, including transcripts and notes from agents.

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Genesys Cloud CX

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^$75

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Why We Picked Genesys Cloud CX

Genesys Cloud is an omnichannel contact center solution that streamlines customer relationships. It brings calls, chats, emails and other communications into one centralized interface to produce seamless interactions.

Users report that the interface covers the essentials and is easy to use and configure. They are also impressed by its customer support, noting that it’s easy to get through to representatives and resolve problems. However, some users say that the product would benefit from more advanced functionality and improvement to some of its basic features. In all, Genesys Cloud is suitable for businesses of all sizes that wish to offer comprehensive customer support.

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Pros & Cons

Usability: According to 89% of users who evaluated this aspect, the software is relatively easy to learn and use.
Customer Service: 96% of users who mentioned this were satisfied with the product’s customer service.
Price: The product offers the best features for the price, according to 88% of users.

Feature Performance: According to 45% of users who evaluated this aspect, the software is lacking in some of its advertised features. Specifically, workflow processes can lag when the number of data tables and flow results increase.

Key Features

Customer Self-Service: Use speech-enabled IVR and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to help customers resolve issues without the need for a live agent. Simplify support experiences and offer 24/7 assistance with conversational voice bots and AI-powered chatbots. Design a knowledge base of support resources for customers and agents..
Cloud CX Voice: Get public access to any subscribed cloud CX service via VoIP telephony through new or existing phone numbers..
Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC): Integrate with any cloud-based or on-site carrier to unify communications and supplement existing infrastructure.
Inbound Routing: Ensure positive, consistent customer experiences with call routing, voicemail, custom greetings and an automated callback option for when lines are busy.
Outbound Campaigns: Target the right customers through predictive dialing and proactive outreach through customers’ preferred channels. Engage website visitors with personalized messages. Decrease the volume and variability of inbound communications.
Workforce Engagement: Monitor agent performance and support employee development through interactive training, such as gamifying contact center KPIs. Maintain quality across customer experiences with monitoring and forecasting enhanced by AI.
Unified Communications: Enhance customer interaction rates by allowing agents to work from anywhere in the world. Connect business users, contact center users, partners, vendors and customers to boost agent response times and business outcomes.
Reporting and Analytics: Analyze an agent’s performance on a single dashboard and generate reports to track call times, resolution rates, service levels, customer satisfaction and other integral KPIs. Manage multiple teams and channels.
Digital Channels: Route digital communications to the appropriate agent based on content analysis. Create long-lasting live conversations through SMS and web messaging apps with minimal risks of losing content and context. Co-browsing and screen-sharing capabilities allow agents to be hands-on in resolving customer queries.

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Dialpad Contact Center

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^$75

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Why We Picked Dialpad Contact Center

Dialpad Contact Center has received positive user reviews over the past year, with many praising its ease of use, robust features, and integrations with other business tools. Users have found it to be a reliable and efficient solution for managing customer interactions, with features such as call routing, IVR, and CRM integration streamlining workflows and improving agent productivity.

Compared to similar products, Dialpad Contact Center stands out for its intuitive interface, which makes it easy for agents to learn and use. Its cloud-based architecture also provides flexibility and scalability, allowing businesses to adjust their contact center operations as needed. Additionally, Dialpad Contact Center's AI-powered features, such as sentiment analysis and speech recognition, enhance agent performance and improve customer experiences.

Overall, Dialpad Contact Center is a well-rounded solution that is suitable for businesses of all sizes. Its ease of use, robust features, and integrations make it a valuable tool for managing customer interactions and improving agent productivity. It is particularly well-suited for businesses looking for a cloud-based contact center solution that can scale with their needs and provide advanced AI-powered features.

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Pros & Cons

Seamless Integrations: Dialpad Contact Center seamlessly integrates with popular CRM and help desk systems, allowing agents to access customer information and resolve issues quickly.
Omnichannel Support: Agents can handle customer inquiries across multiple channels, including phone, email, chat, and social media, providing a consistent and efficient experience.
Real-Time Analytics: Comprehensive dashboards and reports provide real-time insights into call center performance, enabling managers to identify areas for improvement and optimize operations.
AI-Powered Features: Dialpad Contact Center leverages AI to automate tasks, such as call routing, sentiment analysis, and knowledge base search, freeing up agents to focus on complex customer interactions.
Scalability and Flexibility: The cloud-based platform allows businesses to scale their contact center operations up or down as needed, ensuring they can meet changing customer demands.

Limited Customization: Dialpad Contact Center offers limited customization options, making it difficult to tailor the platform to specific business needs.
Integration Challenges: Users have reported difficulties integrating Dialpad Contact Center with other business applications, leading to workflow disruptions.
Inconsistent Reporting: Some users have encountered issues with the accuracy and reliability of reporting data, making it challenging to track performance and make informed decisions.
Limited Agent Availability: Dialpad Contact Center has been criticized for its limited agent availability, resulting in longer wait times for customers and potential revenue loss.
Pricing Concerns: Users have expressed concerns about the pricing structure of Dialpad Contact Center, particularly for businesses with high call volumes or complex requirements.

