Best Call Center Software in 2021: Pricing & Descriptions

Looking to tackle ticket volume? Need to find customer insight? In this guide, we walk you through the best call center software for your business, including their prices and why they're so good.

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Is your business falling behind on calls? Or are you looking to get a better understanding of reasons for contact?

Call center software solutions are easy to find with a bit of research. Whether you are looking for the best outbound call center software or simply looking to strengthen your call center analytics software, we’ve got you covered.

You’ll be able to find that information, and more, right here, including our recommended 15 Helpdesk Contact Centre solutions and how they can work for your individual business.

After this article, you can expect to have some information at hand when making a decision that works for you! Read on to discover more.

What are the Best Call Center Software Platforms? Here are the Top 15 Help Desk Contact Center Solutions

Let's start at the very beginning. Although we address most FAQS at the end of this blog post, this definition should make sure we're on the same page.

What is a Help Desk?

Software used in call centers should not focus solely on the calls. Instead, there should be a software platform in place that helps organize those calls and keep conversations and information in one place.

This is called a “help desk.” It is where your employees will be able to search a conversation that they had with a customer or client and be able to pull that information quickly.

It also includes IT Support, so if your customer or employee is having trouble connecting to a VPN, they will be able to contact the help desk to find a solution to their problem.

The help desk should be exactly what it sounds like: a place where people can go to find help and fix their problems. This can aid in finding the call center solutions that need to be resolved quickly and easily.

Not only does this help your employees do their jobs better, but it actually drives customer satisfaction. You’re more likely to retain customers with this call center monitoring software in place.

Here is a list of some call center software to consider when discerning what software to use for your help desk:

1. Zendesk

Available in multiple languages, this software provides a service that is easy for both customers and employees to use that will not show what is happening behind the scenes.

Using multiple channels, like WhatsApp, email, calling, and more, all conversations will be recorded and kept in one place for easy access.

This call center solution price is $19/month for teams or $49/month for professionals that can be billed by agent, month, or annually depending on what you need.

2. Freshdesk

At four and a half stars, this call center monitoring software provides a cloud-based experience for customers and employees.

Each conversation is recorded and separated into tickets that can be searched for at any time. An AI-powered support chatbox and field service management are included.

Freshdesk is a free call center software for unlimited agents or $15/month billed annually.

3. Intercom

This call center software features a messenger tool that can be used across the whole customer experience.

Those who use this system rave about its simple nature and that the support and easy setup are great for getting the call center software up and running quickly.

One customer said, “It's modern, easy to set-up, data-loving, and always moving forward. Intercom has a plan for who they want to be, and it shows in the software they build. I've used Olark, Zendesk, and Groove, and Intercom does it best”. “When my customers go out of their way to mention how much like they like the chat tool, you know that Intercom is doing something right.”

4. Zoho Desk

With Zoho Desk, you will be able to find every channel and conversation through a single interface. This allows for the volume of calls to be high, especially with the importance of outbound call center software being substantial.

The call center software comparison to Zoho Desk is Freshdesk. However, with Zoho Desk, you will be able to link solutions directly to problems for easy navigating with your employees.

5. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a free call center solution site that allows you to upgrade to $15/month for the ticket option. It was rated as the #1 chat widget in 2020.

Because it is fully customizable, it allows for personalization to each customer to retain the needed information.

6. Front

This software starts at $9 a month per user or can be upgraded to a Plus membership of $24 a month per user.

The ability to use apps and emails to do business with customers is essential, and Front gives precisely that, all in an easy-to-use software application.

7. LiveZilla

With this call center solution software, LiveZilla focuses on data privacy and protects your clientele’s information.

Multi-website support and visitor help software are included within the world of LiveZilla, providing customer satisfaction––guaranteed. It can integrate emails, and even messages from all social media platforms, into one place for easy access.

8. Hiver

Starting at $22 per month in the “Growth” option, or at just $37 per month for the “Pro” version, Hiver allows your business to monitor work all through the well-used tool of Gmail.

This is perfect if your company is working within the Google Suite for any business you do.

9. HubSpot Service Hub

This call center software solution has the option to be a free call center software. If you are looking to upgrade, the fee is only $50 per month for the Service Hub Starter.

HubSpot provides 24/7 assistance through multiple channels so that your customers and employees can maneuver through information whenever it is needed.

10. LiveChat

LiveChat is a basic help desk software that is used in over 100 countries. It provides real-time chat assistance around the clock for instant solutions to problems that pop up.

If you are looking for a simple and barrier-free call center software solution, LiveChat may be a good option for you.

11. HelpCrunch

HelpCrunch is free for the first 14 days. It consolidates messages and calls through numerous platforms and can even sort through email marketing.

This software not only works as a help desk but also as a knowledge base and will soon have the ability to use a chatbot to help your customers.

