Contact Center vs. Call Center: Do You Have to Choose?

Businesses across the planet are constantly working toward providing their clients with accessible support and service. Of course, not every type of customer service is the same. Some types fail to aid the customer in a beneficial way, while others ensure a positive experience that leads to equally positive feedback. 

So, which is right for your business? Do you need a contact center or a call center? And do you even really have to choose between the two? We answer these questions and more to help you find the best solution for your clients’ needs. At ASPEN Media, we excel at streamlining communications between clients and businesses to ensure optimal customer services.

After reading this guide, we encourage you to contact us with any questions so we can assist you in finding the most suitable solution for your company. 

Call centers are offices dedicated to managing both outgoing and incoming calls within an organization. In doing so, call centers will communicate with clients, potential customers, and even employees. The organization itself will use call centers for a wide range of needs, including:

Whereas contact centers have multiple resources for communicating, call centers use voice communications only. As such, these centers are capable of handling both inbound calls and outbound calls. 

And the team members that help manage these calls are known as agents or representatives. Any number of business goals are met via the telephone system.

What’s more, call centers utilize two primary technologies to achieve their duties, including:

PBX : A PBX (Private Branch Exchange) on the premises is the system most often used in call centers. This traditionally consists of wired desk phones. As such, professional service must set up this system throughout the call center to ensure optimal performance.

VoIP : VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is the newer system of the two, using connections like Wi-Fi or cloud to connect outbound and inbound communications. The quality of VoIP calls is significantly better and ensures a better overall customer experience.

What’s more, VoIP uses software in conjunction with existing lines. Because of this, there isn’t a need to invest in additional hardware. You also find that your customer service outsourcing needs are far easier to achieve with this communications system.

Contact centers are capable of handling a wide range of communications. And it’s this variety that gives businesses and clients greater versatility and convenience. Customers have a lot more options to access, such as:

The various technologies used in contact centers are sometimes called omnichannel contact centers. This is because your clients can contact you through multiple channels, and your support agents can assist your clients using all of these channels.

What’s more, contact centers are often used in the core strategies of many businesses. Thanks to these advanced systems, you can easily research communications history between clients to better streamline your business strategies.

Some consumers prefer avoiding direct phone communication in favor of text messages or email, for example. Therefore, you might hear from a greater number of clients when you offer additional communication options.

For this reason, contact centers are becoming more and more popular among businesses. Customer satisfaction is more likely to improve when you give consumers diverse accessibility to your business. 

Call centers have many benefits over contact centers. While contact centers do offer more points of contact, call centers are more reliable and cost less.

They’re also the most suitable solution for remote customer service outsourcing, as VoIP systems don’t require all of your employees to be at a single location to serve your customers. As such, customer service outsourcing allows you to have teams all over the world, ensuring that your global clients have access to personalized support when they need it.

In addition, call centers let you take a much higher number of calls at one time, thus increasing your call volume and providing more customer service solutions.

Call centers also tend to be less risky. Because VoIP is so reliable, you are less likely to experience IT concerns that require expensive service to address and resolve issues.

And then there’s the analytical side to call centers. Thanks to the software that complements the call technology, you can readily research how many calls are made regarding a specific subject, the details of each call, and more.

In doing so, you will be able to adjust your communications and customer service outsourcing strategies to better serve your clients. 

At ASPEN Media, we excel at meeting our clients’ needs by offering a wide range of services, including outbound, inbound, and back-office services. We strive to build long-term relationships with our clients and develop beneficial cross-referrals. Contact us today to find out how we can benefit your customer service outsourcing needs.

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not decide whether to contact a lawyer based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.