What is call center?

A call center is a physical location where larger volumes of calls are handled by an outsourced company. It usually a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting large volume of telephone requests for the purpose of business transactions. Most of the call centers work with the help of IVR’s. An IVR is defined as telephone interface to a computer system. Typically, a call center has the ability to handle large volumes of call at the same time screen and forward them to someone who is qualified to handle calls.

Call centers are used by telemarketing companies,utility companies,mail order catalogue retailers,companies that need customer support services and other outsourcing services. Most of the business houses use call center for various customer services like IT-help desk, inbound calls, sales,order processing, order taking, financial support and many other outbound services.

Operations of a call center:

A call center often operates in an extensive open work space for its call center agents. The work stations include a telephone set or a head set connected to a main telecom switch. This can be operated independently or networked with additional centers which is often linked to a corporate computer including LAN , microcomputers and mainframes. The voice and data pathways into the center are linked through a set of technology known as computer telephony integration( CTI)

Technology used in call centers:

Most of the call centers in India use different technologies which help them to serve their customers better. The inbound call center use automatic call distribution, in which the incoming calls are assigned to the agent on the order they receive. Some of the call center also use call monitoring in which the quality staff randomly monitors an agent call to ensure that they follow the guidelines of call taking. Most of the call centers work with the help of IVR’s,it is a system which helps in routing calls to the appropriate agent. It is programmed to do so wherein the system ignore its own decision making and obey the instruction set by humans.

These include after call work( ACW),automatic call distribution ( ACD), Agent performance analytics, Average handling time( AHT),Automatic number identification( ANI), Automated surveys( AS),Best time to call/ Outbound call optimization( BTTC),Call recording software,customer interaction management solutions which is known as ‘Unified’ solutions,Chat and web Collaboration, Computer telephony integration (CTI),Customer relationship management ( CRM),Desktop Scripting Solutions

Electronic performance support systems,Email Management,Enterprise Campaign Management

Issue tracking system,Interactive voice response ( IVR),Knowledge Management System(KMS)

Outbound predictive dialer,Predictive Dialing System( PDS),Outsourcing,Quality Monitoring which is also known as call recording software,Speech Analytics,Third party verification,Text to speech( TTS),

Virtual queuing,Voice analysis,Voice mail,VoIP,Voice recognition and Workforce management( WFM).

Call center services: The call center services are broadly divided into two categories:

Inbound services: In this kind of service usually the calls are received by an agent through a toll free number of customer support help desk. Then the agent goes ahead to solve the queries of the customer or any product related issues.

Some of the inbound services are customer care services, database management,order taking services,insurance claim and verification

Outbound services: Most of the outbound calls are usually sales oriented. The agent calls up prospective clients to do some kind of market research or for sales lead.

Some of the outbound services are welcome calls, direct marketing campaigns,selling services,appointment setting,market research, up selling and cross selling

Today, call centers play a crucial role for large business houses. Call center services help an organization to manage its non-core business houses. Most of non-core functions like telemarketing, up selling,cross selling,IT-help desk, customer oriented services are taken care by the outsourced company. Most of the call center have robust infrastructure to serve their clients. They use best of the technologies and services which helps their clients to earn maximum revenue.

More and more small business owners are realizing that their voicemail greeting plays a large role in impressing their customers and bolstering their image. Those business owners who want their company to stand out are utilizing professional voice talent such as Lecia Macryn Voice Services www.Macryn.com who specialize in recording custom phone greetings.

President, Lecia Macryn, states: “Businesses that have their voicemail greetings and prompts recorded by a professional voice talent, help reinforce their company’s image.” She adds: “We’ve recorded telephone greetings for businesses all over the world whose owners either didn’t like the sound of their own voice or tried to use people in their office to do the recordings… however, the clarity, grace, confidence and professionalism just wasn’t there. We help polish a company’s image and make them sound more credible, which can give a business a leg up on the comptetition.”

