What is Call Center Automation?

What is the Call Center Automation?

A call center has the ability to handle large volumes of customer and other telephone calls. It screens the calls, routes them to a qualified person or automated response, and logs all interactions. The basic goal of a call center is improve efficiency, customer service, and oversight while lowering the overall costs associated with a customer contact center. Call Centers are used by organizations that sell or service products and use the telephone as one primary contact point.

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
Automatic Call Distribution intelligently handles and routes incoming by using caller ID data to match an incoming call to the customer database. Calls then are routed according to a preset rules, such as previous call agent or next available agent, specific skill set, products needs, product group, geography, previous dollars spent, and many more.

Virtual Call Center
A virtual call center can be extremely beneficial if an organization's representatives are geographically dispersed, rather than being in a centralized building. A virtual call center can route calls directly to staff or agents at different sites, without any additional on-site equipment. It gives the caller the impression that calls are handled professionally and with the right agent. Businesses realize the cost savings by not having to add or house additional equipment and they don't have to make radical adjustments if business is seasonal (add or decrease call center staffing).

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What can a Call Center do?

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What business problems can a Call Center solve?

Lowering Costs
A well conceived and well run call center can pay for itself in a very short time span by handling more calls without adding headcount. Even by reducing calls by just 15-30 seconds, companies that handle high volumes of calls can save enormous amounts of time and money. Frequently asked questions can be answered automatically (interactive voice response or IVRs). By employing scripts, agents save time and always are on message. With real time monitoring and reporting, logjams can be averted. Historical data can be viewed for training and workflow management. All this and more, from an efficiently run customer contact center, can provide significant savings to businesses.

Customer Service
Aside from being a boom to the bottom line, the primary goal of any call center is to make the customer feel as if they have been dealt with in an efficient and friendly way. Reducing hold times, connecting them to the proper person (even before agent answers), or just having correct information on hand (such as prior interactions, purchase history, etc.) will have a positive impact on callers.

Reporting
A vital component of any call center is in its reporting ability, both real time, at your fingertips information and overall call center performance metrics, for both customers and staff. The material gathered from customer interactions can be used collaboratively for marketing campaigns, geographical studies, product requests, etc. The metrics captured from the call center staff will indicate time spent per call, what information was the agent able to obtain, drop off rates, hold times, and call volumes among others. These business metrics help streamline the customer contact process, allowing staffing to be dictated by actual business needs (less over and under staffing). Granular reports and charts provide management with critical business insight, leading to a more efficiently run business.

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