What is a Contact Centre? Types, Features, & Benefits

A contact centre is a hub that manages customer interactions through multiple customer service channels, from live chat to voice. It relies on customer service software, AI, automation and other tools to deliver exceptional customer experience and improve agent productivity.

Our 2024 State of Service report found that 88% of customers surveyed globally believed that their experience with a company is as important as its products. With customer expectations on the rise, contact centre experience is more critical than ever.

Let’s dig into what a contact centre is, why it’s important, and how contact centre software can set your business up for success.

• What is a contact centre?
• Contact centres vs call centres: What's the difference?
• 8 Types of contact centres and how they work
• Contact centre features and benefits
• Contact centre use cases
• 5 strategies for a successful contact centre
• How to choose the best contact centre software
• Contact centre trends: AI & automation
• How Salesforce can help with your contact centre
• FAQs

A contact centre provides customer support across many channels — chat, email, voice, web, SMS, and more. Support teams use contact centre software to engage customers and deliver consistent service, no matter how a customer keeps in touch. Unified customer data, omnichannel engagement, customer service AI, automation, and other tools enable contact centre teams to provide efficient, personalised support for every customer interaction.

When it comes to customer service, the terms "call centre" and "contact centre" are frequently used interchangeably, but they have distinct differences. A call centre primarily handles phone-based interactions, whereas a contact centre offers a comprehensive range of communication channels. These channels include phone, live chat, email, chatbots and self-service knowledge articles, ensuring customers can keep in touch in the way that best suits their needs — even at 3.00 a.m. on a major holiday.

Understanding the different types of contact centres and how they work can help you to choose the right one for your business and customers. Let's look at how types of contact centres differ when it comes to customer engagement and technology.

• Omnichannel contact centres allow reps to engage with customers across multiple, integrated channels. Because reps get a complete view of interactions across channels, they can provide a consistent and seamless customer experience.
• Multi-channel contact centre reps handle customer support through multiple channels. However, they only see conversations for a single channel when helping a customer — not a complete history across channels.
• Inbound contact centres only handle incoming customer interactions. This includes tasks such as a phone call about a missing delivery or a social media comment about a new product.
• Outbound contact centres initiate communication with customers for a variety of reasons. This includes things such as customer satisfaction surveys, service updates, and late payments.

Keeping today's customers happy and loyal means providing excellent, efficient, and consistent service. Yet 69% of service professionals interviewed for the 2024 State of Service research said it's difficult for them to balance speed and quality. Here are some of the top contact centre features that can help to meet customer expectations.

Real-time views and complete histories

Contact centre CRM software provides a complete view of all customer data, including current and past interactions across all channels, previous purchases, account information, and more. This allows your contact centre to handle a wide range of customer needs from a single platform.

Real-time views of customer interactions mean repsor AI chatbots can efficiently pick up where the conversation left off, so that customers don't need to repeat themselves. With access to complete customer histories, contact centres can also help to generate revenue by offering product suggestions based on past purchases.

Connected omnichannel engagement

An omnichannel contact centre uses cloud-based software to manage customer interactions across multiple channels. It helps you to deliver a connected experience across all channels — no matter how they contact you.

On average, today's customers use 10 different channels when making a purchase. A customer may choose to use chat, voice or SMS for the same issue on separate occasions. What matters most is that they have a consistent experience. This is key to keeping customers engaged and improving loyalty.

AI and automation

AI customer service software boosts rep productivity by automating routine processes and tasks. In fact, our research finds that of service organisations currently using automation, 54% reported time savings as a major benefit.

AI provides reps with contextual, relevant responses based on CRM data and customer history. All customer conversations can be automatically summarised, documented, and added to a knowledge base — creating a system that continuously helps improve customer experience.

Contact centre automation also improves human agent productivity by analysing and summarising past cases, automating data entry for new cases, and routing customers to the correct agent.

Intelligent routeing

If you've ever experienced a chatbot that led you to a cul-de-sac, you understand why customer satisfaction relies on intelligent routeing. When a chatbot can't help, customers expect to be connected to a live agent or given alternate ways to get the help they need.

Universal routeing ensures contact centres provide the best type of support for different customer needs, including product, type of enquiry, agent expertise, and more. All work is routed through the same engine (i.e., chat, voice, and email) using the same routeing logic. This ensures the most appropriate agent is assigned, contributing to shorter resolution time and higher customer satisfaction (CSAT).

Customer self-service

Self-service options give customers a convenient way to get help any time, day or night. In fact, our 2024 research found that 61% of customers report preferring to find their own answers to simple issues using self-service resources such as chatbots and searchable help centres.