Key Features

Administration: Expect a hassle-free deployment, fast setup and the ability to manage and provision users with simplicity and efficiency.
- Web Portal: Manage and set up the platform and users to control settings and profiles.
  - Administration Portal: et complete control over every adjustable feature and setting. Log into the portal and access several features, including:
    - Office Settings: Access features such as main line, teams and users, desk phone, office settings, integrations and number porting.
    - Departments: Assign operators, add or remove departments, establish hours and draw call routing rules for departments.
    - Call Centers: Add new call centers, assign agents to those centers, establish hold music, create call handling rules and more.
    - Billing: Access the account’s monthly invoice with the entire billing history.
    - Authentication: Select SAML provider, choose between Google, OneLogin, Okta or a custom option and add API keys.
    - Integrations: Add/disable any integrations.
  - User Portal: Make adjustments to various settings within the account, including:
    - Basic Information: Upload an avatar (or use the one from the G Suite account), select a phone number that should appear as an outgoing caller ID number along with timezone and language.
    - Voicemail settings: Upload a greeting, use a default welcome message or record a new one with advanced settings. Choose the ringing duration before sending to voicemail and call routing rules.
    - Executive Assistant: Assign assistant or executive status to another user, so calls go to the assistant or executive number first.
    - E911: Establish the physical location where emergency services go when 911 is dialed.
- APIs and Webhooks: Get more call data and additional user management functionality.
- User Setup: Add new users, assign phone numbers, sync them with Office 365 or Google G and establish user permissions from one place.
- Mobility: Remove the restrictions of a traditional desk phone and stay connected from any device and anywhere.
- Call Analytics: Solve all big and small challenges with call analytics, optimize the call center’s performance and meet KPIs to stay ahead of the competitors.

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CXone

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Why We Picked CXone

CXone is a popular customer experience software that has received positive user reviews over the past year. Users appreciate its ease of use, comprehensive features, and ability to integrate with other business systems. CXone's strengths include its intuitive interface, which makes it easy for users to navigate and find the information they need. It also offers a wide range of features, including customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, and analytics, which allows businesses to manage all aspects of their customer interactions in one place. Additionally, CXone's open API allows it to be easily integrated with other business systems, such as ERP and CRM systems, which can help businesses streamline their operations.

While CXone is a strong product, it does have some weaknesses. Some users have reported that it can be expensive, especially for small businesses. Additionally, CXone's reporting capabilities are not as robust as some other products on the market. However, CXone's strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and it is a good choice for businesses that are looking for a comprehensive customer experience solution.

CXone is most suited for businesses that are looking for a comprehensive customer experience solution that is easy to use, feature-rich, and can be integrated with other business systems. CXone is a good choice for businesses of all sizes, but it is particularly well-suited for small businesses that do not have the resources to invest in a more expensive solution.

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Pros & Cons

Seamless Omnichannel Experience: CXone unifies customer interactions across multiple channels, providing a consistent and personalized experience.
Robust Analytics and Reporting: CXone offers comprehensive analytics and reporting capabilities, enabling businesses to track key metrics and identify areas for improvement.
AI-Powered Automation: CXone leverages AI to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up agents to focus on more complex customer interactions.
Easy-to-Use Interface: CXone's intuitive interface makes it easy for agents to navigate and manage customer interactions efficiently.
Exceptional Customer Support: CXone provides dedicated customer support, ensuring businesses receive prompt assistance and guidance when needed.

Limited Customization: Users have reported that CXone's customization options are somewhat limited, making it difficult to tailor the platform to their specific business needs.
Steep Learning Curve: Some users have found CXone's interface to be complex and challenging to navigate, requiring a significant investment of time and effort to become proficient.
Integration Challenges: Users have encountered difficulties integrating CXone with their existing systems, leading to data silos and inefficiencies.
Pricing Concerns: CXone's pricing structure has been criticized for being complex and lacking transparency, making it difficult for users to accurately estimate their costs.
Limited Reporting Capabilities: Users have expressed dissatisfaction with CXone's reporting capabilities, citing a lack of flexibility and customization options.

