Top Call Center Software for Small Businesses

Most people contacting a business over the phone value an efficient resolution to their issue, according to a new study by Clutch.

In a survey of over 500 people, nearly 80% ranked “efficient resolution” as one of their top three concerns, followed by knowledgeable staff (75%) and clear communication (65%). 

The challenge for businesses is that most customers expect a high-quality experience in a short amount of time. Over 40% of consumers expect businesses to respond to their communication within one hour on social media or in under 2 minutes by phone.

To meet customer expectations, many businesses use call center software, which helps agents access accurate information and real-time customer history to provide an efficient, personalized response.

In this article, we examine 5 of the most highly-rated inbound call center software solutions and share some of the pros and cons of each service. You can use this information to help determine which software is best for your company.

RingCentral

RingCentral is an advanced communications and collaboration software that helps businesses manage customer interactions. It offers support for chat, email, and phone communications.

RingCentral features include:

• Real-time analytics
• Omnichannel routing
• Performance, workforce, and quality assurance management
• Speech and text analytics
• In-house communication and file sharing

RingCentral’s interface is scalable, making it usable for any size business from small- to enterprise-level.

Pricing: Prices range from $19.99/month to $24/month depending on the number of users and amount of features. All include toll-free numbers and video conferencing. Higher-level subscriptions add features such as unlimited users, online faxing, and automatic call recording.

Five9

Five9 is an all-in-one contact center solution whose inbound cloud call center software offers sophisticated routing capabilities. Its software connects customers to the right agents, delivering customer history to the agent’s desktop to allow for quick resolution of issues. 

Routine functions can be automated to save time and allow agents to focus attention on personalized, high-value customer experiences.

Its inbound call center software offers 25 features, including:

• Automatic call distributions
• Interactive voice response
• Screen pops to allow agents access to customer profiles and data in real-time
• Agent scripting
• Post-call surveys

Pricing: Five9 offers simple, flexible, and use-based pricing. Its prices aren’t listed on its website, but a phone number and contact form are available to help you learn more.

Five9 promises quick deployment and 24/7/365 support for its software

Twilio

Twilio is a flexible, programmable cloud-based platform that promises instant deployment.

Twilio services 50,000 global businesses and its software features include:

• Multiple communication channels, including voice, SMS, video, and WhatsApp
• The ability to shift seamlessly using a single interface
• Contextual conversations in one interface
• Integrations with any channel, CRM, or data source
• Real-time monitoring and analytics

Pricing: Twilio offers a free trial credit with full API access. It offers pay-as-you-go pricing, volume discounts, and committed discounts. 

It offers interaction-based pricing, with, for example, voice starting at $0.0085/min to receive calls and SMS starting at $0.0075. A full and transparent price list is available on its website.

Genesys

Genesys is an all-in-one cloud contact solution center that allows you to connect your phone, email, chat, and social channels with one tool.

Features include:

• WebRTC Softphone: use your browser as a phone
• Omnichannel routing: system recognizes customers on any channel and routes them to the best agent
• Dashboard and reports: A single dashboard that contains current data along with historical metrics

Gensys promises lightening-fast deployment, proven availability, and a “360 degree view” of your customers with everything in one place.

Pricing: Gensys offers a variety of packages and dozens of features that range from $15 to $140/month per user. Free trials are available.

FreshCaller

FreshCaller by FreshWorks is call center software that boasts an easy setup that allows you to get started with your cloud-based system in 2 minutes. It offers companies the chance to bypass hardware with an easy setup that’s “astonishingly” affordable, according to its website.

FreshCaller features include:

• Real-time insights 
• Call metrics 
• Contextual conversations
• Agents can answer calls with a click on their laptop 
• Each call links to its recording and notes

FreshCaller offers 24-hour business week support by phone and 24-hour email support 7 days a week.

Pricing: Freshcaller prices start at 0$/month + per-minute fees to $40/month per agent + per minute. 

PlayVox

PlayVox is a quality assurance software that helps improve the customer service experience by evaluating, coaching, training and motivating agents. 

An alternative for businesses not yet ready to commit to an operational center, PlayVox helps keep customer service agents well-trained and motivated.

The software allows businesses to rank services agents and create prize campaigns and recognize top customer service workers.

Basic features include the abilities to:

• Identify customer service problems
• Give real-time feedback
• Distribute service reports to analysts
• Create QA scorecards

Advanced package features include:

• Virtual training through online learning materials
• Ability to measure service KPI’s in real time

Pricing: Prices range from $15 - $45 monthly, depending on features and number of users. Its starter subscription costs $15/month, its professional subscription costs $30/month, and its suite subscription costs $40/month.

Choose a Call Center Software That Fits Your Business Needs

Call center software ranges in features and pricing. Many companies offer countless features and add-ons, but small businesses may prefer the simplicity and quick onboarding that more basic software can offer.

Call center software can help your customer service agents personalize customer experiences and reduce wait times for a more efficient and customer-centric process.