Communications are the lifeblood of any business, which is why choosing the right vendor and system are critical.
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As you move through the buying process, look for providers who can give you the flexibility and functionality you need today, along with a system that will grow with your business in the future.
Choosing a new telecom system is a big decision and you want to get it right. The stakes are high as the wrong choice can stifle your company’s productivity, impede customer service and make a major dent in your bottom line.
To make sure you have a thorough understanding of your communications needs, answer the following questions before you buy:
1. What vendors and solutions do we currently have in place?
Review current contracts and solutions. If you have onsite equipment, when are contracts set to expire? Where is your equipment in the depreciation cycle? Do any of your current systems or software have integration capabilities you’ll need to maintain or update?
2. What challenges and frustrations do we have with our current system?
What aspects of it do we like? What features do we wish we had?
3. What are our current costs and what is our budget?
Don’t forget to factor in ongoing costs such as upgrades and maintenance.
4. How much fluctuation is there in our communications needs?
Do you experience seasonality or spikes in your business that would be better handled in the cloud or with SIP trunks?
5. How much are we expecting our business to change and/or grow?
Some systems are designed for a specific number of users and it can be quite surprising to learn that the system you bought last year is no longer able to support your business this year because you have added employees.
This can be a very costly mistake so it’s important to find out, in advance, the process for adding more phones, increasing access, or adding more locations. The last thing you want to hear is that you’re going to have to spend thousands to replace or upgrade your system because it can’t scale quickly and easily. Even worse, when a system reaches its capacity, callers get a fast busy signal and cannot connect – resulting in a poor corporate appearance, bad customer experiences and, quite possibly, lost business.
6. Are we looking to change from a CapEx model to a monthly subscription OpEx model for any of our communications?
For example, if you are planning remote offices and don’t have the IT staff to support them you might have the service managed from the cloud, or you may want to consider delivering communications applications from the cloud.
7. Do we have specific compliance measures we must meet (e.g., PCI, HIPAA)?
If so, what are they?
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Yacer.
8. What features are essentials for our business to have and why?
Consider what makes sense for your business. Don’t get pressured into purchasing features you don’t need and/or that go beyond your budget.
9. Do we need to plan for remote offices and/or a mobile workforce?
Often, requirements are based on the needs of the head office leaving mobile workers and telecommuters to figure out their own workaround solutions in order to stay connected. This often leads to higher costs for long distance, poor call quality, and worker frustration. Knowing how the telecommunications system can handle mobile workers or telecommuters is important to know before you buy. Find out how you can connect someone who is on the road. Are softphones or conference bridges included? Can a telecommuter have the same as an employee at head office? Can an office worker work from home and have the same as is on the desk at the office?
10. Do we have multiple sites and do we need to address 911 Service?
In an emergency situation at your office, what will happen if someone dials 911 on the new system? Will the 911 dispatchers know where the caller is, or will the caller be required to provide address details? What if you have centralized trunking services at your HQ or Data Centre, but have multiple sites? Understanding the differences between Basic 911 and E911 and how your telecom system provides information to emergency services could mean the difference in saving someone’s life – maybe even your own. Ensuring your provider is in full compliance of regulatory guidelines on 911 management will also save you from costly litigation as a result of not meeting the basic needs of your employees in the event of an emergency.
If you’re planning to update your business communications in the near future, download our free, interactive planning guide, “Countdown to Contract Expiration, available on our website. It can help you identify items on your to-do list and gain additional insights via resource links.
It’s common knowledge these days that customer service management is as important as the quality of products and services that brands offer. A HubSpot study states that 93% of customers are more likely to buy products from brands offering excellent customer service. In addition, according to the BVA Customer Service Observatory, 74% of consumers are willing to spend more or show more loyalty when offered a positive experience with customer service. To provide quality customer service, companies must be equipped with a reliable and robust contact center solution (or call center solution) to handle all inbound and outbound contacts with their prospects or customers. Here are the 10 essential features for a great contact center.
The idea behind IVR is simple: it allows customers who call to choose among many options corresponding to different types of requests. It’s the famous:
Interactive voice response is a vital feature for guaranteeing a 24/7 reception. It qualifies call reasons so as to direct your prospects and customers toward the best wait queue and allow an agent to personalize his answer. The IVR also enables activity peak management and facilitates self-service: simple requests may be handled by the customer himself—such as checking one’s balance or bill payment, for example—without agent assistance, allowing the agent to dedicate time to more complex requests.
Intelligent routing by skill routes inbound calls directly to the most qualified agent available. Whether it be according to a language spoken, expertise, or a specific product, the call is directed to the agent who is most capable of offering a clear and quick answer. The ACD therefore reduces wait time considerably for each inbound call and improves customer satisfaction as well as productivity.
The digitalization of customer service, greatly accelerated in , now requires mastering new customer service channels. Although customers still prefer and , they also contact brands through other communication channels such as SMS, web forms, chat, instant messaging, and social media. It is therefore essential for your contact center solution to be omnichannel, and it must centralize all customer service channels in a single interface. This way, your agents will have a 360° view of customer history and interactions and may unify communication on all channels.
To identify customers quickly and offer them personalized answers, your call center solution must integrate easily with your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or your industry tools (ticketing systems, helpdesk, payment system). Identifying customers quickly in your IVR or enriching your customer data are among the many options possible with a CRM and contact center solution integration for guaranteeing the quality of your customer service.
Pop-up files (or customer file pop-ups) allow your teams to take advantage of all necessary customer information before even taking a call. This feature is made possible by the integration of the call center solution with a CRM and enables the personalization of each conversation with a customer as well as an agent’s responses. It can take note of the customer’s account, display customer history, review previous interactions, and therefore deliver personalized customer service.
According to Gartner, contact center spending on the cloud will represent 88% of investments between now and . This cloud migration was greatly accelerated by the widespread adoption of remote working, and it is especially adapted to companies’ need for flexibility. If your teams work across multiple sites, or if you need to adapt your resources according to current events, a cloud contact center solution is what you need. If, on the other hand, you need to integrate your call center with old information systems or make specific developments, on-premise solutions will be a better fit.
The outbound call dialer allows you to automatically place calls from a predetermined list of numbers—from a CRM or directly loaded in the call center solution. It is generally available in three dialing modes: preview, progressive, and predictive. Essential for teleprospecting, web lead callbacks, order follow-ups, bill reminders, meeting reminders, and satisfaction surveys, it allows you to choose your call strategy to maximize the reachability rates of your contacts. A robust automated dialer is a vital tool for increasing agent productivity and having successful campaigns.
Call recording allows you to save conversations between your teams and your customers or prospects in order to listen them later. This feature is of utmost importance for agent training. When striving to offer quality service, listening to their calls allows them to identify points of progress, possible obstacles, and reasons for customer dissatisfaction. Recorded calls can also serve a legal purpose in case of litigation with a customer.
To oversee the overall activity of a call center, real-time supervision is an essential feature. Through customizable dashboards available in real time, your supervisors have access at a glance to all the key indicators, allowing them to make quick decisions: agents online, customers waiting, agents available or on a break, etc. Other supervision techniques—discreet listening, whispering, conferencing, internal chat—allow agents to develop their efficiency and performance.
The average response time, the AHT (average handling time), the FCR (first contact resolution rate), the CRR (customer retention rate), and the average pickup rate are among the many key performance indicators that speak for the quality of your customer service. To optimize your KPIs, rich reports are an essential asset for overseeing customer satisfaction and must be an important factor to consider when choosing your call center solution.
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