Key Features

Automatic Call Distribution: Connect more customers with the appropriate resources and resolve an increased number of interactions faster. Employ differentiated routing that uses customer data and sentiment for a better overall customer experience. Make use of an intuitive, visual tool with predefined components and collaborate on routing flows.
Interactive Voice Response: Avoid the time spent on asking customers the same questions repeatedly. Automate requests through the IVR to facilitate the resolution process. Connect the data using the out-of-the-box CRM, virtual agent and database integrations.
Predictive Dialer: Run voice and digital campaigns in an instant. Increase productivity with no pause dialing, reducing hang-ups. Blend inbound and outbound interactions across channels. Choose from various dialing options to ensure compliance even within one campaign.
Interaction Channels: Select from over 30 digital and voice channels and instantly grant access to agents whenever required. Increase productivity with control, insight and a consistent interface. Maintain routing for all digital and voice channels with a visual, intuitive tool. Provide customers flexibility and offer virtually any communication channel that satisfies their needs.
Conversational AI and Chatbots: Leverage BYO-bot framework to deploy and manage virtual agents and intelligent bots. Handle more customer interactions with pre-built NLP-powered bots. Expand self-service for routine requests. Blend conversational self-service with agent assistance, leading to hassle-free customer journeys.
Improved Chat: Streamline chat handling with messaging templates, reducing typing and improving speed. Use bots to collect customer data or automate repetitive steps. Use a single platform to administer and manage the chat channel. Deliver real-time guidance to customers along with co-browsing and hands-on support. Identify when high-value customers are lost or struggling.
Messaging: Choose from the most extensive selection of natively implemented channels. Integrate virtually any digital channel with BOYC. Grant agents cross-channel history and add custom fields for customer information, sentiment and more. Analyze data for any digital avenues, including SMS, bots, social messaging and monitoring chat. Handle inbound SMS easily using consistent control and interfaces.
Call and Screen Recording: Adhere to PCI, GDPR and HIPAA requirements. Make sure that recordings are always secure and protected. Access and play recordings back without any hassles. Unify call, digital and screen recordings in one interface. Ensure built-in flexibility to meet recording and collaboration needs on the go.
FedRAMP: Provide customers with omnichannel options. Facilitate workforce engagement to create an organized, happy and productive environment for employees. Use security protocols to protect private data. Enable staff to serve customers promptly and efficiently.
UCaaS Integrations: Help connect agents to valuable experts. Allow pre-built APIs to create a single view for all agent interactions. Identify agent availability for a call or chat and update corporate directories frequently. Connect the agent workforce with leading applications from Microsoft, RingCentral, Zoom, Atos and more.
CRM Integrations: Help agents understand customers in a better way. Deploy, scale and extend with a pre-built integration. Increase efficiency with a unified agent desktop and reduce both time and effort. Make informed decisions relying on gainful insights.
Interaction Analytics: Improve interactions across channels by identifying outcomes, evaluating the customer experience and more. Prioritize and attack the best improvement opportunities.
Real-Time Interaction Guidance: Build rapport and encourage active listening based on AI models that understand customer cues. Provide immediate feedback and use easy-to-understand prompts and specific recommendations.
Voice-as-a-Service: Integrate software, infrastructure and telephone into one centralized solution. Eliminate the hassle of dropped and abandoned calls. Use automated provisioning and number porting to save time.
Customer Authentication: Validate a customer in the first few seconds of a conversation. Strengthen fraud prevention and ensure safeguarding. Diversify self-service to meet everyday needs such as account balance, points status, password resets and more that need authentication.

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CallHippo

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Why We Picked CallHippo

CallHippo users appreciate its user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to set up and use. They also praise its call quality, which is clear and reliable. Additionally, CallHippo offers a wide range of features, including call recording, call forwarding, and voicemail, which are essential for businesses of all sizes.

Compared to similar products, CallHippo is considered to be a good value for the price. It offers a comprehensive set of features at a competitive price point. Additionally, CallHippo's customer support is responsive and helpful, which is important for businesses that need assistance with setup or troubleshooting.

One of the differentiating factors of CallHippo is its focus on international calling. It offers a wide range of international calling plans, which can be important for businesses that have customers or employees in other countries. Additionally, CallHippo's international calling rates are competitive, which can save businesses money on their phone bills.

CallHippo is most suited for small businesses that need a reliable and affordable business phone system. It is also a good option for businesses that have international calling needs. CallHippo's user-friendly interface, comprehensive set of features, and competitive pricing make it a good value for the price.

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Pros & Cons

Seamless Integration: Effortlessly connect CallHippo with your existing CRM and other business tools, streamlining communication and enhancing productivity.
Advanced Call Management: Manage incoming and outgoing calls efficiently with features like call forwarding, call recording, and customizable IVR menus, ensuring seamless call handling.
International Presence: Expand your business globally with CallHippo's extensive international coverage, enabling you to connect with customers and partners worldwide.
Cost-Effective Pricing: Enjoy affordable pricing plans tailored to your business needs, allowing you to optimize communication costs without compromising quality.
Reliable and Secure: Trust CallHippo's robust infrastructure and advanced security measures to ensure uninterrupted communication and protect sensitive business data.

Limited Integrations: CallHippo's integration options are somewhat limited compared to other business phone systems, making it less convenient for businesses that rely on a wide range of software tools.
Inconsistent Call Quality: Some users have reported experiencing occasional call quality issues, such as dropped calls or poor audio quality, which can be frustrating during important business conversations.
Limited Customization Options: CallHippo offers a relatively basic set of customization options, which may not be sufficient for businesses that require a highly tailored phone system to meet their specific needs.
Pricing Concerns: While CallHippo's pricing is generally competitive, some users have expressed concerns about the cost of certain features or add-ons, which can add up over time.
Customer Support Issues: A few users have reported experiencing delays or difficulties in getting support from CallHippo's customer service team, which can be frustrating when technical issues arise.

