Rapidly developing companies today cannot do without such a tool as a call center. Such services appeared in the 1960s and 1970s and performed the service of telephone informing customers. Today, however, call centers also perform such tasks as: 

• making an appointment; 
• consulting users on controversial issues; 
• conducting surveys on various topics; 
• promotion of goods or services by phone; 
• other functions determined by the company’s strategy. 

All these tasks are promptly solved, as the contact center is endowed with modern IT solutions. It allows you to automate the operator’s activities, process calls and analyze them. 

Types of call centers

When organizing a call center, you should pay attention to their classification, and the associated features that determine the benefits for the company. Contact centers come in:

1. Corporate. This is a separate division of the company, which is engaged in customer calls and marketing research in the interests of the organization. 
2. Outsourcing technical support services. This is a separate company that provides technical support services under a contract that specifies the algorithms and all other obligations. 
3. Centralized. Employees of such a unit are present in the same room, which allows you to control their work. 
4. Virtual. This is the latest trend. All work with clients is carried out remotely. 

However, regardless of the variety of contact centers, it’s necessary to provide employees with equipment with the help of which they can effectively communicate with the clients and help solve problems. 

Equipment for the call center 

Corporate or outsourcing technical support services are designed to provide high quality customer service. Therefore, such organizations must have modern high-quality equipment in their arsenal: 

1. Computer. This tool provides access to a virtual PBX and other means of communication with customers when dealing with calls. The computer should have 8GB of RAM, current versions of operating systems and almost 300 MB of free hard disk space. It’s also worth installing anti-spyware software.
2. A headset that includes headphones and a microphone. It’s better to buy a professional headset to achieve high sound quality and increased comfort for the operator. 
3. Internet connection. In a call center, calls are made through VoIP technology, so a high-speed Internet connection and high bandwidth dictated by the number of operators is required. 
4. Quality organized workspace. This parameter is typical for corporate and outsourcing technical support services, since they don’t work from home but in a specially designated room. Therefore it’s worth creating a comfortable microclimate and sufficiently good fire safety conditions.  

In addition to the above equipment, contact center employees will need the following tools: 

1. Software. With its help, operators make calls to customers through different channels. 
2. Tool for audio recording of telephone conversations. This will allow you to control the work of contact center operators when communicating with customers. 
3. Automated dialing. This makes it possible to instantly dial priority numbers without wasting time calling them manually. 
4. Management of communication with customers. CRM tools will allow the operator to get all the information about the customers and their order history. 
5. Analytics. This will allow you to monitor the quality and efficiency of the operator’s work, so that the company’s clients will be satisfied. 

As you can see, organizing a call center is not so easy and quite expensive, but it solves the problem of attracting customers and helps them cope with difficulties.