With various technologies in hand, almost everything is automated. And this everything includes call center service too. With the right software, setting up a call center on the cloud is easy without hassle. But what is this virtual call center software? What is a cloud call center setup? And you may have many other questions lingering in your mind. This blog is going to address all of them. Read until the end to know everything about virtual call center software.
What is Call Center Software?
A call center solution can also be termed as call center software. The program will help organizations land large calls, whether inbound or outbound. With this software, organizations can route these calls to the desired numbers, trigger the pre-recorded messages, record calls, gather customer information, and conduct various other actions.
The new generation of consumers is expecting a lot regarding support from the organizations. They expect the calls to be answered quickly and want executives to solve their issues quickly.
The agents will meet these requirements with minimal effort with the proper cloud call center software. All they have to do here is understand the software’s features and benefits and how they can make the most of it.
The best thing about this call center solution is that you can integrate it with multiple channels-
- Live chat
- Social media
- SMS messaging
Once the software is integrated with different channels, customers can contact the call center directly by clicking on the shared number.
Different Types of Call Centers
Call centers offer a wide range of services, and different call centers provide various services. It is important to understand which type of call center offers what service. You should be aware of the strengths of each of these to pick the best one out of them for your company.
Inbound Call Center:
As the name suggests, the Inbound call center provides incoming call services to the companies. This service is useful to existing customers, new customers, or even for the staff of an organization. There is a multitude of services that companies can provide using this inbound calling feature.
Some of such services are
- Order Processing: Clients can call an organization and order their products. The executives can then process these orders and provide them with other products as needed, recording the order information and collecting payments.
- Offer Help Desk Support: This is another important application for inbound calls. When a customer has an issue with the product or service or has any related query, they can get on a call with a representative and sort out the issue. They can also call in service requests if needed.
- For Logistic Services: Customers can contact logistics companies to know where their parcel is when they can get it, and monitor the shipping. This is an added advantage with the inbound calls.
- Addressing the Calls: A call center can work as an answering service where representatives will take customer calls, know the issue, and then transfer the call to the respective department, where experts will solve the problem.
- Emergency Response: These are the helplines that customers can contact whenever there is an emergency—for example, ambulance services, hospitals, police officers, etc.
Outbound Calls
Outbound calls are an effective and affordable way to reach prospective customers. You can get your representatives on the call with the leads and market your product or service to them.
The common applications for outbound call centers are
- Expand the Sales Reach: The executive can reach out to your existing customers to know about the feedback on your product, or they can reach out to potential customers to know whether they are interested in your product.
- Sell the Product/Service: You can hire marketing professionals to reach out to the provided leads gathered with marketing techniques. They will pitch various products or services the company deals with and build a sales funnel.
- EMI Reminder: This service is especially for banking, fintech, and financial providers. They can get their executives to contact customers with existing loans and remind them about the pending EMI.
These are just some of the services. There are many more that executives can do with outbound calling features.
Non-Voice Process
The customer service process isn’t limited to calls alone. Various other forms of communication and interactions can be done with the customers. Most modern-day call centers offer communication, emails, faxes, and various other services for clients worldwide.
Omnichannel Call Center
Customers love having a personalized experience. You can offer this using an omnichannel call center. These contact centers use all available channels to communicate with the customers. With people expecting a customized and better experience, providing them with an omnichannel service is always a good idea.
Virtual Call Centers
The pandemic has changed the way the world is working right now. Many organizations have opted for a virtual working environment. With virtual call center software, it becomes quite easy and simple for organizations to handle calls from anywhere at any time.
This virtual call center is quite affordable as there are no operational costs that the company has to bear. Companies can mint more profits this way.
IVR
IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response. It is a self-help feature that is provided for customers.
Multi-level IVR system is a self-service feature that is meant for customers. In this IVR, there are different levels that customers will be choosing to get their issues resolved.
For example, customers who call a bank service center will receive a welcome message and options. If the customer wants to talk to the agent, they must click that number, and the call will be redirected to the agent. The IVR service providers will enable this multilevel IVR option and add as many levels as you want.
Likewise, organizations can set up multi-level IVR options according to their requirements and customers.
DTMF
DTMF plays a major role in IVR. DTMF stands for dual-tone multi-frequency. Customers must click on certain numbers in IVR to select the preceding options. Each of these numbers present on a handset has different sound frequencies.
IVR listens to these sounds and understands the commands given by users. There are a total of eight different tones, and each of these tones has two different keys. In the handsets, the keys ranging from 0 to 9 are used along with the symbols * and #. Once you decide on the menu for these numbers, the IVR service provider will assign the keys and organize the system.