Key Features

Power Dialer: Eliminate manual dialing and employ an efficient power dialer functionality. Automatically dial numbers from an already uploaded list, increasing productivity and saving time.
Smart Switch: Choose from several telephone provider options before making a call. Get rid of connectivity issues and provide agents the freedom to choose the best-suited provider.
Call Forwarding: Forward calls to desired numbers post office hours or skip a few numbers in the list without alerting callers.
Global Connect: Gain insights about the best times to contact clients. Get information about dates, time zones and the validity of numbers in advance. Select appropriate numbers for better results.
Call Transfer: Transfer calls quickly to another team member or a department without making clients wait or missing out on important calls.
Call Conference: Join calls and collaborate with colleagues from anywhere in the world and get work done faster. Stay on the same page with clients and team members even while working remotely.
Call Queueing: Keep callers engaged with customized messages while they’re on hold. Save money otherwise spent on hiring additional staff members to handle telephonic conversations. Queue calls one after the other and inform respondents of how much they’re supposed to wait.
Call Barging: Listen to live calls and intervene to guide team members between conversations. Help resolve customer issues and increase customer satisfaction.
Call Recording: Access and store call records to monitor team performance and improve productivity. Use recordings for employee training purposes.
Voicemail: Make a good impression by greeting respondents with personalized messages. Provide a separate voicemail to every number, ensuring no calls go missed.
Call Analytics: Track the team’s overall performance and identify areas for improvement. Get insights about missed calls, call analytics and each employee’s strengths and weaknesses.
On Hold Music: Keep callers happy and occupied while transferring calls or putting them on hold. Use the feature to announce business operating hours, new offers and inform clients about products.
Speech Analytics: Ensure 100% call coverage and keep an eye on essential interactions with clients. Get information regarding objections and comparisons. Gauge the critical aspects of a call within a few minutes. Access calls and easily record feedback. Conduct comparative analysis to keep a check on the team's performance.
Voice Broadcasting: Amplify business results by uploading a list of contacts and then calling them all up with a broadcast message. Adjust settings to keep track of metrics and run campaigns at suitable times.

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Five9

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Why We Picked Five9

The product offers a seamless customer service experience with prompt query and issue resolution. Support people are always willing to help and solve complex and lengthy issues with total productivity and efficiency. With the ongoing pandemic, businesses can let their employees work from home with the same productivity and little or no extra effort. However, the implementation process is cumbersome and takes a long time or users run into issues during deployment. Some features such as call hold, caller ID, call transfer and others aren’t up to the mark and hinder the calling process significantly. Overall, the product is an ideal choice for small and medium businesses. But be sure to demo extensively before buying!

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Pros & Cons

Easy to Use: According to 81% of users, the system is straightforward with robust and automated functionalities that make even complex tasks seamless.
Automation: The solution offers various automation features to improve teamwork workflows, according to 100% of reviewers.
Remote Access: Almost 100% of clients were delighted with the remote access capabilities of the solution.
Customer Support: According to 75% of customers, the solution offers proactive customer service.
User Interface: Approximately 60% of reviewers said the product offers an intuitive user interface managing complex applications effectively in a few clicks.

Deployment: According to 60% of users, product implementation is lengthy and time-consuming with too many steps.
Reporting: Reporting isn't easy to figure out without getting customer support, according to 67% of customers.
Call Features: Approximately 67% of reviewers weren’t satisfied with capabilities such as call transfer, call hold, caller ID and more. They said they didn’t run well and stopped working between the calls.
Salesforce Integrations: According to 60% of the clients, SalesForce integration is fundamental and does not get regular updates from the backend.

Key Features

Core Cloud:
- Global Voice: Deliver world-class customer experiences from anywhere in the world with Omnichannel routing, robust outbound dialer and Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA).
- Agent Desktop Plus: Empower sales representatives to deliver a more authentic and human experience with a single intuitive desktop and extendable toolkit regardless of the environment . Provide an extensive framework of reference UIs and REST APIs.
- Supervisor Desktop Plus: Deliver training and skills to agents by actively monitoring metrics such as the number of calls in queues, campaign status, wait times, current agent state and more. Listen and silently coach employees during live calls and intervene if needed.
- Engagement Workflows: Manage customer experiences by routing calls to the right agent and serving them through the communication channel of customer preference.
- CRM Integrations: Get access to pre-built adapters for ServiceNow, Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft and Zendesk to provide a single platform for organizations to manage and capture customer interactions.
- UC Integrations: Increase the chances of resolution in the first call through a consolidated directory where agents can view details of all subject matter experts and route the customer to the right person. Transfer calls that need contact center attention to the right group of agents. Send calls to UC users without any additional toll charges.
- APIs and SDKs: Allow customized and advanced integrations between the product and an organization’s proprietary applications through Cloud APIs. Use enterprise software with minimal coding, making configuration easy, implementing a breeze and immediate data access.
AI and Automation:
- Artificial Intelligence: Deliver tangible business outcomes built from scratch so agents can continuously learn and improve so the organization’s AI can manage changes as the company deploys it more broadly.
- Intelligent Virtual Agent: Handle repetitive queries via intelligent bots so that agents can invest more time on complex matters and respond to customer queries faster.
- Agent Assist: Get access to call summaries and transcripts automatically to reduce after-call work. Explore coaching and knowledge base articles to offer a more personalized experience to customers while reducing call handle times.
- Workflow Automation: Connect the company’s Intelligent Cloud Contact Center with other systems to deliver excellent customer experiences by providing a detailed view of performance and data, aggregating information and automating cross-platform and sophisticated workflows.
- Reporting and Analytics: Get an accurate and complete picture of agent’s and contact center performance through custom reports, standard reports and real-time reports. Gain actionable insights and achieve strategic and operational goals.
Employee Engagement:
- Workflow Optimization: Improve agent performance, customer satisfaction rates and workflow efficiency through real-time adherence, multi-channel evaluations, real-time desktop assistance and monitoring, automated scoring and evaluation, accurate multi-channel and multi-skill schedules and forecasts and intraday management.
- Workforce Management: Improve team workflows and agent productivity by tracking schedule adherence and motivating employees to stay focused. Align staffing plans with events and implement changes if adjustments are required. Extend agent self-service and contact center support features to mobile devices so they can connect with customers regardless of location.
- Quality Management: Deliver exceptional customer experience and help agents maintain quality through recording, monitoring, evaluation, coaching and calibration.
- Interactive Analysis: Deliver exceptional customer experiences with AI-driven analytics across text and voice interactions and target essential business outcomes such as customer retention and first contact resolution for improvement. Get quick answers to the most important questions with ad hoc analytics track trends, and analyze what triggers them.
- Gamification: Optimize call center operations by creating games that motivate agents. Reinforce agent behavior and encourage them with rewards and recognition to build positive habits.
Customer Engagement: Increase the chances of customer retention by delivering world-class support across all channels, including SMS, calls, messages, email, mobile, social media and video. Learn more about customers, purchase history and preferences during the call through automatic screen pop-ups to target them correctly.

