There are a lot of organisations out there that don’t think they need a call centre, but the truth is, they’re probably already running one – they just don’t know it. For some businesses, fielding a hundred or so calls each day by giving staff members mobile phones might seem like the simplest and most natural way to go, but it’s easy to forget how much this approach could be causing employees some unnecessary distractions from their core duties. And what happens when one hundred calls become two hundred, whether it’s because of business growth or seasonal peaks?
Fortunately, investing huge amounts of capital is no longer a prerequisite for setting up a call centre. No matter how small your business is or how minimal you think your call volumes are, cloud-based technologies like Oration can give you immediate access to sophisticated call centre tools and features which are designed to handle calls more efficiently while reducing the time your staff spend on the phone.
So, if this sounds like your business, here are some tips to help get your call centre operations up and running in no time at all.
Choose a cloud contact centre solution that only charges for what you use
The idea that call centre operations are only cost-effective for large organisations is a thing of the past. While cloud technology reduces our reliance on expensive internal IT infrastructure, pay-as-you-go pricing makes running call centres equally as cost effective for the smallest businesses through to the largest. For example, if you choose a cloud contact centre solution that charges using a per ‘call minute’ model, your costs will always be proportionate to the call time you consume. Alternatively, you could opt for a solution that charges a fee per ‘agent logged in’.
While the ‘per call minute’ option might be more cost-effective for call centres that typically handle larger volumes of short calls, the ‘per agent’ model could work best for call centres that have fewer calls which are usually more complex and time-consuming to resolve. Think about your peaks and call traffic profiles to decide which option will work best for you.
Try before you buy
Like Oration, most cloud solutions enable you to sign up online and don’t rely on your physical IT infrastructure, which means it’s easy to jump in and out of different solutions as you experiment and explore which tools best meet your needs. Within a day, you could be operating a fully functioning basic contact centre – commitment free – allowing you to start assessing the real-life agent and customer experience. And if it doesn’t feel right, you can quickly move on without any impact on your customers.
Start with the latest AI powered call routing technology
With customer experience now a key differentiator in the market, it’s important to set your call centre up for the future with the most up-to-date technologies promising the best experiences and fastest resolutions for your callers. Oration by Convai uses artificially intelligent speech recognition technology that greets callers and knows how to direct a call to the most appropriate outcome using their natural verbal response.
While it’s much easier and quicker to implement, AI based call routing technology helps call-centres overcome the pain points and limitations of using traditional numerical push button menus. Among the many benefits, it gives you scope to set up unlimited targeted banners and self-serve options to address your callers needs while callers will be delivered to the most appropriate agent for their specific query every time.
Take a customer-first approach to your contact centre design
Even if it’s not the intention, generic targeted banners can often make callers feel as though they’re being deflected from reaching agents. At the same time, limited push button menus can waste callers’ time if they end up being passed from one agent to another in search of the right help.
Enabled by AI technology, Oration asks the simple question of “How can I help?” from the moment a call is received; this reassures callers that their specific needs are your top priority and will be addressed in the best way possible. An open greeting also allows call centre managers to gather insights and data about the true nature of calls to continually improve the customer experience through additional staff training, refining the design of staff groupings, and investing in more self-serve options.
Choose plug and play technologies
Call centres come in all shapes and sizes and across different industries, so it’s unlikely that one single platform will be the best at everything for your specific needs. On top of that, what works best for your call centre today might not necessarily be the best option for you later down the track.
By choosing plug and play cloud solutions like Oration, you’ll enjoy all the perks of platform independence right across your technology ecosystem. Essentially, achieving platform independence through plug and play solutions means you’re free to swap components in and out as needs change without impacting your other solutions or needing to completely rebuild the customer experience – and you’ll never have to worry about regretful spend.
Learn how a major financial institution updated its IVR platform without impacting its existing contact centre operations or compromising the service in our Major financial institution gains flexibility, adaptability and control” case study.
