Best Call Center Software for Small Businesses
Buyer's Guide
Many people dream of quitting their day jobs and starting their own business. With entrepreneurship on the rise, it seems like more and more people are actually taking the plunge and going into business for themselves.
But running a business isn’t easy. Things like supply chain issues, inflation and unprecedented events like the pandemic can throw a business off-course, especially in its early days. While you can’t prepare for every possibility, it’s important to ensure you have your daily operations covered – and that’s where call center software for small business comes in.
Small business call center software allows you to manage and expand your customer support easily, making it possible for even a small operation to handle a high volume of calls. Because it’s designed for small businesses, it also comes with a variety of features to help with other business needs, like an auto attendant and call routing to streamline customer interactions.
Ready to upgrade your customer support system? Read on to find out how call center software for small business can help you run your business better!
Executive Summary
- Call center software for small business helps you manage all inbound and outbound calls efficiently.
- Key features include an auto attendant, call routing, reporting and analytics, and agent collaboration tools.
- Before you commit to a solution, don’t forget to ask your vendor any questions you might have about the software.
What Is Call Center Software For Small Business?
Call center software is a software program specialized for small businesses, allowing them to easily manage both inbound and outbound communications. The software is equipped to handle all the day to day operations of a call center, and is easily scalable for when your small business becomes a large one.
For a small business, call center software can be a cost-effective sales and customer service solution. It’s usually based in the cloud, working through technologies like VoIP, making it easy for a small business with limited resources to set up a comprehensive call center at an affordable cost.
Primary Benefits
Here are some of the ways the right call center software can help your small business.
Reduce Your Overhead
- Auto Attendant Systems
- Auto Dialer
- Automatic Call Distribution
- Business Phone Service Providers
- Business Phone Systems
- Call Center Scripting
- Call Center
- Call Monitoring
- Call Recording
- Call Tracking
- Cloud PBX
- Cloud Phone Systems
- Computer Telephony Integration
- Conference Call Services
- Conference Calling
- IVR Systems
- PBX Phone Systems
- Predictive Dialer
- Screen Sharing
- SIP Clients
- SIP Trunk Providers
- Small Business Phone Systems
- UCAAS Providers
- Video Conferencing Platforms
- Virtual Phone Systems
- VoIP Phone Service Providers
- VoIP Phone Systems
- VoIP Softphones
- VoIP
Most modern call center software programs can make your customer support totally virtual, helping to reduce overhead costs like physical phone lines and on-premise infrastructure. With cloud computing and VoIP technology, all you need is a computer with a reliable internet connection to make and receive calls.
Improve Customer Experience
According to Salesforce, 83% of customers expect to engage with someone immediately when contacting a company. Call center software for small business helps make that possible, with features like automated call routing that routes your customers to the most appropriate agents for their queries, and auto attendant, an AI that answers even when your agents aren’t available.
Empower Your Small Business
Small businesses can struggle to compete with larger players. Having a well-run call center to back sales and provide excellent customer support can help give you a competitive edge.
Features like built-in analytics and reporting tools can also set your business apart from the pack, giving you actionable insights that help you create better strategies for growth.
Key Features & Functionality
| Calling Capabilities | Offer your customers superior phone support with features like calling merging, flipping and transfers that help agents work collaboratively. Features like barge or call takeover allow supervisors to step in and take over a call when needed. |
|---|---|
| Auto-dialers | Automatically dial the next number on a contact list once a call is finished, saving your agents time they would have spent manually dialing and allowing them to run through their contact lists faster. |
| Softphones | These software programs provide all the functionality of traditional telephones without the need for hardware, allowing your staff to make and receive calls using the internet. |
| Auto Attendant | An automated attendant helps answer, escalate and route incoming calls. Callers respond to pre-recorded options with their voice or phone keypad based on their needs and are directed to the appropriate person or department. |
| Call Routing | Automatically route each call your call center receives to an available agent. You can also set up your routing to distribute calls to agents based on criteria like expertise and call type. For example, a customer calling for information on billing would be routed to an agent who handles billing queries. |
| Call Recording | Record all inbound and outbound calls. These recordings can further be accessed and used for quality coaching in the future. |
| Analytics and Reporting | Generate reports about crucial KPIs like agent wrap time, abandonment rate and customer interaction in a comprehensive visual format and make more informed decisions depending on the data. |
| Collaboration Tools | Allow your teams to easily communicate and work together so that individual agents are less likely to run into queries they can’t resolve. Tools like audio conferencing enable multiple agents or departments to work collaboratively, both in internal calls as well as on live calls with customers. Screen recording and screen sharing aid collaboration, quality monitoring and review. |
| Voicemail System | Allow customers to contact you the moment they need to, and make sure that agents can easily respond once they’re back online. Speech recognition and voicemail transcription ensure that messages are received clearly no matter the quality of your customer’s call. |
| Encryption and Security | A recent report by Cisco found that 86% of consumers describe privacy as a major concern. Features like role-based access control and two-factor authentication help keep your company’s data and your customers’ private information safe. |
Software Comparison Strategy
Now that we’ve gone over the basics of call center software, let’s dig into the process of finding the best fit for your small business.
