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A large number of business enterprises are deploying their own flexible, low-cost and sophisticated call centers by taking advantage of the latest technologies. When customers call a business enterprise they reach a seemingly scripted and courteous call center agent who is trained to resolve the issues of the customer. Irrespective of the negative experience that customers face while calling customer service, business enterprises that deploy a call center can improve their customer satisfaction levels by having their own call center. Business enterprises must take the time out to do things right.

Avaya Consumer Preference Report has stated that close to 80% of customers prefer to talk to a call center agent on the phone which is the most expensive channel to support and poses a financial challenge to business enterprises. Business enterprises require call centers that are easily deployable, inexpensive, easily manageable and be flexible when it comes to scalability. This may sound like a really tall order but it can be achieved by having the right considerations.

Here are the call center considerations for Business Enterprises:

Acquire an Appropriate Solution:

Business enterprises usually work with limited internal resources and therefore when it comes to implementing a robust end-to-end call center solution, it must seamlessly integrate with the existing IT resources. The call center must be designed in such a way that maintenance of hardware and software configurations, replacement of critical equipment and troubleshooting must be easy. The call center solution must be able to integrate effortlessly with on-demand software applications that is already present or which the business enterprise plans to deploy.

Tap into SaaS (Software as a Service):

Call Center SaaS has been around for a while and is not a new concept. A large number of business enterprises that are planning on setting up a call center are considering the SaaS model. The reason behind this is, as compared to on-site solutions, the pay-as-you-go approach provides business enterprises with multiple benefits which include lower ongoing expenses and up-front costs, effortless scalability and improved access to new application features and upgrades. A report by dimension data has revealed that SaaS applications are being used by close to 65% of business enterprises.

Take Advantage of Automation:

Many processes in the call center can now be automated which would have otherwise required manual support or add-on software applications to carry out any specific task. Features incorporated by business enterprises in their call center solutions include agent monitoring, call recording, operation analysis and activity reports. These technologies if implemented in the right manner can help call centers function more effectively and smoothly and also streamlines and simplifies the day-to-day administration of the business enterprise.

Service Must be Customizable:

This is where a lot of business enterprises fail to implement customization. They need to make sure that the call center suits the business needs or else it will be a waste of the enterprise’s valuable resources. The customer service processes must be performed in a professional and cost effective manner. To do this, the business enterprise must know exactly what the customer processes are and make it a point to address customer issues as swiftly as possible. A system where customers can track the status of their compliant online can help simplify tasks. In short, systems must be set up way ahead of time so that all kinds of calls and enquiries can be addressed effectively.

Able to Bring in Refinements:

Though business enterprises will find it ideal to just set up their call centers and let it go, they need to make sure that everything is working fine and as planned. The call center must function in a streamlined manner to ensure the success of the enterprise’s customer service operation. The effectiveness of the call center can be continually improved by constantly listening to calls and getting valuable feedback from the customers. The voice recordings from interactions with customers can play a crucial role in training and coaching call center agents. It can even drastically improve the levels of customer service thereby increasing the profitability and efficiency of the call center.

Experience in a Particular Niche:

While most call centers boast about their ability to handle any kind of campaigns, their experience in any kind of category matters a lot. For example, if a call center has never interacted with a particular age group of people, it will be tough to anticipate their issue as such kind of customers might require a unique method of inbound call handling. A strategy will also be needed for determining how a call center should react to customers who do not respond. Business enterprises must rely on market research and even consider their past methods and even the ones that worked for the competitors. Every category of people is unique and it is essential for call centers to gain some experience in a particular niche so that excellent customer service can be provided.

Turnaround Time:

Turnaround time is crucial for the efficient functioning of a call center. It can be defined as the time between the call center finishes listening to the query of the customer to the time that the query is resolved. Business enterprises must set up a system where the customer’s issue is handled in stages or by agents with the requisite knowledge and experience so that the issue is taken care of in the least possible time. A high turnaround time increases customer loyalty and has the ability to bring in new customers through word-of-mouth advertising.

Unless the business enterprise possesses the required skills and resources to set up their own call center, it is best to seek the services of an expert call center service provider for seamless delivery of customer service.

The reasons for outsourcing the call center are
numerous:

Expensive Equipment:

It is easy for business enterprises to have a single person to deal with all the calls from the customer, but once different variables such as scripting, routing, call distribution and integrated software are included, it becomes essential to allocate more resources which can put a huge financial burden on the enterprise. A call center which is well established can easily scale their operations according to the requirements.

Hiring More Employees:

With increasing number of customers preferring to speak to a call center agent, hiring more agents to fill this void will be quite expensive and time consuming for business enterprises.

Skills to Manage Call Center:

Staffing, managing call volume, customization of software, quality assurance, etc. are all included in the daily workings of a call center and managing them requires a particular set of skills. A business enterprise will be completely overburdened if it tries to do all these tasks.

Focus on Core Activities:

It is quite clear that running a call center consumes a lot of time and resources which the business enterprise cannot afford. The business performance will be directly impacted if time is taken away from core responsibilities and focused on call center activities. By handing the call center activities to a third party service provider will allow the business enterprise to stay focused.

Compared to web traffic, call response might be decreasing but an inbound call with a live agent is what will drive sales and leads. This volume of conversion directly correlates to revenue and therefore having an optimized call center is the key to long term success of a business enterprise. Outsourcing call center operations to a well-established service provider can also reduce the customer service responsibility of the business enterprise and helping them concentrate better on the business activities thereby saving a lot of money and providing improved customer service.