We've all witnessed the moment in a call center when the software just couldn't keep up. Frozen screens, the alarm bell ringing in the background, and CSRs turning around and peeping over their cubicles toward the supervisor's office.
Was the software failing, the server bouncing, or the pipeline too narrow to handle the traffic?
A little investigation is in order. Invariably, the software engineer that you need is a phone call away, but how soon can he determine your problem? I've experienced resolution within minutes (bouncing the program) to months (when an engineer got an outside consultation that cost the company tens of thousands of dollars).
Check out some lists of the best software available:
http://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/call-center-comparison/
http://www.avaya.com/usa/product/avaya-aura-call-center-elite
http://www.reviews.com/crm-software/
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/top-15-crm-software-enterprise-solutions.html
How do you want to connect with your clients? Online businesses go for Chat, Text, and email. Will your system be able to handle all those apps at once, or do you just need email? Opting for the most apps is the growing trend, see Zappos (shoe sales on the web) and you'll notice that they employ every method of communication, 24 hours a day. Complete communication is a growing trend.
Whatever you do, go with a package that fits your call volume (measure from your highest daily traffic, and add on for growth to foresee call volume in the future). Be sure to select the package that will assure your company of 24-hour resolution. Don't go cheap. It's a problem that plagues businesses - and when you need help, if your package isn't up to par you'll lose revenue with every dropped call.
Don't make the mistake of utilizing a slapped-together program based upon some platform that was never meant to handle calls. I've seen that too - where a trouble-ticket system devised for tracking was converted into a telephone answering system. Talk about buggy! Now you'd hopelessly tied to the person who integrated the software for you, and you have no guarantees of workmanship.
I've used Sage/Enterprise, Avaya and Oracle-based homemade systems. None of them performed up to extreme traffic levels unless the networking was hooked up to T1s. These days I've noticed only the Internet Service Providers and top 500 companies using T1s,and very soon, we'll need even more room to handle all the data. Telephone systems are increasingly being hooked directly into networking, for instance - Cisco has entire lines of cable-ready telephones, conference, and call systems that are virtually plug-and-play.
If you think carefully, devote the finances that you'll need, and examine traffic trends in the future along with the latest in Big Data analytics to install the right software, you will find yourself not needing to replace your CRM/CMS for many years With the right package you will be sure to forestall outages, increase client contact, thereby increasing total profitability for your company.
