Establishing and organizing a call center from scratch is a complex and multi-step process that requires careful planning and task execution. Below are the main steps needed to create a call center from scratch.
h3>Defining Goals and Requirements/h3>
The first step in creating a call center is defining the goals and requirements. You need to define the purpose of the call center, what services will be provided and what requirements need to be met.
Consider the possibility of creating a call center designed to enhance the quality of customer service. Our aim is to provide prompt, efficient, and professional service in solving problems and answering customer queries. The following requirements need to be defined for this:
- Minimal wait time for call response;
- Professional staff capable of resolving customer issues;
- Use of modern technology such as process automation to speed up responses;;
- Capability to serve customers in different languages;
- The ability to provide detailed information about the company’s products and services.
h3>Platform Selection /h3>
Choosing the right platform is a critically important step in setting up a call-center. It’s crucial to select a platform that satisfies all requirements, ensuring reliability and flexibility.
The Oki-Toki service is a popular choice among solutions to facilitate the establishment and organization of call centers:
- Ease of use.
- Flexibility in customizing tools for your business.
- The service solves a large number of issues, enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the call center.
- Analytics: Oki-Toki provides extensive analytics capabilities, allowing you to improve the efficiency of the call center.
- Integration: Oki-Toki integrates with a myriad of other business tools, including CRM systems and customer support software, to ensure seamless operation for both agents and customers.
Overall, Oki-Toki is a flexible and multifunctional solution for contact center organization, capable of assisting businesses of any size in client interaction and optimizing their business processes.
h3>Recruitment and training of staff/h3>
The next step in creating a contact center is staffing and training. It is essential to find professional agents, managers who will run the call center. Staff training should include platform training, contact center procedures, and policies. Here are some steps that can help conduct this process correctly:
- Define the key skills, qualities and experiences necessary for successful performance in a call center. It’s important to consider both ‘soft’ skills, such as communicability and empathy, and ‘hard’ skills, such as the ability to work with technological equipment and software products.
- Create a clear job description and publish it on suitable platforms. After identifying the requirements for candidates, create a clear and informative job description and post it on various platforms, such as the company’s website and specialized recruitment sites.
- Evaluate candidates using tests, interviews, and other methods to determine their suitability for the job requirements. Don’t forget to check references and previous work experience.
- Ensure proper training for new hires, which should encompass both theoretical and practical aspects of working in a call center. Training can be conducted via the company’s internal resources or through external training centers.
- Monitor the training process to ensure that new employees acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. Conduct regular knowledge checks and skill assessments.
- Ensure motivation and support for your agents to reduce staff turnover and increase their job satisfaction. Organize regular activities, rewards and so on.
h3>Testing and Configuration/h3>
Once all call center components are set up and staff training has been conducted, it is essential to carry out testing and configuration of the call center. This practice allows for identification and correction of issues prior to full-fledged operations. Below are the steps that can be undertaken for testing and configuration of the call center:
- Before starting, it’s imperative to ensure that all devices in the call center are functioning correctly. This could include checking headphones, computers, and other devices.
- Ensure that your internet connection and other related network connections are functioning correctly. You can verify this by making a call to a test number or conducting a test call.
- Ensure all programs used in the call center are functioning correctly. This may include testing call management programs, call recording, customer data processing, and other software.
- Take a look at how calls are correctly routed and reach the right agent in the call center. This may involve testing the routing of calls between different departments and the call center.
- Ensure calls are handled correctly and customers receive the support they need. This may involve testing call handling procedures, assessing response time, service quality, and other parameters.
- Ensure that the call center performance can handle calls and service customers at the required volume. This can include an assessment of response time to calls, call processing time, effective use of staff, and other indicators.
- If issues were identified during the testing process, it is essential to make the appropriate adjustments and updates to the call center system.
Challenges Encountered When Setting Up a Call Center
Establishing and organizing a call center from scratch can be fraught with a series of challenges, here are some of them:
Financial Costs
One of the main difficulties associated with setting up a call center is the significant financial costs of equipment, software, agent training, and renting office space.
Developing Business Processes
A call center is a complex business that involves multi-stage processes of customer interaction, personnel management, and data analysis. It requires the development of effective business processes to meet customer needs, optimize costs, and increase productivity.
Staff Selection and Training
People work in the call center, and the quality of customer service depends directly on the skills and experience of the staff. It is crucial to select and train specialists who can effectively work with customers, handle conflict situations, and solve problems.
Technological Problems
The call center utilizes an array of technologies and software systems, which can become complex to manage and maintain. It’s crucial to assure the reliability and security of the system, as well as swift response to potential technical issues.
h4>Competition/h4>
The call center market is highly competitive, therefore it’s imperative to design an effective marketing and promotion strategy to allure new clients and retain existing ones.
h4>Compliance with Legal Standards/h4>
Call centers usually deal with confidential customer information, hence it’s mandatory to follow all legal norms regarding personal data protection and confidentiality.
Upon completion of testing and setup, the call center is ready for launch.
