10 Advantages Of Using CTI To Upscale Your Call Center

A brand’s loyal customers tell others when they’ve had a good experience with one of their favorite brands. Since small businesses face a lot of competition in the marketplace, they need to do everything in their power to satisfy their customers. Customer experience involves meeting your customers’ expectations and anticipating their future needs. Without computer telephony integration (CTI), this is a tall order.

What is CTI?

Computer Telephony Integration or CTI combines all the latest technologies- Interactive Voice Response, Automatic Number Identification, Voice Conferences etc. into one to make your call center function to its maximum potential. CTI technology provides you the ability to access all your telephone services through a desktop. This not only means that you no longer need a phone to communicate with your clients but also that all your devices- phone, fax, voice mail can communicate with one another. Using a single interface you now have centralized control over all your business communications.

The reason CTI system enhances productivity so significantly is that it enables you to benefit from a wide range of features that were impossible with the traditional PBX systems. It allows you to route incoming calls from customers to the respective agent, place callers on hold, transfer calls if needed and so on.

Here are some advantages of integrating CTI in call centers that will help enhance your customer’s experience without increasing your budget:

1. Intelligent Call Routing

Through CTI call center software you can route incoming calls to different business lines based on product category, respective departments, degree of help required, etc. This allows customers to directly get in touch with the appropriate agent by just clicking on a keypress option. You can also control which agent in the department gets the call. Connecting customers to the best support agent ensures that all queries are resolved faster and customers are satisfied. Even when customers click on the wrong number, IVR flow gives them the opportunity to go back and click on the right number. In such a situation, agents can also easily transfer their call to the right department.

2. Increased Collaboration

Agents can also transfer calls to domain experts if they are not able to address the specific issue or add people on the call if necessary. Moreover, sometimes you need more than one person to handle a situation. CTI solutions allow you to loop multiple experts on to the call, who can together provide the best possible solutions for the customer. Call-conferencing options create a collaborative environment in which agents harmoniously work together to make the call center function at its best and ensure that no customer goes unsatisfied. According to studies, having to repeat their problems to different agents is a major cause of annoyance for customers. Agents can easily leave notes on their monitors for other agents to see. This allows all agents to be on the same page.

3. Lower costs

Providing your customers full support and care actually costs your company a lot less than losing a customer through bad service. Through CTI call center technology you can make your communication seamless and efficient. As a result, the average duration of your calls is considerably reduced. Automated callbacks can also be scheduled for inbound calls. Both these facilities mean that you save money per call and hire lesser staff members to run your call center effectively. Moreover, there is no need for additional infrastructure, maintenance, hardware updates, and extra phone lines which leads to large cost savings for the business.

4. Enhance caller experience

Through CTI systems you have detailed information about each customer and a track record of all the calls ever exchanged with them. Greeting someone with a “good morning” or “good evening” because you know their location and referring to them by their name offers personalized customer service. In addition, since you have access to the full history of their calls you can address their prior concerns and follow up without having to ask them again. All these options make communications a smooth process by removing complexities and satisfying customers. Thus, you lower the chances of annoying a customer or dealing with a frustrated one and in turn, earn their long-term loyalty.

5. Improve agents’ performance

Through call recording options and live-call monitoring, you can monitor each agent’s performance. CTI call center management system allows you to identify specific instances during their customer interactions that they could have performed better. In such a way you can provide specific training for agents and follow up with quality feedback. This helps boost the performance of the overall customer support team and strengthens their ability to serve customers. 

6. Easy call handling

Agents no longer have to juggle between contact center software on the desktop and the telephone system to make a call. They will have access to all information on their computers. With the click of a button on their screen, agents can manage calls controls that allow functionalities like the answer, hang up, transfer, hold, etc. By having all the information required to communicate with the customer in one place, agents can easily access them at their convenience. You can also assign keypress numbers based on the frequency of the concerns faced by your customers. In such a way you can create automated responses for the recurring questions and help your customers get to the answers they are looking for in no time. This reduces the call traffic your agents have to face and allows them to focus their time and energy on problems that need human interaction.

7. Provide free service

Using miss call widgets you can enable your system to end the call as soon as it rings. This means that if you are preoccupied you can get back to the interested customer at a more convenient time and provide them with your full attention. Moreover, through this feature of CTI software, you ensure that customers do not have to personally spend to reach out to you.

8. Control calls systematically

You can control the date and time during which you receive calls. This setting ensures that you get inbound calls from customers only during your business hours, allowing you to strategically manage all your communications. You can also enable voice mail for customers who call you during off-business hours to ensure that you attend to each and every customer, irrespective of what you are doing.

9. Sense of professionalism

CTI systems allow you to enhance your customer experience through automated processes which adds value to your company’s image. Portraying yourself as a well-planned, professional, and highly-equipped organization helps build the trust of your customers. Satisfied customers are likely to continue to use your service and also provide positive word of mouth to potential customers. According to Google and TNS, 74% of customers say that word-of-mouth is a key influencer in their purchase decisions. Your current customers are the most successful way of attracting new customers and that is why it is important that they view your company as one that is capable of meeting all their needs.

10. Routine follow-ups

Your service does not end when the customer purchases your product. To retain customers and attract new ones you need to provide them with support at each step. After the call, you can ensure that the customer is satisfied through CTI call center systems. It allows you to send them information regarding package delivery status, promotions, feedback links, etc. This information can also be sent while you are talking to the customer, through the same desktop, without needing to disconnect the call. Additionally, you can ask the customer about their availability and see that you reach out to them during these times. This ensures that the customer is constantly updated with the information they need at their convenience, without having to worry about getting in touch with you.

These benefits of computer telephony integration systems will help your call center increase productivity and customer satisfaction. By consolidating all information onto one platform you allow your employees to get a complete understanding of the firm’s customer interactions. This helps you heighten efficiency in your business communication as well as provides your customers with the full support they need. Leveraging these breakthroughs in technology will help you create a modern call center that enables you to engage in two-way communication with your customers and positively impact your sales.