Contact Center Integration with VoIP Phone Systems
When many people think of a contact center, it brings to mind a central building or location in which employees are situated in rows of cubicles answering telephones. Call centers, as they were long known, were set up in this manner and allowed for a centralized pool of customer service representatives to be managed.
The modern conception of a contact center could not be more different. In today’s contact centers, representatives often carry out several different functions and are able to specialize in certain topics and activities. Rather than have a generalized pool of available people to answer their customer inquiries, companies are now able to route calls to the most appropriate person – making your customer interactions less time consuming and more effective.
How VoIP Helps Contact Centers
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone systems enable businesses to operate simultaneously and fluidly from multiple geographical locations. These systems allow extensions to exist within the same telephone system regardless of where the extension is located physically.
What this does for your business in terms of contact center operation is to allow your contact center to be de-centralized. Just as VoIP makes interoffice communications easier, so does it enable your contact center to be staffed with employees in different offices. This affords your business greater flexibility in routing calls, handling call volume, and ensuring that the appropriate representative is able to field each inquiry.
Premise Based Contact Centers
By using a VoIP telephone system, your business is able to spread your contact center between offices and/or to include at-home workers. Employees in different time zones or markets have access to calls that are location appropriate and calls can be routed accordingly.
This technology affords your business the opportunity to have an in-house contact center staffed by your employees without having to create a separate department or facility to oversee it. By utilizing the flexible nature of a VoIP system, you can have a seamless contact center network using your existing infrastructure.
Hosted Contact Centers Using VoIP
Using a third party vendor, or hosted provider, to operate your contact center is another option that is made both cost effective and practical using VoIP technology. Because your extensions can be located anywhere, your customer inquiries can be routed from your business’ office or main number to any location that a hosted provider operates from while maintaining continuity for your customers.
Many companies opt to outsource their contact centers because of the cost effectiveness of this solution. Without various long distance and service charges associated with traditional telephone systems, VoIP contact centers eliminate a financial barrier to this solution.
VoIP telephone systems have made it possible to fully integrate a contact center into your business infrastructure, making your contact center more effective and productive. If you are searching for the most cost effective and efficient way to handle your contact center, exploring VoIP telephone systems as a solution is your best starting point.
