Call Center Archives - United World Telecom

5 Innovative Ways for a Call Center to Use Interactive Voice Response

Posted on July 1, 2020October 2, 2025 by Luke Genoyer

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Does your call center business use IVR to communicate with customers? A well-designed system offers incredible versatility, which can help your business in a variety of ways. Check out these five innovative ways for call centers to use interactive voice response technology.

How Can IVR Be Used in a Call Center?

Most inbound call centers use IVR systems to provide callers with pre-recorded greeting messages and sets of menu options. Menu options will often be for self-service, sales, and customer support. Callers provide input to a call center IVR system by pressing a key.

After gathering caller inputs, the IVR can help your call center route inbound callers to the right agent or department.

So, what are some ways to get the most out of your IVR system?

1. Skills-Based Routing

It is important to choose the right routing strategy for your contact center.

Effective call routing can boost first call resolution rates as customers are able to speak to the right agents right away. IVR can also help call centers automatically route inbound callers to the right department in less than twenty seconds.

The most effective IVR routing strategies are often based on:

Agents’ skills such as language preferences or experience.
The origination of the inbound call.
The time the call is coming through.
Equal distribution of calls among a group of agents, and more.

These are real strategies that call centers have used over the years. We have helped businesses implement such strategies to improve efficiency.

2. Create Personalized Messages

A customized greeting and menu options provide a great branding opportunity. Studies show that callers are more comfortable when they hear a welcoming greeting message. IVR can be used to personalize your entire caller experience.

The best technique is to welcome callers with a customized greeting message and pre-recorded menu options. These should have relevant information about your business to help callers easily navigate menu options.

3. Provide Self-Service and After-Hours Support

IVR can be used to offer after-hours customer support by adding information about your company, its product and services, and upcoming promotions.

You can forward incoming calls after-hours or during the weekend to remote offices, agents, or voicemail. You can even have the IVR assist callers in completing certain tasks such as making a payment or scheduling an appointment.

4. Call Center Agent Automation

Automation will certainly boost call center productivity. Luckily, artificial intelligence offers a simple way to automate complex business tasks. This will help your business gain greater performance abilities and utilize the talents of your team more effectively.

A contact center IVR operates right along these lines. The main point of having IVR is so your business can speed up processes. Some of the automation advantages it offers include:

Verification and service activation
Payment and renewal processes
Providing product information
Troubleshooting services
Providing answers to frequently asked questions, and so on.

If the IVR can help customers with these tasks, then they are less likely going to need to speak with an agent. This leaves trained representatives with more time to handle more high-value customers.

5. Manage Calls During High-Traffic Periods

By adopting the right strategy that helps organize your calls, your team can effectively handle calls during high-traffic periods. By automating services, most calls can be handled by the IVR system alone, giving your agents and reps more breathing space during such periods.

Learn More About IVR

United World Telecom offers a highly customizable IVR system with tips to help your business leverage its voice communications. To learn more about interactive voice response, please contact us today!

Tips for Running a Successful Virtual Call Center

Posted on February 25, 2020October 2, 2025 by Meryl D'Sa-Wilson

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Thinking of opening a cloud or virtual call center? Well, you are in luck. It is now easier than ever to start and run a full online call center, thanks to advancements in telecom technology. You will business phone service with features and tools that assist your communications. Outbound calling and call recording software are two must-haves for a cloud call center to be successful.

Running a Virtual Call Center

As a virtual call center, you will be working with inbound and outbound calling for different businesses. That means you will engage in making and receiving customer calls. These calls revolve around technical and product support, sales and lead generation, and more. To run a successful call center, you must adopt important virtual communication tools. Let’s look at how outbound calling and call recording, specifically, can boost business dealings.

Benefits of Cloud Call Centers

With a virtual call center, your business can go beyond its immediate location and restrictions and enter global spaces. And, your teams become more equipped to manage calls, assist customers, and maintain productivity even when working virtually or remotely. Here are the top reasons to run a cloud call center:

Mobile and flexible
Scalable and reliable
Low infrastructure and maintenance costs
One unified platform to connect distributed teams
Options for multichannel communication
High cloud communication security
Global reach and coverage
Call analytics and metrics tracking.

Top Virtual Call Center Features

Two of the main cloud call center features include outbound calling and hosted call recording. These features have been growing in popularity recently with more and more call centers switching over to the cloud.

Benefits of Outbound Calling

Outbound calling refers to calls made by a company to its customers. This can be done in-house through a virtual outbound calling service or by outsourcing to a call center. Outbound calls occur for sales and telemarketing, feedback or verification purposes, or to update contact lists and customer data.

You can get outbound calling for your business by signing up online. Purchase virtual numbers from United World Telecom and customize your caller ID to display one of these numbers. For example, you can have local and international numbers for different cities and states. Then, when you call a specific location, you can use a local number instead of a toll free or international number that customers are not familiar with. Unknown numbers are often ignored. Individuals are much more likely to answer the call of a local number. Outbound Calling, therefore, enables you to make long-distance and international calls with that location’s caller ID.