Queue Management
Queue management helps reduce customer wait time and ensures that the workload is distributed properly among the agents. Although the call center software helps make customer service even easier, there are times when the call center agents are stuck with calls and cannot take more calls at that moment.
During those times, queue management will come in handy. The calls are set in queue, and as soon as an agent is available, the call will be redirected to that agent.
Automated Call Centers
Automated call centers will help reduce call management costs with the help of computer-based systems. These computer-based systems will take care of many caller responsibilities. When it comes to automated call centers, the manpower requirement is less compared to normal call center companies.
These centers need an operator who will take care of the systems. The automated call center is used mostly for
- Managing the Voice Mails: Companies enable this voice mail system to take messages from anyone who calls in. The automated call center will receive all of these messages on behalf of the company.
- Interactive Voice Responders: Interactive Voice Responders are termed IVR. When a customer calls a company, the IVR will offer them a menu, and depending upon their selection, the next discussion will go on. The calls are routed to executives whenever needed, or customers can solve their issues with the help of IVR itself. IVR service providers offer different types of features with the service.
- Schedule Reminders: The companies can use this automated call service to remind customers about their schedules, appointments, etc.
Call Routing
Call routing is a proper process where the calls are routed to particular agents according to the preset rules. In any call center organization, multiple agents will work on taking the calls. When any customer places an inbound call, that call will be routed to the agents according to the rules.
The organization provides the call attributed, which will be distributed according to it. There are different types of call routing
• Skill-based Routing
• Language-based routing
• Tertiary Based routing
• Time and date-based routing
• Priority routing
Voice Mail Box
IVR service providers will help you with a voice mailbox system. The agents can’t stay available to take calls all the time. In such situations, the voice mailbox will come in handy. Whenever a customer calls your organization, they can just leave a voicemail if no one is available.
These voice mails will be stored in the cloud, and you can access them whenever possible.
Call Distribution Method
The call center software will provide automatic call center distribution service to its users. With this, the calls will be distributed among agents simply yet effectively. When large volumes of inbound calls are being made to an organization, it is important to assess and distribute the calls to agents according to availability.
With Office24by7 CRM, the reporting managers will have complete control over this call distribution method and can choose the right method to suit their requirements.
- Liner call distribution
- Round robin distribution
- Uniform call distribution
Agent CTI
The agent CTI is one of the best features of Office24by7. This CTI can help place automatic calls, take action on the leads according to call response, and record the calls. The supervisors can listen to the calls, interact with customers if they want to when a call occurs, or whisper to the agent alone without the customer knowing. There are a multitude of customizable features available in this Agent CTI.
What is Cloud Telephony?
Everything is moving to the cloud lately, so why not your PBX system? Yes, cloud telephony means hosting your PBX on the cloud itself. The service will be based on VoIP. Cloud telephony is quite flexible and can scale along with your business without any hassle.
No matter how you are expanding, whether opening new offices in different locations, expanding your in-house teams, or hiring remote workers, you can easily do everything using cloud telephony. The entire expansion is effortless and affordable, as you don’t need separate hardware for hosting.
Cloud telephony is a part of UCaaS. UCaaS stands for Unified Communications as a Service. It is a model that brings various collaboration tools and communication systems together. You can connect your phone system with other messaging services, video meetings, CRM, etc.
With this communication model, you can connect with your teams, communicate with them, and make employees more focused. Cloud telephony works with the help of the internet. Whenever you place a call, it is routed to the required number by your service provider.
The analog signals are converted into digital packets, and then they are transmitted via your internet connection. You can connect a desk phone, mobile or softphone, or any preferred device. Besides helping organizations with internal communication, businesses also use it for making inbound and outbound calls.
The entire communication system runs on the cloud, and you will have a dashboard with complete control over the phone numbers, adding new users, call forwarding, and more. Cloud telephony services are opted by many organizations because of the flexibility they offer.
Features of Cloud Telephony Services
Cloud Telephony comes in handy for businesses in more than one way. Apart from lowering business costs, its amazing features can help businesses thrive. Here are some of the most important features of cloud telephony services.
Call Forwarding
This is a very important feature in the business. You can eliminate all the missed call situations with this one call-forwarding feature. If a customer calls you on one number and the agents are unavailable in the office, the call will be registered as a missed call in a general scenario. But with this call forwarding feature, the call will be redirected to the required number. This way, you won’t miss any calls from hereafter.
Checking Live Calls
You need to know with whom your agents speak, how many incoming and outgoing calls are active and more. All of this is possible with the live call option. This way, you will know which of your agents are engaged on calls and who is free.