Kickstart the process with a needs analysis. What’s your budget? Which features do you need most? Discuss these questions with key stakeholders and other business owners to help narrow down your requirements.
Comparing features is a great way to evaluate software. You might also want to consider the pros and cons of each solution, and go through online reviews from active users to get a clear picture of how well they could suit your needs.
Sound overwhelming? We can help! Our software comparison report takes some of the hard work out of the equation, giving you information on the leading industry software options in one easy-to-read report.
No matter how you arrive at your choice of software, be sure to ask the vendor any questions you have about it before you commit. You might also want to request a free demo to see how the software functions in your business.
Cost & Pricing Considerations
The cost of call center software depends on several factors, including implementation and method of deployment, the number of users and data storage. If the vendor doesn’t offer implementation as part of the package, you might need to pay extra to hire an external IT team or use your in-house IT resources to get the software up and running.
Most small business call center software is cloud-based and available on a subscription basis, though some software programs might come with the option to be installed on-premise for a one-time, upfront payment.
Each model comes with its own costs in terms of add-ons, updates and maintenance, so it’s important to keep in mind what works best for your business. A small business with more limited resources, for example, might benefit from having the vendor handle maintaining the system.
The Most Popular Call Center Software for Small Business
Picking the perfect solution for your business can be daunting. But don’t worry — we’ve curated a list of the three most popular call center for small business software options to get you started.
RingCentral
RingCentral is one of the most popular call center solutions, trusted by businesses worldwide. It’s cloud-based, which makes it easy to deploy anywhere in the world. It offers both inbound and outbound calling facilities, as well as omni-channel communications support, allowing you to communicate with your customers through any channel of their choice.
Call management with RingCentral. Source
Avaya
Avaya is a cloud-based contact center solution that can help you improve communications, both within and outside your organization, by offering a unified platform for communication and collaboration. It also offers self-service tools, helping free up resources within your small business while empowering customers to find solutions for their queries without having to contact customer support.
Avaya’s contact history and call management dashboard. Source
Vonage
Vonage is a cloud-based phone system. It offers a reliable, easy-to-use and unified communications platform for call center management. It is suitable for both small and large businesses and can provide a 99.9% uptime with SD-WAN and SmartWAN offerings. Its virtual assistant and receptionist console features can help you avoid dropped calls which can be an issue for small businesses with smaller teams.
Vonage’s agent dashboard. Source
Questions To Ask
To get a better sense of what your business needs, ask yourself questions like:
- What’s our overall budget?
- What are our primary objectives?
- Is scalability a priority?
- Do we only need the basics or are advanced features necessary?
- Do we have the IT resources to aid deployment?
Use these questions to learn more about the vendor and software:
- Do you offer customer support and training resources?
- Is the software suitable/customizable to the needs of a small business?
- What are the core strengths of the software?
- Does the software require extra plug-ins and integrations for full functionality?
- What kind of data security and privacy measures do you offer?
Next Steps
The right call center software can streamline your support operations, improving productivity and customer satisfaction. A small business needs all the support it can get, especially when it’s first getting off the ground. Finding the right call center software for your small business might just be what sets you apart from the competition.
Ready to get started? Try our requirements template to take the next step towards giving your small business a competitive edge.
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