Contact Centers: Overview, Top Features, and Uses [2023 Guide]

A call comes into your business. Who handles it? It could be anyone.



That is unless you’re running a contact center .



You  could  benefit from call queues, multichannel handling, and automated reporting.



In this guide, we round up what a contact center is, run through the top features you can get stuck into, and dive into how companies use them to scale.



What Is a Contact Center?



A contact center is a team of people responsible for handling inbound customer interactions for your business. Sometimes, this can be inbound or outbound transactions, like returning calls or sales functions.



Contact center business functions are supported by contact center technology. These can be “call centers,” where staff (usually called agents) only handle calls. Or they can be multichannel contact centers where agents handle transactions from digital channels such as email, social media, and phone calls.



The technology available varies depending on the vendor, use case, and desired feature set. A constant is the ability to handle customer queries to improve the customer experience.









The term contact center can refer to a variety of different contact center uses. These are outlined below:



Contact center software:  The programs used by agents to manage customer transactions. You can expect call handling, reports, and queue visualization, among many other customer management features.



Contact Center as a Service ( CCaaS ):  The deployment model of contact center software is known as CCaaS. It’s delivered over the internet like that of Netflix or Spotify, with all features and functionality included. There’s no need for on-premises equipment.



Contact center department:  The team of people who use contact center software. These people (agents) are responsible for handling calls and other communication methods. Contact center departments include management and specialist roles like quality assurance and resource planning.



Types of Contact Centers



It may sound like there’s only one type of contact center: the one that handles your customer service matters.



But we can break down the category of contact centers into dedicated or cross-skilled areas:




Inbound



Outbound



Multichannel



Omnichannel



On-premises



Virtual/Cloud




Let’s explore these types of contact centers in more detail.







1) Inbound



An inbound contact center  only  handles inbound transactions. 



This might be an inbound call center, where contact center agents (aka call center agents) handle inbound calls only. In this case, staff in other departments will handle other digital channels. For example, your marketing team might handle social media inquiries. Or they might go unmanaged completely.



Within an inbound call center, you have call routing features like  auto attendants ,  interactive voice response (IVR) , and  call queues . More on these in the features section further down.









Some inbound contact centers manage other digital channels like web chat, email, and social media. 



When customers have preferred channels or have the option to use other mediums outside of calling you, it’s important to respond in a timely manner. This is called a multichannel contact center, where agents handle both calls and written communications.



An important part of inbound  contact center management  is the ability to report on all your channels. Most contact center and call center software includes comprehensive reporting and analytics.



2) Outbound



An outbound call center is a team of agents dedicated to calling customers to start a new transaction. Unlike inbound call centers, these teams don’t typically handle incoming calls.



Companies use outbound call centers to grow sales, conduct surveys, collect market research, and proactively deliver customer service.



Agents have pre-populated contacts to call from a database and are assisted by automatic dialing technology called a dialer.



Typical use cases for outbound call centers include:




Lead generation



Upselling



Debt collection



Market research



Customer surveys



Appointment setting



Managing renewals



Proactive customer service







3) Multichannel



Multichannel refers to the ability of contact center agents to handle customer queries via a multitude of contact channels.



As well as handling inbound calls, multichannel contact centers include:




Email



Web chat



Twitter



WhatsApp



Facebook



Instagram



SMS (text messages)




You still get access to call management features, like in a  multichannel call center . Multichannel access gets included  on top of  this functionality. The same applies to reporting on these various channels. You get all your call reports and analytics, as well as the same across other channels.









4) Omnichannel



Omnichannel refers to using a multichannel contact center in a way that connects all the channels. This means that agents have a holistic view of the customer journey when a customer calls in to follow up on their email, web chat, SMS, or social media transaction.



Rather than having to find the agent that dealt with the previous transaction, agents can access the exact email, web chat, etc., and help the caller right away.



Not only does this improve  first-call resolution  (FCR), but it also makes for a better all-around customer experience. When both your customer and agent have unified communication experiences, everyone benefits.






5) On-premises



On-premises contact centers are, for the majority, a thing of the past. Thanks to advancements in cloud technology, the features available on-premises have been replicated and improved by  cloud contact centers .



On-premises deployments still exist in niche use cases like financial institutions and data-sensitive industries. When legislation dictates that customer information must not leave a physical location, migration to cloud technology is difficult.



When contact centers are put on-premises, they need physical installation into a server room or comms cabinets. These are usually integrated with on-premises telephony and maintained by a hardware supplier.



When you need new features or to add more users, you must pay for extra hardware installed. 



Check out the key differences between an on-premises and cloud-based contact center using the example of a 75-seat customer service team.



Function Cloud contact center On-premises contact center Setup Time 1–4 weeks 6–12 weeks Equipment Optional Mandatory Scalability Features delivered on-demand Requires extensive hardware upgrades Integrations Numerous API-based integrations Limited middleware integrations Flexibility Employees can work in the office and remotely Employees must work within an office Analytics Real-time customer journey analytics Limited to agent dispositions Cost Approx. $100 per agent per month that grows with you Approx. $75,000 upfront per agent, plus software licenses, trunks, and maintenance Reliability Redundant upstream carriers monitored 24/7 Less susceptible to jitter over the Internet



6) Virtual/Cloud



A virtual contact center, otherwise known as a cloud contact center, refers to software deployed via the Internet.



There is no need for a physical installation in your office. Agents can access a virtual desktop interface via software and log in using a username and password.



Once logged in, everything they need is available in a single pane of glass.



When contact centers are deployed via the cloud, we refer to this as  CCaaS . 









Choosing from these types of contact centers can look daunting at first. But figuring out what you need is much easier when you dive into your specific use case.



Best Contact Center Use Cases



Proactive Customer Service



The most common contact center use case is servicing your customers in an efficient and proactive way.



By providing your customers with a logical way to contact you, rather than phoning and getting through to random staff, their queries get answered faster and by the right people.



One example of proactivity in contact centers is auto attendants, which provide automated options for callers to choose from. 



For example, “press one for sales or press two for support” immediately sends customers into the correct queue for a team that can handle their query. 



Here, you can configure logic as simply or complex as you deem necessary. Some businesses opt to provide information, like opening hours or website details, upfront so customers don’t need to queue for an agent.



The same applies across other channels too. 






When a customer raises a ticket via email, the best resolution might be to call them instead of playing phone tennis. When you deploy an omnichannel contact center, you can access all contact channels and see all information.



Some businesses use their contact center to regularly check their customers  before  an issue occurs. By scheduling routine customer calls or emails, you can capture customer queries before they turn into an escalation.