When is the Right Time to Upgrade Your Call Center Software?

Your call handling software is your organization’s central nervous system. Your business depends on it working seamlessly. Spot the symptoms of an outdated system and identify the best time to upgrade. You’ll save time, reduce errors, and improve interoperability.

Upgrading your call center software can be a long process. When is the right time to upgrade? While the process may appear daunting and easier to postpone, you’ll feel more confident and prepared starting the process sooner rather than later. Having a reliable technology partner to expertly lead your team through each phase of the upgrade, from system planning to configuration, followed by implementation, is imperative.

You can start the upgrade process by taking an honest, critical look at your current communication weakness. Here are some signs that it’s time to upgrade your call-handling system:

1. Unreliable System and Support

Your automated system has gone down one too many times. When you contact your vendor, you don’t receive the immediate support you need.

2. Limited Reporting

If your current system’s reporting is difficult to use with limited data, then you’re missing out on valuable reporting tools to operate more efficiently. Real-time metrics, dashboards, and enhanced reporting are imperative for measuring agent performance and improving customer service.

3. Reliant on Paper and Post-It Notes

When data and notes are not stored in your system, this increases the chances of miscommunication and errors. If your agents are reliant on paper and notes, then it’s time for a system that offers a more reliable and accurate way to store information.

4. Difficult Integrations

A system that doesn’t integrate easily with other systems, makes operations more challenging. There are many benefits when upgrading to a system that offers seamless integrations. Unifying communications provides automation and information to agents to help increase productivity.

5. Frustrated and Unhappy Agents and Customers

When agents are frustrated with technology and overwhelmed by the number of calls they receive, this decreases the customer experience. If customers complain about long hold times or complicated phone directory systems, you are not leaving them with a good impression.

A system with a multi-media skills-based automatic call distribution (ACD), helps to improve customer service by routing calls to agents based on Skill Table and Skill Group assignments. When call volume is high, the ACD can play automated call queuing announcements and music on hold. The call queuing announcements can be system prompts or custom recordings. Callers may also be offered the option to leave a voice message or request a callback.

[RELATED: Ephraim McDowell Health Case Study – Leveraging Directories to Improve Call Flows and Reduce Code Call Errors]

6. Limited Customer Communication Methods

In today’s environment customers’ communication preferences have shifted. If your current system does not support other channels than it’s time to make a change. Customers want to be able to contact you when it’s convenient for them and the preference to communicate via other digital channels (email, SMS text messaging, social media, web or mobile requests, etc.) continues to increase.

7. Inflexible and Inefficient System

Does your current system inhibit your business from growth? A modern system that can be deployed on a physical server, virtual server, or in the cloud allows your call center to easily grow without adding additional hardware. Employees can conveniently work remotely.

Virtual server deployment provides flexible server configuration, with the ability to add CPU power and memory at any time. Cloud deployment shifts the responsibility for management of the servers to the cloud provider.