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Contact center software allows companies to manage a high volume of inbound and outbound customer communications across a range of channels. This includes call center solutions, which focus on managing and handling incoming calls based on the number called and an associated database of handling instructions. Contact Centers, and related call centers, are typically part of a company’s overall customer relationship management (CRM) processes and strategy.
Many products offer the ability to track and store individual caller data. As such, previous call histories can be accessed by the agent each time a customer calls. This can reduce call average handle time (AHT) and time spent manually entering customer data. Contact Center software is ideal for small, midsize, and large contact centers. It is used in a wide variety of industries.
There are two main deployment options: cloud-based and on-premise. Cloud platforms have become popular, and offer the benefits of outsourcing software and maintenance costs and being easily accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
On the other hand, more traditional on-premise solutions are often hardware-based and incur upgrade and maintenance expenses every few years. Some benefits of on-premise contact centers are that they are typically located on the same site as the company and are highly customizable.
Many Contact Center products are now omni-channel, or multi-channel. These products are typically cloud-based and have expanded their capabilities beyond traditional call center activity. Omni-channel software has the capabilities to handle and integrate customer communications across all potential touchpoints and channels. These can include voice, VoIP, email, fax, video chat, SMS/text, and social media platforms.
Many products offer a set of basic features that focus on voice communication:
Validate callers
Outbound calling
Call forwarding
Click to call (allows one-click calling for agents)
Warm transfers
Interactive voice response (IVR)
Call scripting
Call tracking
CRM software integration (allows agents to access aggregated customer information and call history data)
Many leading Contact Center software vendors also offer a range of workforce optimization features that enable managers and team leaders to analyze and track agent performance to increase contact center efficiency.
Inbound call routing
Call recording
Quality monitoring (monitoring conversation content to track and improve agent performance)
Predictive dialing
Call analytics (KPIs such as average time in the queue, average call abandonment rate, and average handle time)
Historic reporting
Real-time reporting
Customer interaction analytics (aggregating unstructured interaction data across channels (audio, video, email, text, etc.) and formatting it so that it can be searched and categorized based on interaction patterns)
Recently, vendors have also started to offer more advanced predictive analytics and omni-channel support features such as:
Multi-channel integration (ability to collect, store, and share customer data across communication channels such as voice (phone), email, fax, SMS/text, video, live chat, and social media)
Intelligent call routing (uses machine learning to connect calls to the correct agents based on previous interaction data)
Digital Agents (Chatbots enabled with machine learning that are used to handle more routine or simpler customer requests)
AI assistance for live agents (AI provided predictive suggestions for live agents based on customer history and real-time interaction)
Some benefits of using Contact Center software include:
Reductions in average handle time (AHT)
Eliminating manual searching
Allow agents to access customer data histories
Some vendors offer free trials of their Contact Center software. The paid versions are typically subscription based. Basic cloud-based packages typically start at $10-$20 per agent per month, with more extensive plans ranging between $50-$200 per month.
On-premise Contact Center products usually include a one-time licensing fee and subsequent software upgrade and maintenance costs. Most on-premise Contact Center software vendors do not openly disclose their prices but offer a quote upon request.
Talkdesk is a cloud-based contact center platform with voice, digital channel, and workforce engagement management capabilities. Talkdesk’s key features are its customizable user interface, built-in AI automation, and its integration with numerous CRM and helpdesk applications.
Genesys PureConnect is an omnichannel contact center platform that offers cloud-based, on-premise, or managed service deployment options. It features an SIP-based architecture, including VoIP capabilities, which allows companies to connect legacy voice systems and use existing phone systems.
Genesys PureCloud is a contact center application optimized for automatic call distribution, interactive voice response, email, social media, chat, and text/SMS. It is also a VoIP interconnect service provider.
Genesys PureEngage is the Genesys customer engagement platform for enterprises. It is designed to be flexible for enterprises, who often have multiple and multi-national locations (including outsourcing) and large peak volumes and populations.