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Buyer's Guide

Call Center Software Is All About Improving Relationships With Customers

By Kriti Sahay, Technical Content Writer at SelectHub

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It’s a myth that phone calls are going out of style. A recent report by Hiya found that voice calls are still the number one communication channel of choice for businesses and consumers. Contact center services are more relevant than ever, and since they’re often the customer's first point of contact with your company, they also play a major role in shaping your organization’s brand perception and driving consumer decisions.

Call center software can help you simplify and streamline the operational processes of this crucial bridge, making connections between your organization and its customers smoother than ever.

This buyer's guide will discuss call center software in detail with the features, benefits, deployment methods and cost to help you evaluate and choose the right contact center system for your business. The investment is a big one, so we’ll also highlight how to compare various products and tools to arrive at an informed decision. Let's get started!

Executive Summary

Call center software is a tool that streamlines the day to day operational processes of a call center and allows businesses to manage inbound and outbound calls efficiently.
You can integrate your call center software with existing eCommerce applications, CRM, marketing solutions and CX software to get a powerful platform which can meet all kinds of organizational needs.
Customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience, leading to higher chances of converting leads. Technologies such as AI, self-service, chatbots and automated free up agents from routine tier-1 support requests, allow employees to focus on more complex issues.
AI-driven automated contact center services aren’t constrained by public holidays or time zones. Businesses can deliver on customer service expectations and resolve issues quickly.
Before making a final decision on which software to use, it’s important to conduct thorough research to determine your needs and find the product that serves them best.

What This Guide Covers:

What Is Call Center Software?
Deployment Methods
Primary Benefits
Implementation Goals
Basic Features & Functionality
Advanced Features to Consider
Current & Upcoming Trends
Software Comparison Strategy
Cost & Pricing Considerations
Questions To Ask Yourself
Questions To Ask Vendors
Next Steps
Product Comparisons
Additional Resources

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What Is Call Center Software?

Call center software, also called contact center software, is a platform that allows businesses to make or receive calls to/from customers, as well as manage other communication channels and day to day call center operations. It’s used by customer service and support desks to quickly and efficiently handle customer queries. It also helps agents working in telemarketing and sales to contact and convert as many leads as possible.

These platforms offer a variety of features, including call analytics, call accounting solutions, call monitoring, auto dialers, predictive dialers, computer telephony integrations (CTI), automatic call distribution (ACD) and interactive voice response (IVR). With these capabilities, call center software can help simplify call center management, enhance agent productivity, improve lead generation and increase customer experience.

Call center software also integrates with tools like help desk software, CRM software, eCommerce platforms, chat systems, contact center phone systems and marketing software. Integrated call center software can display voicemails, previous purchase history, notes, phone calls, cases, chat transcripts and support tickets.

In return, agents can streamline workflows, deliver better service and eliminate data redundancy into multiple systems.

Types of Call Center Software

Outbound Call Center: Helps sales and support representatives engage with customers on behalf of a business for sales, telemarketing, fundraising and surveys. Outbound call center software offers tools like spam checking and detection, auto-dialer tools and campaign management.
Inbound Call Center: Lets clients connect with a company to resolve a service or product query. It can also help businesses dispatch technicians and schedule appointments. Inbound call center software offers features like auto-attendant systems, IVR (interactive voice response) and voicemail.
Blended: Manages both inbound and outbound calls. Employees can also fill in for each other while handling all the customer interactions while boosting the team’s productivity.

Deployment Methods

On Premise Vs Cloud Call Center Software

Although vendors these days offer many on-premise and cloud-based tools for call center software, comparing all the deployment options can be pretty challenging. Let's look at the features that each deployment method offers and how it can benefit your business.

On-Premise

Many organizations prefer on-premise call center systems because they find them more affordable compared to a subscription model. On-premise software usually requires a one-time payment, although future maintenance costs and upgrades may cost extra.

Organizations deploy the system on the premises, and its infrastructure is maintained either by in-house IT staff or by third-party service providers. Because everything is stored on private, internal servers, it offers more data security than cloud deployment. On-premise deployment is more suitable when companies have their own dedicated IT staff who can constantly maintain and update the software and hardware.