Customer self-service software frees reps up to focus on other tasks. AI is improving the breadth and quality of self-service resources with features like:

• AI chatbots: These bots can provide automated responses to basic questions, walk customers through step-by-step instructions, route them to the right reps and more.
• Help centres: Contact centre AI allows teams to build a searchable knowledge base of articles and answers to frequently asked questions. Help centres keep improving as more articles and answers are added and as existing content is updated based on new insights. Some businesses also create learning platforms for customers to continuously gain knowledge – Salesforce’s Trailhead is one such example.
• Customer communities: AI can keep a pulse on what's top of mind for your customers around the clock. Virtual assistants can address routine questions and common concerns in real time.

Keeping today's customers happy and loyal means providing excellent, efficient, and consistent service. Yet 69% of service professionals say it's difficult for them to balance speed and quality, according to our research. Here are some of the top contact centre features that can help meet customer expectations.

Real-time views and complete histories

Contact centre CRM software provides a complete view of all customer data, including current and past interactions across all channels, previous purchases, account information, and more. This allows your contact centre to handle a wide range of customer needs from a single platform.

Real-time views of customer interactions mean reps or AI agents can efficiently pick up where the conversation left off, so that customers don't need to repeat themselves. With access to complete customer histories, contact centres can also help to generate revenue by offering product suggestions based on past purchases.

Connected omnichannel engagement

An omnichannel contact centre uses cloud-based software to manage customer interactions across multiple channels. It helps you deliver a connected experience across all channels — no matter how they contact you.

A customer may choose to use chat, voice, or SMS for the same issue on separate occasions. What matters most is that they have a consistent experience. This is key to keeping customers engaged and improving loyalty.

AI and automation

AI customer service software boosts rep productivity by automating routine processes and tasks. In fact, our research finds that of service organisations currently using automation, 54% reported time savings as a major benefit.

AI provides reps with contextual, relevant responses based on CRM data and customer history. All customer conversations can be automatically summarised, documented, and added to a knowledge base — creating a system that continuously helps improve customer experience.

Contact centre automation also improves rep productivity by analysing and summarising past cases, automating data entry for new cases, and routing customers to the correct party.

Intelligent routing

If you've ever hit a dead end in customer service, whether on the phone or online, you know why customer satisfaction depends on intelligent routing. Customers expect to be connected to a person or AI agent, or given alternative ways to get the help they need.

Service Cloud enables routing by using sophisticated algorithms and criteria to automatically direct customer enquiries to the most appropriate rep or department. This ensures efficient and effective service, contributing to shorter resolution time and higher customer satisfaction (CSAT).

Customer self-service

Self-service options give customers a convenient way to get help any time, day or night. In fact, our research finds that 61% of customers report preferring to find their own answers to simple issues using self-service resources such as agents and searchable help centres.

Customer self-service software frees service reps up to focus on higher-value task such as revenue growth. Some examples of self-service options include:

• AI agents: AI agents built within Agentforce can handle common and complex issues within the guardrails your business has set, escalating to reps when needed.
• Help centres: Contact centre AI allows teams to build a searchable knowledge base of articles and answers to frequently asked questions. Help centres keep improving as more articles and answers are added, and as existing content is updated based on new insights. Some businesses also create learning platforms for customers to continuously gain knowledge – Salesforce's Trailhead is one such example.
• Customer communities: Customer communities like the Serviceblazer Community on Slack are an excellent form of self-service because they empower customers to find solutions and share insights with each other. These communities foster a sense of belonging and mutual support, where users can quickly get answers to common questions, share best practices, and provide peer-to-peer assistance.

Companies are using customer service strategies and tools to meet their customers' unique needs. Let's take a look at a few examples.

Healthcare: appointment management

Today, many healthcare organisations use customer service automation to streamline appointment scheduling and management.

For example, when it's time to visit the doctor:

1. A patient receives an automated text message with a convenient link for booking an appointment.
2. Once they've scheduled an appointment, they get an automatic confirmation message with links to change or cancel it. And the same information is available on the healthcare organisation's website.
3. The day before their appointment, the patient gets a reminder text.
4. And, a half-hour before the appointment, a text is sent with instructions for self-service check-in.

By providing a connected, automated customer experience across channels, healthcare organisations offload basic tasks from busy office receptionists and give their patients easy appointment management. Proactive appointment reminders and automated self-check-in also help keep healthcare organisations running smoothly.

Internet service provider: intelligent routing

Whether it's a business customer worried about losing online sales or a sports fan gearing up for a watch party, Internet service providers (ISPs) need to fix connection issues fast.

For example, when a customer can't access the Internet:

1. They can check for outages by logging into their account.
2. If an outage isn't the problem, an AI-powered chatbot automatically tells the customer they're going to run a few tests that will take about 5 minutes.
3. The chatbot then tells the customer their modem might be defective and that an agent will contact them by phone within an hour.

Customers are less frustrated when they get support straightaway and know what to expect; in this case, the chatbot provided a timeline for the phone call.

Ecommerce: handling public customer complaints

Many retailers now rely on social media to connect with customers. That also requires managing negative comments.