12. TeamSupport

TeamSupport’s support desk is $50 per month. It is tapered for the B2B (business-to-business) capacity but is perfect for the B2C (business-to-consumer) world, as well.

Because it meshes the two worlds together, TeamSupport is a solid call center software solution for people who deal with both businesses and individual customers.

13. Salesforce Service Cloud

With Salesforce, the platform can be accessed from more than just the computer––it is supported on various technologies, such as tablets and phones.

To sign up for the Service Essentials Edition, the cost is $25 for each user a month, while the Professional Edition costs $75 for each user per month.

14. Re:amaze

Starting at $29 per agent a month, Re:amaze is the call center software solution that can integrate multiple platforms like Slack, Shopify, Stripe, and much more.

At four and a half stars, users rave that this help desk software is excellent for multiple email addresses. It is the perfect place for those who own websites, apps, and stores.

15. HelpScout

HelpScout is an all-in-one helpdesk solution. They provide an email-based customer support platform, knowledge base tool, and an embeddable search/contact widget for customer service professionals.

HelpScout starts at $20 per user per month and scales up from there.

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Top 5 Call Center Analytics Software

When trying to find a suitable solution for analytics in your call center business, it’s important to recognize what you need. Here are the top 5 call center analytics software programs available.

SentiSum

The remarkable thing about SentiSum is that they are built for customer support insights. Most companies include customer service as a side channel, and do it poorly. But, SentiSum is dedicated to getting insights out of support tickets.

SentiSum's AI tags tickets accurately and in real-time, meaning you are able to browse through reasons for contact, drivers of customer complaints and negative customer sentiment.

SentiSum's 'deep dive' feature lets you do easy root cause analysis on the drivers of support tickets so you can quantify issues and start reducing ticket volume.

Their software closes the gap between customer and company, turning conversations into bad-experience-busting insight.

Key functionality:

Replacing generic, manual tags with granular, AI topics
Automated, real-time tagging of tickets
Real-time routing and prioritisation of support tickets
Root cause analysis to zero in on the real reasons behind customer dissatisfaction and proactively reduce churn
Timely trend and anomaly detection.
Real-time alerts on trending topics that help your team fix problems before they affect more customers
Accurately quantify customer issues and sentiment to understand which improvements will have the biggest impact on contacts and customer experience
Daily and weekly email digests, to keep everyone up to date on the customer issues of the moment
Real-time dashboard to dig into the important issues and share with the right team

Reach out to us for a product demo here.

Medallia

Looking at web, email, and phone analytics, Medallia can create one place to find client feedback and use it to your advantage.

From there, these reports can even be sent straight to your phone for easier access. Tracking clients’ financials and conflicting schedules and their data can be complex, but with Medallia, it comes with just a touch of a button.

Customers gave it four and a half stars and said that it eases the gap between customer and business. It’s easy to navigate and easy to learn the system in a short amount of time.

ResponseTek

From welcoming emails and getting information from both client activity and their products, ResponseTek provides analytics that are genuinely tailored to the actual data of clients, not the in-between.

By giving you information reports, you can bypass the anxiety that comes with wanting to know how to serve your clients best.

Clarabridge

Gathering information from things like email, visits, web-based media, and more, Clarabridge offers the call center analytics software solution that can ease any worries about growth for your company.

This software enables businesses to learn what actually works with their clients and allows for the natural progression of work.

InMoment

InMoment provides a fully developed analytics software that is shown through its Experience Hub.

One of the most critical parts of the InMoment experience is the Voice of Customer or VoC stage. Additionally, it provides the ability and space for Employee Engagement arrangements.

Customers who use InMoment said they enjoyed that the reports can be given in multiple different ways in order to track all aspects of the client and employee experience.

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Software Call Center FAQs

What is contact center software?

Contact center software is a program that monitors the inbound and outbound calls, as well as provides a “help desk” or customer service provider. Caller data and information can also be recorded to provide analytics to the employer.
Agents within the business can access these databases to better help the customers and even things on an employee to employee basis.
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Overall, contact center software can do many things. They can either be cloud-based or on-center programs. If they are cloud-based, they can be reached in multiple different places, like on the go.
On-center programs work best for those in an office setting that will be stationary and do not move around a lot with technology.
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Warm transfers, outbound calling, click-to-call options, and call tracking and scripting are just a few of the various functions that a contact center software manages.

What is outbound call center software?

Outbound call center software provides the basis for employees to make calls to clients on behalf of the business, whether it be from the actual business building or a Work From Home (WFH) situation.

Outbound calling can happen for multiple reasons: sales, customer support, fundraising, surveys, and much more. Because these calls are typically what grow the business, having reliable and high-tech software is essential and should not be taken lightly.
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Engaging with customers can be a tricky thing to do, but with cloud-based and easy-to-use software, employees can function better and with more satisfaction than if there were not a system in place.
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Outbound call center software can close the gap between the employer’s wants and the customer’s needs, enabling the business to proliferate and develop a strong relationship with whom they are in business.