With outbound calling, you can follow up on customers, send them appointment and payment reminders, update customer data, collect feedback, raise funds, and more. This service gives you yet another means of staying in touch with clients and strengthening relations. Here are some tips to improve your outbound calling strategy.

Call Recording for Quality Assurance

It’s simple: you cannot operate an efficient call center without good agents. One way to monitor and train your reps is by recording calls and reviewing them. This is a good way to maintain quality assurance and call center standards. It also enables record-keeping which can protect your virtual call center from business and personal liabilities and misunderstandings. More and more corporations are adopting call recording software to keep records of their customer and contact list.

A call recording service from United World Telecom lets you record up to 100% of your calls and store them as MP3 files for up to 6 years. Additionally, you can add Call Recording to Outbound Calling to record outgoing calls as well. You can add this feature to your cart when shopping for virtual numbers.

This service can also be used to maintain compliance, depending on what sector the business you are representing comes under. For example, the financial services industry functions under the Dodd-Frank, MiFID II, and GDPR regulations and finance companies must keep up with their laws. While using call recording software, make sure you are aware of local and state regulations. Some countries do not allow recording unless one or both parties consent verbally or in their contract agreements. And so, it is important to keep these regulations in mind when choosing to record business calls.

Get Outbound Calling and Call Recording with United World Telecom

Boost your communications and sales by adding Outbound Calling and Hosted Call Recording to your office phone system. Contact us to find out how you can use these services or sign up for a virtual number and start building your virtual call center today!

Sales Management: Building a Global Call Center Sales Team

Posted on October 14, 2019October 2, 2025 by Magaly Fuentes

Source: Depositphotos.com Lic#161512962 ID#88021484

A sales team functions as the core of any sales-oriented business. In order to have a successful sales team, the business must have a focused and effective sales management system in place. Similarly, management systems include systems and metrics to track sales. The sales management plan should also include follow up and periodic reviews. Above all, these components are necessary for a sales team to grow and thrive in a consistent manner.

What is Sales Management?

Sales management involves developing a sales force, coordinating various sales operations, and putting sales techniques in place. Therefore, the ultimate goal of sales management is to allow an organization to consistently meet and surpass sales targets. So, for any business that brings in revenue, a sales management strategy is extremely important.

Sales Management Processes

Research shows a clear split between organizations that establish well-defined sales management processes and those that don’t. A few of the most critical sales management processes include systematic hiring, coaching the sales force, business planning, establishment of common goals, and performance management.

Systematic Hiring: It is extremely important to hire top-level sales staff. An effective hiring process includes methods to examine whether a candidate is fit for the position from many different angles. Using the same list of questions for interviews allows for a systematic and focused process.
Coaching: This is the number one activity that drives sales. Companies that have a well-understood coaching program in place consistently outperform those that do not.
Business Planning: Business planning at the sales manager level means identifying key customers within the region and creating customer plans accordingly. Business planning allows for better targeting of sales efforts.
Common Goals: A sales manager makes sure the sales team aligns with the company goals.
Performance Management: Setting objectives and reviewing performance, both periodically and annually, is imperative. Figuring out how the organization will deal with non-performance is also key.

Sales Management: Building a Global Call Center Sales Team — Source: Depositphotos.com Lic#161514956 ID#8771371

Running the Call Center

Many organizations find that allowing their call center specialists to work from home is a win-win for everyone involved. This allows the staff flexibility and allows the organization significant cost-savings.

Taking the Call Center Global

Particularly when forming a global call center, allowing for sales staff to work remotely is typically the best option. A business owner with a well-trained, knowledgeable staff that is familiar with the company policies and the product or service they sell can operate a call center from anywhere.

What is a Virtual Number?

A virtual phone number is a number that works through the use of the Internet versus the use of a hard-wired phone line. Virtual phone numbers offer many benefits. For instance, they give business owners flexibility and mobility unmatched by traditional phone lines. Calls made to virtual phone numbers automatically forward to any phone number, depending on the changing needs of a business. Virtual phone numbers also allow for a business to meet global needs, such as offering services in various time zones.

How Do I Get a Virtual Number For My Business?

Getting a virtual phone number for your business is simple. With a simple search, you will see that various providers offer virtual phone numbers. Therefore, it is important to go with a provider that has experience and a reputation for offering a great product along with excellent customer service. United World Telecom has been offering global communications solutions to businesses for over two decades. Along these lines, UWT also offers many features and virtual numbers in over 150 countries worldwide.

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”

When focusing on sales management and building a successful global call center sales team, careful planning must take place. Above all, with proper systems employed and everyone on the same page, an organization is well prepared to take the success of the business to great heights.

Signius Communications

Signius Communications has been based in the United States for almost a century. Their service enables your organization to benefit from highly-trained staff equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Helping clients both large and small, Signus offers 13 locations and a staff of over 200 agents. Their services can save on operational costs and make your organization exceptionally efficient at processing inbound calls.

Stericycle

Looking for a B2B medical answering service? If so, Stericycle, Inc. provides telecom solutions for commercial companies. With over 25 years of experience, Stericycle has grown from a small medical waste management company to an industry leader. Their offerings encompass complex and highly-regulated areas in the medical industry, including patient access services, customer contact, and much more.

