Call centres were termed so because in their initial days they only used to receive voice calls over the telephone. But the explosion in communication mediums and the emergence of the Internet as one of the primary modes of interaction has propelled call centres towards handling two-way interactions over Web in the form of chat and e-mails. The name "call centre" no longer encapsulates their core area of operations. Hence, the better name for them now is "contact centre".

In their task of handling multitudes of interactions over so many communication media, they are assisted greatly by a suite of software programs known as contact centre solutions. Some examples of such software are automatic call distribution systems, telephone call routing software, predictive dialler, VoIP call control, etc.

The new generation of contact centre solutions puts customers at the heart of the business operations. Modern contact centres now offer their clients value-added services such as one call resolutions, good relations between agents and customers and round the clock customer care with a whole lot of other services which were not available earlier.

This new generation of contact centres include the VoIP based contact centres. Let’s see what they are and how they are making a difference to their client’s operations.

VoIP based contact centres

These are the next generation of contact centres that handle calls over Internet using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The calls are routed over the Internet using packet switching technology, and the VoIP contact centre solutions provide intelligent routing or data transmission.

Since they are Internet based, VoIP based contact centres provide wider scope in telemarketing, e-mailing, instant messaging, etc. Moreover, because of the low cost of operations, even small sized contact centres and start ups can make it big if they opt for the right VoIP contact centre solutions and manage their resources well.

Key Features:

• Screen pops which help agents retrieve information in real time.

• Intelligent call routing which utilises an up-to-date customer database and where callers get the agent best qualified to address their needs.

• Agents working from their homes and other geographically scattered sites.

• A central office that manages the entire call turnover taking place at multiple locations.

• Real-time monitoring of calls and the agent performance to improve efficiency and recognise weak areas.

• Multiple reports charting out call history and agent performance.

• Scalable and flexible telephony user interface.

Key Benefits

Some key benefits of a VoIP based contact centre are:

• There is no need to significantly alter the existing infrastructure. So this next level technology can be implemented without heavy investments. Existing PBXs and contact centre solutions can be easily adapted to VoIP environment without heavy expenditure.

• VoIP contact centre solutions can be deployed seamlessly without disturbing the ongoing operations; there are multiple deployment options available and hybrid configurations of VoIP and traditional telephony can be easily created.

• After successful deployment the resultant converged voice-and-data infrastructure significantly saves costs and improves efficiency of the agents besides increasing the monitoring and managing capabilities of senior management.

• Since with VoIP contact centre solutions, the staff can work from multiple locations, even their homes, significant savings are achieved in terms of acquiring and maintaining the physical infrastructure.

• Intelligent routing and VoIP call control enables the calling customer to get the best service resulting in overall customer satisfaction and increased goodwill.