Announcing the Top Rated Contact Center Software for 2018

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Contact Center Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores.

Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right contact center software based on your needs and current industry trends.

Overall Top Rated

• Genesys PureConnect
• Tenfold
• Five9 Virtual Contact Center
• NICE inContact CXone

Top Rated by Enterprises

• Genesys PureConnect
• NICE inContact CXone
• Tenfold

Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies

• Genesys PureConnect
• Five9 Virtual Contact Center
• Tenfold
• Genesys PureEngage

What is contact center software?

Contact center software provides robust customer care tools and features that can be scaled and customized across all your support channels such as phone, email, instant messaging, text, social media, and self-service portals. Contact center solutions support multiple channels of service communication, but each mode is typically managed by a separate system and sometimes even adheres to unique business processes or procedures.

Despite the advantages of multi-channel tools, contact centers are usually implemented as a phone-first solution for businesses. These solutions can handle large call volumes that span broadly across your business, and include tools tailored to both inbound and outbounds call center activities.

Contact center solutions also provide tools for streamlining support communications to be more efficient and effective, including dynamic call routing, auto-dialing, and interactive voice response. Some vendors in this space offer dedicated point solutions for more complex workforce optimization that provide more tools to efficiently manage staffing, scheduling and quality of care as they relate to expected call volumes.

Key capabilities and trends

Customer experience is a key area of business focus because today’s customers have higher expectations for a smooth, fully integrated service experience. Contact centers evolved as the need for other service channels became evident in call centers, and now multi-channel support is shifting toward an even more integrated omni-channel experience where information can be shared and accessed in each of the separate communication channels in the contact center. Social media support integrations are now a must-have in contact center software as well.

Workforce optimization strategies for creating a stellar customer experience, while balancing operational costs and agent satisfaction are a business priority for companies large and small, and intelligent call routing is an evolving contact center tool supporting this trend. This feature routes calls to the agent who can best serve the customer based on their history or the nature of their inquiry, which reduces customer wait times and personalizes their care to create a better customer experience.

Some emerging and more forward-thinking trends in contact center software include AI and chatbots, which are intended to create a personal, helpful experience for customers that is also efficient and automated for businesses.

Choosing the right contact center software

Using reviews in your research gives you authentic feedback on important factors that vary widely between products, like reporting, integration, ease of use for agents, and how well the system orchestrates different channels. Perspectives from other companies with use cases like your own can help you decide which contact center software will work best for your business.

Top Rated Criteria

Products included in the 2018 Top Rated Contact Center Software list must have been in the top tier of their category TrustMap on April 27, 2018, to earn a Top Rated badge. To qualify for the Contact Center Software TrustMap, products must have 10 reviews and ratings on TrustRadius. Every reviewer is verified and every review is vetted before publication. Products are plotted on the map based on end-user data, including users’ likelihood to recommend scores as well as buyer research patterns. To learn more about TrustMaps and Top Rated methodology, check out this page.