Fuze is a cloud-based unified communications platform that includes IP PBX voice service, video conferencing, and collaboration tools such as content sharing and instant messaging capabilities. It also integrates with a wide range of popular CTI, CRM, and click-to-call solutions.
Tenfold is a contact center platform optimized for customer support and sales enablement. All contact points and interactions with customers are automatically captured back into existing CRM software, such as business calls, emails, texts, and chats.
Avaya Intelligent Xperiences Contact Center is a contact center solution from business communications company, Avaya. It can be delivered in a public, hybrid, or private cloud as well as on-premise and can also be utilized as a UCaaS offering.
Five9 is cloud contact center software for inbound, outbound, blended, or multi-channel operations. This solution includes management capabilities such as campaign management, quality monitoring, real-time and historical reporting, and call recording.
NICE inContact CXone is a cloud-based contact center platform that manages customer interactions across multiple communication channels. It includes features such as omnichannel routing, workforce optimization, automatic call distribution (ACD), and interactive voice response (IVR) system.
Cisco Unified Contact Center is a contact center platform that can support up to 24,000 agents. It supports call routing, omnichannel integrations, and a management portal for creating customer profiles, segmentation, and resource monitoring.
8x8 offers their eponymous 8x8 Contact Center as a call center solution with in-built workforce optimization features, as well as an integration with Teleoptics to supply workforce management capabilities. The software is based at least partially on technology gained when 8x8 acquired Contactual...
Aspect Software headquartered in Massachusetts offers Aspect Unified UP, a call center solution for enterprise contact centers. It supports an omnichannel customer experience across voice, email, chat, SMS, IM, and social channels.
Zendesk Talk is call center software built on the Twilio cloud communication platform that integrates with the Zendesk Support ticketing system. This allows customer service teams to provide phone support from the same platform they use to manage all other channels.
ContactWorld for Salesforce is a call center software offering from NewVoiceMedia. As its name suggests, it is optimized for integrating with Salesforce's CRM solutions.
Noble Systems is a call center software offering from Noble Systems Corporation. It features skills-based, multi-channel routing, predictive dialing, and agent desktop and workflow development.
VirtualPBX is a VoIP solution that in addition to VoIP offers analog, smartphone, WebRTC, SIP Trunking & native calling options. It can also be used as a virtual contact center or virtual office solution.
CloudTalk is cloud-based call center software for sales and support teams of all sizes, looking to improve customer experiences through more personalized, data-driven customer interactions.The vendor aims to help teams communicate clearly and efficiently.With CloudTalk you can get local or toll-f...
Cloud Call Center is a cloud-based call center software offering from 3CLogic.com. It features universal CTI, interactive voice response, automatic call distribution, and other tools to support an enterprise-level contact center.
Eclipse CMS is a call management system from Datatrack, a UK-based software development company. Eclipse CMS assists with capacity management, performance monitoring, call accounting, and other tasks related to telephony efficiency.
ContactWorld for Service is a call center software offering from NewVoiceMedia. It is optimized for integration with Salesforce Service Cloud.
Avaya Aura Call Center Elite is call center software, from Avaya Inc. It acts as a call routing tool that features automatic call distribution using context-based inputs and selection capabilities.
Nextiva headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona offers their eponymous Call Center solution in two editions, Pro and Enterprise. It also features support for contact centers, allowing clients to manage customer service over multiple channels.
Contivio.com is cloud-based call center software with multi-channel support features that enable clients to take and make calls, route calls, integrate their call center solution with their existing CRM, and generate analytics.
ContactWorld for Sales and Marketing is a call center software offering from NewVoiceMedia. It is optimized for integration with Salesforce Sales Cloud and for use by sales or marketing teams.
Canadian company Mitel offers MiContact Center, a call and contact center solution designed for both small businesses and larger enterprises. It comes in several different iterations that support various needs and use cases.