Multichannel Handling of Requests
Multichannel processing of requests in the Oki-Toki service is a process of handling incoming customer requests from various communication channels. This may include incoming calls, emails, chats in online services and on social networks. The main goal of multichannel processing is to provide a timely and effective response to customer requests, regardless of the method they used to contact the company.
The multichannel processing process typically involves several stages, such as collecting customer information, identifying and prioritizing requests, resolving issues or providing an answer to a question, as well as recording information about the request for further processing. For effective multichannel processing of requests, companies can use various tools, such as automatic request routing systems, integration with CRM systems, analytical tools for monitoring and analyzing requests, and chatbots for automatic request processing.
Multichannel handling of requests in the Oki-Toki service is a crucial component of providing a high level of customer service. It allows rapid and efficient response to customer inquiries, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction levels and strengthening the link between the company and its clients.
Advanced CRM and Analytics
The advanced CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and analytics tools in Oki-Toki are a potent instrument for managing customer experiences and data analysis. These tools enable companies to boost customer satisfaction levels and optimize their business operations.
The CRM system in Oki-Toki allows automation and simplification in managing customer relationships, making it easier to collect and analyze information about clients, their behavior, and preferences. This includes gathering and storing client’s contact data, history of inquiries and orders, preference information, and much more. Consequently, companies can better understand their clients, provide a customized approach, and increase sales efficiency.
Analytics in Oki-Toki allows companies to analyze large volumes of data and gain valuable insights for making business decisions. The analytics system allows you to gather data about customers and their behaviors, analyze this data, identify trends and patterns, determine the success of marketing campaigns, and much more. This approach enables companies to optimize their processes, improve service quality, and increase customer satisfaction levels.
Overall, Advanced CRM and analytics in Oki-Toki help companies effectively manage customer experience and gather valuable data for decision-making. This enables companies to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction, increase sales efficiency, and improve their business processes.
Telephony management
Oki-Toki is a platform for business communications, which includes a set of tools for telephony management. With Oki-Toki, you can set up a telephone system for your company and manage it with a web interface.
Here are some telephony management capabilities in Oki-Toki:
h3>Setting up a virtual number/h3>
You can select a virtual number for your company and set it up for call reception. Your virtual number can be either regional or international, allowing you to receive calls from clients worldwide.
Call Routing
You have the opportunity to set call routing rules for specific numbers or time slots. For instance, you can set a rule that directs calls to a specific number when your office is closed.
Voice Menu
You have the chance to set up a voice menu (IVR) that will guide your clients quickly towards the right department or person. Your voice menu may provide options such as ‘Press 1 for sales department, 2 for technical support’.
Call Queues
You can establish call queues for specific departments or agents. This will evenly distribute calls among agents and decrease wait times for clients.
Call Recording
Oki-Toki allows you to record all incoming and outgoing calls so you can track service quality and use the recordings for training new agents.
Reports
“ You can receive call reports that include data on call duration, wait times in the queue, the number of missed calls, and other indicators. This will help you analyze the work of the contact center and improve service quality.
Telephony management in Oki-Toki allows companies to create an efficient call handling system, reduce customer wait times, and enhance customer service level regardless of your business process.
Review from the service Startpack
Pros: Extensive functionality, a vast array of reports. The company itself is geared towards the development of new products to enhance the quality of service. A seamless integration of statistical data, disciplinary reports, and other reports.
An intuitive platform for companies with a large customer base. Here, each client is assigned a personal agent, which is essential in the initial stages of working with the program. A complete automation of calls, recording, and archiving of all phone conversations is available. API integration is offered. Additionally, the cost of these services on the market is low.
Cons: There is a lack of certain widgets when transitioning to a new agent’s workplace. Though, this can be viewed as an advantage as it does not distract the agent during the call.
Iulia Raiscaia
Review from the service Voipoffice
We’ve been working with Oki-Toki for over 3 years. It’s a superb service for implementing projects at a highly favorable price. Pay when you have staff, don’t pay when you don’t. We have implemented a large number of projects on the Oki-Toki platform. There are very handy widgets for tracking metrics and flexible settings. If you want to quickly launch a project that will run stably, I strongly recommend Oki-Toki. In three years we have never had a situation where Oki-Toki didn’t work for more than 4-5 minutes and that happens very rarely.
Bogdan Koshevyy
Review from the service Otzovik
We’ve been working with Oki-Toki since 2018, discovered them when we were launching our online store. The service is incredibly flexible. Initially, we had a couple of agents, and we bought just 2 agent seats. Now the number of agents has increased – of course, we spend more too, but there are no “extra” or imposed charges. If you have 10 agents, you only pay for 10 agent seats. If you don’t need, for example, a voice robot – you don’t pay for it. If you need it – you connect it. However, a personal manager is available only at the connection and trial period stage. Overall, we are satisfied.
Love
Review from the service Indexcall
There are pros and cons in the system’s operation. Overall, the impression is positive. Among the conveniences: a clear interface and browser-based operation, dialer capabilities. IVR is very well arranged. Creating voice greetings and scripts is pretty cool. On the downside: the agent’s work interface is raw, there are some other improvements needed. A bit frustrating that many linked functions are found in separate sections. It would be good to have more hints. Overall, I’m more satisfied with the operation than not.
Guest