What Is a Hybrid Call Center & How Is It Different From Other Communication Hubs?

The importance of creating happy customers from start to finish cannot be emphasized enough. Studies show that 90 percent of Americans consider customer service reviews when deciding whether or not to do business with any given company.

One essential part of the customer experience is communication. With many enterprises turning to call centers to manage phone calls, email and other communication, choosing the right type of hub and management style can be the difference between happy, satisfied customers and a drop in business.

Hybrid call centers are one way that businesses are streamlining their communication management and improving customer experience. But what does it mean for a call center to be a hybrid? And how is that different from other types of call centers? You’ll need to know both answers to make the right choice for your business.

Before you can start to understand what a hybrid call center is, it’s important to understand what two types of call centers come together in the hybrid version.

The Other Types of Call Centers

If a call center isn’t considered a hybrid, that means that it falls into one of two other categories; outbound or inbound.

With an outbound call center, all contact being made is outbound, which means that the call center is the one placing the calls to clients and customers. Often working during normal business hours, the staff of these types of call centers places a variety of types of calls, including sales calls, calls to qualifying leads or those to set up appointments for salespeople.

Inbound call centers deal with incoming calls from customers and clients. These staff members answer calls that come in. These calls often fall into one of two categories. They are either from new customers who want to set up accounts, make a purchase or who have questions, or they are from existing customers who have problems, concerns or who need to make changes to their accounts, reorder products, etc. In some cases, these call centers operate during normal business hours, while in others they may provide customer support around the clock, depending on the type of business, customer demands and budgets.

What Is a Hybrid Call Center?

Hybrid call centers combine the worlds of inbound and outbound centers, managing both from one central hub.

These types of call centers create a seamless experience both for customers and for the business itself. All communications are managed in one location, which makes for easy access across all channels. Operational efficiency can be improved because there is no gap in knowledge or procedures from one center to the next. Quality management can also be streamlined as there is only one outlet to check and manage.

New call center software is taking hybrid call centers one step further by creating a platform that encompasses all inbound and outbound communications across all channels, including phone calls, e-mail, chats and more.

Choosing the Right Call Center Software

Choosing the wrong call center software for your business can have devastating consequences. Research shows that 39 percent of consumers will likely avoid a company for two years after having a bad customer service experience.

While both inbound and outbound communications are essential, managing them separately can cause a gap in service, not to mention raise your costs and increase the workload. With hybrid call center software, you can improve your customers’ experiences while also streamlining your operations in one seamless approach.