A Contact Center is a business division within an organization that manages customer interactions. Unlike a call center or call center, which only accepts requests by telephone, a contact center handles incoming and outgoing customer communications through various channels such as telephone, web, chat, email, messaging applications, to social media. Contact Center requires several sophisticated systems that are integrated to help quickly resolve customer issues, to track customer engagement, and to capture interaction and performance data. In Indonesia, one of the developers and providers of a complete contact center system solution with only 1 system is Barantum. So that everything can be done without having to switch systems / applications.
What is a contact center?
A contact center is a department that manages customer interactions across multiple channels. In addition to handling incoming and outgoing calls, contact center agents also communicate with customers via email, messages, chat, and social media.
While many consumers still prefer to contact customer support by phone, they are increasingly starting to use other channels. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2021, messaging channels like WhatsApp and Facebook are fast becoming new consumer favorites—the popularity of social messaging apps is increasing faster than any other support channel in 2020.
Companies must have a flexible and dynamic contact center to meet evolving consumer preferences and deliver the seamless omnichannel experience that customers expect.
How does the Contact Center work?
Typically, a contact center includes agents who handle omnichannel customer support, including call, email, chat, voice over IP (VoIP) and website support. A Contact Center is similar to a Call Center / call center but goes beyond just handling calls to reach customers on their preferred channel.
Main features of Contact Center:
- Automatic call distribution (ACD – Automated Call Dial), which enables customer service agents to increase the number of calls received while maintaining a positive customer experience (CX – Customer Experience);
- Real Time Reports, which allow supervisors or contact center managers to observe and analyze agent performance and customer satisfaction in real time across various channels used;
- Scripts/Scenarios, which provide agents with a framework to provide callers with effective support and to generate sales or issue resolutions;
- A ticketing system or ticketing system for customer service support will automate the management of customer interactions coming from multiple channels. A ticketing system like Barantum’s contact center solution, not only delivers conversations from multiple channels, but also maintains an integrated conversation context that makes customer support seamless and effective.
- Communication channels, in the Barantum contact center solution, this feature supports omnichannel technology, so that all incoming customer messages from various communication channels enter into a single dashboard, this will simplify and speed up the performance of the contact center team while providing a personal and positive experience for customers.
Benefits of Contact Center
Better Customer Experience
Customer service can be a significant differentiator for your business, and your contact center is often the primary conduit for most of the interactions customers have with your company. Through the contact center, there are several ways you can ensure a great experience. For example, customers can take advantage of the self-service capabilities provided in your contact center system to quickly perform common tasks. Contact center systems such as Barantum, can ensure customers connect to the most suitable agents to solve their problems faster. In addition, because the Contact Center supports various types of communication, customers can interact through the channel of their choice.
Greater Efficiency
Since contact centers are the central point of customer communication, they can increase your business productivity while responding to various customer requests. Contact center systems can give your organization the ability to scale staff in response to customer inquiries, and automatically direct requests to the most appropriate resources with real-time updates, enabling agents to respond quickly and efficiently.
Enhanced Information and Visibility
The Contact Center unifies customer interactions from all communication channels. The data collected from these interactions provides valuable insights that can help inform important business decisions. This information can help with product design, quality improvement, and identify patterns and problem areas throughout your customer engagement journey with your company.
Difference between Contact Center and Call Center
Contact center and Call Center are both customer service centers. However, the main difference is that the Call Center only manages incoming or outgoing calls, while the Contact Center offers omnichannel customer support, which is a more complete, centralized communication channel and can monitor staff/agent performance more fully to monitor sales or customer service.
The contact center infrastructure also enables managers to increase team efficiency and enables teams to benefit from better security measures, more secure data, and increased flexibility.
Now we know that the Contact Center serves various functions, and the Call Center itself specifically manages telephone interactions, including incoming and outgoing calls. Like contact centers, call centers or call centers generally support customer service, technical support, or sales interactions. However, the Company can also use it for remote marketing / telemarketing, information collection / telephone surveys, to debt collection.
Contact Center system drives customer loyalty
Modern, digital-first Contact Center systems give agents insight into every customer interaction so they can solve problems quickly—without asking customers to repeat or wait while they search for information. (After all, who likes procrastination?)
Having a customer context opens up opportunities for proactive engagement—a hallmark of smart contact centers. As research shows that, 20 percent of customers surveyed value proactive engagement, a number that is sure to increase in the years to come.
With a combination of proactive engagement, self-service options, empowered agents, and multiple support channels, your company can build a dynamic customer service support that is capable of maintaining a level of customer loyalty that will pay off for years to come.
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