Lecia Macryn Voice Services not only helps small businesses, but also works with large companies who need hundreds or thousands of voice prompts and messages recorded such as surveys or interactive voice response systems (IVR).

For total quality control, Lecia Macryn Voice Services records voicemail greetings and voice prompts in their state-of-the-art recording studio which enables the delivery of clear, confident messages to customers. With its base in Michigan, the company services clients all over the world.  Same day service is available and rates are specially reduced for the small business owner.

Voice greetings can be recorded into any phone, including mobile/cell phones and are sent via internet in any format or recorded directly into a company’s phone system.

Voice Demos and more information is available at: www.Macryn.com or call Lecia Macryn Voice Services at (248) 288-2242.

How to Give Professional VM Greetings

Samples from about.com

• Hi. This is Jim Bucki at About.com. I can’t take your call right now, but I would like to return it as soon as I can. So, please leave me a detailed confidential message after the tone. If you need immediate assistance, please call my secretary, Suzy Smith at extension 6336. Thanks for your call.
• Hello. You have reached the Accounting Department. The department is currently closed. Our normal hours of operations are Monday through Friday, 8AM until 6PM. Please leave us a message after the tone and somebody will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you.
• Hi. This is Jim Bucki at About.com. I will be out of the office until Thursday, July 24th and I will be checking my voicemail occasionally. If you would like to leave me a message please do so after the tone and I will return your call as soon as I can. If you need immediate assistance, please call my secretary, Suzy Smith at extension 6336. Thanks for your call.
• You have reached the desk of Jim Bucki at About.com. I am currently on the phone right now, but I would like to return your call later. If you would like, please leave me a message after the tone. If you need immediate assistance, please call my secretary, Suzy Smith at extension 6336. Thank you for calling About.com.

IVR systems that the typical person deals with on a regular basis are telephone banking, tele-voting and credit card transactions. Now, even the operator is automated. Years ago you would dial zero and get a real person at the other end of the line. Nowadays dialling 411 will get you an automated system fully designed to find the number your require. There are still real people working at the company because not everyone can locate what they are looking for through the mechanical system.

IVR systems are used in many different businesses mainly to deal with high call volumes, reduce costs and to improve the customer’s experience. IRV or Interactive voice response systems, are the latest type of technology that allows a computer to detect voice and keypad inputs. IRV technology is used widely in telecommunications and has also been recently introduced for use in vehicles for hands-free operation, such as satellite navigation, audio and mobile phone systems. IVR systems can be set to react with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further guide users on how to proceed, and can be used to manage almost any function where the interface can be broken down into a series of straightforward menu choices. Many telecommunication companies use this type of technology because it’s great for dealing with large volumes of calls.

There are many different websites that can help you to design an interactive voice response to suit your needs. One such website is www.ivrsoft.com, which is designed to easily produce, run and maintain interactive voice response systems for both inbound and outbound call centre and voicemail systems.

From time to time the computer doesn’t comprehend the words you are telling it. In such cases a real person has to come on the line to assist. This can save a lot of man hours though -  the automated system is efficient enough to find the majority of people the information they are seeking.

Most commonly IVR systems are also used for entertainment and information uses. Theatres use such programs to inform callers of what movies are playing and at what times. Television voting and show polls such as those on American Idol, are usually handled by auto services like IVR.  There are phone numbers you can call to get automated bulletins on local road conditions and weather forecasts too.

Doctor’s offices and some hospitals also use interactive voice response systems to give patients access to confidential test results, to protect privacy or avoid the embarrassment of having to talk to a secretary or lab personnel about uncomfortable subject matters.

Research has proven that the use of automation in a contact or call center can trim down the overall expenses of a company by as much as 30 %. So it represents a good alternative to outsourcing as this can mean cultural and language barriers that cause many of your customers to become irritated as a consequence.

symond asked:

Call center software is like a productive support for BPO industry. It is an essential part of every call center which wants proficiency and productiveness. Nowadays, people are frequently looking for some kind of reliable solution for their business that can take them to a high level of success. However, it can be possible if they employ some kind systematic procedure. And it is here that call center software plays a important role.

