How to Choose the Best Call Centre Software

Call centre software helps call centres make and receive calls, route callers to the right agents and provide better, faster service to customers.

Our research finds 75% of customers recommended a company based on excellent customer service. So, it's never been more important to find the best call centre software to assist your service team.

Streamlining call centre operations can not only help speed up your productivity but it can improve the service experience for your customers. Learn how call centre software works, why you should be using it, the top features to look for and more.

• What is call centre software?
• How does call centre software work?
• Benefits of call centre software
• Types of call centre software
• Key call centre software features to look for
• How to pick the best call centre software solution
• Why choose Salesforce for your call centre solution
• Call centre FAQs
• Step up your service operations with the right call centre software

Call centre software is the technology — programmes, apps and platforms — that helps call centres perform important tasks daily. This includes making and receiving calls from a computer or smartphone. But the best call centre software will go a step further — automatically taking notes, recording conversations, routeing calls and storing customer data, so agents can provide top-quality service.

Call centre software has become more advanced, with features such as artificial intelligence (AI) that can analyse sentiment and pull knowledge base articles to help agents resolve issues faster. However, the human touch is what makes a call centre special. And call centre software is a tool that helps live agents deliver better customer service.

Call centre software works by connecting your customers with customer service agents — and all the information they need to do their jobs. The platform can make and take calls using a variety of voice technologies. Examples include a private branch exchange (PBX) that routes calls to onsite landlines or a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) that handles calls digitally through a computer or mobile device.

Our research found that 26% of agents report lacking context about a customer's situation, making it harder to provide good customer service. Companies should invest in solutions, like call centre software, that streamline essential service operations such as managing orders, providing tech support and solving customer issues. This software makes it more cost-effective to provide support and improves the customer experience.

Here are the top benefits of call centre software:

Efficiency and productivity

With the right technology, each agent can take on more calls and resolve problems faster. Automated routeing systems match callers to agents with the skills to handle them. Customer relationship management (CRM) software shops caller data — including products customers have bought and their history with customer service — so agents can access the right information. Recordings and note chatbots take care of tedious but important tasks, such as documenting what customers say during calls.

24/7 self-service support

Call centre systems can ensure only the calls that need a live agent get escalated. Callers can chat with an interactive voice response (IVR) function 24/7 to solve routine issues — like initiating a return or finding account information. Only the most complicated and sensitive issues get sent to live agents in your call centre.

Error reduction and areas for improvement

An effective call centre keeps records and gathers data. But doing this manually wastes a lot of time and is prone to human error — especially during times of high call volume. Call centre platforms can record customer interactions and provide agents with AI-powered call summaries, but they can go even further. This software can analyse call stats and agent performance to find places where team members might need leader support. It can also identify bigger issues with the product or company that need to be addressed.

Improved customer experience

If you've ever called a company's service team for help, you know how frustrating it can be to get transferred, disconnected, given repeat information or placed on hold. Call centres must be vigilant about the customer experience.

Smart routeing to the right person is one way to make service calls smoother. If you use IVR, it can start working on a customer's issue straightaway. Scheduled callbacks are a great option for making sure customers don't sit on hold. And to avoid asking repetitive questions, agents can access a complete record of customers' interactions with chatbots, your help desk, digital channels like messaging and chat and even other agents. All of this can improve your customer satisfaction scores (CSAT).

Personalised service

Our research shows that 81% of agents say customers expect a more personal touch than they did before. More data in the hands of skilled customer service agents makes a personal touch easy to deliver. "So, you've been using the product for the past few months? How's that going?" "Thanks for being a gold member for the past 5 years. We really appreciate your business." "OK, I see you called about this same issue a couple times last week. Sorry it's still giving you trouble, but I'll do my best to get it fixed." When an agent understands the caller and can make the experience feel personal, customers are typically happier.

Regulation compliance

For call centres that must comply with specific rules and regulations, such as medical institutions, call centre software can enforce compliance. By automatically removing data that's no longer legal to keep — and notifying agents who violate rules — you can help to ensure you keep sensitive information safe.

Quality assurance

Since analytics are collected automatically and bigger issues get flagged for supervisors, it's much easier to fix call quality issues. This helps your brand protect its reputation, ensures your team keeps improving and contributes to a better customer experience.