Cloud-Based

Other companies like cloud-based models because of accessibility and ease of deployment. This system is more suitable for organizations who don't want to incur the costs of a dedicated IT staff and on-site infrastructure. It’s also ideal for remote offices as it can be accessed from anywhere.

The most common downside of this deployment method is latency issues since the software's performance depends on internet speed and access. Such problems downgrade its functionality. Moreover, companies might also have to pay for additional licenses, upgrades and add-ons alongside monthly subscription fees.

Hybrid

A hybrid cloud solution offers the flexibility of cloud-based deployment combined with the security of on-premise deployment. It also provides scalability and data security to ensure optimal performance. While a hybrid solution may cost you more initially, it offers advantages like a centralized infrastructure, complete data security and optimum compatibility with chosen cloud services in terms of performance.

Which deployment method will suit your business will depend on your requirements, budget and available infrastructure. Companies with limited IT support and infrastructure can go for cloud-based, SaaS solutions.

Large companies with existing hardware and in-house expertise might consider on-premise or hybrid solutions. However, these rules aren't fixed, so keep your business's unique situation and select the correct deployment method.

Primary Benefits

Call center software can help you optimize many of your call center’s operations. Let’s take a look at some of its main advantages.

Benefits Of Call Center Software

Advanced Call Analytics

If you want to run a successful call center, you need to be constantly looking for opportunities for improvement and growth. Tracking relevant call center metrics and KPIs is crucial because it helps you figure out what you’re doing well and where you need to improve.

Contact center management systems can generate customized reports that track customer satisfaction rates, call volume and the latest trends. You can also track peak days to handle staff schedules efficiently and ensure constant services. These tools also help agents to measure call center performance and enhance productivity.

Cost-Effectiveness

When it comes to call center functions, time is money! You can’t allow call representatives to waste time on one call or perform poorly, which can spoil customer relations. Salesforce found that 83% of customers expect to engage with someone immediately when they contact a company. Tools like auto-attendant systems and IVR can help you meet these expectations.

With automation, you require fewer resources and time to manage support operations, streamline customer communications and encourage faster query resolution.

Better Customer Experience

Tools like automatic call distribution, time-based routing and follow-the-sun routing give customers access to agents around the clock, helping them get support as soon as they need it.

Customized voice greetings display a professional impression and forge lasting relationships with customers. The software also gives agents real-time information about past trends, individual preferences and call history, which can help them deliver personalized customer service, something that a 2023 Zendesk report found influences purchasing decisions for 70% of customers.

Improved Security

Cloud-based call center platforms store data in a cloud which reduces the risk of data loss. The software also enforces stringent security protocols in compliance with GDPR, including user access controls, password protection and data encryption to ensure that no unauthorized person can access or misuse sensitive information.

Cisco found that 79% of consumers care about data privacy to the degree that it affects their purchasing decisions. It’s important to make a commitment to consumer data protection, not just for ethical and legal reasons, but also to maintain consumer trust.

Higher First-Call Resolution

First-call resolution is one of the most critical call center metrics that businesses use to improve operational efficiency. Contact center software provides a real-time data repository about customers to help agents offer faster service, understand complaints better and resolve problems on the first call.

Zendesk, in 2022, found that customers today have higher expectations from companies. In fact, 61% of consumers would switch to a competitor after having just one negative experience with a company. Higher first-call resolution rates reduce the chances of that happening.

Team Collaboration

Call center software provides a centralized interface that allows agents across all departments to share real-time information and discuss customer support tasks. Agents can also monitor or track interactions, duties, and service cases completed by peers, enabling team members to facilitate two-way information flow and provide an excellent customer experience.

Collaboration can improve productivity on both the individual and team levels, and encourages a feeling of camaraderie. Collaborative customer service improves both employee experiences and customer experiences.

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Implementation Goals

Goal 1 Increase Customer Satisfaction Rates	Emphasize streamlining and improving relationships between customers and businesses. From IVR, predictive dialing, power dialing to improving customer satisfaction rates, these systems cover everything.
Goal 2 Boost Team Efficiency	Sales representatives can do more in less time by centralizing all activities and data and allowing agents to collaborate across teams and work together. Moreover, workflows and automation significantly eliminate unnecessary manual efforts required for data entry, pipeline management and more.
Goal 3 Improve Customer Retention	Interact with customers and offer support from their mobile phones, eliminating the chances of missed calls and boosting customer satisfaction and retention rates.
Goal 4 Drive Profits and Revenue	Drives profit and revenue by targeting the right customers at the right time. It helps agents to prioritize leads and nurture potential clients until they are ready to buy the product.
Goal 5 Stay Ahead of Competition	With AI, machine learning influenced tools and prescriptive and predictive analysis, businesses tend to stay ahead of competitors.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Call Center Software

Basic Features & Functionality

Let’s look at some features that are must-haves for any call center software.

