VoIP can help call centre agents deliver great customer service

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is an effective piece of technology that companies can deploy to ensure swift and streamlined communication with customers and clients. It allows you to make calls over an internet connection using VoIP phones or data-driven devices such as laptops and smartphones. 

You’ll need a high speed, low latency internet access for VoIP in order to carry out quality, real time conversations. Latency refers to the transmission delay within a network, and having a low latency connection means there’s no conversation delay between the caller and recipient. 

One environment in which VoIP is sure to show its benefits is the call centre, where agents have to answer calls as quickly and efficiently throughout the day. There are various VoIP features that can help call centre agents deliver premium quality service to a company’s customers. We’ll expand on them in this article but, to be brief, they are:

• Call queuing
• Unified communications
• Voicemail-to-email
• Call recording
• Call monitoring

Call queuing

If all agents are busy,  the call queuing feature places callers on hold until an agent with the right skills to handle the call becomes available. The caller will be informed they will be placed in the call queue, and while waiting, are often played pre-recorded messages or music. As soon as an agent becomes available, the queuing call will automatically ring his or her extension. Call queuing minimises the risk of calls being missed and customers being left dissatisfied. Agents will be able to take calls and assist customers when they can.

Unified communications

Unified communications can help to combine VoIP calls, instant messages, voicemail and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) contact data into one platform that can be easily accessed from desktops or mobile phones. This means that agents won’t need to be confined to their desks in order to get a job done. They will be able to handle calls remotely or while they’re on the go and will, therefore, be more able to service customers wherever they are and whenever they can. 

Voicemail-to-email

The voicemail-to-email feature ensures that both agents and customers are always kept in the loop. With it, voicemails are saved as audio files and then immediately emailed to the agent so that he or she can take care of it as soon as possible. This feature comes in handy when an agent is unavailable or has missed a call.

Call recording

Many businesses use the call recording feature in order to assess the performance of their call centre agents. This is particularly beneficial for onboarding new agents, as recorded calls will familiarise them with how to handle general customer needs and frequently asked questions. With this training, they’ll be better equipped to deal with customers. Thanks to call recording, agents can also find previous conversations with a certain customer they’re dealing with in order to gain a better understanding of that customer’s needs.

Call monitoring

Call monitoring is another useful educational feature of VoIP. It allows a privileged user, such as a supervisor or a more experienced agent, to monitor the progress and quality of conversations between agents and customers. It gives the privileged user the opportunity to coach the agent on the spot and help to guide the call in order to ensure that nothing has been skipped over. As a result, the customer’s needs will be better met.

Thanks to a variety of features, VoIP can make work a lot easier for call centre agents and, as a result, give customers the satisfaction they need. Agents can assist customers on the go and respond speedily if a call has been missed. Added to that, call recording and monitoring give agents the opportunity to be better educated on how to handle calls. With this assistance, they’re more able to help customers in the right way.