Investing in new technology can be intimidating. With many companies feeling budget constraints harder than ever, making the choice to pay more for technology can be a difficult one. These companies often feel that their best option is to choose low-cost call center technology.

Are you really better served with less expensive software solutions? Can you do as much to serve your consumers and clients - and build your business - with these budget-friendly options? Is there such a thing as “too cheap” when it comes to your call center software solutions?

Here, we will examine the difference between low-cost call center technology and affordable, fully-featured solutions that can truly benefit your business.

Does your inbound call center software need an overhaul?

It can be easy to get into a rut with your software. If something has been working for you for the past few years, why change it? The truth is, a new decade is upon us and with it will come advances in technology that your center should be at the forefront of.

If you don’t want your competitors to leave you behind in 2019, it’s time to take a fresh look at today’s best inbound call center software. You won’t know what you’re missing until you see what’s available - and today’s call center software providers are creating amazing new technology!

Take a look at your call center’s agents’ desktop. Are there multiple windows? Do various prompts lead them from one program to another, distracting them from the work they were already focused on? Is it easy to navigate from the call interface to the instant messaging or email interface and back?

If these questions leave you wondering how your agents can get anything done, it might be time to consider a consolidated desktop. Too many contact centers suffer from decreased productivity and agent efficiency because those agents are not fully immersed in an intuitive, interactive desktop. Making things easier for your agents - and more profitable for your center - can be as simple as offering them a consolidated desktop interface.

First, though, let’s look at why this feature is so important:

Today’s most successful businesses are using the power of SMS messaging to great effect. Many customer service companies and business processing organizations believe that they can’t be part of this trend - but that isn’t true! There are myriad ways to make use of SMS in your customer service strategy.

The bigger problem for these organizations is that they often don’t understand SMS integration. Thankfully, some of those same famously popular and successful brands we mentioned previously are happy to share their secrets of success. Check out how they make proper SMS integration look easy - and how you can make it easier for your staff, too!

The idea of new technology for your contact center can be exciting. Actually launching that technology? Not so much.

Why do so many call center managers balk at the idea of introducing new software and programs in their facilities? A big part of the reasons is because the user adoption process can be slow and arduous. Far too many centers suffer major declines in productivity and profitability due to problems implementing new technology.

If you want to bring your center up to date and up to speed with new software but don’t want to suffer through a problematic user adoption phase, check out these tips for smoothing things out:

When you’re running an outbound call center, your dialer can make all the difference in how smoothly daily operations go. For older or smaller centers, your dialer may be as simple as the hands of your employees. However, larger and more modern centers rely heavily on automatic dialers - and choosing the right one can be difficult.

If you are in the market for an upgraded outbound dialer or simply want to introduce automatic dialing to your facility for the first time, it pays to know what you’re looking for. Here, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular qualities contact centers look for in an upgraded outbound dialer. With these in hand, you can make an educated decision about the technology that will drive your business forward into a more successful future!

When you are operating an outbound call center, compliance with the TCPA - or Telephone Consumer Protection Act - is crucial. Not only does this compliance mean you’re doing your job correctly - it is what keeps you from losing your legal right to operate at all!

With such a premium placed on outbound compliance, it’s no wonder so many outbound call center agents worry about meeting these regulations and what will happen if they don’t. This doesn’t have to be a fear in your facility if you train your agents toward compliance throughout their tenure at your center. Here, we will examine ways to ensure compliance at every step of the communications process - and how you can build in the training you provide to your agents regularly.

Your contact center’s conversion rate is vitally important to your overall success as a company. Regardless of what else is going on in your facility, if you aren’t turning leads into paying customers, you aren’t making positive progress. Unfortunately, many facilities struggle with a low call center conversion rate.

What can you do to change that trend in your own center? Here are five tips that take you through the process of improving your conversion rate, beginning to end - and will help you create more satisfied customers out of the leads you receive.

It seems that everywhere you look these days, artificial intelligence is enhancing the way we go about our everyday lives. Our phones and tablets talk back to us, and devices in our homes help us do everything from remembering to turn out the lights to starting the oven for dinner or adjusting the shower’s water temperature. It is a truly technology-driven world!

However, many people worry that this influx of AI will lead to the replacement of humans in many of our most fundamental jobs and tasks. In few places is this more of a concern in automation-heavy industries like customer service and sales. Call center employees are increasingly surrounded by artificial intelligence applications at work.

Is there a reason to fear that call center AI will eventually replace human employees? Will jobs be lost because of this technology? Here’s what you need to know about the integration of today’s call center AI in your facility - and how it will impact your human staff.

How well is your current outbound calling software serving your center? If yours is like most in operation today, you might answer that things are going just fine with your dialer - but is fine really good enough?

If excellence is what you’re after, it might be time to think about overhauling your outbound calling software and switching to a new type of dialer to help you meet your goals. Not sure which type of dialer is best for your center? Read on to learn more about each - and find the one that fits your needs!