Telephony Software

To move beyond a standard business telephone system, many companies are turning to telephony software that turns the telephone into an extension of the computer network. Telephony software offers benefits for many types of organizations, but the most significant are for call centers and other high-volume calling departments.

When telephony software acts as a bridge between the computer and the phone, it's also referred to as computer telephony integration (CTI). CTI includes many of the valuable features businesses are looking for in a call center software solution.

IVR
Interactive voice response (IVR) systems allow callers to get the information they need and conduct basic transactions without ever speaking to an agent. The most common examples are simple informational systems: "To hear our hours, press 1. To get directions, press 2."

Telephony software lets you go further than that. By integrating with your customer database, IVR can provide callers with current account information or let them make simple changes or requests.

Note that IVR may or may not include speech recognition – it's not essential, and in fact many users are less comfortable with voice recognition than with touch-tone input.

Screen pops
Businesses who turn to telephony software for CTI are often specifically after this useful feature. Using caller ID information, screen pops display information about an incoming call: before a call center agent even answers the phone, a summary of the callers' account is on his screen.

Screen pops can pull information gathered from IVR, if applicable – if the customer has selected a particular question, for example, that information can be displayed to the agent. It can also be used to flag high-value or problem customers, helping your agents provide the appropriate level of service.

Call queue management and reporting
One of the most important aspects of running a busy call center is how you manage your call queues. Telephony software can help ensure that calls are answered as quickly as possible, without overburdening your agents or impacting customer service levels.

Robust call queue management systems rely on automatic call distribution (ACD) to approach this challenge. ACD uses several factors to determine where to send a call. It compares how long available agents have been off the phone, how many calls they've taken, and what their areas of expertise are, if applicable. Using all these factors, the system helps to evenly distribute calls across your agents.

Call center telephony software also emphasizes reporting. You should be able to see current hold times and call queues at all times, so you can make changes as necessary. More in-depth reports can help you analyze calling patterns by time of day or seasonality, what types of calls are most common, and how individual agents are performing.

Investigating telephony software
Choosing telephony software for your call center demands a careful investigation. Talk to at least 4 or 5 vendors to compare their offerings. Try demo versions of their software to compare ease of use, ask specific questions about integration to make sure the software will work with your current infrastructure, and get detailed proposals from each vendor so you can accurately compare costs. Taking the time to do a careful comparison can help you choose the best telephony software for your company.