Call centre software takes a few forms, with some overlap. It's important to understand the different types, so you can decide which works best for your company:

• On-premises call centres: Traditional, physical call centres typically include a PBX for facilitating and routeing calls and landlines for each agent. The pros of this type of call centre are data privacy and a low per-agent cost, as software licences are typically unlimited. They require heavy upfront investment and specialised IT staff to update and maintain your software.
• Hosted call centres: Hosted call centres use technology and software hosted entirely on cloud servers; calls run through those servers and are managed by a third party. They are similar to any software as a service (SaaS) product, get frequent updates and support and have low upfront costs and ease of scaling. They tend to charge on a per-user basis and don't require much maintenance.
• Virtual call centres: These call centres are made of distributed teams working from remote locations. Because the hardware is disconnected and far away from a central location, these teams rely on hosted call centre software.
• Inbound call centres: Software for these call centres manages and routes calls that come in from customers. Any of the above types of call centres can be inbound. This software must prioritise and distribute the calls and power features such as IVR systems, callbacks and queues.
• Outbound call centres: This software handles calls made from agents to customers. On-premises, hosted and virtual call centres may all be outbound. This software must pull lead and customer information for agents, dial leads and integrate with a CRM.

To find the best call centre software for your service team, make sure it has the following features.

Interactive voice response (IVR)

IVR systems are key to modern call centre software. They can handle important but uncomplicated and repetitive tasks such as taking customer payments, providing account info, tracking orders and setting up callbacks.

Skill-based call routeing

Most systems have automatic call distribution (ACD) to handle routeing to the next available agent or other department. But the best contact centre software takes it a step further. Skill-based routeing directs customers to the right agent from the start, matching their skills and expertise to the caller's known needs. This saves a lot of time when transferring and helps prevent customer frustration.

Voicemail and external routeing

Strong voicemail management helps call centres provide a positive experience after hours. The best systems can distribute and queue up calls for agents the next day. They can also enable callback scheduling with added context from the voicemail in the customer's file.

Cloud-hosted calling

The flexibility and scalability of cloud calling supports remote, hybrid and on-site service teams. Users typically experience improved call quality — with HD voice capabilities — elevating the customer experience. Cloud calling may also include advanced features such as call forwarding, virtual voicemail and call recording.

Call recording and automatic note-taking

Understand exactly what you need to learn from a call by revisiting it with call recording. And with machine learning-powered note taking, agents and supervisors can review call highlights without having to rewatch or listen to an entire interaction.

Omnichannel routeing

Omnichannel routeing uses pre-defined rules to determine the priority and topic of incoming calls to direct them to the best available agent. If no agents are available, customers will be placed in a queue. Tip: provide customers with an estimated wait time and the option to receive a callback. This results in a better customer experience and better use of agent time and skills.

CRM integration

Simple call centre software makes and receives calls, but modern service teams need to keep files on all known customers. If the calling system and CRM aren't connected, the extra step of manually recording interactions and inputting data creates more room for error. Make sure your call centre software integrates with your CRM or better yet, has one built in, like Salesforce.

Outbound campaign automation

If you need to make outbound calls, your call centre software should be easy to use. A click-to-call feature saves your agents the step of manually dialling numbers. Automatic dialling starts the next call in a list as soon as an agent finishes a conversation, so they can make the most of their time.

Supervisor tools

Agents aren't the only ones who benefit from call centre software features — supervisors and managers need tools, too. Key features are key performance indicator (KPI) monitoring (including some of the metrics from the reporting section above), team messaging, work optimisation reports and flag and whisper features. These tools help supervisors interact with agents during calls when needed, provide consistent feedback, measure success and identify areas for improvement.

Reporting and analytics

The real superpower of a centralised platform is its analytics. With numbers measured automatically and consistently, you can create scorecards, train agents and deliver continuous improvement to your callers. You should track customer service metrics such as:

• First call resolution (FCR): The rate of cases that get solved during a customer's first call.
• Average handle time (AHT): How long it takes a team or agent to solve a customer's case.
• Call abandonment rate (CAR): How often callers hang up before speaking to an agent.
• Transfer rate: How many calls an agent can handle without transferring to a colleague.
• Agent inactive time: How long agents are not actively in a call during their shifts.
• Average customer queue time: How long callers wait before reaching an agent.
• Hit rate: How many contacts closed by an agent result in a sale.

