Advanced Call Center Technologies: Current Trends and Best Practices

You’re always surrounded by technology in a call center. From the way you get the call to the aftercall memo you need to send, everything’s connected to technology. Without knowing what the current and upcoming trends in advanced call center technologies are, you may be left behind.

Seeing what options are available is just as available as looking ahead. 

Get familiar with the latest contact center technologies, and become a world-class contact center when you implement them by reading this post. 

10 Advanced Call Center Technologies World-Class Centers Use

The following call center technologies may seem very advanced for legacy contact centers. But, all the world-class centers use these technologies daily.

They don’t just make your life easier at the call center. They also raise the quality of your calls and the workload of your employees. Implement these advanced call center technologies for the smooth operation of your contact center.

1. Omnichannel Support

A lot of call centers already use multichannel ways to communicate with customers. But, providing omnichannel support is what separates world-class call centers.

What’s the difference between multichannel and omnichannel support in a contact center?

Multichannel support means that you’re connecting with customers through phone calls, emails, text messages, or online chat. Omnichannel means you can handle all of those different inquiries within the same session.

You could take an inbound call as you are doing a chat session, and when all that data enters your CRM, the platform encapsulates it. This call center technology gives agents more freedom and customers more effective problem resolution.

While omnichannel is a popular current trend, it’s not the end of the line in contact center interaction innovation. Discover what the not-so-distant future holds for omnichannel contact centers from NICE CEO Paul Jarman.

2. Advanced Analytics Software

Every world-class call center should invest in analytics technology. This tool truly raises the quality of your contact center.

You can’t rely on customer surveys to see how well you’re performing. 

By monitoring every single call, picking up keywords, and building customer profiles, call center analytics software gives you the advantage of monitoring the customer’s entire journey.

Call analytics software changes the game in how you view each call.

It gives you everything you need to optimize and enhance the customer experience. And that’s the greatest goal every world-class call centers need to have.

3. Workforce Management Software

Some advanced call center technologies have more to do with the inner workings of your contact center than communicating with your customers. Nonetheless, they’re crucial.

Advanced workforce management software can analyze the stats of your reps, forecast call trends, handle times, and predict the workforce goal you need to handle requests. Real-time staffing suggestions also help managers assign shifts much faster.

Workforce management software ensures you have the right amount of people on the floor at the right time. This results in associate efficiency, and the smooth operation of your call center.

4. Self-Service Technologies

Speaking of call center efficiency, advanced self-service technologies are incredibly helpful.

A lot of incoming calls don’t need the time and energy of your reps. If an interactive voice response (IVR) system can take care of them, it saves your call center time and money.

However, self-service CANNOT be your service model. 

It should be a helpful addition.

But, people don’t trust robots, and they love talking to other people. A combination of IVR and agent interaction is a call center best practice when it comes to technology.

5. Robotic Automation

Everything’s about automation nowadays. And call centers can take advantage of this just as much as other businesses. 

Robotic automation software can make the after-call work process easier on your reps. It can auto-fill forms, save information, and create relevant memos effectively. 

If you have the budget, investing in robotic automation in your call center can make it even more efficient.

6. Gamification

Not every advanced call center technology needs to be about KPIs and call center metrics. Some can also be for fun. Yet, the end result does enhance the performance of your call center.

The work of your agents can be draining and repetitive. It’s your job to create a fun, engaging, and motivating environment for them. And gamification is a great way to do that. 

Playing games, betting with (or against) each other, and winning prizes can always lighten the mood. And there are plenty of call center games that you can tie together with technology. 

Check out these 23 amazing games to play at your call center for some inspiration.

7. Advanced Call Center Reporting Technologies

Real-time reporting is an advanced call center technology that everyone needs to have. That’s how you can stay on top of everything that’s happening in your call center.

You need a dashboard that shows your service levels, calls in queue, a skill summary for the reps, agent status, and how many calls came in for the day. You also can opt for advanced reporting tools that include third-party and non-telephony data as well.

8. Voice Authentication

Security in a call center is very important. Especially if you handle clients’ financial information. And that’s where voice authentication becomes an incredible call center technology to use.

