Contact center applications, when properly implemented, should demonstrate the value of contact center functionality. Having access to a wide range of applications increases contact center visibility and control across all contact center functions. Ideally, the application suite should seamlessly integrate into your company and therefore eliminate the need to purchase products from a variety of vendors.

Employing a wide spread of contact center applications can produce enhanced usability in your company, real-time visibility, and control. Having a virtual contact center means you can customize your call center without IT assistance. By implementing a single integrated environment, you can completely control the entire call center operation.

Contact Center Applications

Applications in your contact center should integrate easily. Here is a sampling of some common applications that can increase contact center efficiency:

Inbound Call Routing – essential for contact center applications. Inbound call routing allows your company to have complete control over call routing to the appropriate agents, and provide top quality customer service.

Interactive Voice Response – Implementing IVR allows your company to conduct self-service and customer relations in a user-friendly manner. Employing this with contact center applications ensures that your call center agents deliver the right offer, message, and approach for each caller. The main goal is optimizing first-call resolution.

Workforce Management – These contact center applications should be fast and easy to implement. Workforce Management ensures that your contact center is cost-effective with the right number of agents, and best skills, available when meeting the volumes of work, at the required levels of service. Workforce Management is a great way to access growth within your company and scale up or down as appropriate.

Chat and Email Capabilities – Chat and email give customers the flexibility to contact call centers when it is most convenient for them. These powerful contact center applications help improve customer service. Using web chat to assist customers, or addressing customer inquires through a multi-media processing queue, ensures that all customer problems are addressed in an efficient, timely manner.

Outbound Dialing – Outbound dialing may or may not be an important contact center application in your company. Outbound is best for telemarketing, telesales, surveys, or for any fundraising activities. Some of the newer intelligent outbound dialing can automatically detect answering machines, fax machines, and dial tones.

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) – CTI is a great for all contact center applications. Customer contact information is delivered to the agent at the same time as the call, which improves agent productivity, and delivers visibility and control quickly to the appropriate agent. Customers don’t have to repeat their information to a new agent if they are transferred.

Reporting and Analytics – Lastly, having access to real-time and historical contact center data. Analytical tools can help increase the customer service experience by making better decisions and giving better visibility over any day-to-day call center operations. This can help improve long-term performance.

What is the Overall Value

There are many different contact center applications which can be implemented for your company; these are just a couple of highlights. Specifically, contact center applications should help retain better control over contact center processes and reduce company costs by efficiently managing workflow.