How to choose the best contact centre solution

If you've decided to change your current carrier or your business requires VoIP services, you've probably already done your homework and Googled "best contact centre solutions". The results come up and the list is long - what do you do next? The list of operators seems endless, all of them offer the same thing, and there’s not a big price difference. Which criteria should you choose to guide you? Which one should you choose in the end? We’ve prepared a short list of the main things to consider when choosing the right operator for your business.

Find out how quickly you’ll receive a response to your request and you’ll also find out how fast daily technical and informational support will be. Is it ok that you’ll get a response within one hour? Or that a response could follow in 3-5 days, for example?

At this time a counter-argument might come to mind: but what if the incoming requests are handled by a sales person instead of support? It can really be so! If sales indicators are unacceptable or low, how likely is it that support will be better? Both are most often guided by the same guidelines and standards defined by the company.

When you’ve reached the contact stage, we recommend that you pay attention to the range of services offered. Don’t be shy to ask what goals the company has set and achieved over the previous year. Why is this necessary? To understand whether the company is developing instead of staying in their comfort zone. If so, you may have found a dinosaur that’s been going down the same path and selling the same thing for 10 years.

Remember, even if in the beginning you only need to make calls, development is important for you as well. Then you won’t need to change operators the day your company needs a next-level solution or system (which is always time-consuming and stressful). If your chosen operator isn’t a dinosaur, you’ll require only one button to connect a chat function to your website, for example. If your goal is to develop, choose a company that’s also constantly developing and keeping up with the latest industry trends.

This consideration goes hand in hand with the previous one. Pay attention to which programmes or services potential partners have integrated with their business. Does your operator candidate have clear API documentation? Does it include popular CRMs (like Pipedrive, Zoho, Bitrix24, Salesforce, etc.)?

Find out how many alternative connections the company you plan to choose has available! For example, if you need to make regular calls to Great Britain - what will happen if the connection or SIP trunk doesn’t work? Can they offer you alternatives? This can be difficult to test for beginners. If you’ve started testing a company's product, we recommend a simple method.

First make a call to your number from a UK number, then call your number from a US number. Make a short call assessment - whether the number is shown correctly, if the conversation quality is good, whether the call doesn’t get dropped, etc.

The next step is to repeat the test, only this time with the phone turned off. Listen for a signal that the telephone device is switched off. Then we recommend repeating the same test with an alternate operator. This way you can ensure availability of alternative channels, while testing call quality with various operators.

Take note! If the operator can’t, or simply doesn’t want to change routes during the test - where’s the guarantee that they’ll be able to when the need arises?

If the operator hasn’t published a systems report table, you can definitely ask for the opportunity to take a look at their server uptime screenshot. Pay attention to how often the system was down and what was the reason. If updates are installed and the system is regularly restarted at night, then it’s ok. But if there's no obvious explanation for system interruptions, it could be a sign of problems. If you’ve already chosen an operator and are signing a contract, we recommend not forgetting to include a clause where the operator guarantees 99.99% server uptime.

Ask the operator which security solutions they can offer. Find out how stable and secure the system is against various attacks, loss of access codes, etc. The received information and promises should definitely also be included in the final contract.

It's priceless! Make sure that technical and informational support is available any time you need it. Two support factors will be important during critical moments - whether the crisis will be resolved as quickly as possible, and what type losses will be the result. At the same time, define which channels you will use for communication (email, phone, Skype or other). Prompt, easily accessible support is priceless!

Did we say this already? Yes, but we'll say it many more times - this kind of support is priceless!

Determine whether the operator has experience providing services in your industry. Hopefully the answer is positive and the VoIP operator has also worked (at least for a short time) in your field. That means they’ll be able not only to provide services, but also come up with real proposals for solving your problems and achieving results.

For example, let’s say you’re a start-up that has just entered the tourism industry and has five operators. Then you’ll benefit from a service provider that has experience working with tourism companies that have at least 25 operators. When you grow to have 10 operators, then you won’t have to figure out your own solutions for the next step. An experienced operator will offer a ready-made model and the most suitable solutions. 

From our point of view after several years of professional experience, we can say that price is the last thing we recommend paying attention to. It's easy to be lured in by a cheap price. However, a cheaper bill for services doesn’t guarantee effective work, growth, and higher profits.

By saving money today, you’ll have to save every month in the future. Why? Because the focus will not be on the key factors necessary for achieving your goals in this field of business.

We’ve experienced that cheap operators selling their services below market price will mix a customer's call traffic by passing it through cheap, low-quality routes. What does this mean for the customer?

This can create a situation where a customer calls a number, but on the other end they hear silence, or a recorded voice/music over the top, after the call is picked up. Or your call recipient isn’t shown your number, but another number.

All of this indicates that the call has gone through a poor-quality route and that someone has made a profit from it. We encourage you to always report such cases to your operator. This will improve the quality of your calls and motivate the operator to look for an alternative connection.