Automatic Call Distribution(ACD)	ACD is an automatic system that routes all the incoming calls to appropriate agents, depending on skills, expertise and availability. It also provides data about calls handled, call volume, waiting time and call duration.
Computer Telephony Integration	Computer Telephony Integration allows agents to access customer data, information related to past interactions and purchase history. When an agent gets connected to a customer, the data appears on their desktop to serve customers in a more personalized way.
Monitor/Whisper/Barge	Call center managers can monitor calls without the agent’s knowledge. Managers can also barge into calls to speak to the customer and agent. They can also whisper to coach them during calls without letting the customers know.
Reporting	Managers can get reports about agent wrap time, abandonment rate and customer interaction in a comprehensive visual format and act depending on the insights derived from the consolidated data.
Call Recording	Users can record all inbound and outbound calls. These recordings can further be accessed and heard for quality coaching in the future.
Intelligent Call Queues	Agents can route calls as per categories, including predefined business rules, customer value and wait time, prioritizing calls based on their urgency and importance.
Interactive Voice Responses (IVR)	IVR is an automated telephone system to interact with customers or callers before routing them to the most appropriate department or agent based on their skills and expertise. To make the situation easy for callers, the IVR presents several options, such as talking to a team member, checking their account balance, and paying bills.
Call Scripting	Agents can follow a dialogue template and fill responses directly into the CRM tool to design workflows. This helps agents respond to queries more quickly and prevents inconsistencies in service quality.
Progressive Dialing	This feature connects agents automatically to calls by running through the call list. It dials at the pace at which agents can handle calls to ensure lower abandoned call rates and higher contact rates.
Predictive Dialing	Agents can call multiple customers at one time. Callers are connected to the available agent as soon as the call is connected. The dialer also predicts the agent’s availability based on the average time taken to finish the call to reduce the time an agent spends in between calls.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Call Center Software

Advanced Features to Consider

These advanced features aren’t as essential to your software as the basics, but they provide valuable capabilities that are definitely worth considering.

Customer Relationship Management	Integrating CRM tools with contact center software helps companies centralize all their data, including agent’s notes, history of communication, customer issues and offers emailed to customers. This allows you to manage customer relationships more comprehensively.
Workforce Management	Managers can easily manage employees’ productivity better and plan their schedules depending on the call volume derived from forecasting data.
Ticketing Software Integration	This system collects customer tickets from all the sources and centralizes them along with customer data, allowing agents to respond to queries more efficiently.
Disposition Codes	Agents can choose a disposition code to add a note regarding the call content, indicating the call status such as issue resolved, transferred to IT and not interested. This note can be added to the customer's individual activity and the recent calls list so that all agents can see it.
Voice Intelligence and Analytics	Voice intelligence can be used to gauge customer sentiment on calls and guide agents in dealing with them appropriately. It can also help supervisors monitor how a call is going. The software can also provide call summaries and customized reports after calls to monitor and improve service quality.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Call Center Software

Current & Upcoming Trends

Keeping up with trends is essential to growing a business in any industry. The landscape is always changing, so being on the cutting edge helps you stay competitive at every turn. Here are some current and upcoming trends in the call center industry that you should be aware of.

Call Center Software Trends

AI Integration

AI adoption has increased across all industries. According to McKinsey, contact center automation was one of the most popular applications of AI in 2022. The market size for AI based chatbots was valued at 3.02 billion USD in 2022 and is projected to rise to 24.58 billion USD by 2030.

AI needs to be used judiciously. While it can be used to reduce agent workloads, automate repetitive tasks and provide smarter analytics, it doesn’t eliminate the need for human agents: customers still prefer human interaction over chatbots. It’s important to integrate AI in a way that enhances customer experience without taking away the human touch.

Partner Management

According to Statista, global spending on business process outsourcing (BPO) is expected to be around 212 billion USD in 2023. In 2018, this number was 170.4 billion USD. A considerable segment of companies prefer outsourcing call center operations overseas to third-party service providers. This is especially true of customer service centers. According to Deloitte, 76% of companies outsource customer service.

Businesses using external call centers require robust reporting and partner management features that help managers monitor service channels and indirect sales. They can also collaborate on key performance indicators (KPIs) and shared goals.

Multichannel Support

As technology continues to accelerate convenience, consumers are developing new preferences for interacting with agents.Contact centers today engage with customers through more than just phone calls. A growing number of business conversations occur through instant messages and chat, social media, video calls and even text messaging. Omnichannel support can help agents answer customer questions quickly without long hold times.

A 2022 report by Zendesk found that 93% of consumers would spend more time with companies that offered them support through their preferred channel, demonstrating how important it is to meet customers on the platforms they use most.

Customer Self-Service

Customer self-service options like knowledge bases, FAQs and online portals have gained significant popularity among consumers. The same Zendesk survey mentioned above found that 89% of consumers would spend more time with companies that allowed them to find answers to their queries without having to contact anyone.

Customers today are increasingly looking to empower themselves and want to find their own solutions. As end-users migrate to self-service options, call centers witness fewer help desk tickets and an increased need to curate and create online self-service resources.

Employee Engagement

According to a landmark Gallup poll, around 32% of workers in the USA aren’t engaged, 63% are disengaged and one in every five isn’t sure whether their employer will provide constructive feedback on their progress. Moreover, customer support systems are more prone to employee disengagement because of the pressure of quota and KPIs, repetitive work and stress from angry callers.

Reports by McKinsey indicate that business leaders are aware of the need to reduce attrition and retain talent. When your employees are engaged, you generally end up with more satisfied customers. To improve your agents’ performances and keep them motivated, call center managers have started using employee engagement software to include game elements or a rewards system such as bonuses or promotions.

