Do you know whether your business needs one? And why all this fuss about the definition of a contact centre vs. call centre?

Well, if you are like most people, then you probably believe that they are the same thing. 

But you’ll be surprised to know that there are substantial disparities between them. When it comes to your business, those particular distinctions could even mean the difference between positive customer experiences, and negative ones that send your customers right into your competitors’ arms.

We wouldn’t want your business to lose any customers.

With that in mind, we believe the key to keeping them happy is being able to handle their issues better and faster. It’s also about having a contact centre solution (such TelebuHub) in place to make this happen. 

Let’s now compare a call centre versus a contact centre, after defining each, to help you understand the major differences between them. We will also touch on major reasons why the latter is an ideal option for your business.

Whether your contact centre is in-house or outsourced to an agency, this article will help you.

What is a call centre? 

A call centre is a department or set-up that acts as the front-line hub of a brand, allowing it to connect and communicate with customers, using both inbound and outbound calls. 

Call centre representatives are required to handle certain responsibilities which include handling customer inquiries, telemarketing, debt collection, billing, and other customer-centric services, which can be too much to handle for a small team. 

With this in mind, you have the option of operating an in-house call centre department with a call centre solution or you could also outsource it to a third-party call centre service provider. 

What is a contact centre?

A contact centre is a department or setup that oversees both inbound and outbound customer interactions.

Contact centres were designed to cater to customer expectations namely fast responses, personalised interactions, and timely solutions. They also offer customers the freedom to choose their preferred channel of communication.  

In essence, a contact centre is like a hub where all your customer contacts and interactions are compiled and managed.

It involves the coordination and workings of the different aspects of your company. 

Since your customers can contact you through multiple channels, based on their preferences, it is easy for you to gain insight into the most effective and preferred channels.

Similar to a call centre, you get the flexibility of having an in-house contact centre department or outsourcing it to another third-party company.

However, it should be noted that simply adding more communication channels to a call centre doesn’t automatically turn it into a contact centre. You can either go multi-channel or omnichannel. But that’s a story for another time and place.

For now, let’s compare contact centres vs. call centres to know the differences in detail, as well as break down the myths and misconceptions that revolve around these two. 

Also read: 7 must-have features to look for in call/contact centre software

Understanding the major differences

Despite their similarities, contact centres and call centres differ in many ways. They can be differentiated into four core areas:

1. Contact centre vs. call centre: different channels of communication 

Call centre: Voice call

Contact centre: Voice call, email, chat, Facebook messaging and more

By now you already know that the basic difference between a contact centre and a call centre is the channel of communication.

With a call centre, you are only restricted to phone calls when engaging with your customers. If you are handling a small customer base, this could work, but it starts to become a problem as your business grows. 

For example, because phone calls are happening in real-time, the number of customers able to get their issues resolved is limited. In addition to that, your representatives can only attend to one customer at a time. This can lead to delays in getting your customers’ issues resolved, and can negatively impact your customer experience.

This suggests that the best way for you to serve more customers is by hiring more call centre representatives. But that would lead to an increase in the cost of operations.

In contrast, contact centres use various digital channels of communication – such as live chats, email, social media, and phone calls. 

This way, you have more channels of communication to monitor simultaneously and effectively. This enables your team to attend to a large pool of customer requests and queries without having to hire more contact centre representatives. 

2. Contact centre vs. call centre: different types of support provided

Call centre: Reactive support 

Contact centre: Reactive and proactive support 

Call centres follow the traditional model of reactive support due to their limitation — with only one channel of communication and a lack of technical support at the disposal of the agents. 

In contrast, since contact centres operate in the digital space and have technical support at their disposal, they can provide proactive support.

Traditionally, when customers run into a problem regarding any purchase, they reach out to customer care for support. But with everything changing, this has changed as well. Your business can now look into predict problems that your customers might run into and offer solutions proactively by using a contact centre service. 

You will be able to provide support to your customers before they even face any problems. This way you can match your customers’ fast-paced lives by providing them round-the-clock support. 

3. Contact centre vs. call centre: differences in access to customer data  

Contact Centre: 360-degree view of customer insights 

Call centre: Not possible

The exclusive channel of communication when it comes to call centres is voice calls. So any data collected about the customer is primarily from conversations taking place over the telephone. 

Sometimes, your customers are not looking to connect through a telephone call and would prefer some other form of communication. This can cause a certain degree of miscommunication and an inability to gather the required information from your customer. 

In contrast, a contact centre enables your customers to choose their preferred channel of communication from the different options available. This helps eliminate the issue of miscommunication and makes it easier for you to gather information from and for them. 

In addition, you can integrate your contact centre software with your CRM software to get a blended and comprehensive view of your customers. All different channels of communication you provide would then be connected to one single platform, which is bound to make the process of data collection and analysis so much easier for you. 

4. Contact centre vs. call centre: differences in customer queue management 

Contact centre: Queue management across all channels

Call centre: Not possible 

As call centres have only one channel, they require a single solution to manage the conversations. 

But in the case of contact centres, you provide support on different channels, which you can manage from a single platform.  

This is because contact centre software uses multi-channel queue management to manage conversations from different channels. This enables every piece of information obtained from the customer to be viewed on one single screen, irrespective of the channel used. 

Reasons why a contact centre should be your top choice

As a business owner, you want to enable the utmost satisfaction and, ultimately, a positive experience for each of your customers.

So why should you choose a contact centre over a call centre?

It’s all in the differentiators.

But the most significant one of them all is the type of experience that a contact centre enables you to provide for your customers.

Here are three reasons why a modern contact centre solution could get you the best results.

You’ll enjoy an omnichannel approach to customer interaction

Your customers will have the ability to choose their preferred channel to communicate. An omnichannel solution (in contrast to a multichannel approach) will enable your business to deliver a better customer experience. 

You’ll be able to adopt a proactive approach

A contact centre solution will enable you to adopt a proactive approach. You will be able to use the data to predict whether your customers are about to face a problem. Thanks to that, you will be able to solve their issues before they arise, thus making sure that your customers have a delightful experience.

You’ll be able to streamline customer communications with ease

Having contact centre software will enable you to have all the information regarding the conversations taking place on different channels of communication on a single platform. This makes it easier for you to share information about your customers within your teams or departments. 

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You should also read:

• Contact centre as a service (CCaaS): A complete guide to what you need to know
• Inbound vs. Outbound Call/Contact Centre: Understand the key differences
• Unlock rich customer experiences with unified communication & collaboration (UC&C)
• What is IVR and how to build your own IVR call flow

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Ready to experience the new age contact centre?

There you go. Now you know the major differences between call centres vs. contact centres and how the latter can benefit your business. 

More important than using a contact centre is having the right contact centre software that will allow your customer success team to deliver an exceptional customer experience. The kind of experience that will make them come back for more. 

There are many different contact centre solution options for you to choose from. Each of them has its own set of features that differentiate it from others. 

You should first be aware of your requirements and then study the various options available in the market and choose the one that suits your business best. 

TelebuHub is a virtual contact centre solution that will allow you to connect with your customers via multiple channels. It will also allow you to automate your outbound campaigns, and ensure your customers have a seamless experience when connecting with your brand.

So, if your business is searching for a cloud contact centre hub that can fulfil all possible needs, then look no further.