Sound Telecom

Founded nearly three decades ago, Sound Telecom provides 24/7/365 telephone medical answering services. They serve customers throughout the United States and British Columbia, Canada. What separates Sound Telecom from its competitors is the sheer diversity of its state-of-the-art telecom services. Among these are online chat, email response, voice logging, and a web-based portal for easier access to account data. Some of Sound Telecom’s clients include American Red Cross, Blue Cross, Siemens Medical Solutions, and many more.

Top Medical Answering Service Comparison Review — Source: Stockphoto.com O#100048065961- ID#100067081677

Creating Your Own Medical Answering Service with United World Telecom

If your organization wants to keep its medical answering service in-house to save money and create a more customized service, United World Telecom is the perfect service provider for your virtual answering service needs. By using virtual phone numbers of various types (i.e. toll free numbers, vanity numbers, geographic numbers) and customizable functionalities, your organization can specifically tailor how inbound calls are received, processed, and answered.

The first step is to choose virtual phone numbers that enable your clientele to reach your business without incurring long distance fees and service blockages. Considering that United World Telecom offers virtual phone numbers in over 140+ countries worldwide and nearly every city/geographic region, your organization can accommodate callers no matter where they’re located. At www.unitedworldtelecom.com, you’ll encounter a series of dropdown menus that enable you to choose the country code and number type, as well as determine the destination number where calls can be routed to. Setup is easy and virtual answering services can be used almost immediately after placing an order.

Furthermore, United World Telecom’s service enables endless functionality depending on your business model. For instance, if you’re looking for an after-hours answering service, the add-on “time of day routing” can be used. This enables your business to route calls outside of regular operating hours to a call processing facility in another location. Also, by using a PBX (Private Branch Exchange), inbound callers use a directory system to navigate through your company’s various departments and personnel. This enables them to obtain the information they need and speak with a company representative. Overall, these medical answering service features can make your medical organization substantially more efficient.

Wellness for Employees in Call Centers

Posted on March 4, 2019October 2, 2025 by Ilsa Morales

The best way to benefit your company is to improve the quality of life of the employees that help you run your business. If employees have access to wellness programs that enhance their performance and reduce their health risks, your business can, in turn, mirror the happiness and healthiness of its employees.

wellness for employees in call centers — Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 – ID#100228678088

Employees who are happy with their companies generally have more energy at work and take fewer sick days. Creating a wellness program for call center employees is essential to creating a healthy workplace environment. Because call center employees must be seated at their desks throughout the day and generally have strict schedules to follow, they are at risk for a variety of health issues.

Investing in your call center employees can have a significant impact on your business if you are willing to make the investment. These ventures can include a fitness center, education on wellness techniques, company health fairs, access to free or low-cost flu shots, weight loss programs, providing healthy foods and snacks, and programs to help employees quit smoking.

You might be thinking that the costs for these programs are too high, but in truth, they are worth it in the end. Call center representatives become the face of your company when a customer has a question or a problem. If your call center employees are unhappy and unhealthy, they will become irritable over the phone or forgetful. Because your clients are the most essential part of your business, it is vital that the person they speak to is helpful and friendly. Once you create an environment where employees enjoy coming to work, you can stand back and watch as your business grows.

Some businesses make budget cuts to their employees’ healthcare because of rising costs and unstable economies. However, cutting back or eliminating these incentives will not benefit your business in the long run. Giving your employees the opportunity to see a doctor the moment they get sick or providing a place for them to workout before or after work keeps insurance premiums at lower costs. Research has shown that businesses who cut these from their budgets will eventually see their premiums rise by 10% each year. Providing healthcare onsite or on-demand can also reduce the spread of illnesses. This is essential because employees who work in a call center are in very close quarters, so if one person gets sick, eventually everyone will catch it as well.

Once your business begins to provide these incentives to your employees, you will find that employees are more likely to be motivated to get in shape. You can encourage this motivation by doing company-wide fitness challenges with monetary incentives or prizes.

If you are thinking of beginning a wellness program for your call center employees, but you have a limited budget, take note of what your employees would like to see from you. This will reduce the possibility of wasted money on a program that won’t be used. If you were thinking of adding a yoga studio to your building, find out if the majority of your employees would be interested in participating first. A small way to boost wellness in your employees is to encourage standing up and stretching between calls. You can also print out an infographic of different stretches that can easily be done at a desk and hand them out for those who might feel silly starting this practice. To encourage your employees to eat healthier, provide healthier snacks and plenty of water and tea instead of soda and juices. You can also organize a group walk during lunch breaks or offer to subsidize fitness memberships.

Another low-cost option is to utilize a spare room and turn it into a meditation or nap room where employees can recharge their batteries. Encourage wellness to all of your employees and celebrate employees who reach healthy milestones, too. If a call center employee takes on an office-wide weight loss challenge and returns with significant results, be sure to reward them for their hard work! Other employees will see these results and might be inspired to try it out for themselves.

Providing wellness programs is a logical business decision with a high ROI. After all, when your employees are happy and healthy, they’re going to work better for your company overall.

Category: Call Center

5 Innovative Ways for a Call Center to Use Interactive Voice Response