What is VOIP in Call Center
A call center uses different technologies to connect with customers. Voice, chat, and email are a few of them. However, with the advancement of technologies and new calling options, the usage of traditional phone lines is slowly confined.
VOIP is one of the greatest options in recent years to replace traditional phone lines.
VOIP in Call Center |
In this blog today we will read “VOIP” in details and its usage in a Call Center . Let’s start the topic “What is VOIP in Call Center?”
What is VOIP in Call Center
Let’s review the agenda of today’s blog:
- What is VOIP?
- Revolution of VOIP and Call Center
- Benefits of VOIP
Let’s start it “What is VOIP” in layman ?
What is VOIP?
VOIP is an abbreviation for Voice Over Internet Protocol. As the name refers “VOIP is a technology that has revolutionized the way a call center makes the call. VOIP utilizes the method of the internet to transmit voice calls instead of traditional phone calls.”
In common, connecting through Skype, Facebook or WhatsApp are some perfect examples of VOIP.
Now let’s understand what is the impact of VOIP in Call Center.
Impact of VOIP in Call Center
Typically call center uses multiple telephone lines to connect with the customer. The higher number of customers means more phone lines, hardware, manpower, and a dedicated IT department.
With VOIP in place, you can get rid of all this setup. Just an IP Phone, robust internet connectivity, a headphone, and a laptop, and you are all done with VOIP set up.
Although the first VOIP was launched way back in 1995, in the call center it was adapted in the year 2015. especially in India which is the second biggest market after the Philippines in terms of the call center industry, where there are tons of international BPOs but the setup required to call international customers in different geos was very costly hence the need for a cost-effective technology was very much awaited. VOIP revolutionized the call in many ways.
Let’s look at some remarkable benefits of using VOIP in the call center.
Benefits of VOIP in Call Center
Here are 5 main benefits of using VOIP In Call Center
1. Cost-effective :
One of the prime benefits of setting up a VOIP environment in a call center is the cost-effective approach. Traditionally a call center uses PRI lines to call a customer which costs a huge amount of money, especially for international customers.
Post introduction of VOIP technology in call centers we have seen a drastic drop in cost-per-call charges, In addition to that VOIP technology requires less maintenance, set up, and manpower which also reduces the labor cost of a call center.
In total reduces the call-per-cost which is calculated by the formula “Total Call Center Costs/ Number of Calls answered”.
2. Support All Channels :
A call center uses different channels to communicate with customers e.g. call, chat, Ticket etc. Thanks to the VOIP technology which also supports all the channels including:
- Calls
- Emails
- Video
- Chat
- Voicemail
3. High-Quality Calls:
The other benefit of using VOIP technology is high-quality calls. Often, calling customers in remote locations and international locations in a traditional call center had to compromise with the call quality.
Often, calling using the traditional method, especially in inclement weather resulted in poor call quality, with the adaptation of VOIP technology providing call centers a robust and high call quality even in weather and natural disasters.
4. Video Calls:
Apart from its conventional use for phone calls, VoIP has evolved into a widely adopted video conferencing solution. You might have already experienced VoIP video conferencing without being aware of it. Popular applications like Facetime, Skype, and Facebook, for instance, utilize VoIP technology to deliver seamless video and audio communication.
VOIP Video Calls |
In call centers, especially in the sales domain video calls play a vital role in video conferencing, pitching a sale, and cracking a prospect lead.
5. Less Setup required:
A traditional call center setup requires different servers, a dedicated room for PRIs, and Internet connectivity to make voice calls to customers which is a long process and lengthy deal.
Unlike, traditional Call Center set up VOIP environments use less set up mainly one IP Phone and a robust internet connectivity (also headphones and system obviously) and you are all set up to launch VOIP Call Center.
In addition to above mentioned benefits, there are several other benefits of using VOIP in the Call Center.
Let’s look at the comparison chart below:
VOIP | Traditional |
---|---|
Adding or Deleting Lines can be done quickly. | The traditional method takes time to add or delete PRI Lines. |
No expenses to Upgrade/ Downgrade. | Expenses on PRI Lines to Upgrade. |
Easily shifted to WFH/WFO models. | Require planning and VPN configuration for WFH. |
Pay what you Use | Need to pay for all PRIs whether using or not. |
Can be quickly scalable even in real time | Need pre-planning to execute scalability |
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