What is inbound call center software?

Inbound calling software is the technology that is used to receive calls from customers and other people to keep the business growing. These calls are mostly taken by employees that are trained to handle customers and their satisfaction.
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Because it is the customer calling the business, these call centers often have high volumes of traffic on their lines, so it’s imperative to find software used in call centers to manage that volume of business.
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Most of the calls taken in an inbound call center deal with issue-resolving, customer service inquiries, and answering questions about the business in general.

What other software is used in call centers?

Many different databases are used within call centers. Some of these include the Microsoft Suite to track their progress individually or type up reports, make Excel spreadsheets, or prepare presentations if needed.
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The Google Suite has become more handy, as it is a cloud-based platform that saves things automatically and can be accessed from anywhere if the username or password is known. Some call center softwares work off of Google Suite, as it builds off the cloud, and Gmail is a widely used email server now.
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Research software can also be used within these call centers. However, it is not every day that a business will require multiple different software to do all the work; now, the contact center software solution is to find the right technology to incorporate all the things you need into one kind of software.

What’s the difference between cloud-based and on-premise solutions?

Cloud-based solutions, as we’ve briefly touched on above, use the internet and outsourcing of information to run the software. The software you may be used to that effect are Cloud are Apple and Google products.
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With Cloud-based software, maintenance costs are much lower because the data does not have to be stored onto individual hard drives for each person. Depending on the type of Cloud-based software you use, the information could be accessed in multiple places, which is convenient and practical for today’s work from home situations.
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On-Premise solutions are hardware-based, such as data being stored onto hard drives. Though it was the most traditional way to store data and run the software, it can get costly to upgrade and keep up maintenance multiple times throughout the year, or, at best, every couple of years.

What is omni-channel contact center software?

Omni-channel software simply means multi-channel. Though they can be run through the traditional on-premise solutions, it is typically a cloud-based system. These systems can provide support for all call center software, including inbound and outbound calling.
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With omni-channel software, you’ll be able to handle all customer interactions that happen within the business. Having multiple channels allows agents to see every point of interaction, whether it be through email, text, social media, or the like.

Contact center software features & capabilities

Features of contact center software include omni-channel abilities, analytics, and voice communication.
Within communication, perhaps the most important of the features and capabilities, this software can handle inbound and outbound calling. Call forwarding is also essential, as transfers often happen when customers need to talk to a different department about their problem.
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Work optimization comes in when high volumes of calls are coming in. Recording calls and having a transcript of the conversation is also a great way these softwares work. It can provide insight into how the conversation should go and gives insight into customer satisfaction.
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Having these features and omni-channel software provides the basis for decreasing wait time for the customer and average hold time. This increases the customer satisfaction and retention rate, which boosts business.

Benefits of using contact center software

The benefits of having one centralised place to store customer conversations translates numerous benefits. For example, average handling time (AHT) is something that can make or break your business. Putting someone on hold or transferring the call multiple times can cause dissatisfaction with your customer.
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Having software that allows the company’s agents to search the customer data history is extremely vital in keeping this AHT down to avoid having to transfer the call multiple times to get the correct data.
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The customer data also allows agents to bypass questions about prior help they needed and get to the solution at hand instead.Using artificial intelligence software is likely to create significant efficiency for your team: cutting down time spent on admin. AI customer insights from the contact center is vital for continuous improvement programs. The more you know about reason for customer complaints the better, and many use AI ticket tagging to build quantitative evidence that helps them make data-driven decisions about what products or service to improve.

‍Related read: 8 unique customer service improvement ideas.

Contact center solutions Gartner—what’s trending?

Right now, customer service technologies are at the top of the trending list. If customers are satisfied, then business continues smoothly. Because of this, self-service software should be invested in.
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To increase productivity in employees, having call center software that allows for a back-office type of environment that will enable them to see past transactions with customers actually increases employee satisfaction.
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Lastly, analytics are essential, but companies face limitations due to cost and capacity. Moving forward, it will be crucial to find ways to implement the technology in a cost-efficient manner.

How much does contact center software cost?

Starting with a cloud-based software product, you will typically spend between $10-20 per agent a month.
Some do offer a free trial for a certain amount of days, so be sure to check before buying.
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For on-premise software solutions, there is usually a one-time setup fee and maintenance and upgrade costs. Prices are typically found for this software by contacting the company directly for a quote.

Call center speech analytics software

Speech analytics software is what is in charge of providing transcripts and collecting the data from the calls.
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They can automate call flows and create more dynamic and speedy call times for your customers and their satisfaction.

Best Call Center Software in 2021: Pricing & Descriptions

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