Computer telephony integration (CTI) is a technology that marries the computer with the telephone in a call center. Thanks to CTI call center software solutions, a customer history pop-up screen appears on an employee’s computer as soon as a customer call comes in, giving the employee complete insight into the customer’s history and data.
CTI solutions allow customer service representatives and sales agents to have better informed interactions with customers, resulting in increased sales and improved customer service. Today’s call centers use CTI software systems as part of their complete call center solution.
When shopping for CTI solutions, consider the following:
1. CTI software systems that provide customer pop-up screens.
2. Call center software that includes CTI solutions.
3. Adding scripting to computer telephony for greater productivity.
4. CTI services with industry-specific solutions.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Choose CTI software systems that include customer pop-up screens
The core of CTI is the computer telephony technology that enables the customer's data record to be retrieved from a database and viewed on a pop-up screen on an agent's computer in tandem with the incoming customer call.
I recommend: Chrysalis Software’s Sonata CTI Suite is CTI call center software that includes pop-up screens. CTI software systems like
QCS’s QCall delivers customer information to your employee’s desktop in a number of formats.
Inter-Tel’s Telephony Manager integrates your communications system with Microsoft CRM software so that customer information from your CRM program is automatically screen popped to your staff’s computers.
Look for call center software that includes CTI solutions
Computer telephony is part of a comprehensive call center solution that includes features such as IVR (interactive voice response), inbound/outbound calling, call routing, predictive dialers, and multi-site support as well as reporting and analytics.
I recommend: With the
inContact call center software suite, computer telephony is integrated with other standard call center features.
Call Center Software World allows you to search vendors by criteria, including CTI services.
Add scripting to CTI software systems
Providing scripting for call center agents is a proven productivity enhancer. CTI solutions that integrate scripting with the customer pop-up screen is an added benefit.
I recommend: AMCAT’s Communicator solution integrates scripting with CTI services for a better customer experience.
OnviSource Call Center Solutions’ AutoScript feature allows scripts to be structured to automatically populate your customer’s data.
Industry-specific CTI services
From hospitality to emergency response, different industries have different call center needs. While shopping for CTI services, look at CTI software systems that are optimized for your specific customer needs.
I recommend: MicroAutomation’s CTI call center software offers industry specific solutions for healthcare, utilities, hospitality, government, retail, manufacturing, financial services and emergency response.
Five9.com computer telephony industry solutions include outsourcers, mortgage and finance, offshore BPO and collections.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- When shopping for CTI software systems, ask about training and product support.
- Save money by considering CTI software systems that offer modular solutions rather than those that offer a large integrated call center package.
- If your call center has several locations, make sure your CTI call center software can handle multi-site call centers.
- Make sure to choose CTI call center software that will integrate with your existing telephony infrastructure and agent workstation environments.
- Ask computer telephony vendors if their CTI solutions can integrate with fax, email, chat, video and other customer contact points.
The official source of CTI Services is the CTI Services page at Business.com
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