This systematic software generally comes in different forms and varieties. Although, all forms of this software performs with their standardized quality but their features are almost different. The most unique feature of call center software is concerned with its implementation or execution from any location. For example, you can persuade your BPO agents to work from home, this will save your lot of money and will provide you quality work. Moreover, it can easily scrutinize work if you want to keep a close watch on your agents performance. This whole process will increase your business in terms of both money and clients.

Following are some kind of call center software which utilized in BPO industry:

• Predictive dialer

• IVR ( Interactive Voice Response )

• CTI ( Computer Telephony Integration )

• Voice mail & PBX

• Auto dialer

This software can be operates in many other industries also, where customer is considered as a top priority. Apart from this, it can also handle call tracking process to data analysis and can maintain both inbound and outbound calling processes.

Call center software can systematize voice messaging for straight marketing procedures, leaving computerized messages on voice mail and answering machines. When a call is transferred to an agent it can save a lot of time and ultimately enhance the productivity.

Find the best deals of call center software from http://www.yoursautodialer.com

VOIP Security made Easy

Abhishek Rungta asked:

Plum Voice has now released a way for businesses to develop online surveys that can be transmitted by either the web or phone. These new surveys are completely customizable – allowing you to decide how many questions you’d like to ask as well as the look, sound and feel of the survey page. After you design and send out your survey the IVR hosting system collects the data for you to review using a plethora of reporting tools.

The new survey application being released by Plum Voice is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Benefits of this type of survey include that it is cost effective, can serve as an alternate or complement to onsite surveying, and allows people that aren’t web-enabled to participate in your surveys.

To answer an IVR survey, respondents use a dedicated 1-800 number to complete the survey – using either verbal comments or touch-tone prompts. Plum Voice’s method also allows a respondent to answer via the web – making them the only company providing multimodal surveys through one intuitive survey management interface. This allows the survey to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so people can answer when they have the time. It also cuts down on data entry and coding costs that other survey systems face.

Plum Voice’s survey tool allows for 15 different types of questions and you are unlimited in how many you can ask. You can reach people with the web or a phone and see the live results as they are recorded. The information that is recorded can be turned into summary reports with data tables and graphical charts that you can print out to analyze and use to watch your business trends. Additionally, the survey works in English and Spanish for speech and text-to-speech.

Beyond that you can require a unique IP address or caller ID to ensure responses are not being repeated. The survey is easily embedded into your own web site if you’d like or it can standalone with your own custom logo. You are allowed to also create custom thank you and redirect pages upon completion of the survey with this new IVR survey. And finally, Plum Voice offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week phone support for your hosted IVR.

 

You can Get Cheap VOIP DID’s too!

Andrew Kern asked:

The toughest thing about sales can often be generating leads. A lot of times, this means cold calling people who may or may not be interested in what you have to say, which can lead to some very unpleasant encounters. So instead of cold calling– or paying your staff to make cold calls– why not try an automated telephony solution to generate leads for you? Voicent’s Broadcast by Phone autodialer can do just that. In addition, you can use Voicent IVR Studio to automate the whole telephone interactions with your customers.

A conventional sales call (cold call) goes something like this. An agent calls a number on their phone list and waits for someone to pick up. Most of the time, they get a busy signal, no answer, or a disconnected number. The rest of the time, someone answers. From a probability standpoint, however, the person who answers is likely not interested in a sales call. So, agents are making a huge number of calls for only a small amount of return. All in all, it’s a woefully inefficient process.

The good news is that there’s a solution. With an autodialer such as Voicent Broadcast by Phone, the process becomes automated, and agents only deal with live people who have expressed an interest in the product or service. The system is simple to setup and use.

First, download and install the software, then attach a voice modem to the call center computer. Next, record a message to be played to the prospective customers (or type one and have it spoken using text-to-speech technology). Then, make a call list (or import an existing one). Finally, tell the program to start dialing, and away you go.

