Contact Center Solutions with the Best ROI

By Robin Wilding
Updated: July 25, 2011

The standard way way of measuring ROI with Contact Center software solutions is by evaluating solutions on a vendor-by-vendor basis; a process that is both time-consuming and reality-altering (after all, companies spend billions of dollars in marketing per year to buy their products).

Instead try using a reverse-selection buying process, and look at what elements help different types of ROI. When buying a Contact Center solution most companies are looking for several elements to be improved—in order to achieve the ROI they are looking for. To achieve a return on your investment you need to: improve your customers' experiences, improve operational efficiencies, and improve IT efficiencies.

Improve Customers' Experiences

Customer satisfaction is essential, after all they are where the money comes from. Improved customer experiences is the easiest way to achieve ROI because it has measurable and quantifiable results. By choosing certain features within a Contact Center system you can improve your customer experiences, thereby ensuring a high customer-return ratio, increase your up-selling and cross-selling opportunities and gain valuable customer-based referrals. ROI-driven Contact Center solutions look for: significantly reduced hold times, improved agent responsiveness, decreased call transfer and wait times, increased personalization, create contact-sensitive treatment and scripting, and expansion on self-service options.

The features you need to ensure an improved customer experience are:

  • Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
  • Applicant screening
  • Appointment setting
  • Customer retention program
  • Anniversary calls (and other calendar-based customer attention)
  • Customer retention tools
  • Membership programs and subscription tools
  • Promotion-based calling tools
  • Welcome calls and scripting
  • Database management tools (to ensure information is up to date and accurate)

Improve Operational Efficiencies

Owning a solid Contact Center solution will also ensure that your team runs optimally. Next to your contact center software your employees are your most valuable resource; so be sure to make the most of them. A call center or contact center solution will put the processes in place that you need to properly train, run, and manage your contact center representatives. A well-fitted solution will ensure that you: fully leverage your CRM application, ensure that you blend your inbound and outbound calling, make more proactive contacts, and decrease talk time. 

The features you need to ensure improved operational efficiencies are:

  • Advanced order taking
  • Overflow and capacity support
  • Cross-selling and up-selling tools
  • Lead generation tools
  • Market research tools
  • Quality monitoring
  • Reporting
  • Predictive dialing

Improve IT Efficiencies

Your call center solution can also ensure that you leverage technology in the most efficient ways possible. By employing the proper solution for you, you will minimize downtime, ensure inter-program compatibility, reduce the need for staff and operational costs, improve routing, simplified agent interfaces. 

The features you need to ensure improved IT efficiencies are:

  • Appointment setting
  • Helpdesk, customer and tech support
  • Web support features (email management, online chat, web callback)
  • Call recording
  • real-time reporting
  • APIs