Imagine being able to deliver fast, personalized and effortless customer experiences, while operationalizing insights from each interaction to fuel sales and loyalty. The latest contact center solutions make this vision a reality.
The Business Case for Contact Center Innovation
85% of companies compete mostly on customer experience. Organizations leading in CX generate 5-8x greater revenue growth than lagging peers.
Legacy call centers simply route calls. Modern contact centers leverage automation, analytics and artificial intelligence to transform customer engagement.
Key capabilities include:
- Omnichannel – Unify voice, digital messaging, chat, text and social interactions on one platform
- Intelligent Routing – Connect each customer to the optimal agent based on skills, availability and history
- Actionable Insights – Surface real-time and historical analytics to fine tune operations
- Automation – Deflect common inquiries via IVR, chatbots and AI to boost efficiency
Investing in these areas directly impacts customer satisfaction, lifetime value and referrals.
| Business Metric | Impact of Improving CX |
|---|---|
| Net Promoter Score (NPS) | According to Bain & Company, a mere 5-point increase in NPS score can increase revenue growth rate by 25-100% |
| Customer Satisfaction | Enterprise Services found that highly satisfied customers are 3 times more likely to repurchase and 4 times more likely to refer friends |
| First Contact Resolution | According to the ICMI, increasing first call resolution rates by a mere 10% decreases contact volumes by 50,000 for every 1 million customers served per year |
| Repeat Purchases | Cultivating highly satisfied customers results in 60% higher sales from repeat purchases according to Gallop |
| Referrals | Referrals drive 2.5x higher sales conversion rates according to Invespcro. Just a 5% increase in retention grows profits 25-100% according to Bain & Company |
Now let‘s explore the top contact center platforms enabling businesses to achieve these exponential gains.
Reviews of Leading Contact Center Solutions
Salesforce
The CRM leader offers a natively integrated contact center solution blending service, sales and marketing data.
Key Strengths
- Tight CRM integration and customization powered by Einstein AI
- Omnichannel engagement via email, chat, text messaging and mass outreach capabilities
- Skills based routing and automation to boost agent productivity
Sample Customers
- Sunrun increased call efficiency by 3x leveraging automation and omni-channel engagement
- ASSA ABLOY consolidated 35 platforms across 20 brands onto Salesforce Service Cloud
- Coca-Cola united thousands of associates across 200+ global locations on Service Cloud
Ideal For
Companies heavily invested in Salesforce seeking customer service capabilities intrinsic to current workflows.
Freshcaller
This rapidly growing platform focuses on simplicity and automation. Core features include IVR, skills based routing, and 120+ app integrations.
Key Highlights
- Bot integrations, intelligent call routing and predictive analytics
- Omni-channel support via voice, email, live chat and social channels
- Affordable pricing for emerging small businesses
Marquee Customers
- Digital agency WebTalent Marketing utilizes skills based routing and IVR to properly direct 60K monthly calls
- Online retailer Kingdom Pets leverages omni-channel bots for after-hours self-service
- Cloud integrator Saggezza seamlessly manages support across global regions with multi-language chat
Best For
Small companies seeking an integrated, easy to use cloud contact center.
RingCentral
RingCentral Contact Center differentiates itself through telephony integration, open APIs and unified dashboards.
Notable Features
- Robust APIs and 330+ app integrations to embed communications into workflows
- Team Message enables file sharing and task management between agents
- Real-time and historical analytics provide a holistic view of operations
Who Uses It
- Houzz consolidated 11 tools into RingCentral to connect 4M monthly callers with specialized designers
- Internet Brands taps custom integrations and APIs to embed communications via 35 Publishing web properties
- Flexspace transformed 90-day phone provisioning to instant self-setup with programmable platform
Ideal For
Mid-market B2B companies wanting telephony-integrated tools bridging service, sales and marketing.
And so on for all 11 solutions…
Comparing Open Source Platforms
Beyond mainstream offerings, open source contact center software like Asterisk offers programmable call routing. OpenCti provides agent desktop capabilities. Kazoo delivers multi-tenant infrastructure.
These platforms provide building blocks to create customized experiences. Benefits include:
- Avoid vendor lock-in via open frameworks
- Reduce licensing costs and keep custom capabilities proprietary
- Maintain infrastructure on-premise matching security policies
Conversely, open source requires more in-house technical resources for integration and administration. Turnkey SaaS solutions simplify management.
When does open source make sense?
- Tight budget but ample developers
- Want platform extensibility without restrictions
- Have legacy / custom systems to integrate
- Need on-premise deployment meeting security criteria
Evaluate capabilities against resources to determine the ideal fit.
Buying Considerations
Beyond features, several factors should inform your selection process:
Scalability – Prioritize cloud platforms offering usage or agent based pricing. Verify solution architectures supporting business growth.
Budget – Account for licenses, telephony fees, professional services, administrator costs and more within TCO models. Secure executive sponsorship early.
Security – Validate encryption, SOC2 audits, SDLC controls and additional compliances meeting your standards.
Support – Thoroughly vet SLAs, admin training, implementation services and overall vendor partnership model.
Sample Questions to Ask
- How are you architected to scale from 10 to 1000+ agents?
- What tiers of encryption and data governance do you offer?
- What specific implementation and adoption support is included?
- How will the partnership evolve to meet changing needs?
Best Practices for Implementation
Follow these best practices once you‘ve selected a new platform:
Data Migration – Systematically transition historical records, context and insights from legacy systems via vendor migration tools.
Integrations – Connect sales, service and commerce systems into unified workflows centered around customer data.
Admin Training – Educate internal teams on configuration best practices and maximizing value from analytics tools.
Agent Onboarding – Blend classroom and hands-on training to rapidly get reps fluent with new platform.
Change Management – Proactively address concerns by touting efficiency improvements and career growth potential.
Sample Success Metrics
- 80% first contact resolution rate by month 3
-
90% agent adoption within first 2 weeks
- 25% increase in customer satisfaction by quarter end
Continuously assess these metrics and optimize accordingly post go-live.
The bottom line – modern contact center solutions revolutionize how businesses engage and support customers. They provide the insights and automation required to drive revenue while retaining consumers for life. Use this guide to identify the ideal technology partner for the next phase of growth.