The difference between Broadcast by Phone and other autodialers is that BbP uses smart autodialing technology which enables it to interact with people on the other end of the phone, via either touch tone commands or spoken ones. It can even transfer calls to a live operator based on such commands. So, you can configure Broadcast by Phone with touch tone options. When it dials through the call list and reaches a live person, the software will play the message you have designed, then prompt the respondent for a response. They can then, for example, press 1 to speak to a live agent, press 2 to indicate they are interested but would like to be called again later, or press 3 to express disinterest. The only people agents ever speak to are those who have expressed an interest– leads are generated instantly!

Some comparable automated systems cost thousands of dollars, but Voicent Broadcast by Phone starts at an affordable $299. The reason for the price difference is that Voicent employs smart software technology to replace most autodialing functions offered by hardware. When you consider the benefits of employing such a system, that number seems like a small investment indeed. By filtering through calls and generating leads, BbP increases efficiency by ensuring that your agents only talk to interested parties. You will see a dramatic rise in efficiency and a corresponding impact on your bottom line as your agents make more sales in less time. You can even download a free trial version and try before you buy with no risk! To download or purchase a copy, or for more information, visit www.voicent.com.

VOIP Security made Easy

Jason Trend asked:

Las Vegas, NV — Pacific Timesheet, the leading name in timesheet and time tracking systems, announces its providing integrated solution for project management, online timesheet approval and online reporting. Employees will be able to submit their timesheets via the Web, using time clock or over the telephone using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.

Pacific Timesheet CEO Pat Conrad stated “A major challenge for our customers has been tracking and reporting projects for their employees out on assignment as well as the staffing specialists who manage them. Pacific Timesheet’s IVR interface provides automated timesheets that will increase the speed, ease and accuracy of time entry, and enables the customers to stay completely focused on the needs of their customers. It is Pacific Timesheet’s another endorsement of our commitment to deliver innovative and cost-effective services to the staffing industry in a timely and cost-efficient manner.”

About Pacific Timesheet Enterprise

Pacific Timesheet Enterprise is a J2EE-compliant time-sheet and time tracking software for the web and supports virtually every operating system and database. Its n-tier architecture allows its timesheet systems to scale to tens of thousands of users. Single sign-on integration is also available with LDAP, OpenID, Netegrity and Microsoft Active Directory. Pacific Timesheet Enterprise provides project timesheet, project time tracking, project management, project portfolio management, job costing, product life cycle management, payroll timesheet, and time and attendance features in one system. Modules include automated approvals, billing and pay rates, time-off scheduling, resource scheduling, custom reporting, project management dashboard, iPhone timesheet, IVR integration, time clock integration and payroll integration. Each module can be licensed separately. Pacific Timesheet supports all major operating systems and browsers, and is available in licensed or ASP/online versions. Pacific Timesheet’s extensive customization support can meet virtually every end user requirement, and makes it the best platform to consolidate and standardize your time tracking systems. This platform provides maximum control, flexibility and visibility allowing managers and administrators to deploy and standardize their time and work tracking implementations quickly with little or no training required. Pacific Timesheet Enterprise integrates seamlessly with your existing IT infrastructure and other software assets so you can easily merge and compare data across key systems. Custom configurations are available for specialized requirements. Extensive training services, including End User training, Project management admin training, Supervisor training, and Application Admin training, and consulting services ensure that rollout is on-time and user acceptance is high.

 

About Pacific Timesheet

Pacific Timesheet is a leader in providing on-demand timesheet and time tracking software. Its flagship product, Pacific Timesheet Enterprise, provides unprecedented ease-of-use, flexibility and reliability. Built on platform, database, and browser-independent technologies that can be implemented either on-premise or on-demand, Pacific Timesheet provides an enterprise-ready solution that is easy to use and implement for companies across the globe. Pacific Timesheet offer significant rapid Return on Investment allowing customers to save millions of dollars while improving their visibility into employee projects, work and attendance.

