Does your company need a call center or a contact center? Although the two terms are often used indistinctly, there are key differences between them. Understanding the differences, and how they apply to the needs of your business, is a fundamental step in building an effective and outstanding customer experience.
Contact center vs. call center
Before going into the differences and benefits of these two typologies, it is necessary to know what each of the concepts refers to. Do you want to know more? Keep reading!
Call centers were once the standard for customer service. However, with the appearance of new technologies, the way in which organizations provide this service has changed enormously. The development of digital channels, in particular, has led to the transformation of traditional call centers into contact centers. Despite the similarities, they are two communication models that differ in many ways, such as channels, data, self-service integration, agent skills, and technology.
What is a call center and what are its main tasks?
First of all, it is essential to define what a call center is and what we mean when we talk about it. As its name suggests, a call center is a telephone call center. In other words, a “call center” is a centralized service that manages and handles both incoming and outgoing call traffic for a given client.
And it does so through a single channel: a telephone network with a work team made up of multiple agents who constantly receive calls. In this way, in a call center different calls are handled simultaneously that, depending on the size of the company it supports, can be more or less large. To do this, you can keep some users on hold while you answer others, always offering them attention based on the order in which their calls have come in.
Its main tasks are telephone customer service (incoming calls) and/or outgoing calls for lead generation and making sales or closing service contracts.
What is a call center: what types of call center are there?
Thus, taking into account the above, we can distinguish between two types of call center:
- Inbound call center: an inbound call center is a type of call center where it is the customer service team who awaits calls from users to solve doubts or deal with claims.
- Outbound call center: when we speak of an outbound call center we refer to a call center where, on the contrary, it is the agents who carry out different actions to directly contact potential customers to offer a certain product or service with the aim of achieving and retaining new leads and, finally, close sales.
What is a contact center and what are its main functions?
As we explained in one of our latest posts, a contact center can act just like a call center, but its work extends to other channels. Thus, the support and customer service by the agents is not only carried out by telephone but is extended to online chats, instant messaging service on social media or email, among others.
In this way, to be able to provide an adequate service through all communication channels, it is essential to have contact center software that allows you to integrate all of them quickly, easily and intuitively.
What is a call center: difference between call center and contact center
Contact centers are undergoing a series of changes that are definitively altering the status quo. The main difference between a call center and a contact center is, as we said a few lines above, the channel through which they provide service to the customer and to the company. While a call center works with a single channel, the telephone, a contact center offers multi-channel service: telephone, instant messaging, social media, chat or email.
This type of center is adapted to new technologies, digitization and current consumption habits to be present through various media and channels, always favoring interaction with the customer in the medium that is most comfortable for them.
While a call center works with a single channel, the telephone channel, a contact center offers multi-channel service; telephone, instant messaging, social networks, chat or email.
Another important difference between a call center and a contact center is their mission. In the case of a call center service, it focuses on incoming and outgoing calls (inbound and outbound). Incoming calls usually deal with providing technical support and attention to customer demands, doubts or complaints. The outgoing ones are usually made to sell products or services, to carry out post-sale follow-up surveys and customer loyalty, etc.
As for the tasks of a contact center, they are similar to the call center, adding other tasks regarding the channels through which it offers its service. This includes pre-sale advice or support during the sale if the client needs it.
Moreover, it offers services such as online customer service chat and others related to the implementation of new technologies typical of the digital age (or, as we have already said at some point, the so-called “phygital era”). Its main job could be summed up as improving customer and user satisfaction across multiple channels.
Call center: is a contact center the logical evolution in the digital era?
Very much in line with the phygital concept, a contact center could be the logical evolution of a call center. Especially if we take into account its main objective: to elevate the brand experience of a company through the combination of the physical world (offline) and the digital environment (online). What we know as the “Three I’s” (immediacy, immersion and interaction), a contact center could be the logical evolution of a call center.
This is, at least, the way some experts put it. Although a call center is still a very valid and highly recommended service for some types of businesses, others must advance in the omnichannel approach and offer their clients a 360º service that allows them to contact, according to their preferences or moments, through one channel or another. The digital challenge necessary in most companies means that classic call centers are evolving to become contact centers.
Others, however, must advance in the aforementioned omnichannel approach and offer their clients a globalized service.
What is better for my company, a call center or a contact center?
There are no absolute answers that can be given in a general way. You must take into account both your type of business and the customer service you want to provide. And also, the interaction you want to have with the user.
Now that we know the difference between a call center and a contact center, it is important to answer two questions:
- What type of service do you want to offer?
- What tasks you should do both for a better relationship with the client and for the success of your business.
The answer to these questions will tell you what is more important for your business: a call center service or a contact center service. To obtain an answer based on real data of your company and your current and future projects, it is advisable to order a professional technical assessment. This will show you in a clear and argued way which option is the most suitable for your company and why.
Omnichannel contact center: discover our software EVOLUTION
Having a good omnichannel contact center software is essential to provide users with the best experience. How? Through impeccable customer service that manages to retain them and increase the performance of your agents.
Contact us and request a demo of our contact center software. Begin the (R)evolution!
