As we approach the end of the year, now is a good time to reexamine your technology stack for 2021 and beyond. Here’s what you should prioritize in your call center technology stack—if your priority is to deliver the ultimate customer experience.

call center technology 2021Today, customer support teams leverage anywhere between one and ten different tools to interact with customers. These tools are valuable to frontline agents and customers, but sometimes they can do more harm than good. In fact, 46% of support leaders believe their current technology stack is holding them back from achieving their goals.

 

That’s why 2021 should be all about optimizing and consolidating your tools. Your technology should help you—not get in your way.

Here are four must-haves for your 2021 call center technology stack.

How to Optimize Your Call Center Technology Stack for 2021

#1. Telephony Software

At the foundation of your call center, of course, you need a telephony system. In other words: A way to talk to customers over the phone.

But telephony is much more than just a business line. Now, call centers can use telephony software to perform a variety of operations, including lead generation, sales and marketing, and customer support.

Other features include:

  • Call center operation management
  • Voice and data integration
  • Inbound metrics reporting
  • Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
  • Call monitoring

#2. CRM

The features of telephony software can be bolstered by a connected CRM.

While telephony software is great for managing and reviewing call-related activity—like number of calls received and answered, agent performance and quality inspection—CRM is what you need to manage the actual relationships and interactions you have with customers and prospects.

Key features include:

  • Contact management
  • Interaction tracking
  • Lead management
  • Analytics

#3. Call Recording & Monitoring

Often, your telephony software of choice will include call recording. But if not, there are plenty of great options out there that you can add to your stack. Call recording allows call centers to obtain records of employee’s interactions with customers.

Call recording is important for a number of reasons. The benefits include:

  • More compliant agents
  • Improved customer satisfaction
  • Streamlined onboarding and training
  • Boosted operational efficiency

#4. Internal & External Collaboration & Communication Tools

Your CRM may also include some communication and collaboration tools. But in today’s remote work environment, it will be even more important than ever to give your agents the collaboration tools they need to stay connected and focused. Plus, when your team is supported by the right tools, customer satisfaction will ultimately improve.

Collaboration tools like chat systems (Slack) and video conferencing tools (Zoom) will keep your team more connected. These tools will also help management monitor agent performance. Plus, agents can message colleagues questions while on a call, ensuring that customers get the answer they need as soon as possible.

These communication tools don’t need to be only for internal use. They should also be customer-facing. This is because, in addition to live chat or SMS, social media has become another important piece of the omnichannel puzzle (a multichannel approach to customer service that provides customers with several avenues to get the answers they need). Some customers might go to social media for quick feedback and personalized answers to their questions. So, your communication tools need to be able to support these social efforts, too.

One More Thing: Integrate Everything

There is some natural overlap in all of these must-have pieces of technology.

So, imagine the power of your technology stack if you integrated everything. When your call center technologies work together seamlessly, you deliver the ultimate customer experience.

When you integrate your CRM and telephony systems, you unlock amazing, advanced features—like screen pop, click-to-call and automated call logging. Plus, you never have to leave your CRM. Talk about putting your technology stack to work!

A fully integrated call center technology stack:

  • Creates a seamless, omnichannel support experience for your customers
  • Improves critical call center metrics, including first-call resolution rates, hold time, handle time and customer satisfaction scores
  • Reduces overall call center costs and increase ROI
  • Keeps call center employees happier and reduce turnover

At the end of the day, your call center system should support your overall goals – improving the customer experience. So, take a look at your existing stack and think about how you can consolidate (or integrate) it all in 2021.

Whatever your contact center technology stack looks like, CDC Software makes it work together better. Find out more by contacting our team.