The Company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has offices throughout North America and Europe. Pacific Timesheet is an equal opportunity employer always in search of talented professionals interested in the development and application of proven software technologies. Pacific Timesheet’s Time Management Systems are used by some of the world’s largest corporations such as Applied Materials and NOAA. If you need additional information about Pacific Timesheet go to www.pacifictimesheet.com, or call 866-416-2061 ext. 200

Protect your VOIP network

Ken Raymond asked:

IVR (interactive voice response) is the computerized technology that lets clear and  interactive communication between the callers. With this technology, the telephone caller can choose the options from the voice menu and interface with the computer system. The IVR system is blissful for the telephone users as it helps plays the paramount role of pre-traced voice prompt. Under this voice prompt, a person can press the number on the telephone keypad and select the desired option or otherwise, speak directly against the response of the voice prompt.  

This telephony technology includes the software of the  IVR systems that helps in the IVR applications and IVR programming development. The best part of the IVR software is that you can design, develop, design as well as implement the phone campaign quickly and have the best answering services for free. On the other hand, the services will take less time in implementation and so your calling needs will be catered to by this product in an appropriate way.  

The IVR is a favorable option for the areas of public services and commercial units including human resources department, B2B services, surveys of employee benefit, order status, surveys of customer satisfaction, customer services, literature fulfillment, surveys of market research and in the processing of credit card.  

The IVR helps in reducing the costs of collections, support calls, service, sales and inquiry from the organization. This system allows the 24/7 access to the company from customers through the phone system.  

IVR systems are highly recommended for the companies that want to cut down cost at the time of call handling. This will enable the staff of the business to focus upon other eminent areas of business. Also the businesses that look forward to retrieve the lost information find this system a big help.  

IVR system is a good choice for all the businesses that want to monitor the call progress as well as daily calls in the daily call reports. To get best right IVR hosting provider, http://www.plumvoice.com/products/ivr-hosting is best of the service providers available. 

VOIP Security made Easy

saurabh saxena asked:

Predictive dialer is a call center solution that has enhanced productivity of agents manifold by saving on their precious time. It has liberated agents from tedious process of selecting and dialing a number, listening to busy signals, wasting time on wrong numbers or answering machines.

Step ahead from auto dialers that merely dial the numbers, predictive dialers only connect agents to calls that are actually answered by people and thus save time and open an opportunity for agents to give their product presentation for more clients. Besides in case of inbound call centers , as soon as a customer calls, Automatic Call Distributor, acting on the instructions given to handle the call, distributes it to agents or IVR response system after filtering on factors like number of the caller, country of origin, agent availability, agent with special skill set among others. A call reaches live agent only when the query is complicated, otherwise the calls are transferred to Interactive voice response (IVR) , where the query of customer is smoothly resolved by directing him through various menu options via pre-recorded messages.

An ideal prediction about ‘when to dial’ is made by predictive dialers using a complex mathematical formula. It also takes into count many factors like the average phone call length, average number of rings before a customer picks up the phone, percentage of dialed phone calls that are answered, average length of talk time on each phone call, number of telemarketers using the system and desired abandonment rate.

The technology that works behind predictive dialers is completely computerized. The dialer is connected to multiple agents and has several outbound lines. It calls several numbers in one and predicting time ensure that telemarketer and customer get connected without any wastage of time on either side. Christened as a blessing for telecallers, predictive dialers are a great help when it comes to keeping phone calls, leads and appointments in order. Besides, they are a blessing for a customer who gets the desired information quickly.

A basic system is ideal for call centers that just wish to increase the productivity of telecallers and they need not spend extra money and opt for predictive dialer with advanced features. But then, large call centers often wish to have all possible advantage. They can install predictive dialers with digital recording, IVR, branched scripting, in-depth reporting abilities, inbound/ outbound/ blended features, wage calculators, etc. It has been proved time and again that companies that have opted for predictive dialers have increased their sales and live contacts by 300 per cent., besides with them companies can run multiple campaigns simultaneously.

VOIP Security made Easy