Will Outbound Call Automation Help My Call Center?
Outbound call automation holds benefits for call center agencies and companies with a call center department. However, many executives worry that the tactic will rain down the wrath of consumers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Perhaps you share that concern. You have a right to. Changes with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the upcoming enforcement of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have companies of all sizes rethinking their communication strategies. Both pieces of legislation feature heavy fines and penalties that could put a company out of business.
As a result, call centers hesitate to automate outbound calling. They know it could bring them under fire for robocalling or incorrect data processing—they’ve seen it happen in recent court cases. But the answer to the problem isn’t avoiding automation. Rather, it lies in employing the right kind of outbound call automation. Such automation guarantees compliance with federal and international directives and offers several benefits that are discussed in more depth below.
What is Outbound Call Automation?
To understand automation’s importance and benefits, it’s wise to start with a solid foundation of two terms: outbound calling and automation.
Outbound calls. A call center agent employed by a call center or other agency performs outbound calls. The agent may call a consumer for several reasons, which include telemarketing, sales, fundraising, surveys, and debt collection. An agent may also use outbound calls to verify services or update contact information.
Outbound calls perform an essential service in today’s business world. But without automation, the work takes an inordinate amount of time and resources.
Automation. Automation spans industries and verticals, seeking to make processes and systems operate automatically, that is, without the input of a person.
When automation is applied to the call center and outbound calls, it refers to using technology to initiate, track, and manage agent-consumer communications. Automation can also integrate third-party applications to check for data redundancies and errors, which often aids with data security. The process empowers agents, too. With automation of calls and data processing, the agents receive the right contact information at the right time and place.
Why is Outbound Call Automation Important?
The answer to “why” outbound call automation is important begins in the previous paragraph: it empowers agents. That enablement takes two aspects, efficiency and productivity. With outbound call automation, agents spend less time hunting and pecking for information and more time resolving customer and patient calls.
Outbound call automation also produces scads of customer data that can be used to refine efforts. This information can be used to inform business decisions — the acclaimed business intelligence — and to push agent and call center efficiency and productivity further.
How Does Automating Outbound Calling Help My Call Center?
Some general benefits were mentioned in the previous section. First, outbound call automation helps your call center by supplying it with critical data. This data isn’t all the data but rather the data needed to enhance agent-consumer communications and increase business profitability.
Second, outbound call automation improves individual and collective productivity and efficiency. Easy access to correct contact information helps agents reach more right-party contacts. Those right-party contacts, in turn, lead to a greater number of first call resolutions and commitments to pay.
TCN’s unique automated features include the following five:
• Call recording
• Redialing of busy lines and no answers
• Hang up when calls reach answering machines
• Population of Do Not Call (DNC) lists
• Cell phone scrubbing
Each of those benefits result in greater efficiency and productivity, as well as compliance. The Do Not Call list and cell phone scrubbing, for example, prevent infringements upon the TCPA’s guidelines, as does the automated response to answering machines.
If you want to stay compliant in 2017 but maintain peak call center efficiency and productivity, don’t be afraid of outbound call automation. Embrace it and its benefits by exploring TCN’s cloud-based call center software today.
About the Author:
Darrin is the Chief Operating Officer at TCN Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs and collection agencies worldwide. Within this role, Darrin is responsible for overseeing all business operations, establishing best practices across sales and account management teams and driving execution. With more than 17 years of experience in the IT and software industry, Darrin has a proven track record of building and mentoring high performing teams, increasing capital, creating strategic plans and implementing organizational structure.
Darrin began his career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) through the California Board of Accountancy. He received his bacheloräó»s degree in accounting and finance from Brigham Young University. A family man that enjoys spending time with loved ones and participating in outdoor recreation, Darrin is also very involved in philanthropic activities such as working to mentor youth in his community.