Once you've decided on all the features you need, there are a few more things to consider before landing on the best solution. Research a product's:

Reputation

Check case studies, reviews and online discussions from other customers to see how people feel about the call centre software and its provider. This is important because it can reveal the level of satisfaction you're likely to have. It can also help you key in on questions to ask during the sales process to make sure the product is a good fit.

Service quality

Review the software's service-level agreement, guaranteed up-times for servers and what types of customer service you can expect to receive with your licence. Some solutions only offer email support, for example. Others might provide you with a dedicated account manager available every working day.

Pricing

Typically, call centre software is offered on a per-user, per-month basis, with discounts for longer contracts or large enterprise transactions. More expensive products don't always mean higher quality, but low-cost options may not provide you with everything you need. You should consider must-have features with customer support features, integration capabilities, scalability and ROI when choosing the best option.

Scalability

Any choice you make should be scalable. Look for a solution that lets you add and remove users as you go and upgrade and downgrade feature sets as needed. With scalability comes flexibility — so you're not locked into products you're not using, but you're also not stuck or unable to support your team as you grow.

User experience

Consider your agents' and supervisors' experience when choosing a product. You want to ensure that it runs smoothly, is intuitive and customisable, with readily available support. The more user friendly it is, the more likely your agents can be effective with a minimal learning curve.

Integrations

Unless you're starting a business from scratch, you'll have legacy software and systems in place. Your call centre software should work well with them to ensure operations continue to run smoothly and important data is captured. Understand your choice's access to application programming interfaces (APIs) to see what customised integrations your IT team can build. And make sure that you note what software it already supports.

Salesforce Service Cloud's contact centre software is an omnichannel call centre solution that can help your team stay competitive and provide excellent customer experiences. Some of its standout features include:

• Built-in cloud calling: Make and take calls right from the app and enable distributed teams with no need for additional software.
• Agent productivity tools: Agents get AI-powered recommendations based on the context of customer calls and supervisors can quickly see who is available.
• Real-time metrics: Supervisors can watch key metrics to see where they need to help with onboarding, productivity and employee engagement.
• Live chat: Agents can connect with customers anywhere using your apps, website, SMS and other third-party messaging apps.
• Help centre: Build a library of hosted articles and videos to provide resources to help agents during calls.
• Omnichannel routeing: Automatically transfer calls to agents based on their skill set, availability and preferred customer channel.
• Conversational insights: Find keywords, action items and more during calls and conversations with AI-powered summaries.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Service Cloud software connects with other Salesforce tools, so teams who use more than one get the benefit of that data and functionality connecting and helping cross-departmental teams succeed.

It also has wide developer support, add-ons for just about anything you need in your contact centre and pre-built integrations for many of the major types of software you use. This makes it flexible for unique use cases and helps IT teams save time on customised integrations.

How does call centre software differ from telephony?

Telephony refers to the field of technology that powers long distance voice communications — through landlines, cellular connections and VoIP. Call centre software may include these capabilities, but it also encompasses customer profiles, list management and centralised tools to control different extensions and route calls.

Who uses call centre software?

Anyone who works in a call centre uses call centre software. This includes customer service agents, salespeople, telemarketers and service leaders.

What training is required to use call centre software?

Working in a call centre requires training in etiquette, call scripts and company products and services. Agents should be trained on essential functions of call centre software such as making, receiving and transferring calls, placing callers on hold, recording calls and taking notes.

Is it easy to implement call centre software?

It depends on the call centre software provider, the support they give, system integration and the size and skill of the team using it. You should choose a call centre software solution that provides high-touch onboarding, customised for your team to make the transition as seamless as possible.

How much does call centre software cost?

Call centre software is usually priced per user, per month. Low-cost options can start around $50 per user, per month. Higher-quality options might start at $150 per user, per month or higher. All of this is typically charged annually and can vary based on the level of features and support you need.

A lot goes into choosing the best call centre software for your needs. It should help your service team serve more customers more efficiently and provide the best experience possible. It can be a big investment, but when implemented correctly, your operations will run much smoother, leading to happier agents and customers. Remember that your call centre agents are on the front line, representing your brand. Help them do their best and it will pay off.