10 Essential Features of Call Center Software

Managing big teams of customer support agents isn’t easy, especially if they’re fielding hundreds of calls each day. But innovations like call center software can help keep your business running smoothly, even when you’re handling high call volumes.

In this article, we’ll go over some of the critical call center software features, so that you know what to look for in your software search.

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With so many software options on the market, it can be hard to know which is the right fit for your company. In this article, we’ll go over some of the main call center software features, so that you know what to look for on your software search.

Key Features and Requirements

Call centers are a must for businesses that want to provide good customer service. Customer expectations have increased year over year since 2022, and if a call center isn’t run well, it can leave customers unhappy.

To avoid this, it’s important to have call center software with the right features. These features make customer interactions more personal and improve their overall experience.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the top features to look for in call center software and how they can benefit your business.

Calling Capabilities

A recent Salesforce report found that most customers prefer to get help over the phone. Good call center software means you can provide top-notch phone support.

Essential features to support that include:

• Call recording saves conversations so you can review them later. This helps you see how agents are doing, find areas for improvement and ensure you’re complying with industry regulations.
• Call whispering allows managers to secretly hear the call and give agents tips during a call. They can suggest things or share information to help the agent solve problems faster.
• Call monitoring lets you listen to live calls and give feedback right away. You can also join the call or check recordings later.
• Text-to-speech reads text messages aloud to agents so they don’t miss anything. This is helpful for customers who have trouble speaking or when writing is better.
• Voice recognition lets customers explain things by talking instead of typing, making it easier for agents to understand what they need.
• Warm calling is a way to contact customers who’ve already shown interest in your business. You can transfer the call to someone who already knows about their issue and can resolve it sooner.
• Post-call surveys help you get feedback from customers right after their call. By asking them to rate the call and share their thoughts, you can make the customer experience even more helpful and tailored to their needs. You can ask things like:
  • How would you rate the agent?
  • Was there anything during the call that we could improve?
  • Any ideas for making our service better?

Call Routing System

When your call center is very busy, agents may miss calls or forget to call customers back.

Automatic call routing solves this by instantly sending each call to an available agent. You can set it up to send calls to agents based on their skills or the type of question the customer has. For example, a customer with a billing question would be connected to an agent who knows about billing.

Here are some key things a good call routing system can do:

• Customer callback lets customers ask for a callback instead of waiting on hold. They can hang up and get a call when the next agent is free.
• The auto attendant guides callers to the right department or person. It has customizable greetings and menu options to make it feel more personal. This is very helpful when there are many calls coming in.
• SMS tracking monitors all texts between agents and customers. It’s useful to see which messages could be automated, like sending one that says, “I called, but you didn’t answer” if the customer didn’t pick up.
• Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) sends calls to the right agent or department based on things like the caller’s ID, business hours, support level and what they chose on the automated menu. This gets calls to the right place fast without the customer having to dial a different number.
• Escalation management helps when a customer’s problem needs to be escalated to a higher-level agent or department. It’s important to have a clear plan for this and ensure agents know when to take action.
• Call queuing lets customers hold their place in line without staying on the phone. This saves them time from waiting on hold, and they get a notification when it’s almost their turn.

Collaboration

When teams work well together, they can get more done. This is key for providing customers with the best possible service. By making it easy for your teams to chat and collaborate, you can ensure that individual agents don’t get stuck on questions they can’t answer.

• Desktop notifications are reminders that pop up on an agent’s computer screen. They let them know when a call is coming in or being transferred to them, so they never miss a call, even if they’re busy with something else.
• Audio conferencing is like a virtual meeting room where multiple agents or departments can talk to each other. It can be used for internal company calls or for live calls with customers, and helps team members work together and solve problems.
• Group text messaging allows the whole team to see and respond to customer text messages. This ensures that no customer’s message gets missed, and everyone on the team can help out if needed.

• Audio Conferencing
• Chat
• Conference Bridge
• File Sharing
• HD Video
• Screen Recording
• Screen Sharing

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Dialers

Sometimes, your agents need to make calls too. This could be to check in with a customer or try to turn leads into sales. With a power dialer, you can make more calls in less time. It takes a list of phone numbers and calls them one by one automatically. This saves your agents from having to dial each number themselves.

Another great thing about power dialers is that they only call the next number after the current call is finished. This allows your agents to focus on each conversation without accidentally calling someone while they’re already talking to someone else.

Automated dialers, like power dialers, preview dialers and predictive dialers, are especially helpful for marketing campaigns. They automatically dial the next number on your list as soon as a call ends. This saves your agents time and allows them to make calls faster.

By using an automated dialer, your agents can make more calls in less time. This can lead to more sales and better customer service. The key is choosing the right dialer for your needs and training your agents on how to use it effectively.