There will be a clear dashboard that will provide you with all of the details that you need to know. The idle agents, unanswered calls, answered calls, and many more.
Listen to the Calls
The reporting manager or team lead can hear the live calls. They can whisper to their agents without letting the caller on the other side know and directly speak to the callers whenever necessary.
Queueing the Calls
It happens rarely for some businesses and often for others. The influx of calls increases, and with all the agents being busy, it becomes tough for companies to answer all the calls. The companies can place these calls in a queue and play some pleasant music in such situations.
The agents will also be notified about the calls in the queue so they can wrap up the call quickly. If the call queue is long and agents are all occupied, the calls can be redirected to voicemail, where customers will let you know about their query, and your agents can answer it whenever they are done with the calls.
Call Conferencing
For any business, communication is the key. With a remote workforce, staying in touch with all the employees is difficult. However, you will have the call conference feature in cloud telephony services, and you can make the most out of this. With one platform, you can talk to all your employees without hassle.
Interactive Voice Response System
IVR service is a great option for all inbound calls. It provides a one-on-one opportunity for customers. They can interact directly with computers with voice configuration and with DTMF inputs. The callers can route themselves with an intelligent routing system at their convenience.
You can start with a welcome message followed by queue management, automatic call distribution, etc.
Apart from this, customers can do some repetitive tasks by themselves. For example, they can book a demo, change their password, and many more with the help of an IVR call. You can contact IVR service providers to avail all of these features.
Sticky Agent
Customer interactions, be it on the phone, are similar to face-to-face interactions. In most situations, your customers get accustomed to one agent, and they prefer to interact with them, given that the agent knows the history of the customer and has a fair idea about them.
With cloud telephony, the organization can allot sticky agents to customers. This way, whenever that particular customer calls, it will be automatically redirected to their agent only.
Call Recording
Call recording is one such feature that companies often overlook. With call recording, the companies can understand what customers are expecting from their end. Apart from this, they will always have a repository of conversations that happened, which may be useful in the future.
Analytics and Reporting
With call analytics and reporting, companies can analyze and understand agents’ performance. The details of every call, dropped calls, agent call logs, connected and missed calls, and everything will be available in one place. These will be put in a comparison table, making it easy for the manager to see.
The best part is that the caller database will be automatically generated and integrated with the CRM if you use any.
Integrations
Different platforms for your support tickets, customer calls, and lead information can be tiring for businesses. However, culminating all of them in one place will ease things. With cloud telephony, you can integrate all these services in one place. With APIs, you can integrate different tools and make customer service easier, better, and more efficient.
Blended Call Center
Some businesses have different teams for their inbound and outbound calls. There is a myriad of reasons for this. In such cases, the blended call center is something that companies can make the most out of.
With this, you can have both inbound and outbound call features in one place. The agents can actively receive calls from customers on the one hand and approach the prospective leads on the other.
Easy Transfer of Calls
There are times when your agents are stuck while answering customers. When an agent talks to a customer on call, there is no time to pause and frame answers. If they don’t have a proper idea about the issue raised by the customer, agents can transfer it to the right people who have all the necessary information required.
With cloud telephony, agents can transfer calls with just a click, making it easy for customers and agents.
Benefits of Adopting Cloud Telephony
Before the pandemic, cloud telephony was an underdog, with very few people knowing and adopting it. But things changed in 2020, and people started realizing the importance of this technology. It brings many benefits, and we will cover them in this section.
Control the Business Communications Efficiently
Even now, most support calls land directly on desk phones only. Customers can contact a business and resolve their issues in various ways, but most prefer to call.
This is the reason why businesses should have better control over communication. With cloud telephony, you will get this control. You will get information on all the calls, whether inbound or outbound, the call recordings, and logs. This will help in improving the business communication in your organization.
Simpler than the PBX System
The PBX system has been incorporated in the offices for decades, and people have gotten used to it. However, the setup and maintenance of this entire system is so tiring. The tangled wires, telephones, routers, and whatnot have been a hassle to work with.
You can eliminate it by switching to the cloud telephony service. You only need an internet connection, and you set it up with the existing mobile devices or landlines. The entire setup won’t even take up more than an hour of your time.
The best part is that you can easily integrate it with other tools and software. If you are using a CRM already, you can integrate both using APIs. Apart from that, the reporting managers can add or remove agents on the go as and when they see fit.
