Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is increasing in adoption throughout the contact center industry as organizations of all sizes are recognizing the value this technology platform can deliver to the bottom line. Interestingly, while the VoIP call center can run at a much lower cost than traditional centers; there are other benefits such as increased efficiency and the emergence of next-generation applications that can also be realized through the VoIP call center.

Cost Cutting

In today’s budget conscious economy, the company that can be more competitive in price while delivering high quality can dominate the market. The same is true in technologies and the VoIP call center helps the organization to leverage current investments and gain the necessary competitive advantage.

The VoIP call center enables the organization to combine separate voice and data transmissions onto the same line, which significantly lowers telecommunications costs. In many situations, decision makers find that the lower cost of operation frees up budget dollars for software solutions that were previously out of reach.

The benefit doesn’t end there, however, as these software solutions on a VoIP platform can be hosted in a cloud computing environment and therefore are much less expensive than on-premise solutions. As a result, the move to streamline telecommunications onto a more cost-effective platform provides opportunities to cut costs across other applications as well.

Efficiency Gains

Beyond the cost cutting benefits of the VoIP call center lay other appealing features not found in the traditional switch-based center. A quick connect function, for instance, enables the call center to reduce call abandon rates as it connects the call with the agent before it connects to the customer to eliminate the lengthy pause often associated with calls generated by predictive dialers.

Automatic recording is also supported in the VoIP call center, allowing the center to capture 100 percent of its calls. This can be essential in an environment where laws or regulations within the call center industry demand that all calls be recorded. Calls can then be automatically tagged and categorized for archiving or to use in the resolution of disputes.

The VoIP call center generally also gains the ability to automate many of its internal processes and allow for the use of customer intelligence to refine and even enhance customer service and sales initiatives. Best practice interactions can be used to train and coach call center agents to ensure the optimal experience is delivered on every call.

Next Generation Applications

Are you able to capture the number of visitors to your website who leave because they cannot find the answer to their question? New contact center technology solutions have emerged that run within the VoIP call center platform that integrate interactive chat. With such an application in place, a visiting customer or prospective can be offered help before they abandon the process. This proactive approach increases customer satisfaction and protects the customer base.

The VoIP call center also provides a platform to incorporate video onto the enterprise network to provide compelling advantages for call center interactions. Unified communications that integrate e-mail, instant messaging, voice and other channels all onto one platform ensures the VoIP call center can communicate with the customer through their preferred channel.

Adoption of the VoIP call center is increasing exponentially as organizations throughout the world are recognizing the benefits associated with such a platform. And, while there can still be barriers to deployment, recognizing the benefits that can be measured within the call center is an important first step to identifying the best method for moving to the VoIP call center.