Voice authentication isn’t widely used yet, but it will be in the future. It allows customers to verify their identity without going through the long and tedious verification process. 

9. QA Tools and Technologies

Quality assurance (QA) and quality management (QM) are very important for your call center and your agents. If you have an advanced platform that monitors and rates the performance of your agents, you can give personalized advice on improvement.

This raises the quality of your calls, the performance of your agents, and the work culture of your center.

10. Advanced Contact Center Platform

While all these advanced call center technologies are amazing, wouldn’t it be amazing to have one, fully integrated platform for a call center? One that leverages omnichannel communication, analyzes conversations, and rates them for quality assurance at the same time?

In our new e-book, you can read about what call center technologies you need to implement, and how you can put them all together for the most efficient call center. Our call center purchasing software guide covers everything (including pricing information.)

You can check it out here.

The Call Center of the Future: What Technologies Can We Expect?

Once you know what call center technologies are out there, you know what you can buy and implement. But, if you’re really thinking ahead of the curve here, you can also expect the newest innovations in call center technologies before they’re available.

That mindset can keep your call center truly ahead of the game.

Discover what the future holds for call center technology and innovation.

1. The Rise of Call Center AI

Before artificial intelligence (AI) takes over the world, it will take over call centers first. There’s already a significant use in AI agent assist and Google’s developing their own AI call center technologies.

You can already find AI chatbots and IVR systems. 

But, AI’s significance and reach will definitely develop in the next few years. While AI will never replace customer service in call centers, it will definitely improve the customer experience.

2. Predictive Behaviour Routing

How we connect callers to agents isn’t an art form. With the proper call center technologies, it can be a science.

In the past, routing calls evolved from longest wait time to skills-based routine. However, in the future, it will also be based on predicted behavior.

Imagine using analytics and AI to predict the customer’s tone, and connect them to a like-minded agent. The information exchange, the mood, and the success of the call will be exponential.

3. Cloud-Based Call Centers

Server rooms and physical databases will be a thing of the past. Cloud-based call centers can lower overhead expenses, increase the speed of updates, and provide greater flexibility.

Clients prefer cloud-based contact centers because they can blind monitor their agents. And agents can also enjoy its benefits as they have the option to work from home.

4. Video Customer Service

While it’s still pretty rare, companies are moving toward video customer service. FaceTime and one-way video chatting (where the customer can see the agent, but not the other way around) are increasingly popular.

This helps agents and clients solve more complex issues for customers, such as troubleshooting.

5. Advanced Call Center Technologies to Enhance Security

While there are plenty of different security measures out there, the technology behind them is constantly evolving. Today, voice recognition is the newest trend in call center information security, who knows what the future holds.

What’s certain is that we’ll keep an eye out for the newest security innovations to keep our clients’ and customers’ information safe.

Digital Trends to Look Out For in a Modern Call Center

As amazing as these call technologies are, you need the people and the infrastructure to utilize them. If you want to modernize your call center and create the best customer service experience, you need to complete these three steps:

• Use All Digital Marketing Channels: There are a lot of social media platforms that you can use to connect with customers. Make sure you’re utilizing all the right ones.
• Consider 24/7 Customer Service: If you have the budget, customers love a 24-hour customer service line. 
• Train Agents on Advanced Call Center Technologies: If you invest in advanced call center technologies, make sure your reps and agents know how to use them. Train them on all the latest software and trends to get the most out of your investment.

Get to Know the Call Center That’s Not Afraid to Use Technology

If you cling to legacy systems and processes, you’re setting your call center up for failure. Your agents will be constantly frustrated, your overhead costs will never go down, and worst of all, your customer satisfaction will plummet.

With the right call center technologies, you can modernize your contact center to connect with the right customers at the right time.

At Expivia, we use call center technology to enhance our work. That’s how we achieve better call times, more sales, and higher customer satisfaction. 

We use omnichannel communication, workforce management software, and gamification to make our work efficient and effective.

Reach out to us today to talk about how we can help your call center with advanced technology.