For example, when a customer posts a negative comment about a product on a company's social media:

1. AI automatically flags it as urgent and notifies an agent.
2. The agent moves the conversation to the social media platform's private messaging channel.
3. The agent uses generative AI to quickly write an appropriate response based on similar customer complaints and how they were addressed successfully. (Make sure that you review for accuracy). In this case, the customer is offered a replacement and full refund.

By engaging directly on a social media platform and being able to generate resolutions quickly, retailers can keep their customers happy and improve loyalty.

To provide the best possible customer experience and give reps time to focus on the most complex issues, contact centre teams should consider these strategies:

• Give customers multiple support options: Customers like choices. Engage with customers wherever they are with an omnichannel contact centre.
• Let customers help themselves: Convenient self-service options can increase customer satisfaction with faster resolutions and boost your team's productivity by taking FAQs off their plates.
• Give reps a complete customer view: Integrating your CRM with your contact centre allows reps to help customers faster and personalise their experience.
• Adopt automation and AI customer support: Give reps more time to focus on complex issues and new tasks with intelligent routeing, chatbots, AI-generated responses for reps and other automation strategies.
• Collect actionable insights: Use analytics software to identify customer preferences, pain points and other insights to continuously improve customer experience.

To provide the best possible customer experience and give reps time to focus on the most complex issues, contact centre teams should consider these strategies:

• Give customers multiple support options: Customers like choices. Engage with customers wherever they are with an omnichannel contact centre.
• Let customers help themselves: Convenient self-service options can increase customer satisfaction with faster resolutions and boost your team's productivity by taking FAQs off their plates.
• Give reps a complete customer view: Integrating your CRM with your contact centre allows reps to help customers faster and personalise their experience.
• Adopt automation and AI customer support: Give reps more time to focus on complex issues and new tasks with intelligent routeing, chatbots, AI-generated responses for reps and other automation strategies.
• Collect actionable insights: Use analytics software to identify customer preferences, pain points and other insights to continuously improve customer experience.

There’s a lot to think about when choosing the best contact centre software for your organisation — budget, business goals, vendor compatibility, integration with existing technology and more.

Here are some of the most important things to keep in mind:

• Customer experience: Choose a solution that will always give your customers a seamless experience, no matter how they contact you. Omnichannel software can help you to provide a consistent, efficient and personalised journey.
• Scalability and cost: Prepare for the future with software that meets changing needs. Cloud solutions can be easily scaled as resource needs change and help to keep infrastructure costs down.
• CRM integration: A contact centre with integrated CRM data gives reps a unified view of all customer history and engagement. This improves the customer experience and boosts your support team's productivity.
• Analytics and reporting: Contact centres that use analytics and reporting software can improve efficiency and customer satisfaction with real-time data insights and customer service metrics your team can learn from.

Data security: Keep customer data secure with software that stops cybersecurity attacks and complies with data privacy regulations. Look for features such as 256-bit data encryption, change tracking and audit logs, event monitoring and threat detection

One of the most significant contact centre trends is the integration of AI agents built in Agentforce, which can handle a wide range of common and complex customer inquiries with speed and accuracy. AI agents not only reduce wait times but also free up service reps to focus on more complex and high-value interactions like upselling and cross-selling.

Another key trend is the use of machine learning algorithms to analyse customer data and provide personalised recommendations. This not only enhances the customer experience but also helps in proactive issue resolution and upselling opportunities. Agentforce, for example, uses advanced analytics to offer insights that can be acted upon in real-time, ensuring a more tailored and responsive service.

Automation in workflow processes – such as ticket routing and escalation – ensures that customer issues are addressed more efficiently and effectively. Advanced analytics and sentiment analysis are also being used to gain deeper insights into customer behaviour and preferences, enabling businesses to tailor their services and offerings more precisely. The combination of AI and human expertise, facilitated by platforms like Agentforce, is creating a more seamless and satisfying customer service experience, setting the stage for the future of contact centres.

Contact centres are a crucial part of service operations. Investing in the right tools and technology is more important than ever. With 85% of decision makers mentioning in the 2024 State of Service reported that service is expected to contribute a larger share of revenue, an exceptional customer experience is a key part of making that happen.

Salesforce’s Service Cloud is a comprehensive customer service platform that centralises customer data, interactions, and support processes. It provides service reps with a unified view of customer information, enabling them to quickly access relevant details and resolve issues more effectively. This centralised approach reduces the time reps spend searching for information, leading to faster and more accurate responses.

Salesforce also offers Agentforce, a proactive autonomous AI application. Agentforce can assist with tasks like answering questions using your knowledge base – and it can handle more complex issues by triaging requests, surfacing relevant information, or escalating to the right expert when needed. You can also customise its actions, like routing cases for approval. Agentforce uses advanced language models and the Einstein Trust Layer to provide accurate and understandable responses based on your CRM and external data.

Satisfied customers are more likely to make another purchase, upgrade their services, and remain loyal. With the right strategy and tools, contact centres can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, gain new customers, drive revenue, and much more.