• List Dialing Mode
• Power Dialer
• Predictive Dialer
• Preview Dialer
• Progressive Dialer
• Redial
• Speed Dial
• Timezone Rules Dialing

Mobile Capabilities

Call center software with mobile capabilities lets your agents work from anywhere, even when they’re not at their desks. It uses VoIP technology to send calls to their phones, and they can access a dashboard with all the important info through mobile apps.

Even when agents work from home, customers expect to hear them clearly. A softphone program lets agents talk to customers and coworkers over the internet using computers, tablets or phones.

Text messaging and mobile chat features are also handy for reaching out to customers and communicating with team members in real time.

• Make and Receive VoIP Calls
• Mobile Chat
• Mobile Video Call
• Native Mobile Application
• Send Text Messages

Phone System

Call center agents are the heart of any call center operation. It’s really important to make sure they have all the tools they need to do their jobs well.

Agent desktops can be used as a single workspace where they can see and manage everything they need to do. They can access customer information and work together with others when necessary.

You can make things even easier by adding agent scripting to the dashboard. This gives your staff helpful guides on how to talk to customers and how to steer the conversation depending on the customer’s answers.

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Voice Intelligence and Analytics

A recent Twilio report found that 7 out of 10 businesses use AI to personalize their marketing.

One way to do this is with customizable wallboards. These track and show real-time data like call length, wait time and service levels. You can monitor these numbers to find ways to improve customer support.

Speech analytics is another AI tool for better customer service. It analyzes calls to see how customers feel based on their words and tone. For example, it can tell if agents forget to say calls are recorded. This helps find areas where agents need more training and gives them extra information to use when talking to customers.

Supervisors can listen to calls and score them on politeness, listening, solutions and asking if the customer needs anything else.

• Call Notes to Highlight Important Points
• Call Sentiment Analysis
• Call Summary
• Call Transcription
• Custom Reports
• Pre-built Reports
• Scheduled Reports
• Wallboard

Voicemail and Messaging

Sometimes, customers need help outside of normal business hours or when your agents aren’t around. Voicemail and SMS messaging let them contact you right away, and agents can respond quickly once they’re back online. With speech recognition and voicemail transcription, messages are easy to understand, even if the call wasn’t perfect.

IVR systems can make things even easier by letting customers choose which agent they need. They just press buttons based on the menu options, like “Press 1 for…” to quickly reach the right person.

• Business SMS and MMS
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System
• Message Waiting Indicator (MWI)
• Voicemail System
• Voicemail to Email Notification
• Voicemail to SMS Notification
• Voicemail Transcription

Workforce Management

Workforce forecasting and scheduling tools use data from the platform to predict how many calls you’ll get. They then schedule your agents to match the expected call volume.

These tools make it easier to handle a large number of calls during busy times. They also help avoid having too many agents scheduled when call volume is low.

• Campaign and List Management
• Employee Performance Management
• Gamification
• Quality Management
• What-if Scenarios
• Workforce Forecasting and Scheduling

Platform Capabilities

Your call center software should be a complete solution on its own, but it’s also important that it works well with other apps you already use.

• Connecting your call center software to your CRM software helps you manage marketing campaigns and personalize your communication with each customer.
• API connectors let you add third-party plug-ins and extensions. This lets you include new features as needed, expanding the capabilities of your software.
• Calendar support and Google Chrome extensions make scheduling easier and help the software work better in your web browser.
• Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) allows agents to answer and manage calls right from their computers without separate phones or landlines.

A 2024 Zendesk report showed that customer experience leaders prioritize data protection and cybersecurity. Features like role-based access control and two-factor authentication help keep your company’s data and customer information safe.

You can also integrate the platform with a ticketing software like Zendesk. It helps agents handle support requests and track each issue from the time it’s reported until it’s fixed.

• API Extensibility
• Audit Trails
• Calendar Support
• Call Encryption
• Chrome Extension
• Contacts Import and Export
• CRM Integrations
• Role-based Access Control
• Two-factor Authentication

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Next Steps

The right call center software can streamline your operations, improving productivity and customer satisfaction. We hope this article helped you understand what features to look for when searching for call center software.

Ready to get started? Try our free requirements template to take the next step in finding the right software for your business.

Did we miss anything? What requirements do you consider when selecting call center software? Let us know in the comments!

SME Contributors

Yasin Arafat Yasin Arafat is the founder & CEO of DOPPCALL, a Pay Per Call affiliate network that offers businesses and individuals the opportunity to monetize their content and reach new audiences. He has seven years of experience in digital marketing and has worked with more than 50,000 advertisers and publishers in over 200 countries. With his guidance, DOPPCALL connects leads with businesses effortlessly using the latest tools and techniques, including phone calls, diverse traffic sources and advanced SEO methods.