In this, our Winner Take Call grudge match, we pit hardphones against softphones to see which technology can take the heat. Blow for blow, which call center solution is better?
This is truly a battle royale so the post has been split into two rounds. Below you’ll see hardphones and softphones face off over setup, upkeep and ease of use. In Round 2, the competitors will fight it out over flexibility, reliability and agent access to customer information.
Round 1. Let’s get ready to rumble.
Setup and Upkeep
Hardphones come with baggage, literally. As you might guess, hardphones have hardware. This means that for your initial setup and for every new agent onboarding, you will need to physically install the call center technology. This is not only costly, but time-consuming.
When considering both setup and upkeep, realize that hardphones require specialized IT professionals, either provided by the vendor or present within your ranks. It’s great to have a friendly specialist there to help you. On the other hand, this means that any time you’d like to change the settings or scale, you’ll require assistance. Again, this is going to cost you.
Softphone setup is plug-and-play. All you need is an internet connection and a headset. The cost is minimal because there are fewer moving parts. Dependent upon the softphone you choose, the initial customization of the settings and integrations may take time. Luckily, even if you don’t choose a call center software known for its quick and easy set up, you’ll be able to configure any settings yourself from within the softphone interface.
In terms of upkeep, softphones do not require a team of experts, which will save you money. Softphones are designed to be easy to customize, change and scale in real-time. If necessary, headset replacement is a cheap and easy fix. Softphones rely on the internet, so there would be some very important IT needed if the internet went down. Then again, you’d need that no matter what because the internet is indispensable to modern business generally.
Winner: Softphones
They’re a cinch to set up and a breeze to maintain.
Ease of Use
Hardphones have an advantage here, given that they’re an older technology. People of all ages know how to use a hardphone. But there’s more to ease of use than knowing how the technology works.
Hardphones require manual dialing, which can reduce efficiency because it takes time to do so and increases the odds of misdials. Further, hardphones are not integrated with data systems. Your agents will have to operate both their hardphones and a CRM while they are speaking with callers.
As a newer technology, it may seem that softphones would be difficult to adjust to. This turns out to be incorrect. The whole point of new technology is that it is an improvement upon legacy systems. It’s designed to be user-friendly.
Softphones tend to have one-click dialing functions, which reduce the time it takes to look up a number and to dial it, as well as decreasing dialing errors. Each moment of saved time and frustration each day can add up to a serious amount of gained efficiency.
Further, softphones are tied directly into your computer. This means that both your phone and your data system are in the same place. Deep integrations with CRMs and helpdesks bring your company to the forefront of business technology. Imagine full call center functionality from within the same window where you can view customer data and history, transfer callers and write notes in contacts’ files.
Winner: Softphones
They’re designed to be intuitive and allow for a variety of functionality that hardphones simply can’t provide.
It’s not looking good so far for the hardphone. Then again, who would you expect to win in a race, Usain Bolt or the champion sprinter from 1965? The winds of change blow softly, best follow them.
How’s this for an over-under?
A 2012 Spiceworks survey on unified communications found that between 2011 and 2012 the number of small and medium sized businesses who were already using or planning to switch to softphones increased by 12%.
See which call center solution reigns supreme in the second installment of Winner Take Call.
Also in our softphone series…
Winner Talk Call: Softphones v. Hardphones (Round 2)
Dr. Hardphone or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Softphone
The Evolution of Telephone Technology: From Transmitters to Softphones
The Incredible, Intuitive Softphone
avaya softphone call center, call center softphone vs hardphone, sip softphone call center
Source: http://docphy.com/business-industry/business/winner-take-call-softphones-vs-hardphones-round-1.html
No comments:
Post a Comment