Making plans for a call center from the ground up is no simple undertaking. Next to the people you bring on board to fill your call center, the phone system you decide to utilize will serve as the foundation for the center’s success. It’s named a “call” center for a reason and if your phone system doesn’t perform up to par, neither will your business.
Choose a Phone System for Your Call Center
If you’re setting up a call center within your business one of the first hurdles is to decide what type of phone system you’d like your center to use and the budget for the project.
The phone system you decide to implement will serve as the foundation for the center’s success. You not only have to choose which phone system and provider package but also what the best deal is. Also consider if you should use a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) or Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system in your center. What about a hybrid system? These are all critical decisions to make.
So how do you know what phone system is best for your call center? The best way to determine that is by assessing what you want your phone system to do. Today’s VoIP systems function as software applications just as much as they do as phones. Cloud connectivity offers a host of unique capabilities and loads of functionality that was impossible in yesterday’s call centers.
What’s the Budget?
Planning a call center budget can be challenging. Between acquiring floor space, buying a new phone system with monthly phone service as well as training new employees, you may feel overwhelmed.
Be aware, most call center phone service providers offer package deals, based on center size, features and phone models, which make it easy to approximate cost for your center. Traditional call center equipment typically costs more to set up than cloud-based systems, such as VoIP systems. Older systems are also more complex – and expensive – to manage. Because of this, many growing business have invested in cloud-based technology for their call centers.
Beyond system management, you must also consider the cost of headsets, routers, coaxial or FiOS cable options and other equipment. Know what your required bandwidth is and what you want to be able to do with your phone system when determining how much you should budget.
After the Install…
Overseeing your call center’s phone system doesn’t end with installation. It is important for your business to continuously monitor and adjust your phone system as needed to get the best performance out of your call center. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) upon installation to gauge your call center’s success, and your phone system’s performance.
With diligent research, careful budgeting and establishing performance metrics for your call center phone system you will be sure to have great success for your center!
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