Completely Mobile and Flexible
Mobility and flexibility are the two things that modern-day businesses need, and you will get both of them with the cloud telephony system. With this technology, businesses can let their employees work from anywhere at any time while staying in touch with them whenever required and being accountable for their work.
This will reduce the operational costs drastically for an organization.
Cost-Effective
This is the expansion of the last point in the earlier benefit. Every company aims at reducing its operational costs, and there is no doubt about it. Cloud telephony services will help cut down the business costs on a large scale. You do not have to worry about purchasing any infrastructure.
Apart from that, you don’t have to worry about installation and maintenance costs either. Everything can be done through a laptop, tablet, or mobile. This way, there is a massive reduction in the entire business costs of an organization.
Notable Business Features
Every business needs to evolve and become better constantly. The one thing that is needed for this is insights. Cloud telephony service will help in gathering these insights. The software will generate real-time analytics, bulk SMS automation, post-call surveys, call schedulers, and other features.
With this reporting automation, various monotonous works are automated, making it easy for the employees.
It Isn’t Just Calls Anymore
Cloud telephony goes beyond the calls. It supports various marketing initiatives like SMS marketing, missed call campaigns, etc.
Better Visibility
Cloud telephony service is quite efficient in capturing operational data like call volumes, call timings, the response time of each agent, call durations, various channels related to inbound calls, the average number of calls each of your agents is making daily, call recordings, etc.
The reporting manager can consider all of these while making any decision. They can also monitor the employees at every step, train them according to the requirements, and maintain records for future reference.
These are stored directly in the cloud and can be automatically accessed from anywhere with an internet connection and a mobile or laptop.
Resilient Phone Service
In case there are floods or an earthquake in your business area, the desktops and hardware systems will be destroyed or at least affected. The wiring will be damaged, which also hampers communication. This will lead to data loss, affect the entire communication system, etc.
But if you opt for a cloud telephony service, all of your data is stored in the cloud and won’t be affected despite what happens to any of your hardware devices. Moreover, you can access the data and make calls using any device. All you need is a proper internet connection.
Cloud telephony is quite reliable and resilient.
Completely Scalable According to Business Requirements
Any organization owner would want to scale and become bigger and better at the business. When a business grows, the manpower grows, the equipment required for them will also grow, and scaling would come at a cost.
However, scaling your agents and increasing business operations on the communication end is simpler with cloud telephony. You can add another user to your software and continue the business operations as usual.
What is an On-Premise Contact Center?
As the name suggests, on-premise will be operated alone in a particular business area. The companies must invest in hardware and software located in one place and must be operated from there. These on-premise contact centers are also called legacy contact centers.
These contact centers are based on platforms provided by Avaya, Cisco, and Genesys. All of these platforms are completely inflexible. However, various companies are relying on these types of contact centers alone.
The on-premise contact centers are outdated technology and unsuitable for disruptive changes in customer behavior. The setup of an on-premise contact center takes 7-24 months, and any upgrade of systems will take 9-12 months.
Most of these contact centers are now running on outdated data and technology. This impacts the overall performance of an organization. Because of various drawbacks that are present in on-premise contact centers, organizations are moving towards the cloud.
Difference Between Cloud and On-premise Voice Services
Cloud and On-Premise voice services have their own set of advantages and setbacks. You need to understand all of these before deciding on your business. Here, we are listing out all the key differences that are present between both of them.
Deployment
- On-Premise: The hardware and software are deployed in an on-premise voice service on the client’s premises. The organization must bear the entire setup cost and is responsible for the maintenance. This can be quite hectic, and organizations should always have a team of experts available.
- Cloud: There are different cloud setups- private, shared, hybrid, etc. All of these are preferable for businesses according to the requirement. Businesses should just pay and access these resources at any given time.
Control
- On-Premise: The organization will control all the data in an on-premise setup. It can be for good or worse. This is why most highly regulated organizations have privacy concerns and are hesitating to move to the cloud.
- Cloud: In the cloud, there has always been a struggle to understand who will have control over the data. Even vendors are troubled with this question. Although encryption and third-party keys are available, relying on them alone is difficult. Apart from this, if there is any cloud downtime due to any situation, it can become a hassle.
Cost
- On-Premise: The organizations are responsible for all the ongoing costs related to hardware, software, space, and power consumption. The cost has always been a big drawback of on-premise setup.
- Cloud: The businesses that opt for cloud telephony should spend money on the resources they use and nothing else. They don’t have to worry about maintenance or any other issues. The pricing can decrease or increase depending on the usage of resources.
Security
- On-Premise: Some businesses deal with extra-sensitive information and need high-end security. For such companies, an on-premise setup offers greater security than the cloud. Here, they have the entire data stored in their device, which any third party person cannot access without permission.