Software Comparison Strategy

The market for call center software is inundated with options, and it’s intimidating to try to navigate if you’re unfamiliar with it. Before you start comparing different platforms, you need to have a clear strategy.

While searching for software, create a requirements checklist to give yourself more clarity on the features you need. You can use our requirements template as a starting point for this. Next, try to figure out which of your requirements are must-haves and which ones would be nice to have but not essential.

Once you have a clearer picture of what you need, compare vendors or talk to our experts who can assist you with the best product depending on your budget, requirements and eligibility.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Call Center Software

Cost & Pricing Considerations

The cost of call center software can make or break an organization’s decision to purchase it. To maximize the return on your investment, make sure the tool you choose is practical and fits within your budget.

While narrowing down options, check the cost of deployment and implementation support. Cloud-based software generally comes with a subscription-based payment plan, giving it a lower cost of entry, while on-premise usually requires a one-time payment upfront, which could save money in the long run.

Implementation is generally simple and inexpensive for cloud-based software since everything is hosted on the vendor’s servers. For on-premise deployment, if the vendor doesn’t include implementation and maintenance support in their package, you should factor in the added cost of hiring an external IT team or creating one in-house.

Moreover, check data storage limits, the plan’s user capacity and any crucial add-ons and upgrades. Verify whether your package gives you the ability to provide support to your customers through multiple channels, including phone, email, chat and ticket creation. If not, you may need to subscribe to a more expensive plan. You can check pricing details on the vendor’s website to help determine which product is a good fit for your business.

Questions To Ask Yourself

Selecting software is a complex process and what works for one organization may not be the best option for the other. Before deciding on a product, yourself these questions to help evaluate the software within the context of your organization’s needs:

Which features of this software will be most helpful to me?
What are the company’s present and future priorities?
Who will use the call center system and what do they expect in terms of must-have and nice-to-have features?
What problems are agents seeking to solve with the call center platform?
What’s your budget? Are you overpaying for your chosen solution?
Will the new call center system be able to integrate with your organization’s current or future technologies?
How well will it replace or enhance the functionalities of the existing system?
How much customization will the new call center system require before installation?
Does your organization have IT resources to help with deployment?

Call Center Software Key Questions To Ask

Questions To Ask Vendors

About the Software

It’s important that you understand everything about the product before committing to a purchase. Here are some ideas for questions you can ask potential vendors when shopping for a product:

How scalable is the software?
Do updates occur automatically and if not how often are they offered?
Does the software offer VoIP support?
How well does the software integrate with other call center and CRM tools?
What features cost extra?
How customizable is the software?
Are there pre-built templates available?
How can users share or collaborate on dashboards?
Does the software offer remote agent support?

About the Vendor

Have a detailed conversation with vendors to understand how well they cater to your company’s requirements. Here are some questions to ask vendors to get a better sense of how they provide services:

Does the call center platform support data migration?
How much do I have to pay for upgrades and add-ons?
Will there be any onboarding training?
How many years of experience do you have with this software?
How long will onboarding and implementation take?

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Call Center Software

Next Steps

Call center software streamlines critical parts of your customer support and marketing processes. It helps you to create long-term relationships with customers and stay on top of leads through modern and robust tools to improve communication, collaboration and team workflows.

Choosing the right call center software provider can be overwhelming, which is why you keep the most important requirements in mind while comparing different solutions. Our free comparison report can help you properly weigh your options before making a final decision. Undertaking proper research before adopting a call center platform can help you improve organizational workflows and offer unmatched results.

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About The Contributors

The following expert team members are responsible for creating, reviewing, and fact checking the accuracy of this content.

By Kriti Sahay

Technical Content Writer

Kriti Sahay is a Technical Content Writer at SelectHub, writing content for Help Desk and Call Center Software. Kriti is based out of New Delhi, India. When she's not handling Buyer's Guides and other informational articles, she can be found experimenting in her kitchen, street shopping, or painting!

Technical Research By Dhanasri Yasam

Senior Analyst

As a Senior Research Analyst, Dhanasri Yasam works in key categories like EHR, EMR, business intelligence and HR. In her role, she conducts primary research, collects and analyzes empirical data, and draws evidence-based conclusions. She also has extensive experience gathering requirements for client projects. Dhanasri holds a B-tech in Computer Science and Engineering from Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute, Chennai and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Aurora's Business School, Hyderabad.

Technical Review By Manan Roy

Principal Analyst

Manan is a native of Tezpur, Assam (India), who currently lives in Kolkata, West Bengal (India). At SelectHub, he works on categories like CRM, HR, PPM, BI, and EHR. He has a Bachelor of Technology in CSE from The Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, a Master of Technology from The Institute of Engineering and Management IT, and an MBA in Finance from St. Xavier's College. He's published two research papers, one in a conference and the other in a journal, during his Master of Technology.

Edited By Hunter Lowe

Content Editor

Hunter Lowe is a Content Editor, Writer and Market Analyst at SelectHub. His team covers categories that range from ERP and business intelligence to transportation and supply chain management. Hunter is an avid reader and Dungeons and Dragons addict who studied English and Creative Writing through college. In his free time, you'll likely find him devising new dungeons for his players to explore, checking out the latest video games, writing his next horror story or running around with his daughter.