5 TIPS FOR CHOOSING A CTI SOLUTION FOR YOUR CONTACT CENTER

Is your computer telephony integration outdated, unscalable or inefficient? If so, now’s the time to upgrade. Follow these five tips to help you find a new CTI solution your team will love.

Computer telephony integration (CTI)?is the technology that allows computer systems to interact with telephone systems.

In contact centers, agents use CTI to control and manage telephone calls right from their computers, allowing them to handle calls quickly and effectively. They can also easily access customer information, leading to?better customer service?and?increased customer satisfaction.

Since a CTI solution is so valuable to your contact center, you want to make sure the one you have meets your needs. If you’re finding that it’s challenging to update your existing system or your processes are no longer efficient, it’s in your best interest to upgrade.

But finding a CTI solution for your contact center can be challenging. CTI solutions can be complex, and finding one that’s compatible with your existing systems can take a lot of time and energy if you aren’t sure what to look for. Here are five tips to help you make the right call.

5 Tips for Choosing a CTI Solution for Your Contact Center

1. Understand Your Needs

Before searching for a CTI solution, you should sit down with your leadership team and determine your business needs. This allows you to gather everyone’s insights on best supporting your agents.

Here are some questions you can ask:

• How many agents will use the solution??You want to ensure the solution can support all your agents. Determining the number of agents also informs whether getting a?per-seat license?is better.
• What features are necessary??Knowing what features you want makes it a lot easier when you’re comparing solutions.
• Can the solution grow with your business??It helps to have a solution that scales with your organization. This allows you to keep the same solution for the long haul, and your agents don’t have to learn a new system when your team grows.

Once you answer these questions, you’re ready to start researching.

2. Research Features

When you’re looking at CTI solutions, it’s important to?look at the features, because the right ones can elevate your operations to the next level. Some?powerful CTI featuresinclude:

• Screen-pop:?A functionality that enables customer information to automatically populate the agent’s computer screen when the customer calls in.
• Custom reporting:?Gain insights into?key performance indicators (KPI)?like call time or hold time and other important metrics.
• Click2Call:?A VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) feature that makes it easier for customers to contact you by allowing them to call with the click of a button.
• Jobs engine:?This feature syncs all your products and systems to keep all your information up to date.

Another powerful feature is integrations, which connect the CTI with your computer systems so you can communicate and share data between the two more efficiently. Let’s take a deeper look.

3. Review Integration Capabilities

It’s paramount that your CTI solution can integrate with your existing tech stack because it saves time, effort and resources. This also ensures that your contact center can continue to provide high-quality customer service without interruption. CTI integrations allow you to access and share customer data more easily, providing agents with a complete view of the customer’s history and preferences, resulting in more personalized interactions.

Some common CTI integrations include:

• Call recording integration:?Enable agents to record and store customer interactions such as phone calls, chats and emails directly from their computers.
• Voicemail integration:?Allow contact center agents to manage voicemail messages in the same system they use to manage other customer interactions.
• Call metrics integration:?Seamlessly update call metrics like queue time and talk time as they happen.
• External system integration:?These include integrations to third-party systems, like?Zendesk,?Salesforce,?Mulesoft?and?Freshworks.

Another aspect you should consider is scalability because as your business grows, so do your needs.

4. Check for Scalability

Scalability?is an essential aspect of any business growth strategy because you want to be able to support your team at every stage of your company’s journey. And as your contact center grows and evolves, you need a CTI solution that can keep up with your changing needs and demands.

A scalable CTI solution can expand to accommodate a growing number of agents, customers and interactions without compromising the quality of service or customer experience. For example, your CTI solution should be able to handle an increasing number of calls by distributing them to available agents using intelligent routing algorithms.

But what happens when your CTI solution has problems?

5. Ask About Technical Support

Unfortunately, no technology is perfect. CTI solutions can run into various issues relating to

• Integrations:?One of the most common problems is integration issues between the CTI solution and the contact center’s existing systems. This can result in incomplete or inaccurate data being displayed on the agent’s screen, which can lead to longer handle times, frustrated customers, and, ultimately, reduced efficiency.
• Compatibility:?CTI solutions may not be compatible with all types of telephony equipment, such as PBXs or SIP trunks, which can result in dropped calls or poor call quality.
• Reporting:?Without proper reporting and analytics capabilities, it can be difficult for contact center managers to measure the effectiveness of their CTI solution.
• Security:?As with any system that handles sensitive customer data, security is a critical concern. CTI solutions must be designed to meet strict security standards and undergo regular audits to ensure compliance.

If you run into any of those kinds of problems, you need technical support that’s available to help you in a pinch. Because the longer the issues persist, the more problems they create. This can lead to poor service quality, loss of productivity and even financial losses.

CTI solutions come in different types and configurations, and the level of technical support available can vary depending on the vendor or solution. For example, some vendors may offer 24/7 technical support, while others may only offer support during business hours. Understanding what type of technical support is available for a specific CTI solution can help you choose the one that best meets your contact center’s needs. Therefore, ask about technical support before making a final decision.

Technical support can also help you get the most out of your CTI solution by providing guidance on?best practices, troubleshooting common issues and offering training and education on how to use the solution effectively. This can help you optimize your contact center operations and improve the customer experience.

Conclusion

Choosing the right CTI solution for your contact center is easier when you know what to look for. Remember to determine your needs before you start shopping, and then continue to look at features, integration capabilities, scalability and technical support. By following these tips, you can find a CTI solution that takes your contact center to new heights.

Give your contact center a boost with the?CDC solution.?Contact us today?to learn more about transforming your contact center with our innovative CTI solution.