- Cloud: The cloud setup has some security issues, no matter how effective the encryptions are. There are so many instances where much data has been leaked and put into the public domain. Although IT people struggle to protect data, there is still no guarantee of complete security in the cloud.
Scalability:
- On-Premise: In an on-premise setup, scalability is not easy. Adding extra devices, deploying software, etc., will consume much time and come at a heavy price.
- Cloud: Scalability is a great advantage when it comes to the cloud. Businesses can just use extra resources and pay for it. The setup is so simple and efficient.
What is a Virtual Number? How does it work?
Virtual phone numbers aren’t limited to a fixed location. With this number, users can connect to anyone at any time with the help of VoIP. Users can deploy desk phones, softphones, mobile, etc., for communication.
The virtual number acts as a mask for the original phone number, and businesses can use it to receive both inbound and outbound calls. They provide great anonymity despite looking like a real number.
Let us take an example of the Office24by7 virtual number in India. We give you a number with Hyderabad, Bangalore, or Mumbai prefixes. Our numbers look like landline numbers, and you can market these numbers for communication purposes. With the local prefix, companies can use our toll-free virtual number to contact customers with outbound calling services.
How a Virtual Number Works
Now that you know what a virtual number is let us see how it works. The virtual numbers don’t have any SIM or wired connection. The operator provides them in the cloud, and when a customer contacts this number, the call will land in the preexisting mobile/telephone number. This is why the virtual number can also be called cloud telephony.
The virtual numbers don’t need any specific device to receive calls. The calls can be rerouted to any required number, and agents can lift the call without any hassle.
VoIP plays an important role in this. VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. This service makes it easy for everyone to make calls with the help of the Internet. This service is quite resilient; unless the internet goes down, there is no other way for the number not to work.
Advantages of Virtual Number
Virtual phone numbers have so many benefits. In this section, we will list all of these advantages in detail.
Maintain Privacy
Not everyone should contact customers using their number. There are instances where contacting customers from personal numbers has also created some issues for the agents. With a virtual number, all such issues can be toppled.
This virtual number will route calls directly to personal numbers, but the person on the opposite side won’t see it, which is a great feature. It eliminates issues and maintains good privacy among customers, agents, and managers.
Sync Communication
The amazing advantage of virtual numbers is that you can sync the number with any device you prefer and are reachable. You can communicate using any of the internet-enabled devices with ease. With so many people working out of the office, having a virtual number will make communication uninterrupted.
Affordable Option
Saving money is one of the top priorities for any business. Having virtual numbers can help businesses with cost-cutting and make it easy for them to scale and grow. With an online number available, companies do not need to invest in expensive hardware. All of these make virtual number service a go-to option for organizations.
Types of Virtual Numbers
Right now in India, there are four types of virtual phone numbers India available- landline number, mobile number, toll-free, and local number.
Landline Number
The virtual landline numbers are quite similar to those with an eight-digit number with an STD code as a prefix. This number is used for intra-organization communication. Most small businesses also opt for this virtual landline number as their official contact number.
Mobile Number
This is a ten-digit number that looks like a mobile number. Most of the field agents have this number to contact their customers. One thing about these virtual numbers is that they must be integrated with a CRM to use them.
Toll-Free Number
The toll-free number is a free calling number for customers, and businesses incur the costs. Businesses incorporate this toll-free number when they need customers to contact them. The virtual toll-free number will be attached to multiple channels so no agent on call can respond to customers without making them wait in a queue.
Local Number
Virtual local numbers are another great option that companies can make the most of. Most people are skeptical when they receive calls from new numbers, but that won’t be the case when they see the STD code of their locality. You can see a local number with the virtual number India on the customer screen.
Wrapping it Up
In this article, we have covered all the required details related to the call center on the cloud. Most businesses are moving to the cloud because of its flexibility and resilience. However, it is important to cover all the bases when making such a huge shift.
When discussing bases, we discuss all the required features, security, data accessibility, and ease of operation. You can get every one of these with Office24by7. There is no denying that communication is the key to every organization. Whether internal or external, an organization requires proper communication setup, and Office24by7 is here to offer the same. There is no denying that Office24by7 is one of the best cloud telephony and IVR service providers.
You can enable the transformation with different cost-effective packages without burning a hole in your pocket. If you are looking for a great product with amazing after-sales support, then Office24by7 is the only thing you need.
I know this interests you, and it is time to know more. You can contact us at +91 7097171717 or drop an email at sales@office24by7.com.
