Looking for best technology

[erangel]

Can someone suggest where I can information on how to compare ACD Techn to install in a center?

How can I find out id PBX/ACD is better that VoIP, or IVR, or CRM?

We are in the process of building a call center, and we need to make a decision of what should be the technology use to handle the incoming calls.

[Vishakha]

hi,

there are several organizations that will help you evaluate technology, however if you have to do it yourself the best way to start any technology evaluation is to look at the holistic picture of your business rather than technology in isolation. Some questions that you need to ask would be:-

- what customers am i going to service now / in the next two years / next five year?
- what is the profile of the callers : are they segmented based on some parameters (that might require multiple skills)
- is the call center voice dominated or will there also be other applications such as e-mail and colaborative browsing? What is the split of voice / data applications
- in what slab do you see the call center growing: 50 - 250 / 250 - 500 / 500+
- will your business need customer identification?
- will callers have a multiple relationships with your business?
- will you have to connect to client databases and hosts?
- what is the profile of callers

the answer of such and many more questions will help you decide what ACD / IVR / CRM you need and if you need them at all.

[caneuman]

The technology you investigate and/or use should be reflective of your needs.

- What is your budget?
- What is the size of your call center? What is the plan of growth over the next 3-5 years?
The size and budget will be the first steps in helping determine if you need an ACD versus a PBX. With the technology that is currently available, unless you have a very basic site, an ACD would be my choice.

- What types of interactions are you planning to use with customers? E-mail queuing? Fax queuing? Co-Browsing? Chat? FAQs?
This will help determine if you need a CRM package as well as deciding between an ACD and PBX.

-Will you have more than 1 toll free number, or will customers be able to call more than 1 department?
If so, an IVR could be useful.

There are various methods of investigation. I will be happy to discuss further if you like. Just email me at caneuman@aol.com

[erangel]

THANKS!!!
All this information has been helpfull.

Caneuman,
I'll contact you later for further explanations, and thanks for helping me out.

[smahesha]

As you are setting-up a new call center, I would advise you start with clearly defining what you want to achieve with this call center and in what time line. Establishing a call center should have a clear business goal.

Is this call center mission critical to your business
Does this call center work 24x7x365
Do you need skills based routing
Is this a multimedia ( Paper, Electronic & Telephone ) call center.
Is integration to back-end systems required

From our experience, it will undoubtedly take anywhere from 18 Months to 24 Months to establish a multimedia Call center with the best of efforts.

It is better to start the callcenter with Telephone only which can be established within 6 Months, collect and analyse the statistics and plan on upgrading the platform to multimedia.

[Steve Turton]

Don't forget to look at a Virtual Call Center. This will give you a 3rd option.

There are huge savings with no capital investment, use it only when you need it, and agents can work from any location in the world (head office, branch offices, home offices, etc).

You can start off with this while you investigate other more expensive options. Lets you do an inexpensive trial.

Steve@telax.com

[kathleenmarie]

Can you provide more information about your business? As a consultant, I did some research for a call center company to help them with their ACD, voice recording, and helpdesk equipment purchases. I may be able to provide you with a little guidance.

[Steve Turton]

Kathleenmarie:

With the Virtual Call Center, there is no investment in the expensive ACD/IVR equipment. You only lease the number of seats that you require on a monthly basis. You still receive the same functionality as you would with having the equipment located on your premise.....BUT with another huge advantage: You can have your calls directed to any location in the world. The system recognizes where you log in from. Your Agents/CSR's can be located in the Home Office, Branch Offices, Home Offices or any combination of them all. The home based agents only need a simple telephone and a high speed internet connection. CTI with screen Pops are no problem.

Virtual systems can even record all the calls, burn them to a DVD, and mail them back..... or the customer can go on-line to retrieve them..... whatever way they find best for them.

Disaster Recovery is built in because the heart of the system is not located on your site, it is located elsewhere, so agents can log in from anywhere, anytime of day/night.

Start off small..... grow as you need to.

Hope this helps a little bit.....

Steve
Telax Voice Solutions
www.telax.com

[kathleenmarie]

I thought I was responding to erangle. Thanks for your reply though and would still like to hear more about erangle's app needs.

K