Customers play an important role in the success of any business. This is the main reason why companies try their best to improve their customer-facings services. In the modern world, call center services and contact center services have both emerged as the flag bearers of the customer-service industry. While they both perform similar functions, there is a slight difference in their roles and responsibilities.
Role and Scope of Call Center Services
Call center as the name implies is a place where calls are handled by a group of call center agents. Since the inception of the call center business, call center services have come a long way from PBX lines to VoIP phones. Moreover, the focus of call centers has also changed from just handling customers’ queries to providing them complete satisfaction. This change in the role has also widened the scope of a call center in the following ways:
- Focus on key parameters – As the role of a call centers is to satisfy customers, its operations are always carried out while keeping certain key parameters in mind. The key parameters are listed below:
- AHT – Average handling time or the time it takes to finish a call. The lower the AHT, the better it will be for the call center. However, a good AHT should also be complemented with a good FCR.
- FCR Percentage – First call resolution or the percentage of calls solved in the first contact made by customers. When an issue is resolved in the first attempt, it leads to customer happiness.
- CSAT score – Customer satisfaction rating or the grade customer gives to the call center agent after a call is finished. This stat tells a call center manager how well the agents are treating customers on call and how good they are in their call-handling skills.
- Expertise in handling calls – Call center agents are experts in handling customers’ queries on call. Generally, they do not use other mediums for making a contact with customers and focus on resolving the customers’ issues on call ASAP.
Call center services can be used in the following roles:
- Inbound customer services e.g. technical support, customer service etc.
- Outbound customer services e.g. lead generation, telemarketing etc.
- Fraud prevention, order taking services
Role and Scope of Contact Center Services
Contact centers rely on a more modern Omni channel approach to handle customers’ queries. A contact center is capable of handling customers’ queries via the following channels:
- Text Chat
- Telephone Services
- Direct Website Interface
- Social Media
Omni channel contact center services cover the scope of call center services, but they perform the same tasks a lot more comprehensively and through different channels. Some of the advantages of employing contact center services over call center services are listed below:
- More flexibility – As it is possible to toggle the priorities and access of contact center agents in real-time, it becomes easier to handle customers’ queries and provide them resolution. A contact center manager can route the calls, chat sessions and customers’ emails to different agents depending on their skill levels and availability.
- Use of modern platforms like social media – It is seen that customers’ are taking different routes to contact companies from where they have made a purchase. While providing contact center services, agents have access to companies’ handles on social media sites, which they can use to respond to customers’ queries on different platforms.